Plot: The Governor is out of bed, but still in the de la Vega hacienda. He's very bored, and driving everyone nuts making them entertain him. A man named Gabriel Luna arrives to see the acting governor, and is escorted to Captain Arellano, who is trying on the governor's cloak. Luna expresses concerns about the loyalty oath, which Arellano unhelpfully responds to by stating that if someone is loyal, they will sign the oath. But Luna wants California to break ties with Spain, and for the Captain to do the same with the current governor. Arellano rejects this offer, until the Governor states that he is ready to resume his duties. At which point, Arellano tries to convince the governor's daughter, Leonar, to sign a paper declaring the governor unfit to rule. Only until he's stronger, of course. Leonar is no fool and sees right through the blundering captain. Arellano's fortunes continue to decline when he makes an ass of himself again towards Diego, upon observing him playing the guitar for Leonar. Then he nearly gets shot by an overzealous Corporal Reyes, and then he can't convince the Governor to rest a little longer, or to reconsider his decision that Arellano just isn't cut out for the big time.
With all that going against him, the captain visits Luna, and suggests he kill the Governor. For some reason, he expects Luna and his men to do it for free, which isn't happening. What's more, they expect the Captain to help more than he did last time. So that evening, Arellano offers Garcia and Reyes some wine, after adding a knockout drug to it. Bernardo observes this and warns Diego, and the two split up to cover different entrances. A good plan, because Luna sends his two men in the back way, cautiously, while he and Arellano watch from the front porch. Zorro still gets the drop on Luna easily, and he and Arellano set to fighting. Meanwhile, Bernardo handles the two goons easily, despite them getting the early advantage. Then he rushes back upstairs, a good thing, too. By this point, Arellano has threatened to kill the sleeping Garcia unless Zorro throws away his sword, and once that's done, begins advancing on the Fox. Only for Bernardo to drop a flowerpot on his head. The next day, we learn the assassins "escaped" Arellano and the soldiers, but the governor still thanks everyone who protected him, including Zorro. Bernardo got left out, so Diego proposes a toast to the person who helps Zorro.
Quote of the Episode: Luna - 'One moment, Your Excellency. Now you are speaking in riddles, so let me be frank. If you want us to kill the governor, just say so.'
Times Zorro Marks a "Z": 0 (13 overall).
Other: I don't approve of the governor calling the sergeant an overgrown musk ox (and would the governor even know what a musk ox is?), but I can't fault the guy for dedication to his job. He wouldn't take Leonar or the captain up on the suggestion he wait and rest a little more before resuming work. He brushed off concerns about the danger, and felt he had to press forward with his push for this loyalty oath. I still think the oath is stupid, and that he ought to be more worried with convincing the people the country he wants them to swear allegiance to actually gives a crap about them, but at least he's committed to making his stupid idea work.
I was pleased that Luna cut through Arellano's bullcrap when the captain came to him. Arellano had treated Luna rather shabbily when he visited the captain, pretended to have the moral high ground. And then Arellano tries to use euphemisms when he comes looking for a favor. To heck with that. And he thought they'd do him the favor for free? Come on Captain, these are not ideologues, they're capitalists. They aren't doing anything for free.
It is strange to me that the governor hasn't reconsidered his position on Arellano. He seems to have a soft spot for the guy, in spite of his continued poor behavior around Leonar, and from what little we've seen, Arellano's been largely successful in getting people to buy into this oath thing (with some help from Alejandro grandstanding). The governor is the only one who gave Arellano the benefit of the doubt about riding off with the governor's only two guards last week. And yet, he still think the captain isn't cut out for the role he originally envisioned for him.
Or maybe Leonar told her father Arellano tried to convince her to declare him incompetent. I like Leonar. She seems completely unimpressed with everyone. She has no time for Arellano (and the fact he thought he could convince her to go along with his plan is probably a sign he's a moron), and she looked kind of bored with Diego's singing. Of course, I thought Margarita was unimpressed with Uncle Estevan's singing too, and I was apparently wrong, so what do I know.
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3 comments:
This is one of the times I wish I had a bleprint of the hacienda, as the back of the house from this episode (and the next one) seems different compared how it was in the Uncle Estevan arc, and even in the end of episode 1x02. That is, assuming they built a full house in the first place, something that a website denies.
I liked how Zorro hit Luna with Garcia's wine bottle so that it seemed Garcia was the one who hit Luna.
The back of those house does seem different from the Estevan arc, but I think it matches up with the Eagle arc (it seems the same as in 1x36, "The Sergeant Regrets", from my memory). So they use whatever is most convenient for the scene they have in mind, I suppose. Although no other episodes have shown the back of the house being as it was in the Estevan arc, right?
The Estevan arc, the Eagle arc and the Anita arc all used the "back of the tavern" set as the location for the back of the hacienda, while this episode and the following one use a brand new set. I don't know if it was really the back of the hacienda set or not, but it's worth mentioning that in Bill Cotter's description of Zorro's first episode
http://www.billcotter.com/zorro/episodes-season-1/01-presenting-senor-zorro.htm
we read that "While only a small portion of the de la Vega hacienda was actually constructed, the effects were so well done that many fans believed a full-size house was used". I wish more info were available about this.
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