Zorro the Chronicles episode 11 The cattle drive

We present Zorro the Chronicles episode 11 The cattle drive — plot summary, our subjective review, the episode itself and the list of creators. Don’t forget about the next episode! You’ll find a link to it at the bottom of the page.

Zorro the Chronicles episode 11 The cattle drive – plot summary

Zorro the Chronicles episode 11 “The cattle drive” means new characters and an important aspect of ranchero’s life. Vaqueros and the de la Vegas prepare to drive the herds for sale in Monterey. The counting is supervised by the captain, who meticulously writes 200 pieces in the book. Inez teases Diego, who is supposed to stay home while the rest of them go to the capital. The young man takes a hint and complains loudly about the heat and dust, providing a cover for himself. The commandant offers to escort the senorita personally, but she chooses… Sergeant Garcia. 🙂

Maria is watching the conversation from the balcony. She worries about supplying travellers and catches a sergeant “inspecting” provisions. You can see that they both managed to start liking each other in the previous episodes because Garcia talks about his future heroic deeds to impress her. And the hostess does not immediately knock him off with a frying pan or a broom. During the whole expedition the sergeant mostly escorts the food. He also doesn’t hesitate to try it. And he would not give back even the lost sausage to buzzards! However, the idea of riding like Don Quixote to keep an eye on the bird thieves is not the most brilliant in his execution.

A huge herd is spotted by a group of Indian immigrants who plan to attack them. The scouts communicate with the rest of the gang through a mirror. Bernardo sees the “bunnies” from the bottom of the ravine, but shrugs and goes on. They stop by the river and only there the poor sergeant catches up with them. He inadvertently hits his horse on the rump with a sausage, which results in an unplanned bath.

The Yaqui’s attack

Peaceful rest by the murmuring stream is suddenly interrupted by a terrifying howl. The group is surrounded by hostile Indians. In the commotion, Bernardo and one of the vaqueros manage to escape. They agree that one will go for the soldiers and the mute will follow the attackers.

The aggressors introduce themselves as the Yaqui tribe, led by Yuma. Inez is surprised they have wandered so far from their traditional lands. They mock the lack of courage of her people who fled, leaving her to the Indians. In turn, the girl feels responsible for the herd entrusted to her. The discovery of the sergeant shaking in the bushes, who is willing to give up even a sausage, certainly does not improve their image in the eyes of Yuma and his subordinates.

Eventually, the pack drives the herd to the surroundings familiar to the Yaqui, and the Indian chief leads the captives on a rope. Inez tries to convince him that her father will definitely pay a hefty ransom for her and not bring in the soldiers. After a moment of persuasion on her part, Garcia agrees to go to don Alejandro and demand 1000 pesos. And the more he is afraid of dusk, the more he urges his horse.

The heroic Garcia

After a few hours, he bursts into the hacienda patio where a lonely Diego fences with a stick. The young man is surprised by the arrival of the intruder, but quickly finds himself a task appropriate for his public persona. He takes a “moon bath” with the bowl. The sergeant tells him about the events, although he colours his own contribution to the whole adventure. The young de la Vega promises to inform his father and asks the soldier to bring the garrison. But instead of going to don Alejandro, he goes down to the cave and turns into Zorro. He quickly catches up with Garcia, who falls off his horse in surprise and loses consciousness. When the lancer comes to life after a while, he accepts the flask of water gratefully. Another change of plans and they both go where the abduction happened.

Hypnosis and escape attempt

The Yaqui set up a camp in the valley, raise their winning toasts, and eat Maria’s provisions with gusto. Bernardo takes arrows from their quivers and bullets from their muskets. However, there is no way to reach Inez who is bound and left aside. After dark, Yuma brings dinner to the girl. He is rude and bitter, but the senorita very politely asks him to untie her hands, convincing him that she will not run away. They talk about their tribes.

While the Chumash live in relative peace on their lands, the Yaqui were driven from their fatherland by the colonizers. Inez explains her point of view as a half-breed child because she firmly believes that white people and Indians can live and work together. During this time, she hypnotizes the kidnapper with a spoon and puts him to sleep. She takes the knife from him and cuts the ties on her legs. However, her escape lasts only for a few minutes. One of the Yaqui catches her, throws her over his shoulder and takes her back to the fire.

Zorro and Garcia arrive in the valley. The Tornado plunges right into the middle of the enemies, and the sergeant takes a strategic position with natural caution outside of the main fuss. Eventually, he falls asleep and the horse takes him on his way back. The sergeant is awakened by Monasterio who, along with the unit and a vaquero, is going to rescue Inez.

Zorro vs Indians and Zorro vs the captain

Meanwhile, the fierce raids of the black steed distract the Indians, who run towards the weapons left on the side. Let us add that it was completely useless, thanks to Bernardo’s earlier actions. The mute also stuns the Yaqui who is holding Inez. They both run away. After the first shock, the Indians organize defence and wake up Yuma, who does not find his knife in the scabbard at the belt. The others, however, circle Zorro with sharp spears. The first one is disarmed by Tornado, the other two with a renegade’s acrobatic jump. He gains two spears to incapacitate the last attackers. A short fight ends with a score of 5:0. But there is also Yuma himself, who tries to offend and anger his opponent. Undaunted, Zorro defends himself with a whip and a clapback.

