Zorro 1.4 - The Ghost of the Mission

Plot: Monastario has managed to recapture at least one of the Indians who was working at the mission, and is in process of whipping him for information on the location of the other Indians. Sgt. Garcia asks him to stop, stating the man (named Inocente) will never talk. So Monastario comes up with a new plan. He gathers his men and returns to the mission, where he tells Padre Felipe that Inocente has admitted he and the other Indians are planning a brutal attack upon the mission. Thus, Monastario has to set up a base their to protect it, enabling him to readily prevent Don Nacho from receiving any food or water. Which wouldn't have been a problem if Torres hadn't gotten the lead out and left already, but he hadn't, and the Padre is stymied in his attempts to bring him something.

Fortunately, Diego was coming to see if Torres had left, and that night Zorro slips past the guards. But while he stealth score was pretty high, it wasn't high enough, and soon he's in flight climbing down from the bell tower, and being forced to ride away into the night, thwarted for now. So, new plan.

Diego returns to the mission the next morning, on the pretext he's bringing an old manuscript to the Padre. Monastario is sacked out, exhausted from scouring the hills for Zorro, so Garcia is in charge of granting entry. He wants to know what the manuscript says (as it is in Latin), and Diego regales him with the story of the ghost of a monk who roams the mission since he was killed and tortured by Indians long ago. The story goes the bell will ring at midnight, and a figure will rise from the cemetery, clanking chains and laughing. It will all signal death, possibly from a surprise Indian attack like the one that killed the monk. Garcia naturally spreads this story among all the lancers, so when Bernardo rings the bell with a sling that night, they're all on edge. And soon, a cloaked figure, their face in not visible rises from the graveyard. Monastario is pretty sure he knows who it is, but all the lancers flee, and the Capitan soon takes a flower pot to the skull. This gives Zorro the chance to free Inocente, as Bernardo fires off a few arrows to remove whatever resolve the lancers had left.

Quote of the Episode: Diego - 'Padre, do you believe in intuition?' Padre - 'I believe so. What does the goblin on your shoulder tell you?'

Times Zorro marks a "Z": 1 (4 overall). Made it with arrows, no less. Showoff.

Other: Two "babosos" this week.

I still can't believe Zorro got as far on that first attempt as he did. He was doing the sorriest job hiding behind a statue of Jesus I've ever seen. Yet somehow the guard standing right next to it didn't notice. To be fair, he was getting orders from Monastario, so it was probably eyes forward, and we're probably supposed to assume it's darker in there than it appears, so that Zorro's cloak blends more perfectly with the shadows. But watching, I'm wondering how they can't see him.

Did find it interesting that Zorro also stopped to kneel before the altar briefly before delivering the food to Torres. May have cost him, because if he doesn't, maybe Torres can hide the food before Monastario barges in.

I don't know who was doing the laugh for the ghost, but it was excellent. Good echo on it, right hint of mania to it. Like a good, kind of scary Scooby-Doo villain laugh. And at one point while he's leading Monastario on a chase, he runs directly at the camera, so that it zooms in on the empty black space the face would be. Nice touch.

I left out the part where Diego is trying to teach Bernardo the guitar, so Bernardo can hole up in Diego's room and cover for him while he's out being Zorro. I didn't think Bernado sounded too bad, but I guess he screws himself up by bouncing his leg up in down as he strums, and this throws him off. Gets him strumming faster, or something.

The Padre is surprisingly smug towards Monastario sometimes. You expect that from the Capitan, but I wouldn't figure it from a man of the cloth. I guess he knows even Monastario won't hurt him directly, and with almost all of the Indians safe in the hills, he sees no need to disguise his contempt. I especially liked his, 'I trust there will be an especially warm place reserved for you in the hereafter,' when Monastario stopped him from sneaking food to Torres. About as close to "Go to hell" as you could get in those days.

Anyway, Zorro freed Inocente, though by faking an Indian attack on the mission he's seemingly lent fuel to Monastario's bogus claim, though at episodes end he had no lancers to see it through. But Torres likely still hasn't escaped, so he'll have to figure something else out.