Caray, Caray!

The episode opens where yesterday’s left off, Montero is forcing Esmeralda into consummating their marriage. She is fighting him and yelling at him to let her go. Monty, ever the smooth operator, whispers sweet nothings to Esme like: “It was so nice hearing you tell Diego good-bye.” “I knew even before Diego arrived that the weapon you were using was a fake.” “You see I’ve been in control all along, I’m always in control.” There is a knock at the door, Monty tells them to go away. It is Pizarro. He tells his boss that it is really important. Monty tells him “Not now, I’m busy.” Esme shouts “Don’t touch me.” Pizarro insists to Monty that it is urgent. They have a visitor, a representative for the king.

Meanwhile, Diego is meeting with Padre Tomas. PT is very happy that Diego has gotten his freedom and offers him congratulations. Diego tells him that he can’t be happy because it all came at such a great price. PT is confused, so Diego brings him up to speed on all that’s happened with Monty’s revenge on the de la Vega family and how Esme saw what Monty was doing and thought the only way to stop it would be to go back to him. Diego tells PT that he was too late in hearing about it and was unable to do anything. He’s also angry because she just went ahead with her plan and never ran it past him. PT says that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love Diego, in fact she sacrificed herself for him, it was an act of love. (Alas, the voice of reason, we can only hope that Diego will listen to the good padre). Diego says that he hates to think what Monty has forced Esme to do. PT doesn’t like this train of thought and he tells Diego that he is being unfair and rather hard on Esme. Diego says she let him down, in fact everyone has let him down even the padre. PT questions this. D-“You blessed their marriage.” PT-“No I did not, the ceremony I performed in Latin is no longer accepted as valid in the Church. So if their vows were completed the marriage would never have been sanctioned by the Church.” PT goes on to explain that the monk Diego met outside the church was part of the secret group PT meets with, the monk was there to help Diego. Still, Diego thinks that Montero now has the only woman he loves. PT assures Diego that Monty is in for a surprise and he’s going to pay dearly for all he’s done.

Monty has left Esme to go meet the king’s emissary. It is the Marquesa Carmen. Let me describe this woman (?). She looks like a very wrinkly man in drag. She has a deep voice, bad wig and the worse set of dentures I’ve ever seen. She’s arrived with an entourage that includes many servants, and by my count, three dogs of various sizes. Monty totally bows down to her and it appears that they have some sort established relationship/ or a history together, if you will. Monty-“We weren’t expecting you, and are not prepared, your grace.” The Marquesa lets Monty grovel for a bit. Then she reminds him that she hasn’t seen him in awhile, ever since that day he flirted shamelessly with her favorite niece, Josephina. “Wait, I do think I’ve seen you since then, oh yes in every tear that Josephina has cried remembering how you shamed her. You took advantage of her innocence.” Monty says it isn’t right to discuss a lady’s private life when she isn’t there to defend herself. The Marquesa goes on, “Pardon me for defending my family. I can’t help it, just like I can’t help to defend the king’s subjects.” Monty seems rather disturbed by all of this and trying to switch the subject tells the Marquesa that he’ll prepare a place for her to stay. She tells him not to bother, she’s going to stay with her good friend Alejandro de la Vega and his charming son, Diego. Monty tries to tell her that Al’s place is too far out of town and the Marquesa should remain, she’s probably tired. This woman is hip to Monty’s game, she doesn’t care, she’s anxious to go see that handsome Al. She also tells Monty that Al will be receiving some kind of honor/ award from the king. They call it the estrella de blah, blah, blah. I’ll just call it a medal.


Esme, now dressed in the lowest cut outfit I’ve seen to date on this show, is locked in her room at Monty’s residence. She pounds on the door demanding that someone let her out. A soldier comes to the door and tells her that she’s locked in for her own safety. If she needs to go out in town she will do so with an escort. Per Monty’s orders, she is to be under guard at all times. Esme sends the soldier away and begins to search the room for some paper. She finds both a pencil (that’s what it looked like to me) and paper and jots a quick note to Diego. Note-“I’m sorry for what I had to do, but I did it to save you and your family from Monty. You have to know that everything I said in front of Monty was lies. I know that you and your family are safe, and that is a comfort to me. I love you and will always love you. I’ll never be with Monty, he’ll never touch me. I will always be yours, Diego. Love, Esmeralda.”