Soldiers arrive at the scene of the fight, and the captain is not at all surprised to see his arch enemy. He easily accuses him of all the evil in the world, but to his further surprise, it is the beautiful senorita who pleads for Zorro’s innocence. Garcia supports her. Monasterio orders the soldiers to catch the bandit, but Bernardo sends cows after them. The renegade in black appreciates the joke and slaps the captain’s horse on the croup. Thrown up in the air, the commander lands on the back of an angry bull. Time to start the rodeo! 🙂 He couldn’t get away without the traditional “Z” on the pants, of course.

New Alliance and Number Two Hypnosis

At the very beginning of the clash with Zorro, the Indians discreetly disappeared from the valley. They reach the hacienda off the beaten track and decide to take it over. However, the host has a different opinion on this. As the conversation progresses, the Yaqui and Malapensa make a deal. What is it about? Check it out in the next episode 🙂

At dawn, Inez and Bernardo resumed their cattle drive. They are surprised when Diego joins them, sent by don Alejandro. The girl teases her brother and tries to hypnotize him. It doesn’t work on him, although he hides the fact. However, the idea of lending Zorro’s sword to her sister is too absurd to keep pretending any longer. It turns out that Bernardo, who was looking at the spoon from the other side, is not immune to hypnosis. He’s taking a nap in the middle of the road.

Zorro the Chronicles episode 11 The cattle drive — review

Zorro’s Chronicles episode 11 “The cattle drive” begins peacefully. We see a picture out of a rancher’s life: transporting animals to Monterey for sale. The whole expedition is to be managed by the relentless Ines, who hurts Monasterio’s feelings at the very beginning. She declares that she would rather be escorted by Garcia than the elegant captain! The scene is priceless.

Perfect Ines, slightly worse Garcia

Senorita de la Vega is the star of the episode. With her courage and cleverness, she proves that she was rightly entrusted with a responsible task. When the Yaqui attack the group transporting the cattle, the girl keeps her cool better than many men. What’s more, she tries to break free from her bonds with deception and cunning. In comparison to her, Garcia handles the situation so much worse. We all know the sergeant isn’t exactly brave, but his excuses for not going to don Alejandro with a ransom demand because he is afraid of the dark are just pitiful. Garcia’s good heart, which has been signalled to us several times already, should rather push him towards rescuing Ines from Yaqui’s hands in any way.

New characters

Introducing a new Indian tribe was a really great idea. The Chumash are peaceful, interested in living together with white people. Bringing in the Yaqui provide a fantastic variety, thus showing that the colonized tribes were highely unlikely to accept the colonizers with open arms. The issue is definitely difficult, but very important, and I am glad that the cartoon for children brings it up in a subtle but clear way.

Yuma is one of my favourite characters in the Chronicles, and another proof how actually ambiguous the villains presented in the show are. We have no doubts that he makes a mistake kidnapping Ines and taking the cattle like a common thief, which the girl reproaches him for. But it’s hard not to feel sorry for him when he talks about the difficult life of his tribe. We can see how frustrated and bitter he is. And you know, this idealism of Ines, who understands the problems of Indians because of her mixed background, is very nice. This is the attitude we should definitely follow. However, while watching the cartoon as an adult, I think I sympathise with Yuma’s regret more.

Additional touches

I really like the image of the young Indian. His sharp features and long hair tied with a bandana give him a look that is rebellious, but also attractive. Despite his age, he seems charismatic enough for us to understand why he is a leader. I am also glad that Zorro did not humiliate him as much as he used to do with soldiers. Oh, speaking about the soldiers! Monasterio trying his hand at rodeo is definitely an unforgettable sight. 😉

Zorro the Chronicles episode 11 The cattle drive — Youtube

World premiere: 20.12.2015

Production: Cyber Group Studios
Directed by Olivier Lelardoux, Pierre Sissman
Animation: Nicolas Davoust, Yann Martinat

Voices:
Don Diego/Zorro: Johnny Yong Bosch, Valéry Schatz
Ines: Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Sandra Lou
Monasterio: Jamieson Price, Paul Borne
Demetrio Garcia: Kirk Thornton
Ignacio Gonzalez: Fabrice Fara
Other voices: R. Martin Klein, Kyle McCarley, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Joe Ochman, Alan Shearman, Keith Silverstein, Anne Yatco, Michel Bedetti, Martin Billany, Bernard Bollet, Lucien Dodge, Richard Epcar, Pascal Casanova, Melora Harte, Vincent de Bouard, Marie-Christine Darah, Jean-Christophe Dollé, Bubba Kuchow, Patrice Dozier, Joey Latsko, Dave Mallow, Karine Foviau, Stéphanie Hédin, Tony Joudrier, Juan Llorca, Patrick Messe, Michel Voletti,