Control Z
Control Z | |
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Genre | Teen drama |
Created by |
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Directed by | Alejandro Lozano[1] |
Starring |
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Country of origin | Mexico |
Original language | Spanish |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Running time | 34–41 minutes |
Production company | Lemon Studios |
Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | 22 May 2020 present | –
Control Z is a Mexican teen drama streaming television series created by Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi and Miguel García Moreno and developed by Lemon Studios for Netflix,[2][3] that premiered on Netflix on 22 May 2020.[1] The show stars Ana Valeria Becerril, Michael Ronda, Yankel Stevan and Zion Moreno.[1] Shortly after its release, the series was renewed for a second season on 29 May 2020.[4]
Premise
During an assembly at Colegio Nacional (National School), a hacker exposes a huge secret of one of the students. This causes panic and humiliates a secretly transgender student. The hacker continues revealing students' secrets which causes numerous students to turn on one another. Sofía Herrera, an introverted teenager, tries to uncover who this hacker is before the dirt on her becomes public.
Cast and characters
- Ana Valeria Becerril as Sofía Herrera, the love interest of Javier and Raúl. She is a very observant and quiet student, often seen as an outsider by her peers and when secrets are revealed, she sets out to investigate who the hacker is. She is smart and very justice-driven, but normally has to keep the peace between Raúl and Javier and she can suffer from mental health problems a lot due to her family situation.
- Michael Ronda as Javier Williams, the new student and a brief love interest of Sofía. He quickly makes friends with Sofía on his first day at National School. He expresses romantic feelings for Sofia throughout the season and has a rivalry with Raúl, usually over the investigation and Sofía.
- Yankel Stevan as Raúl León, a love interest of Sofía. Just like Javier he expresses romantic feelings for Sofía throughout the season. He comes from quite a wealthy family and is initially one of the popular kids but later helps Sofía track down the hacker. He strongly dislikes Javier.
- Zión Moreno as Isabela de la Fuente, a transgender student and former girlfriend of Pablo. She was the most popular girl in the school and was liked by many boys but after it was revealed that she was transgender, she got harassed by multiple students and dumped by Pablo. (season 1)[5]
- Fiona Paloma as María Alexander, the twin sister of Natalia and fling of Pablo. She is often her sister's sidekick, but is nicer to people and always tries to make her friends happy. She feels very guilty about her fling with Pablo while he was dating Isabela.
- Andrés Baida as Pablo García, one of the popular students and ex-boyfriend of Isabela. He dumped Isabela in front of the school after her transgender reveals but tries to get back with her multiple times later, despite his fling with María. He is loyal to his friends and encourages Gerry to stop bullying Luis, but is proven as an unfaithful boyfriend.
- Patricio Gallardo as Gerardo "Gerry" Granda, a former student at National School and ex-boyfriend of Rosita. He is a closeted sexually curious but ideally straight guy who is exposed of watching gay porn. He bullied Luis a lot along with his minions, Darío and Ernesto, and crosses the line when he sends Luis into a coma. He is very aggressive and bottles up a lot of anger and insecurity inside but is shown to be empathetic and regrets what he did to Luis.
- Luis Curiel as Luis (season 1)
- Samantha Acuña as Alex
- Macarena García Romero as Natalia Alexander, one of the popular students and sister of María. She was the leader of the NONA event until her secret about her using money raised from NONA in order to buy expensive items for herself was exposed. She is very self-centred, focused, and goes to extreme lengths to get what she wants.
- Iván Aragón as Darío, one of Gerry's minions
- Xabiani Ponce de León as Ernesto, another of Gerry's minions
- Paty Maqueo as Rosa "Rosita" Restrepo, the ex-girlfriend of Gerry who breaks up with him after his secret is exposed. She takes over as the organizer of the NONA after Natalia is revealed to be stealing the money.
- Rodrigo Cachero as Miguel Quintanilla, the principal of National School. He is dating Sofia's mom and proposes, but is rejected. He has sex with a married teacher in spitefulness.
- Mauro Sánchez Navarro as Bruno, the person in charge of technology at the school who assists the hacker in revealing the secrets of the students.
