TV Review: Lucha Underground S2 E02, The Dark & The Mysterious

By Sachin Hingoo

Well hi there, Believers! We’re back at the Temple for episode two of the season.

We open on a recap of Mil Muertes’s victory over Prince Puma from last season, as well as a recap of the scene from the finale where Black Lotus killed her trainer, Dragon Azteca, and joined up with Dario Cueto. We also see the end of last week’s show, where Pentagon, Jr. broke the arm of Lucha Underground Champion, Mil Muertes.

Puma is working out while thinking about his loss to Muertes. In comes Pentagon, Jr. who thanks Puma for helping him to break more bones for his master, because Pentagon is all about those bones. He asks Puma to join him against the Disciples tonight, and says that after they win Puma will be next, because he has no fear. Puma doesn’t speak on the show but it’s pretty clear that he’s peeved. The two have a nice little battle that’s gorgeously shot (like most of this show), and Puma shoves Pentagon against the wall. This is how you agree to team up in Lucha Underground. We close in on Pentagon’s sweet new mask and… titles.

Lucha Underground! WHOMP WHOMP

Matt Striker welcomes us to the show and speculates about whether Vampiro is making Pentagon act this way. Vampiro reacts angrily and brushes Striker off. It’s odd that Vampiro isn’t acknowledging being Pentagon’s master, but I suppose he is meant to be on anti-psychotics and according to the zero medical training I have, forgetting that you are the master of a ninja skeleton who breaks arms as a blood sacrifice to you is a known side effect of such drugs.

Johnny Mundo, a pretty man who is arrogant, comes to the ring and will face a newcomer named Killshot. Killshot is a little generic but has a nice showing here and almost wins with a 450 splash off the top rope, but Mundo manages to kick out. Mundo picks up the victory after impressively kicking Killshot in the nads from behind, grabs a microphone, and proceeds to immediately shit-talk Mil Muertes when Cage appears. Cage’s gimmick is that he’s gigantic and on all the steroids. He says he’s a machine, which Johnny mocks. Cage reminds Mundo that he beat him last time they faced off, and the two make their way to the ring for a brawl. It’s pretty interesting to see that the crowd’s totally behind Cage here and against Mundo, when it was the opposite last season. The two fight for longer than I’d expect until Mundo retreats.

Next we’re in a hotel room, or a very nice bedroom anyhow, panning slowly around in yellow filter to Sexy Star, tied up in a chair at the mercy of Marty The Moth. He creepily tells her that his sister says it’s almost time for Star to spread her wings and go back to the Temple, but they’ll be coming with her. He has been petting a moth this whole time and, ew. I have no idea where this is going.

A long-haired dude is riding motorcycles in the desert and talking about courting danger. We see him get into a brawl at a gas station, with three lucha-masked bikers (yes, they’re wearing masks under their helmets). After taking them down, he says he’s PJ Black, the Darewolf (?!?), and he fears nothing. I’m not sure if he’s a literal werewolf or if that’s just a nickname–on this show either one is possible.

Back at the Temple, PJ Black debuts to a great ovation, and is facing off with The Mack. The Mack’s gimmick is that he looks slovenly but is incredibly athletic and agile. This is one of the things that only wrestling can provide–a dude with a big gut doing flips–and The Mack is great at it. After some back and forth, it surprisingly ends with The Mack picking up the victory, and giving the Darewolf a loss in his first match.

A new female luchador says she’s been called evil, sexy, and venomous, and we see her kicking all manner of ass. She says she’s debuting next week, and her name is Kobra Moon. Lucha Underground can definitely use some more female competitors since the only active one right now is Ivelisse, so that’s neat.

Catrina leads the three Disciples of Death to the ring. They pose briefly and remove their shrouds. Melissa Santos introduces Prince Puma, who comes out to a great ovation and is wearing a puma headdress that reads more as adorable than realistic. Pentagon is introduced and the crowd is just as into him as they are into Puma. Both guys definitely looked like stars here.

The two definitely have friction in the match, especially compared to the Disciples who are pretty seamless, being generic henchmen and all. Puma and Pentagon do eventually get the upper hand and win almost by accident. Pentagon and Puma face off and taunt each other, but when Puma turns his back, Pentagon hits him with a back-cracker and goes for the arm-breaker. Puma hip-tosses Pentagon to get out of the hold and Pentagon takes off, vowing to fight another day.

We see a dark room with two figures seated at a table, one hooded. A male voice talks about how he was supposed to inherit the mask worn by the other, but he chose a different path. He says that the hooded man must assume the responsibilities of the mask, and become the new Dragon Azteca. The hooded man reveals that he’s wearing Azteca’s mask and the voice says he’s happy with his choice of mask as the camera pans over to Rey Mysterio, Jr., the most famous modern luchador. He gets the Batman treatment here.

This was a pretty good episode of Lucha Underground, though not quite as explosive as last week. Still, four new characters were introduced–Kobra Moon, PJ Black, Rey Mysterio, and Dragon Azteca, Jr.–and there’s some groundwork for lots of different stories. The matches were all very good as usual, but I wouldn’t say any single match here is can’t-miss. I could’ve used some more Dario Cueto this week, but it’s cool that they pull back and focus on other characters instead of trying to get everyone into every episode. This was a pretty solid show all around, especially for the character stuff. 

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to look up Darewolves. Until next week, friends!