Control Z
| Control Z | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Teen drama |
| Created by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Opening theme | "San Diego" by Hinds |
| Ending theme | "Hold Your Horses On" by Lasser Drakar featuring Stag Girls |
| Country of origin | Mexico |
| Original language | Spanish |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 16 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Running time | 34–41 minutes |
| Production company | Lemon Studios |
| Distributor | Netflix |
| Release | |
| Original network | Netflix |
| Original release | 22 May 2020 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
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,[1][2] that premiered on Netflix on 22 May 2020.[3] The show stars Ana Valeria Becerril, Michael Ronda, Yankel Stevan and Zión Moreno.[3] Shortly after its release, the series was renewed for a second season on 29 May 2020.[4] Season 2 was released on 4 August 2021.[5]
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 closeted 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[]
Main[]
- Ana Valeria Becerril as Sofía Herrera, her love interests are 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 suffers from mental health problems due to her family situation.
- Michael Ronda as Javier Williams, the new student and a love interest of Sofía. He quickly makes friends with Sofía on his first day at National School. He expresses romantic feelings for Sofía throughout the season and has a rivalry with Raúl, usually over the investigation and Sofía. He is the son of a retired footballer, Damian Williams, but refuses the coach's requests for him to play for the school team.
- 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 (season 1),[6] 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 trans, she got harassed by multiple students and dumped by Pablo.
- Luis Curiel as Luis Navarro (season 1; guest season 2), a quiet student who enjoys drawing. He is often bullied by Gerry, Ernesto and Dario, but is helped by Sofía and Javier.
- Samantha Acuña as Alex, a lesbian student who is in a relationship with her teacher Gabriela and is talented with computers.
- Macarena García Romero as Natalia Alexander, one of the popular students and twin sister of María. She was in charge of organizing the NONA event until the secret about her using money raised from it in order to buy expensive items for herself was exposed. She is very self-centred, focused, and goes to extreme lengths to achieve what she wants.
- Fiona Paloma as María Alexander, the twin sister of Natalia who is secretly having a fling with Pablo. She is often her sister's sidekick, but is nicer to people and always tries to make her friends happy. She feels guilty about being 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 she was exposed for being trans, but tries to reconcile with her multiple times later, despite cheating with María. He is loyal to his friends and encourages Gerry to stop bullying Luis, but is revealed to be 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 heterosexual boy who is exposed for watching gay pornography. He constantly bullied Luis 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 his mistreatment of Luis.
- 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, Gerry's ex-girlfriend 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 Sofía's mother and proposes, but is rejected. He has sex with Susana in spitefulness.
- Rocío Verdejo as Nora, Sofía's mother.
- Mauro Sánchez Navarro as Bruno (season 1), the person in charge of technology at the school who assists the hacker in revealing the secrets of the students.
- Lidia San José as Gabriela, a Biology teacher who is fired from National School after her relationship with Alex is exposed
- Thanya López as Susana, one of the teachers at National School
- Renata del Castillo as Lulú, Quintanilla's secretary at National School
- Arturo Barba as Fernando Herrera, Sofía's father and Nora's husband who fakes his own death
- Kariam Castro as Valeria
- Ariana Saavedra as Regina
- Ana Sofía Gatica as Claudia (season 2)
Recurring[]
- Alexander Holtmann as Lalo de la Fuente (season 1), Isabela's father
- Nastassia Villasana as Bety de la Fuente (season 1), Isabela's mother
- Marco Zunino as Damián Williams, Javier's father and a retired footballer
- Susana Lozano as Gerry's mother
- Ricardo Crespo as Gerry's father
- Daniela Zavala as Alondra de León (season 1), Raúl's mother
- Alejandro Ávila as Roberto de León (season 1), Raúl's father
- Rodrigo Mejía as Natalia's father
- Citlali Galindo as Natalia's mother
- Cristian Santin as Güero
- Fabián Mejía as Salvador (season 1)
- Cuitlahuac Santoyo as Gibrán
- Sandra Burgos as Marta, Luis's mother
- Pablo de la Rosa as Jordi
- David Montalvo as Joaquín (season 1)
- Pierre Louis as Felipe "Pipe" (season 2)
Episodes[]
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 22 May 2020 | |||
| 2 | 8 | 4 August 2021 | |||
