Zorro 2.39 - Finders Keepers

Plot: Senorita Villagrana and her servant Montez are traveling when a man with a black bag over his face steps out, orders them to halt, and opens fire. Soon Bernardo comes riding along the road, and spies a brooch on the ground. He picks it up, wraps it in his handkerchief, and starts to mount his horse, when he spies first the overturned carriage, then the senorita, who has a wound on her head. He starts to carry her towards his horse, when she wakes up, freaks out, attacks him until he drops her, then tries to steal his horse. At this moment Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Reyes ride up, and she insists Bernardo be arrested.

In the sergeant's office, Diego pleads Bernardo's case, that he could not have been the thief, for there is no sign of the 1,000 pesos she had on him. She seems convinced, but when Bernardo is brought in and told this, he removes the handkerchief to wipe his forehead in relief, and the brooch falls out. Back to jail with you, little one. Bernardo takes Diego and the sergeant to the scene of the crime, to detail his movements, but there isn't anything to directly exonerate him. Then Alejandro arrives, having spoken to the doctor. He has say Villagrana's wound was from being hit, not from being grazed by a bullet. Alejandro argues this implicates the driver, because it would be easy for the person next to her in the carriage to strike her. Unfortunately, Corporal Reyes rode up with Alejandro, and says Montez has arrived in town.

Arm in a cast and sling, Montez says he was shot in the arm, the carriage overturned, and he tried to tend to the senorita, only to flee for help when the robber came after them. Fortunately, he met a Senor Lopez (from the town of San Rafael, as are Montez and the senorita), but when they returned, the senorita was gone, having already been found by Bernardo. At first Montez says he didn't see the thief's face, but soon contradicts this, and is aided by Garcia actually telling him what Bernardo looks like, rather than getting Montez to provide the description. Diego suggests they make Montez pick Bernardo out of a lineup, but this is foiled when it's done in the tavern, and Lopez is present, and able to signal to Montez who to pick out. Alejandro and Diego see this, but are the only ones and can't prove it.

That evening, Zorro sneaks into the rear of the tavern, and allows Garcia and Reyes to see him. They venture in, and are locked in, so Zorro can confront Montez and Lopez - collaborating at another table - without interference, but with witnesses. Sure enough, the money is in Lopez' jacket, but he and Montez decide to fight it out. Zorro is able to pin Montez' good arm to the mantle with a cleaver, but Lopez puts up a surprisingly good fight, putting Zorro on the defensive repeatedly. But he's eventually subdued (with a hand, or arm, from Sergeant Garcia), and the two confess. After, the senorita tries to give Bernardo the brooch as a way of apologizing, but Bernardo pretends not to understand and flees the room.

Quote of the Episode: Diego - 'Well, you know, Sergeant, tomorrow is a long way off.'

Times Zorro Marks a "Z": 0 (15 overall).

Other: Sergeant Garcia's got a lot to learn about questioning witnesses/suspects. If you're going to feed them information, make it false, to see if they trip themselves up. Hopefully he learned from the experience.

Zorro seemed to both remove and put back on his cape remarkably quickly. I felt like I glanced away for a second, and the cape's gone. Look away again at the end, the cape's back.

I thought for awhile during the fight, that Lopez was trying to back Zorro towards Montez, so he could club Zorro with that cast. But if he was, Montez didn't twig to it, he just kept trying to pull his sleeve loose from the mantle.

Zorro really did seem to have more trouble than I'd expect with Lopez. I wonder if he's gotten slack in his training since he defeated Senor Avila in episode 2.31. Once you beat a guy who was apparently phenomenal, common thieves with daggers, or some first mate with a stick, are probably difficult to take seriously as threats. Although you'd expect the fact Bernardo's life was in danger would be sufficient motivation.

Garcia mentions Judge Vasca would preside over Bernardo's trial. This is the same judge who was supposed to preside over the trial of Alejandro and Don Nacho Torres in episode 1.9. And he did make it, barely, with help from Zorro, despite Garcia's best efforts (under order from Monastario) to delay him with food and drink.

So that's the end of the second season. A mixed bag, owing in part to the nature of how it was structured. Instead of the more longterm plots of the first season (first Monastario, then the Eagle), a series of small, generally disconnected stories. Some were stronger than others. The adventures in Monterrey were pretty good, with Anna Maria as a recurring cast member throughout, but switching in different threats, from Serrano, Adjutant Rico, Ricardo and his stupid pranks, and so on. The reveal Alejandro had known Diego was Zorro seemed like a big deal, but I'm not sure it was in practice. At least it meant Alejandro wasn't running his son down all the time.

There are a few more Zorro episodes that aired after Season 2 concluded, as part of Walt Disney Presents, and we'll get to those over the next few weeks. So there's about a month of Zorro still to cover.