Caray, Caray!

Diego denies that he is Zorro to SM. He is a simple, peace-loving landowner. SM says in essence that a leopard can't change its spots. Some men are born to power and Diego is one of them. Then SM tells Diego that he came to LA to find Diego. Their fellow students from the military academy are rich landowners. They have made a bet with SM and if he defeats Diego in swordplay, he will win a fortune.
“Fine,” says Diego. “Tell them that you defeated me and collect your fortune.”
“You don't understands,” responds SM. “To win I have to kill you.” Diego is impactado.

Esme meets Garcia at their rendezvous. Esme is ready to proceed with her plan to get justice and vengeance. Garcia tells her that her card has already been delivered to the Queen – by Camba. Esme is surprised that Camba is a reliable messenger since he doesn't speak Spanish. Garcia assures her that he and Camba speak the same language – 'vino tole.'

Garcia shows Esme the clothes he bought for her and she is pleased with his selections. He fills her in on the deal with the impoverished Count. He sold his title and his house in LA to Esme so now they have a place to stay in town. Esme compliments Garcia on his intelligence. Garcia tells her he's not doing all this for free – he wants to be the one who arrests Montero. Esme says, “consider it done. You will be there when Montero pays for what he has done.”

SM tries to force Diego to fight him. Diego succeeds in disarming SM and tells him that he never thought SM would sell himself for a few gold coins. SM laughs and tell Diego that he was lying. He just wanted to see if Diego had lost his skill. Diego tells SM that Zorro is much better than he is. SM tells Diego that he believes that he isn't Zorro. Diego warns SM not to go around talking about Zorro. Diego already has a lot of problems and he doesn't need any more. SM agrees in a mocking way and Diego reluctantly shakes his hand.

Al takes Almudena to a place with a nice view. He is proccupied and finally tells her that it was Mangle, not Yumalai who poisoned her. Almudena is impactada.

Mangle is pacing in Montero's office cursing the fact that Diego threw her out of the hacienda, she's lost a few days and the repulsive Olmos abused her. Montero is not sympathetic and just wants nookie himself. He tells Mangle that with all the problems he has with the Queen, SK, the identity of Zorro, etc., her problems are not important and maybe Olmos didn't do anything to her. Mangle is furious and fights him off when he tries to kiss her.

After the credits, Mangle seems to have gotten over her fury and is reciprocating Montero's kisses. She thinks Olmos gave her a potion and she says that she feels bad. Montero says that she needs a real man.

SM and Diego are in town. Diego tells SM that the whole city is under a reign of terror by Montero. SM asks why no one has stood up to him. Diego replies that until recently Montero had too many allies including FS. SM asks what happened to FS and Diego says that nobody knows. He abandoned his post and disappeared. Diego tells SM that he keeps his ability with the sword quiet so that he isn't seen as a threat to Montero. SM appears to accept this explanation but as he leaves he says to himself, “Quien zorro eres, amigo.” The English subtitles translated this as, “You're so cunning, my friend.” “You are as cunning as a fox,” would be a better translation but no English translation can capture the double entendre in Spanish.

[We know that Al is a famous general. We know that Diego went to the military academy in Spain and was the best swordsman in Spain. Some of Al's buddies from the army were surely at the academy. Is it likely that not a single word of this got to Al? We know from when Diego was preparing for his duel with Montero that Al didn't think Diego could handle a sword at all. What did he think Diego was doing at the military academy? I know it's pointless to expect logic here but until SM appeared, we didn't know how public Diego's military education was.]

Al tells Almudena about Diego's discovery of Mangle 's poisoning plot. She instantly is concerned that she refused to listen to Yumalai. Almudena wants to speak to Yumalai and beg her forgiveness. Al says when Almudena is stronger, he will arrange it.

Dolores tells MP that a monk with a strange voice has come to see her. Since none of the menfolk are home, Dolores is nervous about leaving MP alone with the man. MP remembers the monk that she saw in town who she was sure was FS. She comes into the room where he is waiting and says his name.

