I learned via the Caray, Caray! blog that my episode count is probably different that what the DVD version will be. It was apparently shot for 120 hourly episodes. But some of them got combined into 1 1/2 hour episodes in the broadcast. So my count wound up at 112.
Our hero and his friends had quite a busy final six episodes. Especially since a couple of decades were squeezed into the final one. A summary can't possibly do justice to the climactic events of this telenovela. But I'll do what I can. Here, I'll cover the outcome of the hostage crisis, in which el Comandante Montero and Mariángel (Mangle) have kidnapped the Queen of Spain and are also holding Baby Zorro captive.
Ah, Selenia, we may never see each other again - but we'll always have Los Ángeles
Sadly, despite the clamor from her fans, there was no return appearance of the One the Only the Great Selenia. She and her magic dwarf Tarsisio headed out for greener pastures several weeks ago and never returned to our Zorro story. Que lastima!
When last we checked in with Zorro here at Old Hickory's, he and Xenameralda in costume were being held at gunpoint by Zorro/Diego's flaky friend Santiago, the one who had kidnapped Baby Zorro and given him to Zorro's evil wife Mangle. Olmos the scarred humpback also showed up. Olmos insisted on going into Montero's safe house to get Baby Zorro. (I forget offhand if he had a particular reason.) When he walked in, the explosives Montero had rigged to blow the place up went off, knocking our hero and heroine to the ground along with Santiago and allowing them to take his gun. Later on, we find out that Olmos, displaying the phenomenal recuperative powers that people living in southern California circa 1810 evidently had, walked out of the exploded, burning house alive. But with more wounds, and scars to come.
And that's the deal, my dear: El Comandante tries unsuccessfully to charm his captive, the Queen of Spain; apparently "Stockholm syndrome" hadn't been invented yet in 1810 or thereabouts
Montero and Mangle took shelter in the villa that Olmos had built secretly out in the woods to be his and Mangle's love shack. But Olmos shows up there, too, and almost chokes Mangle to death with a chain. Montero's men show up and shoot him in the back a couple of times, adding to his wounds but not sending him off to his eternal rest. Olmos also told Mangle that the kid was really Diego's and Esmeralda's.
So Montero gives Baby Zorro to a couple of his goons to kill. Zorro and Xenameralda show up to stop him. But he holds a dagger over the baby and forces them to lay down their weapons and unmask. That episode was in classic movie-serial meoldrama mode. You just had to go with the flow to not worry about why Zorro thought he could save the baby by totally surrendering to the two people who hate him and Esmeralda the most in the world, instead of going for a pistol shot at Montero's head.
But he didn't. So their secret identies were revealed to their worst two enemies, who proceeded to tie them up in a building and set it on fire. Meanwhile, they put Baby Zorro in a wagon and made the horse take off at a gallop.
Fortunately, the ever-resourceful Zorro is able to untie himself with some broken glass and the two escape and go after the baby, while Montero and Mangle take la Reina (the Queen) to the river to get to the port to get away from Los Ángeles.
Fortunately, Santiago the flaky friend happens to come across the wagon running by while he's in the process of escaping two creditors who intend to feed him to the sharks. So Santiago saves Baby Zorro and eventually hands him over to Old Man Zorro, having repented of his previous foolishness. Esmeralda then hightails it back to the De la Vega hacienda to greet everyone in her civilian identity. While Zorro (with his mask back on) gallops off on his faithful horse Tornado to save la Reina.
Los Ángeles ain't Baghdad: the Queen and the radical priest Padre Tomás are showered with flowers by her subjects who are in the midst of an uprising against her local army
Which he does by attacking the boat and giving la Reina time to get out of her bonds and struggle with Mangle, including royal bites on Mangle's arms (a little preview of the future of a couple of the characters). As Zorro jumps into the boat, la Reina finally knocks Mangle out into the river and then she jumps in herself and swims to shore.
Fortunately, la Reina picks the right shore and can swim well. Because Padre Tomás the radical priest picks her up in a wagon and takes her back to town. It turns into a triumphal procession, colonial Los Ángeles style, because a popular uprising is under way against Montero's troops and his military dictatorship. The rioting masses don't blame la Reina for that; in fact, they see her as their champion. Much to her and Padre Tomás' delight. (And probably relief.)
