Sunday, December 06, 2015

Zorro 2.4 - The Senorita Makes A Choice

Plot: Anna-Maria returns home to find the house a shambles. One of the servants, Juan, is dead, and her father is missing. Then Pablo appears and tells her they have her father, and unless she brings the 45 thousand pesos, the old man will die. Oh, and not to tell anyone. About then Diego and Bernardo arrive, and when Diego sees the condition of the house, he starts searching boldly, ignoring Anna-Maria's insistence nothing's wrong. She won't say what's happened, so Diego sends Bernardo back to the city with a note for a Captain Estrada. Except he's not there, Garcia is, and a long game of the two of them trying to understand each other ensues, which all just leads to Reyes fetching the captain from the inn, and Garcia and Reyes being posted guard at the Verdugo home. Neither Anna-Maria or Serrano are very pleased about that.

Diego gives Anna-Maria entirely sensible advice that she needs to demand proof her father is alive, which she ignores. Someone delivers a message by throwing a knife above Garcia's head, which the senorita reads while Serrano does his best to look shifty.. Diego keeps pressing, so Anna-Maria sends him away. Later that evening, she finds the cash box hidden behind a bunch of books on the shelves, and gives it to Garcia with orders to deliver it to the old mission ruins. Zorro sneaks into her room to try and find the note, but when Anna-Maria finds him, she pulls a dagger on him. Which is not very threatening considering he's standing on the opposite side of the room. Next to the open window. While holding the note. But he relinquishes the note, and then she changes her mind and confides in him. Which means even riding Phantom, Zorro is barely fast enough to reach the ruins to save Garcia.

Zorro's able to find out Verdugo's being held in the blacksmith's shop, and rushes there. But with Pablo holding the old man at knifepoint, there isn't much he can do. The two leave in matching robes, and are unwittingly aided by Garcia, who returns to town with the two goons in tow, and gives their horses to the two "padres". Ultimately all Zorro can do is return to Anna-Maria with the money, and a promise to recover her father, soon.

Quote of the Episode: Zorro - 'Have you no faith in me? Do you think I would harm him?'

Times Zorro marks a "Z": 1 (1 overall).

Other: One "baboso" this week, when Garcia was trying to decipher Bernardo's gesticulations.

Apparently Diego's cover as a scholar means he's the only one up on genre conventions for hostage stories. So no one else thinks to demand proof Verdugo's alive, or any sorts of assurances. Truly, Diego is a man ahead of his time. Or everyone else is: a) not too bright (Garcia), b) emotionally distressed (Anna-Maria), c) in on the whole thing (Serrano).

I'd like to know what Disney has against blacksmiths. This one was crooked, there was Senor Mordante working for the Eagle last season. Oh wait, no Mordante was a tanner. But he was the second evil tanner! There was the one Monastario sold land to, who was polluting the water supply for all the rancheros cattle. I guess there are only so many options for crooked occupations to be working with the main bad guys.

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