Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion S1 E16

## Plot

In an out of character moment for him, Black Scorpion breaks into the east engineering wing of a college campus, steals something, and attacks a security guard when he's caught. The next morning, Violet encourages Tiago to finally tell their parents that he wants to be a fashion designer. It's not healthy to keep big secrets, and Tiago reminds Violet that he's the one who told her that about whatever she's hiding. He tells their parents, and they react exactly like he thought they would. He's good at so many things, so why would he want to do something that isn't practical? Nina thought he was going to be a professor, and Juan thought he was going to be a doctor. Violet shows them his designs and says they're really good. Juan starts coming around to the idea, but Nina is still adamantly against it. She and Tiago storm off, and Violet finds out about what Cruz did from an alert on her dad's phone. He stole an ultrasonic emitter from the California College of Technology. Juan doesn't think Ultra Violet can protect the city in his stead because she's just a kid. Violet goes over to Cruz's gym and tells him about it. The last thing he remembers is going out on patrol last night before waking up that morning with a headache. They head to the scene of the crime to investigate and see if he remembers anything. It turns out that he was hypnotized by a supervillain with a magic mask called Hypnotico, who is also there and hypnotizes him again. I hate his costume, but it makes sense that less effort would be put into it than the others since it only appears in this episode. He introduces himself to Ultra Violet, who says that she can't stop him because she's just a child, and now she doesn't have her mentor around to save her. Black Scorpion throws a TV at her. She dodges it, but he and Hypnotico get away. Violet tells Maya about it the next day. She couldn't find her uncle anywhere. Maya wonders why Hypnotico didn't hypnotize her too. She tries to assure Violet that she's got this and can handle it. Violet is worried that she'll lose Black Scorpion forever, and tells Maya that he's like family to her. She can't handle this all on her own. Maya says she won't have to, because she'll help. Violet decides to find Cascada while Maya meets up with Duplico. Violet somehow has Cascada's phone number, but she's not answering. I get that Catalina doesn't know that Ultra Violet knows who she is, and Violet would probably like to keep it that way just in case, but at some point, certain thresholds have to be crossed if there's no other choice. We learn that Nina used to be a dancer, but things didn't work out for her, which is why she doesn't want Tiago to pursue the arts. She knows firsthand how risky and unpredictable careers in that field can be. As a writer who had only ghostwritten one nonfiction self-help book about retirement when this episode originally came out, I feel kind of called out by this. Good thing I don't use my real name, my pen name, or my contact information here, otherwise I might technically be breaking the NDA I signed. Anyways, Nina says that dancing was her greatest joy, and she was devastated when she had to stop. She doesn't want her son to go through that same pain and thinks she's sparing him from it. Juan points out that she'd also be robbing him of the same joy she felt. Now I'm definitely getting Freya and Baldur vibes from this. Maya meets Duplico, who looks a bit different from his first appearance. He reveals that the accent he has is to hide his true identity (meaning Julio might not be his real name). Maya tells him that Black Scorpion is being mind controlled by a super rudo named Hypnotico. Duplico has heard of him. He's one of the worst super rudos in all of existence. Luckily, he can only hypnotize one person at a time, which is why he didn't mind control Ultra Violet. Maya gets an alert on her phone and learns that Black Scorpion stole a brainwave monitor. They figure out that Hypnotico is trying to amplify his powers to be able to affect more than one person. Maya realizes that an abandoned Lobo Labs plant has a super antenna that could send out a signal to all of L.A., and then he could mind control the whole city. She'll update Ultra Violet and have her meet Duplico there. She's more of an inside girl, and reminds him that she doesn't have any superpowers. However, he says that being smart is her superpower. Aw! While organizing things, Nina finds a photo of herself dancing and tries it again, which Juan sees. Meanwhile, Ultra Violet and Duplico confront Hypnotico at the plant. He's doing this because the city is out of control, which ends tonight. Basically, the Injustice Society's plan from season 1 of *Stargirl*, but on a much smaller scale, and Hypnotico's power isn't as impressive as Brainwave's or Henry's. Black Scorpion knocks out Duplico. Violet begs him to wake up, because she can't do this by herself. She's forced to fight her uncle. It turns out that Luis is there (somehow) and is recording them. He did say earlier that his fans were sending him Ultra Violet sightings, and apparently he got an anonymous tip, but still. He hides and starts filming with his phone, but the door is blocked by debris from the fight, meaning he can't see anything that's happening outside or get out. Cascada suddenly arrives and saves Ultra Violet. I love how she tells Violet to hang back, which she was against Black Scorpion himself doing to her in episode 10, but I think she realizes now that she's a kid in a dangerous situation who's out of her league. She even tells Ultra Violet to leave, but she says she's not going anywhere. Cascada fights Black Scorpion, but he defeats her by punching her with his blue glowing fist, which turns out to be one thing that she can't phase through. She tells Violet that Black Scorpion is gone, but she doesn't believe