- Kariam Castro as Valeria
- Ariana Saavedra as Regina
Episodes
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [6] | |
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1 | "Birthday Girl" (Spanish: "La chica del cumpleaños") | Alejandro Lozano | Adriana Pelusi | 22 May 2020 | |
Sofía, a highly observant student, makes friends with the new kid, Javier Williams. Luis, a defenseless person, gets bullied by Gerry. During a school assembly, a mysterious hacker reveals that popular student Isabela is transgender by blackmailing Raül, Natalia and Gerry, threatening to leak their secrets. As a result, Isabela's boyfriend, Pablo, dumps her. Sofía and Javier investigate to find the hacker while the hacker texts Isabela to take revenge on those who disclosed her and also Pablo, to which she replies "yes." | |||||
2 | "Victims" (Spanish: "Víctimas") | Alejandro Lozano | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar | 22 May 2020 | |
The hacker leaks the secrets of Raül, Natalia, Pablo, and Gerry by Isabela's request. Raül's private videos reveal his father, a politician, is corrupt. Natalia is revealed to be stealing the money she collected for the NONA party. Gerry's search history is leaked which shows that he watches gay porn. Finally, Pablo is revealed to have sent his intimate photos and videos to his "Honey Bunny," indicating he had been cheating on Isabela already. Nonetheless, Gerry still humiliates Isabela for her sexuality which evokes a mutual fight between Raül, Javier, and Gerry. They are all called to Principal Quintanilla's office while Sofía shows up to get clues about the hacker. While Sofía is in Quintanilla's office, she discovers that he plans to propose to Sofía's mother, Nora, who he is currently seeing romantically. Sofía also gets dragged in the game when the hacker starts sending photos of her and her supposedly deceased father, Fernando. Natalia, Raül, and Gerry face the consequences of their blunders at their homes. Luis admits that he is the real hacker and, as a result, is expelled from the school. | |||||
3 | "Idiots" (Spanish: "Idiotas") | Alejandro Lozano | Miguel García Moreno | 22 May 2020 | |
Enraged by Luis's revelation, Gerry decides to take revenge on him along with Pablo. Javier overhears their plan and follows them. Sofía approaches Luis to tell him that she knows that he lied about him being the hacker. He admits that he lied so he could get out of being bullied by Gerry. Gerry and his minions run after Luis to beat him up but Javier intervenes. Natalia is asked by Principal Quintanilla to return all the money she stole, but she already spent it all. She tries to collect money by selling her expensive goods. The hacker puts on a live event for Gerry to beat up Luis. Principal Quintanilla hears of this beforehand and locks Gerry in the auditorium. The students gather outside the school for the fight while Luis arrives too. Alex, a socially distant girl, unlocks Gerry, and he runs to the location of the fight. This leads to a massive affray. Sofía and Javier try to save Luis by evading the scene but Gerry drags Luis out of Javier's car and punches him hard, knocking him over. Luis hits the pavement and goes into a coma. Fernando leaves the book club to avoid Sofía so that he might not go to prison. | |||||
4 | "Night School" (Spanish: "Clase nocturna") | Bernardo de la Rosa | Adriana Pelusi | 22 May 2020 | |
Raül discovers that his parents have fled the country to avoid prosecution and left him a large sum of money. He buys an expensive bike and plans to throw a party at his house and invites the whole school. Gerry gets suspended from school because of his aggressive attack on Luis. Sofía receives a text from the hacker to go to Raül's party. Sofía obeys and attends the party while her mother goes on a date with Quintanilla. At the party, the hacker plays tricks on Sofía while Natalia discovers someone who lends money illegally. Quintanilla proposes to Nora to which she declines, fearing for her daughter's reaction. Sofía then notices the hacker's logo on walls and glasses which take her to the roof where she encounters Alex. Alex asks Sofía to jump into the pool from the roof as the hacker says or he will reveal her secret girlfriend. After much disapproval of Javier, Sofía jumps into the pool anyway. Javier, upset, leaves. Maria, Natalia's innocent-looking sister, is revealed to be Pablo's "Honey Bunny." Maria asks Pablo to stop seeing her as Isabela goes through consequences but then has sex with him. Raül, having a crush on Sofía, kisses her. Alex's girlfriend is revealed to be their Biology teacher, Gabriela. Raül and Sofía go in the basement to dry Sofía's clothes where they experience a shutdown. As Raül goes to check the fuse, Sofía is kidnapped by someone. | |||||
5 | "Face to Face" (Spanish: "Cara a cara") | Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi & Miguel García Moreno | 22 May 2020 | |