FS has come to ask MP's forgiveness and, surprisingly for someone who was a nun and was therefore in the forgiveness business, she won't give it. She can't forgive him for killing Regina right in front of Diego and leaving Al without love & companionship until he found Regina. [Of all FS's many sins, killing Regina seems one of the most forgive-able to me. He didn't know the woman he killed was Regina and he had had the traumatic experience of seeing his parents killed by indians. To me, keeping your wife in prison locked up in an iron mask for 20 years was a much worse sin that might not be able to be forgiven.] Anyway, MP says she can't forgive FS unless Al and Diego forgive him first.

Wow! We see Esme is a nice gown for the first time in ages. As was also apparent in her more revealing Amazon outfit, even though she had been locked up in a windowless cellar for 6 months, Esme managed to maintain the beautiful tan over her entire body. She given up her 'warrior' hairdo, too. Her hair is curly again. Esme thanks the seamstress who leaves as Garcia comes in. Esme asks if she looks like a Countess and Garcia, ever gallant, says that she looks like a Queen. Garcia once again asks Esme to give up her plan of vengeance but she says that it is too late. She then asks Garcia how her son died. Garcia doesn't want to say but Esme insists. She wants to know if Montero killed her son. Garcia says no. Montero gave the baby to Pizarro who left it in a cemetery. The weather that night... Esme stops Garcia. She has heard enough. She tells Garcia that she wants to find the baby's remains, bury them in a nice place where she can pray over them every day until she is reunited with her child.

Montero is fooling around with Mangle. He tells her that he wants her to bring him his baby. Mangle refuses and says that she is first going to negotiate with Diego and take advantage of the fact that Montero is going to announce publicly that Diego is Zorro. Montero says that Mangle had better be right about that. Montero says that if Diego is Zorro, he probably knows about SK and will try and protect her. That is, he will try and protect her if he makes it to the masquerade ball. Montero has a surprise for him. His men will be waiting to capture him. Mangle says that they soon will know if it is true that Diego is Zorro. SM is on the job and he so desperate for money that he will do anything. Montero says that if it is true, Zorro will be dead soon and Mangle will be his widow and inherit everything. Mangle says that she won't count on that. She can use the child to get everything. Montero tells her not to be silly. He wants her to bring him the baby. He wants to humiliate Diego and let him know before he dies that the baby is Montero's and that Diego will die without leaving any heirs.

Diego is in little Al's room. SM comes in and is fishing for information. Since Diego isn't interested in Mangle, has he fallen in love with someone else? Diego tells him that he does love a woman but he doesn't know where she is or if she is alive or dead. SM wants more details but Diego refuses.

Esme, now dressed in mourning, is practicing her swordplay with Garcia. Esme appears to be using a regular sword rather than the broadsword that the Amazons gave her. Naturally, she defeats him. He compliments her on what she learned in her 3 days with the Amazons. Esme asks Garcia if he believes that Diego still loves her. Garcia says that any person who had fallen in love with her would have to be crazy to forget her and Diego isn't crazy.

Back to Diego and SM. SM is impactado that Diego is in love with Esme. Diego tells SM that Montero killed Esme. SM tells Diego about his relationship with Esme and Mangle when they were in Spain. He was infatuated with Esme but Esme wasn't interested in him. SM says that Mangle was infatuated with him. She always liked a challenge. Diego says that who knows what is wrong with Mangle. He tells SM that he threw Mangle out of the house because she was poisoning Almudena. SM is impactado. He tells Diego that Mangle is investigating him because he told her that Diego is a great swordsman. Mangle offered him money to find out all his secrets. Diego is concerned but SM responds, “Our friendship has no price. Anyway, you aren't Zorro, although there are certain similarities. Trust me. I won't get you into trouble.” Has SM gone over to the good side? Hard to tell since he is a pathological liar.

Mangle goes to see the judge with the bad hair (Catalina's father). She tells him Diego has thrown her out of the hacienda and wants to know her rights with regard to the child. The judge asks if the child has been baptized and registered? Mangle says no. It was a difficult delivery and she was ill. The judge recommends that she take care of that right away. If Diego registers the baby and does not put her down as the mother or puts down the name of some other woman, Mangle will not have any legal rights with the child. Mangle is impactada. “How can this be?” she says, “I gave birth to the child.” The judge asks if there were any witnesses to the birth. Mangle says that there was a witness but she doesn't think he will be very helpful. Mangle tells the judge that she will take of matters.