While the narration of the letter is read, we see Diego walking the streets of Los Angeles quite despondent. He heads into the local bar and orders a bottle of wine. He gets hit on by the waitress, but pays her no mind. Catalina, walking around town, spots Diego heading into the cantina. Later she runs into Mariangel and fills her in on where she saw Diego go. MA rehashes with Cat and says that poor Diego needs to be comforted. MA thinks that if she can get close to Diego now, she’ll worm herself into his life and take Esme’s place. MA asks Cat to get Diego to meet her somewhere near the outskirts of town and MA will join them. Cat thinks that MA is proposing something kinky, and gets a little too excited in my opinion. MA catches on to Cat’s thought process and straightens her out. MA tells her that Diego doesn’t trust her (MA) and she needs Cat to intercede on her behalf, that’s all.

In the gypsy camp, Jonas is happy. Lucrecia, the vole messenger, has returned from Callao prison with a note on a piece of cloth. Now they know that Sara Kali, their queen, is alive and according to her note, ready to fight.

Hermes is tossed back into the cell with Sara Kali. He’s happy to see her since the soldiers had told him that SK was burned alive. She says no, they threw her in a well and the only thing that kept her alive was hope. Hermes says that is something he no longer has anymore. He’s been held prisoner for 20 years and he doesn’t even know why he is there. All he knows is that he in an innocent man. SK tells him to remember their promise, that they’ll both get out of there someday.

Pizarro and Monty rehash the arrival of the Marquesa (MC). Monty says that MC hates him because of what happened with Josephina. He says he was willing to marry Josephina, but MC, crazy as she is, disowned the girl. Monty is sure that MC is here to protect the de la Vegas and there to trap Monty—she’ll blame him for Diego’s arrest. Monty tells Pizarro about the medal that he has to give Al. Monty gets inspired and tells Pizarro that he can give the award to Al when he goes to give the official apology. Pizarro says no can do. Monty gets angry at his mano derecha (is it feminine because mano is feminine, or would it be masculine because Pizarro is a man?). Monty rants about how Pizarro is to blame for this mess (this is a terrible mess you’ve gotten us into Pizarro). To begin with, his evidence was weak against Diego-- a mask and a cape that’s it!! They needed something more substantial (OK, it was good enough for you at the time, mister and hindsight is always 20-20). Then there is the fact that Pizarro tortured Diego when he was in prison. That’s not going to set very well with Alejandro and thusly his good friend the Marquesa.

At the de la Vega’s the Marquesa arrives. MC and Al just gush gush gush over each other. Al’s all proper and calls MC, Marquesa. She tells him to call her Carmen. Dolores comes running out, she’s wearing a maid’s uniform. MC calls Dolores “negra” and ask her when she’ll come work for her. She wants Dolores to come to court with her. MC goes on and says that she knows its never going to happen because Dolores would never be willing to leave the employment of such a handsome man as Alejandro. Al and MC rehash what’s happened to Al—his wound and all. He tells her the worse part was being confined to his bed, but he’s getting better now (and it’s been what, two or three days?). They go on to rehash how Monty’s been a bad boy. Al tells MC how the framed Diego and tortured him in prison in order to get a confession out of him. Al tells MC that Monty is a danger to everyone. MC tells Al that Monty’s luck is going to change.

Nutty Nun meets with the forger that the doctor/dentist/undertaker recommended. She gives some message and asks him to write it in neat handwriting. The forger speculates that the note is from some monk and comments how the contents of the note are not very monk-like. NN gets a little testy with the forger and she says something about it being a message for God. On the way from meeting the forger NN is approached by someone who appears to be a slave (he’s got a metal collar around his neck) and speaking a foreign language. This freaks NN out. I think I must have missed something here because I don’t have any idea what if anything happened with the slave and NN. Anyone want to fill me in if I’m missing something. Thanks.

We next see Maria Pia praying to the Virgin asking for her help. She wants to erase Fernando from her mind.

Meanwhile, Monty goes to see Fernando and asks him if Maria Pia was responsible for getting FS to change his mind about allowing Monty and Esme to get married (that would be the first time he agreed to let Monty marry his daughter). Monty speculates that she must have some sort of control over FS. Monty comments that Fernando must really love this woman in order for him to grant her request. Fernando tells Monty to stay out of his private life.

