Zorro 1.3 - Zorro Rides to the Mission

Plot: We start with Monastario humiliating Sgt. Garcia by making him recite a speech about how he's a fat, stupid pig, and a disgrace to the army. At least it was happening in the privacy of the Capitan's office. Garcia has failed to find Don Nacho Torres, but along comes a local Indian, who reveals Torres is hiding at the mission, in exchange for the reward, which Monastario actually pays. I was sure he'd stiff the guy on the 500 pesos. Off the soldiers go, passing Diego and Bernardo on the way. At the mission, Torres and Padre Felipe watch as the Indians bring in the orange crop, but whoever was up in the bell tower helpfully alerts them to the approaching soldiers, so Torres makes it back inside the church before Monastario can grab him. And even the Capitan isn't willing to violate Sanctuary.

About this time, Diego and Bernardo arrive, but Torres tells him to stay out of it, as it would be bad for Diego or his father to aid a man accused of treason. While Diego tries to find a solution, Monastario conscripts all the Indians into pointless, backbreaking labor as way of tormenting Torres into surrender. Which nearly works, but Diego is able to convince Don Nacho to wait, and sends Bernardo off to get Tornado. By the time Bernardo returns, and Diego is able to don his Zorro outfit, Monastario is whipping the Native Americans, and Torres can hardly bear it. But Zorro rides up, grabs away one of the whips, and turns it on the soldiers, and then he and Monastario have themselves a whip fight on horseback, which I'm sure was great fun for those horses. But Zorro gains the upper hand, while all the Indians escape.

Quote of the Episode: Garcia - 'It is very hard to chase a fox through the rocks, Comandante.'

Times Zorro marks a "Z": 0 (3 overall).

Other: I'm pretty impressed a Disney show would have a whip fight back in the late '50s. I'm sure stuntmen were involved, and hopefully those guys had extra padding under the outfits, but still. There used to be an old bullwhip in the basement of my grandmother's house I would fool around with (because Indiana Jones), and those things are no joke. It's like what they say about nunchuks: If you don't focus on what you're doing, you're gonna have a bad time.

I did not know Sanctuary only works for 40 days, but according to the padre, that was how long the church can keep Torres.

Interesting to see Monastario, for all his bluster, still obeys the conventions of the Church. He removes his hat when entering. He even puts a peso in the poor box, and you could see a moment where he wasn't going to, and then he thought the better of it, or remembered to, before confronting Don Nacho.

I've been in a few too many history classes to completely support Padre Felipe, though. His comment about 'growing a fine crop of Indians' was probably meant well, but it still boils down to the Spanish probably forcing them to work on the mission so they can "save their souls" by converting them Christianity. I'm sure picking oranges is better than being forced to move heavy rocks back and forth for no particular reason other than cruelty, but still. This is going to be one of those things that'll be problematic for the duration of the series, isn't it?

So the Native Americans have escaped into the hills, removing at least one lever for Monastario to use against Torres. But the soldiers still surround the mission, and Torres can only hide in there for so long. Zorro's gonna have to come up with something before Monastario does.