Zorro: Capítulos 107-112 (July 16-23) Part 2

I've stalled doing my final narrative post on the Zorro telenovela because I hate to see it end. I wouldn't have minded if they went on for another month or two.

Of course, our hero and heroine got married at the end. It was a bit of an unusual wedding, even for a telenovela. But let's look at some of the other final resolutions first.

Even though Sargento García was a bumbler and comic relief for a while, we always knew he was basically a good guy. Especially after he prevented el Comandante from executing an innocent family to pressure Zorro. So General Gobernador Alejandro de la Vega appointed him head of security.

Santa María! I'm in charge now! García's happy ending

Sor Suplicios/Ana Camila was happily established in the gayje life with Renzo the cute but useless gitano. And the gitano tribe remained on good terms with them both.

The former demon-possessed nun and her cute-but-useless former-gitano husband at Diego's and Esmeralda's wedding: Ana Camila and Renzo look forward to "happily ever after"

With wife #2 (Yumalai/Guadalupe) off on an extended spirit quest with her sister's ghost, Almudena gets the new Gobernador all to herself. Until she has a baby later on when they make huge time-jumps in the final episode.

I've got you, babe: Alejandro poses with Almudena at Diego's and Esmeralda's wedding

I mentioned in Part 1 that the local gitanos found a home on the De la Vega hacienda. Mercedes turned down the throne but got Queen María Louisa's promise that the gitanos back in the Old Country would be well treated. And she sailed off after the wedding to make sure her gitanos really were taken care of.

Yo te agradesco pero no: Mercedes decides to remain Sara Kalí, Queen of the Gitanos, to Esmeralda's obvious approval

María Louisa was a pretty open-minded monarch. She was fine hobnobbing with the gitanos at the big wedding.

The radical Queen: María Louisa with Azucena, the wife of the gitano patriarch, at Diego's and Esmeralda's wedding

Zorro was dutifully recognized by the Queen for saving her life and generally being of service against the illegitimate tyranny of el Comandante Montero and el Capitán Pizarro by honoring him in a public event. This isn't maybe quite as far-fetched as I had first thought (the rebels fighting for the queen, I mean, not the queen honoring a masked bandito). The original independence fighter of the 19th century in the Spanish New World colonies fought in the name of a legitimate king. But that's a story for other posts.

Bandito no more: The Queen honors Zorro (that's her ceremonial sword on his left shoulder)

Okay, the wedding. Wedding disruptions are nothing unusual in telenovelas. Shoot, I think the Telenovela Code requires at least one per novela. But stressful weddings were a specialty in Zorro. The whole thing began the first night with Esmeralda running frantically through the streets of Barcelona with soldiers in pursuit as she tried to escape from her marriage to some tottering old rich guy her father had arranged.

Diego's and Esmeralda's may have been the Mother of All Disrupted Weddings. They got hitched and did the kiss, with Padre Tomás happily presiding, of course. Padre Tomás also showed his revolutionary consciousness by including in the wedding ceremony a comment about how proud the happy couple were of their baby who had been conceived out of wedlock.

But nobody noticed Mariángel/Mangle lurking in her black Persian chador over there by the wall. As you remembered, she somehow escaped from the cannibals with bloody legs and an apparently scary appearance generally, seeing as how we saw a couple of grown men fleeing in terror at the sight of her naked body a few days (in novela time) earlier.

Her plan was to wait until the marriage was done, then gun down her erstwhile sister Esmeralda. But Fernando, finally converted to the light by the late, lamented Aaron the Exorcist was determined to save Esmeralda, who he had mistreated all her life. He arrives just in time to throw himself in front of the bullet. Much to Mangle's surprise.

Mangle finally kills somebody herself; she just didn't intend for it to be Daddy

After all of Fernando's sins, this amounted to a happy ending for him. While he was dying on the floor in the arms of his beloved María Pía, who unbeknownst to both was carrying his child from their one and only love-making session, Alejandro and Diego both forgave him for having murdered Toypurnia/Regina.

Fernando's happy ending - or as close as he was likely to come to having one

Speaking of whom, Toypurnia showed up to be Fernando's guide to the next world. Only Fernando could see her, though. I couldn't help but noticed that her general demeanor was less inviting that when Almudena was on the verge of death and Regina appeared to her in a beautiful coach with a soft blue glow all around. She had forgiven him earlier for murdering her. But apparently she still thinks a decade or two of torment in Purgatory would still do Fernando's soul some good.