that. She knows there's still good in him. She tells him that he can't do this, not just because he's a técnico and she's his partner… but also because he's her nino. She removes her mask, revealing her identity, and by extension, his, to Catalina. Luis never finds out because they only refer to her with pronouns. Cruz is finally able to break free of the mind control. Before they can talk about things, he has to stop Hypnotico, since everyone else is either unconscious or in pain from his amplified power. Cruz stops him, but he escapes. He tells Violet that she was the real hero tonight when she credits him for saving the day. She says it's only because he's taught her so much, and knew he'd never hurt her. They hug, and Cruz tells her that Hypnotico is gone, which worries her, since they have to clear his name. Duplico is okay. All four heroes have a lot to talk about. Luis frees himself, but by the time he does, everyone else is already gone. Now he knows that Ultra Violet is Black Scorpion's goddaughter though. Um, what about the camera he set up? Did he just forget about that? Unless it was destroyed or damaged during one of the fights, it should've still recorded everything, although Violet might not have been in the frame when she revealed her identity. Nina gives Tiago a new sketchbook. She knows what it's like to have big dreams, and she won't stand in the way of his. It turns out that Cruz and Violet are making pozole for family dinner, and Cruz is actually staying for game night. He gives a quick toast to health, love, and family. Violet heads upstairs to get Tiago and sees his shadow coming from her room. He was looking for the board games in her closet… but found her mask instead, and tells her to put it on. And this is the cliffhanger that ends the episode, the season, and the entire series, because while Disney gives us nice things, they also rob us of those same things way too soon. Just in the past few years we've had their treatment of *Amphibia*, *The Owl House*, and arguably even Elena of Avalor. Part of me can't help but wonder if they have something against shows where the lead is a young woman of color. Maybe they thought this show was too similar to *The Villains of Valley View*, or *Hamster and Gretel*? Still, *Villains*, which has basically the exact opposite premise and stars white people, is at least getting a second season, *Raven's Home* is getting a sixth season, and *Bunk'd* is getting a seventh season. Those last two are unprecedented for a network that used to only allow shows to go up to 65 episodes or four seasons, and lately they've only let their animated gems have three. Sometimes shows even get renewed for another season before they've even aired yet! There were so many cliffhangers and unanswered questions! Would Black Scorpion have been treated as a criminal? How would he and Violet have cleared his name? Would Cruz and Catalina get back together? Would the rest of Violet's family find out her identity? Would Luis? Would Maya find out Black Scorpion or Cascada's identity, or anyone else? Would we get to meet others with magical luchador masks? You can't just give me a nugget of magic based lore, name one of your episodes after it despite it not being all that important in said episode, and then not follow up on it! The premise and execution, and really everything about this series was just so interesting and unique, at least to me, and to kill it off without even giving it a chance in the first place isn't just harsh, it's downright demonic, especially to Latino fans, who are the largest minority group in the U.S. as of 2022. They already had to deal with *Elena of Avalor* ending a few years ago, then the gutting of *The Owl House*, and now this? I think all they have left is Gretel and her family from *Hasmter and Gretel*, and let's be honest here, most of them are white passing and don't look like they could be Hispanic or have Hispanic names. They also have America Chavez in the MCU, but I think that's it, and who knows when or even if Marvel is ever going to do anything else with her. Please do, I love her actress. Representation is important, and it matters to everyone. My heart goes out to the hardworking cast and crew. I can only imagine how they felt when they got the news. I was hoping that they'd get Aimee Carrero or Jenna Ortega to do a cameo in a future season as a nod to either *Elena of Avalor* or even *Stuck in the Middle*. It would've been so cool to see a crossover between this and *Villains*. It's not like Disney's competition is doing any better in this department either. I'll never forgive Warner and Discovery for cancelling *Batgirl*. Could it have been bad? Maybe. But now we'll never know, will we? And we'll likely never see this version that another cast and crew worked so hard on, and if another *Batgirl* anything happens in the future and they cast Barbara Gordon, she'll probably be a white redhead. But hey, that's apparently what "true fans" (i.e. weird hung up racists and possibly misogynistic gatekeepers) want, at least from the live-action *Little Mermaid*. Why are people so dumb? I wanted to see Firefly! And to think, movie wise, Pixar and Disney are actually doing pretty well with diversity, although they could always be doing more. We've gotten *Luca*, *Turning Red*, *Lightyear*, *Raya and the Last Dragon*, *Encanto*, *Strange World*, etc. Sorry to end this here on such a bad note. I honestly don't think I would've started talking about this show at all if I knew it had already been cancelled. The news apparently came at the end of August (just like *Batgirl*), and I'm only finding out towards the end of October. I started reviewing this show back when it first came out in June. I hope everyone that was involved can move on to bigger, better, and brighter projects in the future. Like Sally from Ninjago said, or rather, sang, tomorrow is the first is so many ways.