In Ortega’s office, the Magistrado demands to see results,
and tells Ortega he’s received messages from the Eagle suggesting he isn’t
pleased with Ortega’s work. But the false Comandante is sure the peons
will try to rescue this Zorro, and when they do, he will capture some of them
and they will tell him how to find the real Zorro. While Ortega inspects the
gallows with Garcia, several peons arrive outside the cuartel with suspicious
carts. Diego advises them to go home, but each group reiterates
the same message: Zorro is a hero to them, their only protection from the
cruelty of those in power who abuse the law. Soon, they try to block the gates
of the cuartel with the carts to give themselves time to free Zorro, only to
have him call for the lancers. By this time, Bernardo had returned, and the
true Zorro rides out and tells them to flee, and the fake’s mask is removed,
showing him to be one of the lancers. As Zorro also beats a hasty retreat,
Tornado stumbles and Zorro is thrown from his horse. This gives Ortega time to
lasso him, but his triumph is shortlived. Zorro’s able to brace himself against
a well, and Ortega is pulled off his horse, saddle and all.
Zorro may have escaped, but the lancers captured Tornado,
and Ortega announces an auction. Again, he plans to arrest any “suspicious”
people who bid on the horse, then force them to tell him who Zorro is. He also
specifically orders his lackey Roberto not to explain this to Garcia, who will
be conducting the auction, so Garcia doesn’t get confused. Unfortunately, this
means Garcia thinks he can buy the horse, and Diego is nice enough to loan him
the money, which he gives to Corporal Reyes to bid for him. Unfortunately,
Reyes doesn’t understand bidding, and so even though he’s the only one making
bids, the price keeps going up, because he keeps raising his bid each time
Garcia announces the current bid. Still, he gets a really nice horse for just
205 pesos, but also gets chewed out by Ortega.
That night, Bernardo tries to sneak out and feed Tornado,
only to be observed by Roberto, who starts whipping him, while demanding
answers. To Bernardo’s credit, he keeps up the disguise of being deaf, not that
it stops the whipping. Crawling into the corral does, because Tornado is more
than willing to protect him, and Roberto is more than willing to whip a horse.
Because he’s an asshole. In the process, he knocks over one of the torches
ringing the corral, starting a fire. Things get worse for him, because
Tornado’s a little more than he can handle, and he winds up stomped (though
probably not dead). By then, Bernardo has alerted Diego, who goes back
upstairs, changes to Zorro, swings down, frees his horse, and rides away, much
to Garcia’s relief.
Quote of the Episode: Juan – ‘I’m sorry, patron, but this
man, Zorro, may be a bandit and outlaw in the eyes of the law, but he is the
only one standing between us and the whipping post!’
Times Zorro marks a “Z”: 0 (10 overall).
Other: Garcia finally called Reyes a “baboso”. We haven’t
had one of those since episode 10, when Garcia was supposed to keep that judge
occupied.
I’m not sure, but I wonder if the lancer posing as Zorro was
Leon, the one I thought died from the knife in the back last week. He and
Roberto seemed to be Ortega’s loyal, personal goons, and Roberto was busy
outside the cell. Although, I think it was Roberto who shoved an old woman at
the start of this episode for not being happy they captured Zorro. She replied
that Zorro wasn’t an outlaw to the poor, and that he protected them from the
likes of the soldier. Then he proved her point. At first, though, I thought he
was the same lancer who was so quick to believe Garcia had stolen the soldiers’
pay back in episode 15. There was one lancer in particular who was ready to
basically hang him right off.
Ortega’s plans, both of them, were. . . not good. Really
stupid, in fact. I guess the first one stems from a reasonable place. Neither
he, nor the Magistrado, nor Monastario for that matter, could accept that this
one guy can constantly elude them and thwart their plans so easily. They’re
smart, resourceful fellows, with the full weight of a garrison at their
disposal. Zorro must likewise have an army supporting him. But it doesn’t take
into account the peons might still try to rescue Zorro, even if they don’t know
who he is. But the end result of that would mean Ortega orders the
interrogation and likely, the whipping, of some innocent fellow who can’t tell him
anything, and Ortega’s not the sort to lose sleep over that. The auction plan
was just idiotic. The Magistrado already told him last week the peons don’t
have much money, yet they’re the ones he suspects of working with Zorro. How
the hell are they going to buy his horse? So who was the suspicious person
going to be?
I like that when Diego saw Roberto lashing at Tornado, he
nearly broke his cover and charged in there. Bernardo barely held him back. We
see that from Diego occasionally, when he can’t play the unconcerned popinjay,
and has to at least make a cutting remark or observation. And sometimes you can
even see him straighten up a little, like he wants to hit the person. This is
one of the few times so far where the identity he’s made for himself slips
almost entirely. It’s just fortunate everyone was too preoccupied with putting
out the fire to notice.
Garcia tried to use Reyes as a proxy to buy Tornado for him,
but since it was really Diego’s money, I guess Diego used Garcia instead. Oh
well, Sergeant, better luck next time. Maybe you can still catch Zorro, even if
he does have his better horse back, in addition to be being a better rider than
you. And braver, too, I suppose.
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