Zorro the Chronicles episode 15 Grains of wrath

We present Zorro the Chronicles episode 15 Grains of wrath  — 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 15 Grains of wrath — plot summary

Zorro the Chronicles episode 15 “Grains of wrath” introduces new characters: the Verdugo marriage. On her way to Los Angeles, Dona Isabella passes two traders riding a cart full of grain sacks. Enjoying in the beautiful weather, the traders do not suspect that they’ll soon fall victim to a robbery. The cart is overtaken by masked bandits. La Rana deftly turns the horse along with the whole cart (sic!) almost in place, and the sudden turn throws the semi-conscious victims onto the road together with their sacks. La Rana doesn’t get why ordinary grains are to their prey. Personally, he’d prefer gold. Don Rodrigo, who knows the true value of the loot, scolds him. He orders to quickly clean up the place so that nobody will link them to the theft. One of the assaulted reaches up to Malapensa’s sleeve and accidentally tears off a button, but passes out again.

At the pueblo

Meanwhile, people are waiting for the stagecoach arrival. Don Alejandro is among them awaiting the act of purchasing another pasture. Dona Isabella falls into the arms of her husband, don Luis. The caballero introduces his wife to the de la Vegas. A quiet but healthy competition between friends for the title of the greatest rancher in the area is immediately visible. The Verdugos go to see the pueblo, but ambitious Isabella admonishes that if don Alejandro is richer than them, the governor will likely make him the alcalde of Los Angeles. And she would rather see don Luis in that post. Manipulated by his wife, the caballero promises not to let his friend win. The couple also meet don Rodrigo. Isabella pays attention to the beautiful buttons decorating Malapensa’s cuffs with his initials, complimenting them. In return, the Verdugos are invited to the party.

Garcia arrives to the garrison, handing a beautiful letter to Monasterio. It turns out to be an invitation to a party at the Malapens hacienda. Sergeant is eager to offer his services as a taster. Captain eventually agrees to take him, which results in a truly joyful dance performed by the plump soldier.

Theft that got Los Angeles shaken

A soldier bursts into the pueblo square. Asked by Diego about the reason for his rush, he tells the news about the grain theft. Unfortunate merchants are given a meal and a room at the inn, but they are unable to provide useful information. Diego returns to the hacienda to disguise himself as Zorro, but from the traces he can only deduce the course of events and the number of attackers. Soldiers also go to the place of robbery, but they do not find even that much.

In the morning, Diego and Bernardo arrive at the pueblo. Miguel de la Cruz complains about the market situation. The theft has rocked the market, and don Rodrigo is the only person with grains for sale. Taking advantage of the situation, he demands not only payment right now, but also half of the fall harvest. The young caballero finds it suspicious that his neighbor has so much supplies. Together with Bernardo, they sit in the tavern and wonder how to catch the thieves. The mute comes up with the idea of provocation, although it takes him some time to explain it in sign language. Young de la Vega announces publicly that he has been informed about a shipment of cheap grains which will be arriving in Los Angeles the next day. The rumor spreads quickly and it goes to Malapensa as well.

Blackmail on the party

In the tavern room, dona Isabella takes care of the injured merchants. She begins an election campaign, promising a hospital if her husband is elected the alcalde. Upon noticing a familiar button in the merchant’s hand, she takes it and quickly hides it. When he regains consciousness, he remembers that he took the evidence of the robbery, but does not have it, so he doubts if it was not only a dream.

Don Rodrigo welcomes his guests, including Inez and don Alejandro, and the Verdugos accompanied by a troop of soldiers and Monasterio. There is delicious food at the party, and a band plays music for dancing. Young Antonio Malapensa and Inez circulate on the dance floor. He woos her, paying compliments, but the girl is cleverly talks back and makes fun of him.

The host asks Isabella if she is having fun. The woman inquires how exactly he made his fortune. Don Rodrigo reveals that he did it while sailing the sea. He offers to show the rest of the hacienda. While they are alone in the garden, senora Verdugo starts her attack. She shows a button with Malapensa’s initials and blackmails the caballero. She wants half the loot, packed in her carriage before the end of the party. If the thief is hesitant, his doubts are dispelled at the sight of the captain peering into the garden in the distance.

Provocation, or why Diego and Bernardo didn’t go to the party…

Evening has come and Bernardo rides a cart leisurely towards the pueblo. He put on a hat for disguise. Zorro follows collaterally along the rough terrain. The path is blocked by two masked bandits with torches. The mute stops the vehicle and runs away, terrified. Dentist and La Rana are so glad that it hadn’t come to a fight that they don’t even check the contents of the bags. They hijack the cart and ride straight to the hacienda. Zorro follows them skillfully enough to hide behind the vegetation when the criminals turn their heads at the sound of hooves.

