Zorro 1.23 - The Secret of the Sierras

Plot: Garcia is back to being acting Comandante! Which doesn’t save him from winding up with egg on his gut as a result of Bernardo entertaining the children with his sleight of hand. Across the square, a young woman named Marya is having a little trouble buying food, because the shopkeeper won’t take her pretty stones. Also, the shopkeeper is highly prejudiced against her, because he says she’s a Gypsy, and her mother is a witch. Marya retorts that it’s her grandmother who is a curadera, which is not the same as a witch. Intrigued by all this, Diego pays her for the stones, so she can pay the man. Another fellow, a prospector from Mexico named Verdago, asks to see the stones, and tells Diego he was suckered, that they’re pyrite. Verdago is oddly reluctant to return them to Diego considering that, and he also rushes off to tell the Magistrado of his discovery.

At the hacienda, Diego and Alejandro examine the rocks and determine they are gold, and Alejandro is most concerned at what a gold rush could do to the country. He asks Diego to find the girl and ask her to keep her gold a secret. Which means a chat with her grandmother, who Diego approaches on the pretext on needing a love potion for Bernardo. Which prompts the old woman to comment he may need several. Ouch. During all this, Diego learns the old woman received the nuggets from an injured Native American woman Marya found and brought to her for treatment. It is then she mentions Marya went off with two men an hour ago, and yep, it’s Verdago and another of the Magistrado’s goons. Despite Marya’s insistence they don’t travel any further up the mountain, as she was warned not to by the woman, they press forward. By this point, Diego and Bernardo catch up, and Diego switches to Zorro and continues up. Verdago finds the mine, and promptly decides to double-cross the Magistrado, keeping the gold for himself and the other guy. Marya takes advantage of their being preoccupied and flees, right past a startled Zorro, and on down to her horse and safety. Seeing Zorro keeps Verdago’s partner from pursuing her, and he retreats into the mine, Zorro hot on his heels.

He finds Verdago, clearly unimpressed, and ready to fight, since Zorro neglected to bring a sword, only a knife. The partner gets cold feet and tries to take off with the gold, only to get an arrow in the back, and the knife fight is interrupted by some irate Native Americans, who also have Bernardo in tow. Zorro tries to reason with them for his and Bernardo’s freedom, arguing he doesn’t want their gold, but these guys know what the promises of white men are worth – jack spit. So Zorro tries to play Bernardo off as a sorcerer, and Bernardo’s able to use one of the love potions to create a flashbang effect and they and Verdago escape. Except Verdago won’t leave behind his gold, and he gets buried in the rockslide the Native Americans start to hide the mine.

Quote of the Episode: Diego – ‘The Magistrado is a dangerous enough enemy without the power of gold.’

Times Zorro marks a “Z”: 0 (10 overall)

Other: Alejandro told Diego he didn’t want any foreigners invading and ruining “their” land. Oh my sides, you’re killing me. I’m sure the Native Americans were playing the world’s smallest violin just for him.

They sure let that shopkeeper bad mouth Romany people. Talking about them being liars and thieves and such, and Diego didn’t do anything to dispute it, even if he clearly didn’t agree with it. Little disappointed there.

I’m glad the chief was not impressed by Bernardo’s pocketwatch. He pegged it right off as what white men use to tell time. Teach them to underestimate that guy’s intelligence. Serious question, though: Did Native Americans build mines like that, with the shoring timbers? I’m not ruling it out, I just don’t know how widespread that technique is when it comes to mining.

At one point, Marya asks not to continue because the rattlesnake painted on the rock is a symbol for death, and Verdago retorts he isn’t afraid of superstitions. Unfortunately for him and his partner, arrows and rocks are not powered by belief.

This is the second week in a row Zorro got unmasked. Diego is really off his game lately. He didn’t have his cape with him this time, in addition to his sword. I guess the former would be too hard to conceal, and he wouldn’t want to answer any questions about why the peaceful scholar Diego was carrying a sword.

I feel like they’re dragging this Eagle plot out, which is too bad, because it has another 16 episodes to go. I know they’re trying to present him as this powerful figure with many lackeys and far-reaching goals, but let’s start to see something definitive, instead of the Magistrado or Ortega just blindly gesturing in the direction of whatever half-assed plan they can come up with that might produce money or discontent.