I forgive you for murdering me, Fernando, trust me: Toypurnia comes to take Fernando to the Other Side

But it wasn't just Mangle's patricide that stirred things up at the ceremony. Outside, rampaging pirates were ransacking Los Ángeles stabbing people right and left. Olmos the humpback had arranged this to find Mangle. But the pirates seemed to be having such a great time plundering and killing that they forgot about searching for Mangle.

The pirates gave Catalina and Tobías the chance to finally have their happy ending. A pirate was carrying Catalina off to have his way with her. And Tobías intervened and ran the guy through with the first thrust of his sword. He passed out into Catalina's arms afterwards. But that's all right. Now the two of them can live happily ever after. Too bad Tobías wasn't the same clothing size as Catalina. That way he could indulge his cross-dressing habit with her clothes instead of having to buy his own.

This may not look like a happy ending for Catalina and Tobías, but it really is

The Mangle-and-Olmos story came to a tragic but romantic end outside the church. Well, romantic in a twisted, macabre way. With pirates rampaging in the background, Mangle shot him and he staggered over to her and stabbed her. They collapsed together side by side.

But first we got to see her recently-hideous face. Thanks to the remarkable regenerative powers of the southern California environment in those days, which we witnessed on numerous occasions in Zorro, she looked a little banged up, and a tad pale. Plus, her hair style was a bit shorter and more casual that she usually wore. But otherwise, she was healing fast. (Actually, I kind of prefer her pale leprechaun look, but that's just me.) In fact, she was almost a sympathetic character for a second or two there, in between murdering her father while trying to murder her sister whose baby she had kidnapped and tried to kill, and murdering her ex-servant and ex-boyfriend Olmos the hunchback. They met the end that the One the Only the Great Selenia had prophesied.

Mangle's two seconds of being a sympathetic character, between murdering her father and murdering her former lover

After the newly-empowered García got that pirate disturbance under control, Fernando and Mangle had their funeral. General Gobernador Alejandro joins the Cofradía as a fellow fighter for justice. And Zorro turns in his sword to Padre Tomás at a Cofradía meeting.

Mission accomplished (for now): Zorro turns in his sword

Then we began time-travelling into the future. Almudena and Fernando had a baby boy. María Pía had Fernando's baby, a girl she named Fernanda. Then her old boyfriend showed up and married her, so they could live happily ever after. He didn't need to "make an honest woman out of her" just because she had a baby out of wedlock. Under the peaceful, liberal regime of General Gobernador Fernando and the enlightened spiritual guidance of Padre Tomás, that was no problem around there.

Niños en todos partes de la hacienca: the De la Vegas prove to be a fecund family

And we saw Baby Zorro, Alejandrito, growing up by leaps and bounds. While everyone else, benefitting from the phenomenally healthy climate and crops showed no signs of aging as Alejandrito grew up into a young man.

But the reign of Good Queen María Louisa lasted only nine years, when she passed away. Her successors weren't so enlightened, it seems. And, eventually, a new Comandante appeared on the scene, of a gneration that did not know Zorro. (Extra points for those who catch the Biblical reference.) And the old troubles began anew.

The new Comandante probably thinks Zorro was just a legend

Fortunately, Old Man Zorro and and an equally ageless Bernardo had trained Alejandrito in the secret Zorro skills. No doubt with some help from Aunt Yumalai along the way. So in the end, we get to see the Second Generation Zorro suit up to fight the good fight, while his proud parents give him a joyful send-off. Oh, and Diego and Esmeralda had a baby girl. Diego said that learning how to choose the sex of a baby before conception was one of the first secrets he learned as Zorro. But, unfortunately, he just whispered it in Esmeralda's ear as they prepared to implement the procedure, so we didn't get to hear what it was.

Zorro, the next generation: Alejandrito carries on the family tradition

In a corny but sweet touch, Diego gives Zorro's faithful steed Tornado his freedom, telling him to stop by and visit if he has children later. So we're led to believe that Alejandrito's steed is Tornado's offspring - or maybe grandson.

The proud and ageless parents send Zorro, Jr., off to work

Remaining mysteries

We never learned who the mystery woman was in the picture on Fernando's office wall:

Mystery woman: identity unknown

And, ah, sad to say, the final fate of the One the Only the Great Selenia remains unknown:

The One the Only the Unforgettable Great Selenia: Fate unknown (sigh!)

To conclude with the more literal translation of the famous ending in Grimm's Fairy Tales - no, "they lived happily ever after" isn't very literal: And if they haven't died, they are living still. (Okay, so "happily ever after" sounds a bit snappier in English!)

Tags: zorro, zorro telenovela