But the people do blame Capitán Anibal Pizarro who was Montero's right-hand man. Pizarro was recovering from a gut shot delivered by his girlfriend Catalina, who was stopping Pizarro from murdering her husband Tobías, who had showed up in drag to have a sword fight with Pizarro. But even the healing wonders of colonial L.A. air couldn't say Pizarro from being stomped into the dirt by the rioters. So Pizarro's story was wrapped up.
Uh, dude, I think we're about to go over a waterfall: Zorro and el Comandante share a rare moment of solidarity as they find themselves in the same boat together (literally) headed toward a big waterfall
Meanwhile, back at the river, Zorro and Montero are having yet another sword fight in the boat, distracting them from the fact that they are rapidly approaching a big old waterfall. That made for a classic cliffhanger at the end of the episode.
We didn't get to see them actually go over the waterfall. But apparently the two of them plus Mangle, who couldn't swim as well as la Reina, all went over the falls. But they came out of the water in separate places. Mangle struck off through the woods, which we soon see is in cannibal country. (We met the cannibals early on, with Zorro narrowly saving Esmeralda from becoming a midday feast.)
Zorro's mask was lost in going over the waterfall, so he fights with Montero without the mask after they both also crawl out of the river into cannibal territory. Eventually, Montero has Diego on the ground with Montero on top of him slowly pressing his knife's point toward his throat. But Diego gets the best of him, turning the knife around and stabbing him in the stomach. (Not your Walt Disney Zorro, as I've mentioned before.)
As it turns out, there are ravenous piranha in the river in cannibal country, too. Given the exceptionally healthy climate and general recuperative powers around there, Montero wouldn't likely have died from just a deep knife wound in the stomach out in the middle of the forest with cannibals hunting him down. But Diego cleverly tosses him into the river, where the piranha go nuts and drag him under water for their own midday feast.
We know that he's really gone, too. The cannibals caught Mangle and mangled her up, so that for a couple of episodes all we saw were her bloddly legs and feet. We don't know how she escapted. But presumably she was too nasty even for the cannibals. So, as seen below, Mangle's bloody legs discover Montero's severed hand with his military insignia lying nearby, allowing her the chance for a sentimental farewell to her old lover.
Together again: Mangle and Montero meet one last time - well, Mangle's bloody legs and Montero's hand, which the piranhas apparently spit out onto the bank after they had devoured the rest of him
Diego still had cannibals to deal with. Fortunately, Esmeralda and Bernardo showed up when Diego was surrounded by a dozen or so cannibals in the river. Esmeralda took one of them out with her crossbow. Then Diego used a cannibal's spear he had caught in mid-flight and dispatched the rest of them in 20 seconds or so.
But then who shows up on shore but Diego's father Alejandro? And Diego without his mask. Alejandro is surprised. And Diego and Esmeralda and Bernardo all have a guilty look on their faces like children caught breaking into the candy stash. Before they can talk, Diego has to go back into the river to dispense with another eight on ten cannibals who showed up. Then he and Alejandro talk for a while. Alejandro gives a quick little smile that only the viewers can see, showing that he's really proud of his son. But he makes Diego squirm for a minute or two before telling him he would be incredibly proud of him even if he weren't Zorro. And they share a manly hug.
"Mi hijo Diego es ... el Zorro?" (My son Diego is ... Zorro?): Alejandro discovers the secret - he makes Diego squirm a bit explaining it, but he's a mighty proud pappa
Sara Kalí/Mercedes Mallorca has a final encounter with Fernando. He asks her to forgive him and she refuses. He hands her his knife so she can stab him but she stabs the ground instead.
Alejando invites the local gitano tribe to live on the hacienda grounds. Things turn out well for the gitanos. Except for Laisha, who betrayed them one too many times. Jonas the patriarch kicks her out of the tribe, making her one of the gayje (non-Gypsy) that she's always dispised. Ana Camila/Sor Suplicios talks her husband, the cute-but-useless Renzo, into leaving the tribe with her, but they still are on good turns with the gitano home folks.
Back to the Blue Lagoon: Now this is what I call a happy ending! From slave labor for the Spaniards to love-slave for the Amazons, Kamba returns to the Amazon tribe
I'll get to the resolutions for the major characters in a separate post. But Kamba the escaped slave has what may the happiest Happy Ending of all. He hasn't been bothered by the demon he caught from Ana Camila since he spent some time with the Amazon tribe. And that's where he decides to return. Kamba has found his destiny. Lucky man. I'm guessing that's a happily-ever-after arrangement for him.
Tags: zorro, zorro telenovela
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