Caray, Caray!

OK--I've volunteered to do Zorro recaps. I don't know how often they'll be done, but I'll at least get a weekly recap done. If anyone else would like to help recap this novela, I'm willing to work on a team. I recapped Wed. episode, just to give it a trial run and to see how long it takes me. I cannot promise that future recaps will be this long. I'm going to try to condense, in terms of words and time. Of course, I've been known to take a short story and make it long---I'll try to overcome that tendency. So hopefully I'll get better at all of this. Anyway, on with the show....

Esmerelda faints at the news that tomorrow she'll be wed to Cmdr. Montero (weasel face-as coined by someone else in an earlier post) and that Montero's duel with Diego (aka Zorro) will convene at dawn.

Meanwhile back at the ranch....Alejandro and Diego de la Vega are visited by Maria Pia who informs them that there will be no duel and that Diego and Esme will be getting Fernando’s approval to marry once she fixes some things. Alejandro is worried that Montero won’t take the news very well. He reminds Diego and MP that although Fernando is the governor, Montero is the head of the military and with the army behind him Montero could cause a lot of problems. Diego is quite happy that he’s going to be able to marry Esme, but worries that Maria Pia looks sad. She assures him not to worry and that she has fixed things with Fernando because there is no one she cares for more than her sobrino, Diego.

Upstairs at the governor’s house, Esme has been taken there after she fainted. Her aunt (cannot remember her name), Mariangel (her sister) , and Montero are all hovering around her bed. Esme’s tia sends the other two away as she takes care of Esme. When Esme revives she and her tia discuss what happened with Maria Pia. They both were sure that she would be able to convince Fernando to stop the duel and allow Diego and Esme to marry. Esme wants to know why her father hates her so.

Meanwhile, downstairs Fernando (eye patch man/governor) is busy getting drunk and moaning that if he cannot be happy no one should be happy. Montero comes down from Esme’s room and Fernando starts rehashing things with Cmdr. Montero. Right now, Fernando doesn’t think that Maria Pia will live up to her end of the bargain, so tomorrow’s wedding is still on in his mind. He tells Montero that once he is married to Esme she will be his problem, yadda, yadda, yadda. Montero says he’ll tame Esme and she’ll be a most dutiful wife (he’s a pig). He changes subjects and tells Fernando that we will soon know the true identity of Zorro, but doesn’t give too many details on his plans.

Cut to Maria Pia praying to God, asking for forgiveness for what she is about to do. She tells God that Fernando can have her body, but that her soul will always belong to God. I’m not quite sure what God thinks about this. Immediately after her prayer we get a scene w/ MP and Fernando getting it on. That was quite quick, but wait it is a dream. And the sick thing is, it wasn’t either Fernando’s or Maria Pia’s dream, it was Sister Suplicious (sp?), the psycho sister or nutty nun—take your pick. She wakes up with a start and feels guilty for thinking of MP that way. Nutty Nun goes to find MP and confesses to her about her dream. MP is a little freaked out considering the conversation she just had with God. Nutty Nun tells MP that there has been some chisme in the convent about the fact that Maria Pia and Fernando used to be engaged a long time ago. She also tells MP that the voice she heard the other night in the convent was Fernando’s voice. Maria Pia tells Nutty Nun that she’s going out for the evening to take care of family business. She needs to go see her hermano, Alejandro.

Back to Fernando. He’s still drinking and moaning that he feels nothing without Maria Pia. He pulls out his pistol stating that he would give his life for her, but then doesn’t follow through.

Meanwhile, back at casa de los de la Vega, Alejandro and Diego are visited by Montero’s lieutenant Pizzaro (truly an evil man, IMO). He brings news of the duel that it will begin tomorrow at dawn outside the city. Brilliantly, Diego and Alejandro deduce that MP was unable to convince Fernando to bring an end to the whole thing. Diego isn’t concerned the whole thing can go as planned, after all he’s got a secret weapon---he is really El Zorro.

In the local bar, the hunchback Olmos meets with the prissy Tobias. He knows that Tobi is going to contact some people back in Spain to see if he can get a lead on Zorro’s identity (apparently Zorro’s style of swordplay is very distinct and there is only one teacher who teaches that style). Olmos tells Tobi that he’s there for the governor, that Fernando wants to know Zorro’s identity and is willing to pay handsomely for the information. Tobi likes the idea of being a private dick (he’s got the second part of that down pat already). He and Olmos, after agreeing on a sum, toast their new friendship.

Maria Pia doesn’t go to see Alejandro, instead she goes to Fernando’s. She tells him that she’s willing to sleep with him in order to save Diego. At first Fernando tells her that it will no longer be easy to call off the duel, that it will cause a lot of problems---he is unwilling to have Montero as an enemy and that’s what would happen if Fernando takes back his permission for Montero to marry Esmerelda. However, the idea of having a booty call with Maria Pia is too much to resist. So he agrees to stop the duel and allow Esme and Diego to marry. He and MP agree to meet at their old meeting place, some cabin in the woods, the next evening at 8. As MP leaves Fernando’s house, we see the Nutty Nun hiding behind a tree. She is distressed that MP lied to her and that she is meeting with Fernando.

