Zorro 2.23 - The Brooch

Plot: Gonzales arrives at the de la Vega hacienda with a buggy. He's here to collect Anita's luggage, as her near disastrous attempt to reach the mission last week has done nothing to change Alejandro's mind about sending her back to Spain. This means Gonzales gets the cold shoulder from Cresencia, for helping to send the girl away. Like it's his idea. Cresencia holds out hope Diego will not let them send Anita away, but inside, Diego is struggling to make his case with no physical evidence to support Anita. Just then, Anita enters the room, and Alejandro notices a brooch she is wearing, and becomes agitated. He eventually explains the brooch belonged to Diego's mother, and 4 years ago, Alejandro donated it to the church to be auctioned off. Anita had received it as a gift from her father, who must have been at the auction. Which means he exists.

Diego, Alejandro, and Sergeant Garcia haul it for the church, with Anita being left behind under Bernardo's watchful eye. In town, Raimundo and his vaquero buddy watch someone enter the church first, and then go back to ransacking that person's home. They don't find any jewels or valuables, but they do find Anita's letters, both the ones she sent, and those she received. Raimundo decides they should wait for the resident to return. Meanwhile, Diego and the others reach the church. The padre isn't there, but they step inside to check his journal, only to find the page in question missing. Then comes an odd sequence where Diego finds the shopkeeper, Senor Avila, lurking outside the door, and he falls under suspicion, until he explains he was looking for Garcia to report that those two vaqueros tried to rob his store. Also, Diego notes that whoever stole the page had dirty hands and smudged the book, and Senor Avila's hands are clean. So Garcia goes off to search for someone with dirty hands, other than himself, leaving Diego and Alejandro waiting for the padre to return, to see if he can recall who bought the brooch, four years ago. Meanwhile, the mysterious figure has returned home, only to get promptly knocked over the head by Raimundo, who plans to ransom him to Anita.

Back at the hacienda, a small boy comes looking for Anita with a message. He has a note for her, telling her where to go to find her father, and that she better bring cash. The boy says he was promised a coin, and Anita gives him that big horse statuette that sits in the cabinet in the sala (where the secret passage is). Of course, Bernardo was listening in said secret passage, so Anita has to outsmart him. It takes a few tries, but she manages it. Out into the desert she goes, and she does find her father, held captive by Raimundo. And her father is. . . Gonzales. Anita willingly gives Raimundo her money, but, of course, he can't let them live. But he didn't count on Anita packing a derringer. She and her father manage to dash into the rocks, though Gonzales does get wounded in the shoulder. But now he's using the gun, even if he is up against two enemies. But as Raimundo tries to sneak behind them, here comes Zorro. He chases Raimundo further up the hillside, dodging rocks, until Raimundo reaches the top, picks up a frankly not very big rock, overbalances, and falls to his death in a ravine. Now Anita and her father (who is being referred to as "Don Miguel" again), are heading back to Spain, together.

Quote of the Episode: Raimundo - 'Servant to horses! You've got one minute to live! You and your fancy daughter!'

Times Zorro Marks a "Z": 0 (9 overall).

Other: That thing with the storekeeper abruptly being suspected really came out of nowhere. Just the fact he was sort of lurking/listening at the door, I guess to determine if they were inside, even though he said he saw them enter. And then it was over in a couple of minutes, because he showed he didn't have dirt on his hands.

Credit to the little boy Raimundo sent as a messenger. Even with Anita assuring him Bernardo couldn't hear, he would not deliver the message until it was just the two of them. Which makes him significantly more careful than 95% of Zorro's enemies.

They tried to continue with that motif of the mysterious figure being observed only by his shadow when he entered his home. Except this meant the door swung open with no hand or foot visible to push it open. Kind of pushing it a little bit there, although the effect of watching the shadow enter the room is still a nice touch.

I'm a little confused about the sequence of events with Gonzales' life. He left Spain after Anita's mother died, and came to California. He runs a stable and delivers the mail in Los Angeles, sending letters and whatever little treasures he can back to his daughter. Was he a Don originally, and suffered financial ruin after coming to California? Did it take all his resources to support Anita back in Spain, and he had to become a "servant to horses" to support himself? Or was it a conscious decision to abandon that life and take up another, even though he feared he would never be able to show his face before his daughter? Because at the end, Diego and Alejandro are referring to him as "Don Miguel", and that seems like the sort of title you need property and social standing to carry.

Zorro's really good at finding people in the middle of nowhere based on no discernible evidence. Anita hid the note the little boy gave her, and there was no sign Bernardo found it. Maybe Zorro heard Anita yelling, or heard the shot that wounded Gonzales.