Season 1 (2020)[]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [7] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Birthday Girl" (Spanish: "Ku 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 Raúl, 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 | 2 | "Victims" (Spanish: "Víctimas") | Alejandro Lozano | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar | 22 May 2020 | |
| The hacker leaks the secrets of Raúl, Natalia, Pablo, and Gerry by Isabela's request. Raúl'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 gender identity which evokes a mutual fight between Raúl, 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, Raúl, 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 | 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 | 4 | "Night School" (Spanish: "Clase nocturna") | Bernardo de la Rosa | Adriana Pelusi | 22 May 2020 | |
| Raúl 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 Raúl'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. Raúl, having a crush on Sofía, kisses her. Alex's girlfriend is revealed to be their Biology teacher, Gabriela. Raúl and Sofía go in the basement to dry Sofía's clothes where they experience a shutdown. As Raúl goes to check the fuse, Sofía is kidnapped by someone. | ||||||
| 5 | 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 Raúl. 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 | 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 Raúl 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 Raúl 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 Raúl and has sex with him. | ||||||
| 7 | 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, Raúl 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 Raúl's father. Raúl 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. Raúl realizes that his friends are only with him because of his money. Sofía desires a world without secrets and Raúl forms a plan to give her just that. With the help of Bruno, Raúl discovers that Fernando, Sofía's father, is alive and using an alias. Raúl 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, Raúl also framed him to be the hacker so Sofía would avoid him. | ||||||
| 8 | 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 Raúl report Javier to Quintanilla by showing him the video of Guillermo's murder. After initially reluctant to do so, he suspends Javier after Raúl blackmails him by threatening to leak his sex video to Nora. Rosita succeeds in organizing the NONA. Raúl 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 Raúl into confessing that he is the hacker, records his confession with the help of Javier, and plays it at the NONA. Raúl tries to make it out of the NONA by threatening to leak everyone's secrets, but Pablo punches him. As a result, Raúl 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 Raúl is the hacker, shows up to NONA and confronts him with a gun. Raúl reveals that Luis liked Gerry. Gerry tries to shoot him, but Javier gets shot instead. The show ends with an aerial shot zooming out. | ||||||
Season 2 (2021)[]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "You Can't Bury the Past" (Spanish: "No se puede enterrar el pasado") | Alejandro Lozano & Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar & Miguel García Moreno | 4 August 2021 |
| 10 | 2 | "The Return" (Spanish: "El Regreso") | Alejandro Lozano & Bernardo de la Rosa | Florencia Castillo | 4 August 2021 |
| 11 | 3 | "Needs" (Spanish: "Necesidades") | Bernardo de la Rosa & Alejandro Lozano | Miguel García Moreno | 4 August 2021 |
| 12 | 4 | "Nothing to Hide" (Spanish: "Nada que esconder") | Alejandro Lozano & Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar | 4 August 2021 |
| 13 | 5 | "New Pleasures" (Spanish: "Nuevos placeres") | Bernardo de la Rosa & Alejandro Lozano | Florencia Castillo & Carlos Quintanilla Sakar | 4 August 2021 |
| 14 | 6 | "A Minute of Silence" (Spanish: "Un minuto de silencio") | Alejandro Lozano & Bernardo de la Rosa | Carlos Quintanilla Sakar & Florencia Castillo | 4 August 2021 |
| 15 | 7 | "Control Z" | Alejandro Lozano & Bernardo de la Rosa | Miguel García Moreno & Carlos Quintanilla Sakar | 4 August 2021 |
| 16 | 8 | "The Ultimate Revenge" (Spanish: "La última venganza") | Bernardo de la Rosa & Alejandro Lozano | Miguel García Moreno | 4 August 2021 |
References[]
- ^ 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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "'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.
- ^ Ramos, Alejandra. "Control Z: Hacker confirma segunda temporada". CNET en Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ "Control Z Season 2 | Date Announcement | Netflix". YouTube. July 7, 2021.
- ^ ""Control Z": Zion Moreno no estará en la segunda temporada de la serie de Netflix" (in Spanish). Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Control Z – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
External links[]
Categories:
- 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