Zorro's conclusion

Telemundo's "Zorro: la espada y la rosa" looks like it is moving up to a climax. I believe that the masked ball held by the Queen of Spain will bring everything to a conclusion. There are a number of long-ronning subplots that have been resolved and the ball will be the first event where everyone in the cast comes together.

Zorro will win the day of course, and be reunited with hos true love Esmeralda (who now posing as the mysterious Countess of Barcamonte.) Mercedes (formerly the woman in the iron mask) will be reuinted with her cousin the Queen to help rule Spain wisely and well. Lovers will be reunited, villains will meet their ironic fates, and justice will be restored.

As the end nears I find that I am more interested in some of the minor characters than the principals. It's not that Zorro shouldn't be the center of the action. He's the only reason I'm watching this. It's just that what happens to the minor characters is harder to predict, creating greater dramatic tension. I'm very interested, for instance, in seeing whether Tobias (a pompous buffoon who occasionally impersonates Zorro) and Catalina (his self-absorbed but likable wife) live happily ever after.

They have brought one of the major villains to point in his life that I would never expect to see on American television. Don Fernando Sanchez y Moncada, the evil governor of Los Angeles has renounced his obsessive love for Don Diego's aunt and become a friar. He is now seeking forgiveness from those he has harmed (a long list.) It is interesting to see characters dealing with their faith so openly on a television program. It is also unexpected to have such a strong theme of grace and redemption show with a character who has been to unapoligetically evil for so long. (You know that a villain is truly repentant when he shaves off his VanDyke.)

I had gotten really tired of his never ending pursuit of Maria Pia but this change makes me interested in him again. I suspect that his redemption is going to involve a heroic death saving the lives of people he has wronged, but we'll see.