Lucha Underground: A Much Darker Place

January 28, 2016 8:39 AM - Season 2, Episode 1

The Temple is open for business again.

Vampiro is released from from a mental institution. Catrina is running things at the Temple while Dario Cueto is in exile. In "official" matches:

* King Cuerno defeated Fenix
* Ivelisse defeated her Dysfunctional teammates, Son of Havoc and Angelico
* Mil Muertes defeated Ivelisse

In unofficial funny business, Prince Puma intercedes on Invelisse's behalf after her teammates were removed from the arena by Catrina's three skeletal goons, and Pentagon Jr. kicks off what looks to be another season of armbreaking by...breaking Mil Muerte's arm. Also, Dario Cueto may now be feeding pilgrims to his new temple, i.e. audience members, to his brother? And Black Lotus is helping? That's over the top even for Cueto, but did seem to be the implication.

posted by Ipsifendus (10 comments total)

That triple-threat match actually made me think that Ivelisse could beat Mil Muertes, or at least put on a good match with him, and it paid off well. I didn't get a chance to get into Season One (but I read With Spandex's Everything You Need To Know), so I'm still kind of "Wait, who's that?", but this was a good starting point.
posted by Etrigan at 7:18 AM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

How serious is LU compared to, say, CHIKARA?
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:17 PM on January 29, 2016

From my vast experience of one episode, it looks like it's (unsurprisingly, being on El Rey) like From Dusk Till Dawn, which is either a very serious vampire movie or a totally non-serious vampire movie, depending on how you define it. There's death and (storyline) broken bones and a very gritty feel to it, but it's all very kayfabe and not "time-traveling drum major" wink-wink like CHIKARA.
posted by Etrigan at 1:32 PM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

How serious is LU compared to, say, CHIKARA?

It's bonkers like CHIKARA, without CHIKARA's self-awareness. Everything is played totally straight. I personally prefer CHIKARA's willingness to loosen up and have fun with their material, but I recognize that there's a place for LU's style, and fortunately I don't have to choose between the two.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 2:10 PM on January 29, 2016

You know how a lot of the Chikara matches were named for They Might Giants or Talking Heads songs? If Lucha Underground was going to do that, they'd probably be using Ramones and Misfits songs.
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:34 PM on January 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

I thought it was a good start to season 2. They introduced some of the major players, set up some new storylines for the season.I thought that the enthusiasm of Striker & Vampiro seemed very real. I wish they had updated us on so many storylines, but there's only so much you can do in one hour.

It seems like word of mouth has really built up since the first season. I've seen some coverage on mainstream sites like Salon & Rolling Stone.
posted by Burgoo at 10:12 AM on January 30, 2016

Jim Cornette hates LU with a passion, presumably because he didn't come up with it.
posted by Etrigan at 7:21 AM on February 1, 2016

Jim Cornette is the walking embodiment of the axiom, "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:39 AM on February 1, 2016 [2 favorites]

Season 3 is a go.
posted by Etrigan at 10:43 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I just love LU. Its all the funniest parts of wrestling and women are treated like people and I allow myself to get scared and I just enjoy that hour of television. I loved how the first episode started with vampiro! And ivelisse is such a badass. I super love how mil is going to sit on a throne above everyone. Yikes. How scary. Anyway. Yay! To the third season
posted by goneill at 12:41 PM on February 6, 2016