Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion S1 E10

## Plot

Violet wants to stop a car thief by herself, but Cruz refuses to let her. He's still upset that she went to the charity event, which she's already apologized for. Even if he wasn't upset with her though, he still wouldn't let her do it, because taking this guy down by herself is too dangerous. Violet wants to push herself and says she doesn't need training wheels. He tells her to go to bed. While running back though, she meets Cascada again. There's a break-in happening on Lexington, but Violet tells her that she has to get home because it's a school night. Cascada tells her that no one changed the world by following the rules, and they stop the criminals. She was 13 once too. She can also make other people intangible… but she's never tried that before and had no idea what would've happened to either of them, or at least Violet. She tells her that sometimes you need to push yourself to test your limits. She's sure Black Scorpion did that, or he would've never discovered the move that makes his fist glow blue, or his shadow travel. He never lets Violet push her powers. When she runs around someone in circles, she can make them float in the air and spin. If she follows Cascada, she'll let her try everything she's ever wanted. She's exhausted the next day, and claims that she had a hard workout at the gym and was up late reading. She's been tired a lot lately. Tiago asks her what the book was called, and she tells him to mind his own business. Nina tells him to take some meals to Cruz after school, since she has a meeting with the superintendent. When he gets to the gym, he meets a luchador named Anónimo, who lost his match the other night. He choked after he got in the ring. His "costume" is just grey clothes and a plain mask. Tiago tells him not to worry, because everyone messes up sometimes, but he says it happens to him a lot. He ripped his mask too. Tiago offers to fix it for him. His persona is supposed to be Anónimo, the Anonymous. Cruz says that nothing strikes fear into the heart of others like fear of the unknown, but it just doesn't feel right. Tiago asks him what does feel right. He doesn't know. He's always loved the spectacle of lucha libre. The shock, the awe, the presentation. He hasn't explained that to Cruz. He has a certain way of doing things, and it works for all the other luchadores, just not him. Tiago tells him to give it time. There's gotta be something out there that works for him. I wonder if he's thinking of his little sister when he says that, and if Anónimo reminds him of her? Violet tells Cruz that she feels like she should be doing more real superhero stuff, like taking down criminals by herself, testing her power's limits, and staying out late on a school night. He says she will when she's ready, therefore implying that she's not ready right now. If she rushes these things, she'll get hurt. She scoffs and says that Cascada thinks she's ready. They've been hanging out. Cruz thinks she's dangerous. He has Violet promise not to see her again and tells her to go home. Cascada saw the whole thing and thinks he was too rough on her. Violet agrees to meet with her tomorrow to take down a criminal all by herself. Cruz calls her the next day. He thought about what she said and decided to let her do more. He got a tip about a possible robbery of an armored transport from Lobo Labs, so she… can be backup. She claims that she can't do it tonight because she and Maya have to work on a project. Tiago gives Anónimo's mask back to him. He double-stitched it, so it should hold better. He also shows him some new character designs that he might like. He's not sure about changing his character. Tiago tells him that he's not no one, he's someone. Who is that someone? How he looks on the outside should reflect how he feels on the inside. He's never thought about it that way before. Okay, I don't know if this is a fast growing, platonic, non-toxic, not super traditionally masculine male friendship that is tricking my so called "gaydar", or if they like each other in a different way (which might make Anónimo gay and Tiago bi, since he's shown interest in a girl before). That being said, I am far from an expert on gender studies, sexuality, or the LGBTQIA+ community and its many flags and labels at large. Just today I watched a video about the bisexuality spectrum. And then it turns out there's a difference between sexual and romantic attraction? Why is figuring out your own identity so hard? Maybe I'll just get a pet for companionship. Anyway, Anónimo picks a bold design, but asks Tiago to add a cape, because when he sees luchadores with capes in the ring, he thinks it gives them flavor. Cruz came to the school because Catalina forgot her lunch again. She's just been using it as an excuse to see him. He complains about Violet (and possibly Cascada) by pretending that she's a luchador trainee, and Catalina complains about Black Scorpion by pretending that he's a colleague. And in a weird way, it's also kind of true? A mentor is a teacher in everything but name. "She" drives Cruz up a wall and has absolutely no discipline. "He" is super uptight and drives Catalina crazy. She feels like he's holding back his students from reaching their full potential. Cruz says that's the exact wrong way to teach. He sounds like the worst. Violet has told Maya that she's spending