Episode 52 (cont)

One of my favorite episodes is from the second season, number 52. The scene where Alejandro tells Diego he has to remain Zorro. Diego says "Well, is it that important to you that I remain Zorro?" and I almost find myself shouting out loud with Alejandro: "To me, and to all California." The scene is just filled with raw emotion, and you can see it all on Guy's face from the shock of discovery to his reluctant assent to doing what he knows is right. I can't watch that episode enough.

Submitted by Mary Lou, 9/24/02
Alejandro confronting Diego, pleading with his son not to abandon the good people of California.

Submitted by Gail, 11/10/01

Ah, this is the intense episode. I do love the scene between Alejandro and Diego. And the pain is clear on our hero's face.... as well as on his father's.

We talk about what Diego was feeling, but I can only imagine, as a parent, just what Alejandro is feeling.

I would like to think that during that interval, long or short, that Alejandro pondered the incredible sacrifice that his son had made, meditated over what it meant to him........... the possibility of no grandchildren, a possibility of early death for his son.

I can imagine the horror that the last thought might have for him and the fear he would feel for Diego. I can imagine sleepless nights as he vacillated between pride so intense to almost make him cry with joy to that intense pain that he must have felt when he totally understood the implications of the role that his son had taken on when he returned from Spain. Exquisite pain over his son's selfless sacrifice, warm, sweet joy over the fact that Diego really was all that he could have hoped for in a man, heart grabbing fear over the risks that his son had taken in the past and those that he would take in the future, heart bursting with pride for the one he loved so very much.

What was Alejandro feeling when he ambushed his own son and kept him from accepting amnesty? I can only suppose that having been married and having loved a woman, he was feeling something like a betrayer to Diego in one respect. However, at that point Alejandro could see the big picture, and as painful as it was to see Diego sacrifice life with the woman that he loved, the need for Zorro had not ended, nor had the needs of his people. Alejandro tried to point that out during the conversation in the tavern, but when that didn't work, he acted to prevent what he (and we) felt would have been a decision with horrible ramifications.

Diego created Zorro to rid Los Angeles of one man, but the creation had become a part of his people, just as the air they breathed and the sun on their backs. As long as there is injustice and oppression, there is a need for a hero, and Diego had become that hero, his personal satisfaction and needs were superceded by the needs of his people. Sailors talk about being married to the sea, Diego and his alter ego were married to the people..... and as much as it might have broken his heart to be the instrument of Diego's agony, Alejandro realized that only too well and acted in the only way he knew how. And he suffered pain even as Diego was suffering.

Sue K., 01/22/03




next
back
Table of Contents