Esme tells her guard that she needs to get out for some air. She is escorted. She comes across Azucena, the gypsy woman. The soldier roughs Azu up a bit. Esme intervenes. Azu asks if Esme would like her palm read, and Esme says yes. This gives the women an opportunity to chat. They talk about Esme being with the horrid Monty. Esme rehashes about that business and asks Azu if she’s seen Diego. Azu comments “Pobre Diego”, but no she hasn’t seen him. Azu tells Esme that they have news from Sara Kali. Esme’s happy she’s alive. The women discuss how they have to get SK out of that hell. Azu reads Esme’s palm, she tells her that Diego is the man who will make Esme happy. The two part ways, but first Esme gets the soldier to lend her money and she pays Azu for the palm reading. Azu warns Esme to be careful with Monty, and to not let him touch her.

Diego leaves the bar, a little worse for the wear. He wobbles out the doorway and pulls out some cool looking shades. It just amazed me when he put on the sunglasses, it looked so modern and frankly, he looks pretty hot in the gafas de sol. Cat spots him, corners him and starts talking. He’s really not interested in chatting right now, but that doesn’t stop Cat. MA is standing off to the side and jumps into the conversation at the first opening. She starts rehashing all the stuff that’s happened with Esme. Diego tells her that he doesn’t want to talk about it. MA tells Diego that they got off to the wrong start because MA was jealous of Esme, because she (MA) fell in love with Diego, too. She starts walking with Diego and tells him that they should get some wine and talk about this some more. Oh no!!! I think she’s going to get the chance to use her potion. Pobre Diego in deed!!

NN meets with the Cardinal (TC). She asks forgiveness from him. Then she goes on insisting that she was telling him the truth about Maria Pia. TC gets angry and tells NN that he wants to hear no more of this, Padre Tom has vouched for the integrity of Maria Pia, and that is enough for him. This does not set too well with NN.

Back to Fernando and Monty….obviously Monty has told FS that Al will be getting the medal. FS thinks it’s hilarious that Monty will be the one to bestow the honor on Al. They discuss MC and how her arrival changes the rules of the game. Monty insults MC, and FS tells him to be careful what he says, how he says it , and where he says it (he says this like he’s defending her—in addition to being a warning for Monty). Monty asks Fernando to speak with MC on his behalf. FS finds this to be slightly amusing and tells Monty that maybe, MAYBE, he will help Monty out and he leaves it at that.

Yumali and Dena are walking toward the de la Vega home. Dena has started her education of Yumi and apparently Yumi has shared some of her knowledge of plants with Dena. ***Note, I think Jeanne said in one of her comments that Yumi is willing to become a lady because she thinks this is one way she can get Al to fall for her. When I read that Jeanne, I thought you are so right on. Very obvious now, but totally flew past me before. Thanks Jeanne.*** Anyway, Yumi must have been going over some of the plants she used to help Al’s wound heal. As the women get closer they figure out that there is a visitor at the house. They go inside and Al presents Dena, his fiancée to MC. MC teases Dena about how did she get such a man as Al to propose marriage. She (MC) yammers on about how Al is a keeper. Then she catches sight of Yumi who is standing in the background. Al tells MC that Yumi, Guadalupe, is recently baptized and just learning their customs. MC is taken aback by the resemblance between Yumi and Regina, Al’s deceased wife (I think she actually said ex-mujer). Dena seems upset to hear MC say this and Al seems a bit uncomfortable himself.

Esme runs into Renzo, the cute gypsy. Her guard knocks Renzo down and tells Esme that it is getting dangerous out there, too many gypsies. He tells Esme they better return because Monty isn’t going to like it that she went out. Still thinking of her note, Esme finds a little boy selling apples. Out of earshot from her guard, she asks the boy if he knows who Diego is. He says yes. She slips the boy the note, tells him that it is a secret and asks him to make sure that Diego gets the note. The boy agrees. Esme tells him to come later to Monty’s home and she’ll make sure he gets rewarded. The soldiers get Esme to head back home, and who do they run into, but Diego with Mariangel. END OF EPISODE

Labels: Zorro