Zorro 1.28 - Zorro By Proxy

Plot: We open with Raquel Toledano paying a visit to Quintana in the tavern. She reveals that she is also an agent of the Eagle, and until further notice, Quintana and Enrique will take orders from her. It's then she learns that their gunpowder has gone missing (this episode apparently starts the morning after last week's), thanks to Zorro. Raquel remains calm, and dupes Garcia into leading the lancers into the hills to search for the gunpowder, where they almost stumble across Diego and Bernardo as they try to hide it. The search party is scattered, with only Garcia in the vicinity, so Diego sends Tornado out to draw the sergeant away, trusting in Garcia's belief that having Zorro's horse would enable him to catch Zorro.

Everything is going well, until a helpful Corporal Reyes snags Tornado, not that he recognizes what he's caught. He's too busy trying to figure out why Garcia's horse changed color, and why, once back at the cuartel, he's having to paint the horse. Garcia says he just wants it to look like it used, but it's going to be hard to convince anyone it's his old horse when it's bringing him buckets of water and scratching his back. It's about this time Diego comes by, and when Garcia isn't looking, gives Tornado hand signals which the horse naturally obeys. Unfortunately for Diego, Enrique was watching, for the Commandante's office where he and Raquel are going over all the reports of Zorro's activities. Which means it's time for someone to suspect Diego of being Zorro. Raquel is unconvinced, but when Diego comes by to check in, he asks if she left the office at any time after that message arrived, but before Diego returned with Sergeant Garcia. She claims she saw Reyes slip in, then back out again, but now she's concerned Diego's asking too many questions. She's still not convinced he's Zorro, but she's willing to try something to find out, and she ropes Garcia into it.

So the sergeant brings Diego to the tavern to treat Diego to a drink, which should have been the first warning, then Diego is lured into the back and clocked over the head by Quintana. Quintana throws on a Zorro outfit, runs out into the tavern, fights with Garcia for about 5 seconds, then retreats and puts the outfit on Diego, claiming, he saw Zorro run in here and was able to surprise him. Which is how an irate Diego winds up in a cell, yelling at Garcia for betraying him. The sergeant is apologetic, but insists Diego not worry, since the real Zorro will no doubt come to save Diego. Yeah, about that. . . That evening, as lancers patrol the rooftops and Garcia sleeps in front of Diego's cell, he motions Tornado over, and the horse is able to grab the keys off Garcia's chair and pass them to Diego. Then Diego makes a makeshift Zorro costume out of his bedding, and makes Garcia let him out of the cuartel. Before he can leave on Tornado, Reyes spots him, and a lancer is able to lasso Zorro off his horse. Which leads to a lot of scrambling around before Zorro escapes anyway, with everyone believing he already helped Diego escape.

Quote of the Episode: Diego - 'I've said aloud your honesty and integrity are above question, and the you proceed to betray me, and for what?!'

Times Zorro marks a "Z": 0 (13 overall).

Other: Bit of a filler episode this week, what with all the horse hijinks, and the increased Garcia/Reyes interaction. We already knew Raquel was no good, and this plot episode didn't really advance the overarching plot any. I doubt Diego realizes this was the work of the Eagle, no doubt believing it's just another harebrained scheme to capture Zorro.

I wonder if Raquel trying to cast suspicion on Corporal Reyes will backfire on her. Will Diego buy in, or does he know the corporal well enough to realize that guile isn't really in his arsenal? If it's the latter, will that cause him to watch Raquel more carefully? He's already had a run in with one female agent of the Eagle, he ought to be on the lookout for more.

I'm impressed this show keeps track of things its referenced as well as it does. I was expecting more of a situation where the characters are starting fresh each episode, like the Simpsons do sometimes, where big events are just forgotten by the next episode, and the status quo restored. But Garcia's belief that having a better horse is all that keeps Zorro from his grasp has been established previously, and it's used again here, to explain why the sergeant wouldn't call the lancers over once he saw Tornado.