After holding Sofía hostage, her kidnapper takes her bracelet, subdues her again and drops her unconscious at her house. While in the truck, half-awake Sofía gathers clues. At home, Sofia argues with her mother and tells her to think about herself and not Sofia. Sofía reassembles the gathered clues and finds the truck with the help of Javier and Raül. The truck turns out to belong to Bruno, the school's IT guy. In Bruno's apartment, Sofía finds something of Javier's but does not tell him. After an attempted interrogation, Bruno escapes them and Javier is framed. At the school, Principal Quintanilla has sex with Susana, a married teacher. | |||||
6 | "How Well Do You Really Know Javier?" (Spanish: "¿Qué tanto conoces a Javier?") | Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi & Miguel García Moreno | 22 May 2020 | |
Sofía and Raül report to Quintanilla that Bruno is affiliated with the hacker. He may have also escaped with all his belongings. Sofía discovers that Javier had previously killed his friend, Guillermo Garaby, during a rite of passage. Maria shows symptoms of pregnancy. To pay Rosita the funds she had collected for the NONA, Natalia starts working for Joaquin, a drug dealer who gives her a loan. Sofía and Raül find a newspaper article of Guillermo's death and Sofía's bracelet in Javier's locker. Gerry keeps visiting Luis out of guilt. Sofía has memories of her father's death. Stressed, she runs to Raül and has sex with him. | |||||
7 | "Control Z" (Spanish: "Control Z") | Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi & Miguel García Moreno | 22 May 2020 | |
A look back at the last semester, Raül invites Natalia, Gerry, Maria, Pablo and others to his house where he shows off his father's antique collection and money. They start to record videos there but are interrupted by Raül's father. Raül gets blackmailed by someone unknown, later revealed to be Bruno, for ten thousand pesos or he will leak the videos showing his father's corruption. Raül realizes that his friends are only with him because of his money. Sofía desires a world without secrets and Raül forms a plan to give her just that. With the help of Bruno, Raül discovers that Fernando, Sofía's father, is alive and using an alias. Raül is revealed to be the one who leaked all the private information about everyone. He was also the one who blackmailed Alex to unlock Gerry. Furthermore, he was the one who sent Luis the lines to speak while confronting everybody at the huge fight. Jealous of Javier, Raül also framed him to be the hacker so Sofía would avoid him. | |||||
8 | "Public Enemy" (Spanish: "Enemigo público") | Alejandro Lozano & Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi & Miguel García Moreno | 22 May 2020 | |
Sofía and Raül report Javier to Quintanilla by showing him the video of Guillermo's murder. After initially reluctant to do so, he suspends Javier after Raül blackmails him by threatening to leak his sex video to Nora. Rosita succeeds in organizing the NONA. Raül helps in his father's arrest. At NONA, Natalia sells drugs to make up for her loan and Maria confesses to Pablo about her pregnancy. At the hospital, Luis dies in his coma, which infuriates Gerry. Pablo tries to rape Isabela but instead reveals to her that Maria was his "Honey Bunny." Sofía tricks Raül into confessing that he is the hacker, records his confession with the help of Javier, and plays it at the NONA. Raül tries to make it out of the NONA by threatening to leak everyone's secrets, but Pablo punches him. As a result, Raül reveals the secrets of everyone at NONA, including Sofía and Javier. The revelations cause a massive affray again during which Natalia's collected money is lost. Gerry, upon realizing Raül is the hacker, shows up to NONA and confronts him with a gun. Raül reveals that Luis liked Gerry. Gerry tries to shoot him, but Javier gets shot instead. The show ends with an aerial shot zooming out. |
References
- ^ a b c d e f "'Control Z': la nueva serie original de Netflix para México parece una telenovela juvenil de hackers". xataka.com.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ Albornoz, Maye. "Control Z primera serie original de Lemon Studios para Netflix se hizo pensando en los adolescentes". produ.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ Jiménez, Gonzalo. "Netflix revela sus nuevas películas y series hechas en México". cnet.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ Ramos, Alejandra. "Control Z: Hacker confirma segunda temporada". CNET en Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ ""Control Z": Zion Moreno no estará en la segunda temporada de la serie de Netflix" (in Spanish). Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ "Control Z – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
External links
- 2020 Mexican television series debuts
- 2020s high school television series
- 2020s LGBT-related drama television series
- 2020s teen drama television series
- Mexican drama television series
- Mexican LGBT-related television shows
- Spanish-language Netflix original programming
- Television series about bullying
- Television series about teenagers
- Television series produced by Lemon Films
- Transgender-related television shows
- Works about computer hacking