Malapensa comes to the henhouse where his subordinates have brought new loot. After the bag inspection, it turns out that they have stolen… sand. Zorro reveals himself and confronts La Rana and Dentist who are armed with clubs. It’s a very short fight, because a well-aimed kick and the fence of the henhouse were enough for both of them to land in a daze on the paddock, surrounded by hens. Don Rodrigo picks up the club, but is disarmed at the same moment and decorated with the sign of Zorro.

…because Zorro did!

The commotion is heard at the hacienda and the guests, led by Monasterio, come out to check what is going on. Zorro reports that he has found the thieves, but does not know where they are keeping the grain. Don Rodrigo denies everything. The soldiers attack the renegade, but are knocked out with sandbags.

The second duel is against the captain, Garcia and Gonzales. Antonio wants to show off in front of Inez and joins the fight. The girl helps her brother and pretends to be attacked by a chicken, so young Malapensa rushes to the rescue. The duel continues, and Zorro uses good timing and agility to neutralize the corporal and sergeant who bump into each other. He grabs one of the feathers and attaches it to the hat. He asks the audience what image suits him better.

The fight with the captain ends with Monasterio slipping and landing with his face in the basket of eggs. And the feather from the hat is used to tickle his nose. Due to the lack of available opponents, Zorro leaves on Tornado, saluting everyone. Carmen sighs at this audacious hero.

Verdugo’s popularity rises, Malapensa’s goes down

The next day, happy citizens of the pueblo get their grains. All credit goes to Dona Isabella, who “brought them from Monterey”. Nobody suspects that her intentions are not entirely pure. Diego and don Alejandro thank her, and the elder de la Vega promises to support his friend’s candidacy.

Carlos asks Diego about the merchants he was talking about the day before. The young man says they were carrying sand and escaped during another robbery. The innkeeper compares them to soldiers.

Monasterio shows his anger towards Luis Verdugo in the privacy of his office. If the alcade position is filled, he will lose a part of his power. He is visited by Malapensa complaining about broken eggs. This is probably not the best moment as the captain is definitely in a foul mood. He leads the caballero to the garrison hen house and says that he cannot give up eggs because the hens have not laid anything yet. Garcia puts a sack of grains in Malapensa’s hands. The message is clear: if you feed the chickens, you can collect the eggs. By yourself. 🙂

Zorro the Chronicles episode 15 Grains of wrath — review

Lots of action, an intrigue and a new, interesting character! “Grains of wrath” is definitely one of the best episodes. It begins with an idyllic scene showing two carts moving slowly among the hills of California. Then, it very quickly changes to a dynamic shot of an attack on one of them. And then it’s getting more and more interesting.

Simple yet effective plot

The idea of stealing grains just to sell them later for a huge price is amazing in its simplicity. Isabella Verdugo’s behavior seems equally clever. She blackmails Malapensa that if he does not give her half of the loot, everyone will find out that he is a thief. Isabella’s motivation is very interesting: she wants everyone to appreciate her husband, don Luis, who will probably be noticed by the governor and appointed alcalde thanks to this. On the one hand, her goal isn’t bad because in the end the citizens get grains, and don Luis would be a very good alcalde. On the other hand, such behavior is false and unfair.

This sets Isabella as the most ambiguous and effective villain in the series. Only she manages to achieve her aim with her plot. She’s introduced greatly into the series. At first, she appears as an elegant woman and longing wife, but quickly reveals ambitions she has concerning her husband. For Disney Zorro fans, she may seem similar to Raquel Toledano, for whom the position of her spouse was also most important. Looking at Isabella’s red outfit and fiery hair, we get the impression that this is a woman used to having power. We have no doubts who wears the pants in the Verdugos’ marriage, which is hinted very literally by Isabella’s clothes. Once again, Zorro the Chronicles prove that they can offer the audience fantastically differentiated female characters.

Señor capitán?

And there’s only one problem left: among more and more interesting and effective opponents, Captain Monasterio looks a bit disappointing. In this episode, his role has been limited to the comic relief. The scene with Garcia asking the commandant to take him to the party is cute. The duo demonstrates an almost family relationship in it. Well, that is, Sergeant resembles an unruly child begging for a toy, and Monasterio looks like a resigned father. Then, of course, Captain tries to fight Zorro. But after so many episodes nobody really expects anything else from him than being defeated. This time, the loss is extremely humiliating because Monasterio lands in eggs. -20 from Commandant’s dignity. 😉

However, Captain restores his reputation in the final scene by humilitating Malapensa. The scene is excellent, because Monasterio initially surprises us with his kindness towards don Rodrigo. Literally nothing foreshadows the finale with the chickens. But no matter how hard both gentlemen try, this episode belongs to the wonderfully written Isabella. And that makes it the most feminist episode of the Chronicles! 🙂

Zorro the Chronicles episode 15 Grains of wrath — Youtube

World premiere: 10.01.2016

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,