Zorro 1.17 - Sweet Face of Danger

Plot: Yet another carriage rides hell for leather into the square, as the Magistrado investigates an eagle feather in his office. A man with a scar enters to tell him that there is a messenger on the carriage but also a spy of the viceroy. The Magistrado clips a large section of the feather out, then hands it to his lackey. Outside, Garcia and Diego discuss methods of weight loss (the Sergeant is trying to eat smaller breakfasts), when the spy is struck down by an arrow in the back. Garcia fears Indian attack, and begins to call out the lancers, only to be overruled by the Magistrado. Diego is left wondering why the dead man has an eagle feather on it, but has deciphered at least part of the code, that pertaining to death orders. Further investigation will have to wait, because an old friend of Alejandro’s has come to visit, and brought his marriageable daughter, Magdalena, with him, as she has just returned from Mexico City. Diego tries to beg off, and gets berated to at least try to behave like a gentleman, if he can’t be one. Ouch. As it turns out, Magdalena is quite lovely, and Diego doesn’t object to their father’s sending them out on a carriage ride together, with Magda’s aunt Inez along for the ride.

They reach town, where Diego tries to learn what happened to the dead man (he’s already buried), and to foist Inez off on the sergeant, by telling him it would improve his chances of promotion to permanent Comandante if he married a wealthy widow of high social standing. So the Sergeant hoists himself into the carriage, and Inez is quite taken with him, to the extent of asking him to escort her to the party Alejandro will have tomorrow night. Diego and Magdalena are getting along quite well, until the sergeant asks if they ought to be getting back. It’s at this point Magdalena mentions being on the carriage, and Diego mentions that a man riding on it was killed this morning, which shakes her a bit.

The story jumps to the party, where everyone is having a good time. Garcia even seems to be enjoying Inez’ attentions. The Magistrado arrives, fashionably late, and pulls Magda aside for a conversation. Diego observes her passing him an eagle feather, bumps into the Magistrado so he can steal it, then uses Garcia as a distraction so he can clip a large section of it before slipping it back into the pocket he got it from, thinking this will seal the Magistrado’s fate. Wrong, he’s made it an execution order for Magda, and he and Bernardo can only watch helplessly as the scar-faced man rides off in pursuit of Magda and her father’s coach. Diego is ready to pursue, but has to figure out how to slip away from the wine-tasting his father drags him into. That accomplished, Zorro rides off, stops the assassin (who winds up stuck with his own knife), and keeps the coach from going over a cliff. Afterward, Zorro explains he knows she’s a spy working with someone willing to kill the innocent right in front of her dad, then rides off. Diego narrowly makes it back before his absence (covered as best as possible by Bernardo) is noticed.

Quote of the Episode: Alejandro – ‘About a beautiful woman and wealth, people make scandals, my son. A gentleman does not listen.’

Times Zorro marks a “Z”: 0 (9 overall).

Other: Magda had been back in town for one day, and Alejandro already wanted to announce she and Diego were getting engaged. Slow down a little, man. I do wonder how Don Francisco will explain things to Alejandro. Zorro told her to leave and go back to Mexico City, and I’m guessing that’s what she’ll do. That’s going to be interesting to explain delicately, since I doubt Francisco will want to talk about the murders she’s connected to. Assuming he believes Zorro, but Magda didn’t try to deny it, and Zorro did save them, so I imagine he will. It’s funny, Zorro told Magda he couldn’t say why he bothered to save her, when it seems obvious he could just say he saw no reason for her father to die for her sins, or for the old man to have to suffer the loss of his daughter. He was in a hurry, though.

Garcia isn’t too bad with the ladies. He doesn’t mind dancing, he will perform the customary acts – kissing the hand, doffing the hat, fanning the lady – even if it takes him a moment to start. He was at least a little modest about his career as a soldier, if not about his appetite for food and wine. Actually, the Magistrado tried to get a burn in on him during the wine sampling by suggesting Garcia try a funnel. Except the sergeant, ever the practical sort, stopped to actually consider the possibility. Don’t worry, though, the Magistrado insulted him prior to that by responding to Garcia saying ‘I thought. . .’ with, ‘When did you start?’

In some ways, the Magistrado is worse for Garcia than Monastario. The Capitan was full of overblown anger and outsized, childish insults. Baboso, stupid idiot. Some of it was Monastario was an ass, but a lot of times, I think he was just blowing off steam. The Magistrado is occasionally frustrated, but mostly, I think he just enjoys making cutting remarks about the sergeant. Especially if he can do it in front of other people, to make Garcia look bad. I know, big surprise, bad guy is also a bad human being.

Maybe it’s because they’ve been playing up Garcia’s desire to improve his social status more. He keeps hoping he will get to remain as Comandante, with an accompanying promotion, which would presumably mean more pay, and more respect. And here’s the Magistrado, a man who already has the wealth, status, and respect Garcia craves, constantly belittling him. Monastario, whatever pretensions he had, was still just a soldier. An officer, but a soldier, like Garcia. He was hoping to make his fortune in California by using his position, but not through legal means, because a soldier couldn’t get far enough that way. You could tell Alejandro and the other dons look at him askance at least as much because they think they’re hot shit as because Monastario was a criminal scumbag. The Viceroy and his daughter were much the same, barely concealing their contempt for this Captain trying to be smooth and refined. But we don’t mind then, because Monastario’s a bad guy, whereas Garcia is sort of a gentle clod, and the Magistrado is a murdering crook.