the night with Cascada, and she told Black Scorpion that they're working on a group project together. However, when they run into Cruz in the hallway, he asks about it, and Violet lies to him, which confuses Maya, who still thinks that her uncle and her mentor are two separate people. Speaking of secrets, it's clear that Tiago still hasn't told his parents about his passion for fashion yet. Feel free to make all the *Barbie*, *Bratz*, and *Rainbow High* jokes that you want. Anónimo tries on the outfit and loves it. He's exotic. That cape seems like it would be difficult or even impossible to move and fight in, but whatever. Tiago is not Edna Mode. Anónimo does tell Tiago that he has a gift though. For the first time, he feels like himself. He renames himself Estrella. Tiago draws a star around one of his eyes. Cruz is upset that he switched his character without talking to him first. He tells Tiago that he's the coach here, and has him leave. Violet meets Cascada on what looks like a tiny water tower that both reminds me of *Animaniacs* and slightly triggers my acrophobia, especially since these guys can't fly. It turns out that their job is the same one that Cruz was telling Violet about earlier. The SoCal Mafia wants to steal the weaponry in the Lobo Labs transport. Black Scorpion shows up. He's disappointed and angry at Violet. Then the mafia attacks the transport. He tells her to hang back while he stops them. Cascada says that's why she started hanging out with her. He's literally holding her back. He's teaching her discipline. She's teaching her to be reckless. She's helping her tap into all the mask has to offer, whereas he's tying her hands. Their arguing means they don't notice or even have a chance to stop the thieves from taking the weapons. Black Scorpion is hit. Cascada tells Violet to take care of one guy in a warehouse while she takes care of the other two outside, but Cruz doesn't want her to go in alone. It turns out that the big guy's weapon is a suit that gives him super strength. He and Black Scorpion are evenly matched like this. Violet tries using her new move on him, which Cascada also sees. However, he's heavier than Cascada is, and when he punches the ground, she's thrown far away and injured. Cruz takes her somewhere safe. She says she's fine, even though she's holding her knee. She apologizes to him, but he says it's fine. He's so restrictive about what she does because she's his family. He doesn't know what he'd do if anything happened to her. She tells him to go get the bad guy. He works with Cascada to disable the suit. They both agree that this one moment of desperate cooperation doesn't make them friends though. When he gets back, Violet is standing up, fully expecting to be yelled at, and admits that she deserves it. He just takes her home. Estrella comes into the gym the next day and tells him that he won his match. For the first time, he felt confident in the ring. He asks him to thank Tiago the next time he sees him. His costume gave him the freedom to be himself. Cruz looks at Tiago's sketchpad of luchador designs and calls him. He tells him that he left his sketchpad at the gym, and if he wants to swing by and grab it, he might have another luchador who's having some image issues who could use some help. Yep, this time it's Cruz's civilian and hero lives that intersect and help him understand what Violet is going through. That night, she tells Cruz that her leg is a little bruised, but she's fine. It could've been much worse, which she now realizes was his point. She knows his rules, restrictions, and lectures are meant to keep her safe, but sometimes she wants to be more than safe. She's his family, and he cares about what happens to her. And you and Cascada care about and like each other too, you just haven't realized it yet. That being said, Violet is also a superhero, and she deserves to be treated like one. He agrees to give her more freedom from now on, like testing out that tornado move every once in a while. We never see her use it again, or unlock any other powers. The next day, the others are having breakfast (or maybe even lunch) when Violet finally comes downstairs. Good thing it's Saturday. Tiago asks her why she's so exhausted this time. She gives him the workout excuse again, but he sees through it, since he didn't see her at Cruz's gym when he went there yesterday. He asks her why she's lying, and the episode ends on this tense cliffhanger. I mean, he wasn't there all day, and she didn't say when she did the workout. If I may go off on a bit of an odd tangent here: As a child, Cruz's actor, J. R. Villarreal, played Javier Mendez, a Mexican-American character in the 2006 film *Akeelah and the Bee*, which I watched an inordinate amount of times as a kid. Needless to say, it's perplexing to see and hear him as an adult in this, which is weird, because this almost never happens with me when it comes to other actors, even when I think it will. It could be because I didn't consciously recognize him until it was pointed out to me, or because it's weird seeing him as an adult now when the only role I remember seeing him play was when he was a child. But if I can handle a young Keke Palmer as the title character and also handle her voicing Aisha in one of the many Winx Club English dubs years later, along with Izzy Hawthorne in *Lightyear*, then I can handle this, even if it's live-action as well.