Olmos is being tortured on the rack. No one is asking him any questions. He says, “Do whatever you want to me. Nothing can take away the pleasure of making her mine. She was mine!” He laughs manically, “Mine!”

Al and Almudena are in a carriage when Almudena tells the driver to stop. She recognizes a spot with a lot of yellow flowers as the place that she saw Regina in a vision when she was dying. [How can she tell? It was dark and there were torches.] Al asks her not to talk about it anymore. “But,” he says, “it's very strange. I come down this path every day to the hacienda and these flowers were never here before.” Almudena says that she has to speak to Yumalai right away.

Diego invites SM to the masquerade ball. SM relishes the opportunity to meet all the beautiful women in the city. Maybe the Queen will fall for his charms now that she is a widow. He and Diego are about to go look for a costume for him when MP asks to speak to Diego. She tells him that FS was just at the hacienda. MP believes that he has changed now that he is a monk and she tells Diego that FS has asked for his and Al's forgiveness. Diego says that he believes that anyone can change except FS. He will speak to his father but he doesn't think he can forgive FS.

At the indian village, Al tells Almudena that Yumalai isn't in her teepee. He will ask the Council of Elders where she is but according to indian customs, this is a guys only thing. He says Almudena looks tired and suggests that they go home and send someone to inquire about Yumalai later. Almudena tells him to stop treating her like an invalid. She feels fine and she must speak with Yumalai right away. Al agrees and goes off to find the Council. Alone, Almudena says that she had a bad feeling about the Yumalai situation.

Agapito is hiding at Tobias' house. He is nervous that Pizarro will find him since it is known that Pizarro is a frequent visitor there. Tobias tells him not to worry. He has a brilliant plan to destroy Pizarro at the masquerade ball.

Pizarro comes in to interrogate Olmos and dismisses the torturer. Pizarro apologizes to Olmos for not being able to help him before. Montero is watching him like a hawk and if he makes a mistake, he will take Olmos' place on the rack. Pizarro tells Olmos that Montero knows that SK is alive. That is why the situation is so dangerous. Montero will kill Pizarro if he knows that he tried to protect SK. Olmos' shouldn't have abused Mangle. Unfortunately, his fate is sealed. Pizarro's only chance is to kill Montero and run away from LA. He asks Olmos for his contacts.

Montero instructs his soldiers to search every inch of the walls of the room where the ball will be held to make sure that there aren't any secret passages where uninvited guests can enter. DJ comes in. Montero assures him that the ballroom will be secure for the Queen. DJ looks at Montero and says that he can see fear in men's eyes and he sees fear in Montero's eyes. Is there something he should know? [like SK is alive and at large maybe?] Montero says that everything is under control. DJ says that he expects that the security operation will not distract the invited guests. If Montero's men remove an intruder, they should do it quietly so that no one notices. Montero agrees.

PT tells the Queen that SK is alive and with the gypsies. The Queen is very happy. She wants to go visit her. PT warns her that if she acts openly, SK and all the gypsies will be killed. However, the masquerade ball will be an opportunity for SK to approach the Queen. The Queen is thrilled. If SK can get to her side at the masquerade ball, she will do justice and treat her as a sister.

Almudena sees more flowers like the ones where she had the vision. She picks a couple and Yumalai appears in front of her.

Dolores is walking around with little Al in the town! What a stupid thing to do. Didn't she get the message that the baby was to be kept locked up at the hacienda? Mangle approaches and says that Dolores has saved her the trouble of going to the hacienda. She demands the baby. Dolores refuses. Things are getting ugly when the wet nurse whips a knife out of her leg holster and protects Dolores and the baby.

Diego and SM are walking in some other part of town and SM is strewing compliments to all the ladies he sees. SM wanders off and Diego is nearly run down by a carriage driven by Camba. Esme looks out of the window of the carriage to see what is going on. She conceals her face with her fan while Diego gives her a confused look.

The credits roll.

Labels: Zorro