Zorro the Chronicles episode 5 The maestro

We present Zorro the Chronicles episode 5 The maestro — 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 5 The maestro plot summary

Zorro the Chronicles episode 5 The maestro is all about trying to best Zorro in a fight he’s quite the master of – the swordsmanship. To achieve that, captain Monasterio trains tirelessly with Antonio Ramirez de la Poterna, a fencing master from Monterey, and organizes practice for his subordinates. Sometimes not everything goes according to the plan. For example, Diego performs a panic attack right after he enters the garrison and nearly gets stabbed with a blade flying in the air. Young de la Vega watches the practice together with don Parasol. The latter doesn’t spare the soldiers his remarks about how effective Zorro is. He’s also willing to improve his skills and encourages Diego to do the same. The boy tries to shrink from it, using his laziness, aversion to violence and even hot weather as excuses, but the governor is adamant about the idea.

Next day, maestro Ramirez takes his students outside. He watches the soldiers fighting, but instead of supporting them and correcting the mistakes, he just points them out mercilessly, taunting the men. Garcia, who admits to being taught fencing by his grandma, presents the lowest level. The maestro believes a surprise attack to be the solution for defeating Zorro, and he tries to teach it to the sergeant. However, good old Garcia has problems at the very beginning with changing the hands. After a few trials, though, he manages to succeed and does the maneuver correctly. Unfortunately, no-one witnesses his success.

Diego’s and don Parasol’s practice

Don Parasol, Diego and Bernardo arrives. The young man shows off his elegant ceremonial sword and the de la Vega name, laughing at the pompous Ramirez discreetly. In the meantime, he confirms that he knows nothing about the weapon, valuing its beauty more than the usefulness. He fights with a borrowed blade, but he mainly defeats himself clumsily and moves backwards. It all almost ends up in Diego falling on a spiky cactus. He gives up on the lesson after he’s been disarmed. When he leaves, it’s don Parasol’s turn who, having witnessed the maestro’s skills, pretends a lumbago attack. The governor, the fencing master and the captain gossip about Diego and Carmen. Don Parasol comes up with an idea of a fencing competition. It’ll create an opportunity for senorita Villalonga to transfer her affections on Monasterio and the soldiers could try to catch Zorro.

In the evening, the sergeant invites the de la Vegas and don Luis to participate in the tournament. He eats the cookies all along, complimenting dona Maria for her potential of being an excellent wife. Don Alejandro insists that his son takes part in the competition. After Diego’s excuses, however, he decides to defend his family’s honor on his own. Ines and Carmen protest vigorously and the latter even mentions her father as an example, thinking that he would never risk like that. Well, and here the beautiful senorita is mistaken! Seeing his beloved distressed, Diego finally agrees to fight in the competition and take care of don Luis.

The fencing competition

Next day, there’s a fiesta in Los Angeles since midday. The competitors cross their blades, the merchants advertize their goods. Ramirez puts the main prize on the garrison’s gate, which is a gold medal given to him by the king of Spain. Don Alejandro reminds his son about manners and necessity to give senoritas gifts. However, he’s been beaten to it by Monasterio. The girls accept presents and compliments with long faces as they clearly expected such gesture from Diego. Ines reminds her brother that despite being unable to marry Carmen he shouldn’t hurt her. Her argument is supported with a solid stomping on his foot.

In the first duel, the heir of the de la Vegas fences against corporal Gonzalez with a ceremonial sword. His father is disgusted with his skills as well as behavior during the fight. The soldier takes advantage of Diego’s distraction and the boy falls into the fountain, loudly complaining about a ruined silk shirt. Monasterio tries to discredit the rival in front of Carmen with a mean remark, but makes her sad instead. Young de la Vega comes back to the hacienda with Bernardo while his father signs up for the competition.

Zorro shows up at the final

Evening comes as well as the climax of the competition. The captain and don Luis fight in the semi-final. The duel is just a sport for the caballero, but Monasterio fences as if he were on the battlefield. Audience’s protests don’t help much. Villalonga becomes injured and he may have been even killed if it wasn’t for don Alejandro’s intervention. Frankly speaking, de la Vega could have shared his friend’s fate.  Thankfully, Zorro appears and the captain loses interest in his would-be victim.

The renegade fights against both Monasterio and Ramirez at once. In the meantime, he assesses the environment. With the help of his whip, he moves to the inn’s balcony and the commander ends up in the watering place for horses. The maestro challenges Zorro to a duel, but even his special attack cannot surprise the bandit. Carmen is afraid of the result. She doesn’t need to, though, as the renegade sends Ramirez’s blade far backwards with an impressive flip and skillful move of his blade. That way he wins the whole competition and plans on leaving. However, Garcia blocks his way and Zorro lets the sergeant disarm him. Not for long, though, as the weapon thrown high out of his hands comes back to them soon. Yet it’s a very nice gesture towards the soldier. The same goes for the lack of usual Z cut on the uniform.

Zorro takes the medal from the garrison’s gate. When de la Vega and Villalonga families are coming back home, he gives the prize to don Alejandro.

Zorro the Chronicles episode 5 The maestro — review

Monasterio, all the time complaining about his soldiers’ incompetence, has finally decided to do something about it! He’s recruited a fencing master from Monterey whose job is to improve the skills of the captain and his subordinates. It makes an opportunity to show many interesting dueling scenes packed with humor and action. Not only between the soldiers, though. According to the governor’s wish, Diego also attends the fencing practice. His theatrical clumsiness and complaints about the weather or too heavy weapon are delightful to watch.

Two maestros

Adorably incompetent Diego and sergeant Garcia with his moment of triumph are the stars of this episode. Well, Garcia actually has the upper hand twice! First, he disarms corporal Gonzalez and then Zorro himself. When both these victories go unnoticed by the superior, we honestly sympathize with the unlucky, pushed around soldier.

Here Garcia develops as a character, presenting the traits that made him so likable in the Disney series. He’s wonderfully naive and good-natured when he admits to being taught fencing by his grandma. Disarming when he announces the competition and compliments dona Maria while eating all the cookies at the same time. When he’s overjoyed after defeating Gonzalez and Zorro, we feel happy for him. He’s still jealous of the corporal and wants to show him his authority. Yet for the first time we actually understand and support him, seeing how heavily influenced by a low self-esteem his actions are. His strict commander only makes his complexes worse.

Scenes with Diego trying to convince everyone how helpless with a sword he is always have a great comedy potential. The creators have used it very well. Young de la Vega is natural in the role of a delicate dandy. His exaggerated reluctance towards the fight and confusion how to hold the sword higher and fan at the same time are fantastic. The scene of his fall into the fountain and fussing over his silk clothes is priceless! His statement that if Zorro attacked him, he’d be probably well-mannered enough to just stand and admire the swords, is the icing on the cake.

Fighting scenes

The competition duels are probably the first fighting scenes in the series which I find somewhat reliable. Zorro doesn’t fence against more than two opponents at once and finally winning takes some time and effort from him. It’s a great idea to show how the renegade observes the environment and uses it later in a fight. For example, he spendidly leads Monasterio into the water for horses. But some competence is shown by the captain as well, appropriate for his rank and military experience. We have the pleasure to watch Monasterio fencing very skillfully and easily disarming two older dons. It’s great how different style of fighting the captain presents in comparison with civilians. For them, it’s a sport. For him, it’s a battle. The viewer has every right to be afraid of don Luis’s and don Alejandro’s safety.

Zorro the Chronicles episode 5 The maestro — Youtube

World premiere: 08.11.2015

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

Voices:
Don Diego/Zorro: Johnny Yong Bosch, Valéry Schatz
Inez: 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,