There is some conversation between Olmos and Fernando. Fer tells Olmos that everything has changed and Olmos waxes poetic about love (our little hunchback has a big time crush on Fer’s other daughter,Mariangel---so me-thinks he’s referring to her during his ode).

Flash to Tobias and his horny wife, Catalina. Tobias is busy writing his letters to Spain and completely misses his wife’s overtures for them to get busy. This man is so prissy and completely oblivious to his wife.

Back at los de la Vega, Yumali (the whitest looking Indian I’ve ever seen) is praying for Alejandro. She is indebted to him because he saved her from being caught by Fernando and he helped her recover from her gunshot wound.***A little back story, she attempted to kill Fernando, the governor and Alejandro’s best friend, because he used to practice genocide on the local Indian population. Fer is responsible for killing Yumali’s sister and brother. Her sister, is Diego’s mother. Back then, Fer lost his eye during this encounter. So his hatred for Indians grew even stronger. He doesn’t understand why Alejandro protects them, but hasn’t figured out that the woman that Alejandro recently had baptized is the same one who tried to kill him recently***Anyway, Yumali is concerned because she knows that Alejandro is planning on marrying Esme’s aunt (who’s name I cannot remember). She doesn’t like the fact that Alejandro’s fiancée is Fernando’s sister. Also, she’s got the hots for Alejandro, so there’s some jealousy there.

Outside the house a black-caped figure sneaks inside, climbing over the side of the balcony. The figure goes into Diego’s room where he is sleeping, and brandishes a sword. Diego wakes up and takes on the intruder, only to find that it is Esme. The two play kissy face and rehash what’s happening/not happening with the duel. They get interrupted by Dolores, Diego’s former nanny and current housekeeper, she had heard from Yumali that Diego and Montero’s duel was to go ahead as scheduled. She is very concerned about how well Diego will perform in the duel, but now she wants to know what’s going on between Diego and Esme. Although she’s never met Esme, she knows who she is just by the look in Diego’s eyes (and she’s obviously bothered that Esme is in Diego’s bedroom). Dolores tells them she wants to know everything and orders them downstairs for tea and food. The three of them rehash the duel status---which I can no longer remember where it stands for all of them, but I think they think Maria Pia will be able to convince Fernando to stop the duel and allow the D&E nuptials to take place (MP already has convince Fernando, but I’m not sure if they know that yet).

Elsewhere in the house, Yumali has decided that she needs to see Alejandro, so she sneaks into his room and starts to caress him as he sleeps. He wakes up and the two get busy. Alejandro calls Yumali “Regina”, the name of his dead wife-mother of Diego. Startled, he pushes Yumali away and tells her this isn’t right. He’ s her godfather and also her employer. He also reminds her that he is an engaged man, he is going to marry Esme’s aunt (I don’t remember her name---IDRHN). Yumali warns him that IDRHN has bad blood, since she is the governor’s sister. Al sends Yumi out and she tells him that his mouth says “no”, but his body says “yes” (or perhaps that’s what I thought she should say, I no longer remember, but none-the-less the comment is fitting for this scene).

So whilst all of this is going on, Mariangel (Esme’s redheaded half sister) sneaks out of the governor’s house to go have a romp with Montero. These two have tangled in the sheets before and during this episode they are getting busy on the desk in Montero’s office at the prison. MA wants to talk about the duel, hoping she can get Montero to call the whole thing off. He’s a little ticked that she’s bringing up Diego’s name in the middle of their love making session.***Side note, Mariangel wants to marry Diego because he is rich and attractive. I also think a side benefit is that her sister loves Diego, so it would be a way to hurt Esme because Mariangel hates her.****MA asks Montero to be noble and call off the duel, but Montero says no. So MA makes a veiled threat….that if something were to happen to Diego, then something might just happen to Esme too.

So, back at the governor’s house with both daughters having sneaked out, drunk Fernando is tucked into bed by his sister, IDRHN. She goes on about how he used to be more carefree and less vile. That they had such a wonderful childhood. Even though he has changed, she still loves him.

Now it is morning and Montero is waiting for Diego at the duel site. Fernando shows up and tells Montero that there will be no duel, as dueling is against the law. He says he has also dispatched men to Diego’s home to keep him from breaking the law. Fernando tells Montero that Esme isn’t worth it and that Fernando has decided to allow Diego and Esme to marry. This really ticks Montero off and since Fernando has gone back on his word, Montero starts waving his sword at Fernando. Fernando, not one to play it clean, kicks Montero in his wounded arm and their duel begins. END OF SHOW

Just a couple of things to know about this show:
1. Diego has a servant Bernardo, who is mute and plays deaf so he can gather info
2. So far the priest, Bernardo and Esme are the only ones who know that Diego is really Zorro
3. Alejandro thinks that Diego is a bit of a wimp, because Diego really plays that up in order to keep his daytime identity even more removed from Zorro
4. Mariangel was rescued by Zorro and she’s got her eye on him, not for marriage but for other recreational activities
5. Esme’s mother is being held prisoner in Montero’s prison. She is a gypsy queen and currently is wearing what is supposed to be an iron mask, but it looks like it’s made out of paper mache
6. Yumali has a special gift with animals, and helped cure Alejandro’s sick horse Quixote
7. Maria Pia broke her engagement to Fernando because she knows he killed Diego's mother, Regina...Dolores is the only other person who knows this (I think)

Labels: Zorro