The Dogs of War

 

 

A wounded Placidi has revealed Piero's secrets to Leo, reminding all of the baddies among our readers to not betray cohorts who know your plans for European domination or they might spill the beans. Or as Placidi says: "He should have treated me better!" Realizing the extent of Piero's schemes, Leo hurries to the workshop to sabotage his marvelous super weapon. Rocco walks in and catches him and Leo explains to him that Piero killed his father. Naturally, Rocco doesn't believe him and (characteristically) threatens to have Leo executed for treason. In a crowning moment of awesome, Verrocchio daringly knocks the hot-headed Duke out with a painting.

 

A thing of beauty is a weapon forever

 

 To prove to Rocco that Piero is a traitor, Mac and Rocco hide inside the tank and Leo confronts Piero with the handkerchief stained with cyanide that he used to kill the Duke. He readily admits to Leo that he did indeed kill the Duke, finally convincing the rather dimwitted Rocco that he is a major threat. Piero believes Leo's assertion that he hasn't told anyone else yet and tries to wheedle him into joining in his quest for continent-wide conquest. Naturally, Leo refuses to participate in his nefarious scheme and Piero moves to kill him. Mac and Rocco pop out of hiding to save Leo. 

 

*Insert random joke about Inigo Montoya*

 

 Rocco orders his men to arrest Piero, but it turns out they are secretly under Medici control and Rocco and the boys are seized. Leo refuses to right his sabotage of the machine, so Piero orders his men to kill Mac. 

 

 

 

 Leo replaces the missing parts to save Mac, but in the end it does no good as Piero claims that the pair are spies from Milan and throws them and Rocco in a cell in the Medici palace. He decides to frame Mac and Leo for Rocco's murder and plans to proceed with the invasion of Milan. At this moment one begins to wonder what has happened to Tom, but forgets just as quickly since things are getting really interesting.

 

"Crap! We've spent almost the whole series in jail!"

Meanwhile, Lorenzo has gone by Mac's house and found Placidi who reveals all. Lorenzo goes to the house where he and Lisa were held after the masqued ball and tries the key Placidi gives him. It fits and he is forced to acknowledge that his own father had him kidnapped. He runs to find Leo just in time to see Piero's men drag him away from Verrocchio's workshop. When Piero lies to him about the whereabouts of Rocco, Lorenzo realizes all of Leo's past suspicions about his father are true. 

 

"NOOOOOOOO!"

 

 He steals the key to the cell from his father and shows up seemingly to express his disgust at his friend's traitorous ways. However, he has really drugged the guards and springs the trio from their cell. Lorenzo confronts his father who tries to persuade him to join him. Lorenzo refuses, but is unable to bring himself to kill his own father. Rocco easily disarms the remainder of the Medici guards and the heroic band rushes to seize the tank before Piero can use it. Alas, they are too late, arriving just in time to see the tank burst out of Verrocchio's workshop. 

 

Although about to die horribly, Leo couldn't help pausing to admire his workmanship

 

Rocco orders his men to fire on the tank, but the rounds just bounce harmlessly off of the protective shell. As Piero prepares to fire on Rocco and his men he discovers that the tank's cannon will not work. Evil triumph quickly turns to dismay and howling rage as Tom at last makes an appearance. 

 

"Looking for this?"

 

She cleverly disguised herself as a cleaning girl and sneaked past Piero's guards to remove the flint from Leo's tank. With the super weapon out of commission, Piero challenges Rocco to one-on-one combat. Piero goads Rocco into losing his temper and he stabs him through the torso. Piero then moves to regain the upper hand with the confused Florentine throng, claiming that it was Rocco who killed the former Duke. He has Verrocchio, Mac and Tom arrested for conspiring with the Duke. Leo desperately grabs a sword to defend his friends, but unfortunately he has no idea how to use it. 

 

 

 

 

As Piero prepares to kill him, Leo strikes the flint off of his blade forming a spark that burns Piero's eyes and Leo disarms him. Lorenzo denounces his father and he is dragged away to be executed for treason. Leo is universally regarded as the hero of Florence and everyone celebrates except for Lorenzo who is upset over his father. His friends manage to cheer him up slightly and everyone is happy as Piero is at last defeated. 

 

Happily ever after

 

Lose a father, regain a fencing tutor

 

 Not so fast. Cut to the Florentine jail where Piero persuades the jailer to deliver a mysterious message for him. Cue evil smile and series three is properly set up. 

 

Florence really needs a larger jail

 

This was a nicely staged series finale with each of the friend's stories being shown in flashback. With plenty of sword fights and more allegiance changing guards than you can shake a stick at, "The Dogs of War" has something for everyone. Whether or not Leonardo will be commissioned for a second series is not yet certain. We will have to see if all we get is two series. In the mean time for the love of God, CBBC please just release some DVDs!

 

The Fugitive

Leo has at last completed his primitive tank invention. Piero is not pleased to find that Leo thinks of the machine as more of a deterrent than a super weapon. In turn, Lisa is not convinced that Piero's designs are unselfish. She is correct as Piero plans to ride out to war with Duke Rocco and dispose of him on the battlefield. 

"Pretty snazzy, Leo!"

Meanwhile, the town's Milanese population is being persecuted. Their shops are ransacked, their belongings are stolen and they are thrown from their homes. Leo, Tom and Mac come on a group of men robbing Lucia Rossi and her Milanese grandmother Carla. Leo chivalrously slings one of his inventions (an all-natural alternative to tear gas) at the thugs and rescues the family from their clutches. The leader of the thugs Alberto is humiliated by his defeat at the hands of children and spreads a rumor that Lucia is a spy from Milan.

Unlikely spies

The Rossis takes shelter at Mac's house and Leo decides to ask Piero for help so they don't have to leave Florence. Piero agrees to rein in Alberto, but it turns out that he is actually Placidi's cousin and is terrorizing the townspeople on Piero's orders. Placidi almost tells Alberto about the staged assassination of Rocco's father, but Piero stops him. Alberto whips the Florence populace into a frenzy over the Milanese "spy" Lucia and Leo decides that they must smuggle the pair out of the city as soon as possible. Piero's secret campaign backfires in a small way when the propagandized Lorenzo fires his skilled Milanese tailor and walks around wearing slipshod outfits made by "good" Florentine tailors. 

Florentine worksmanship wins every time!

 Leo and Tom convince Verrocchio and the other workshop apprentices to help them rescue Lucia and her grandmother. 

 While they are coordinating an escape attempt, the haphazardly attired Lorenzo bumbles into Mac's home where the fugitives are hiding. He recognizes Lucia instantly despite her quick lie that she is "Imelda" and puts her to the question. 

The question

He just has time to alert Alberto before Tom collars him and hides. At first he refuses to believe that Lucia is being framed although Tom assures him she is just a scapegoat. He decides to give her a chance and orders Alberto to leave. 

"Um like there are like totally no spies in Mac's house. Like nuh-uh."

Leo gives Carla and Lucia fake papers to get out of Florence, but they must separate. Mac sprinkles the city with posters declaring Alberto a double agent for Milan. Tom safely escorts Carla out the city gates while Leo goes with Lucia. At the last minute Lucia panics and Leo must hide her at Verrocchio's workshop. He then comes up with a brilliant plan to help Lucia over the city gates. They rush to the church tower with Leo's wings and fly over the city walls. 

Like pigs, Florentine guards seem incapable of looking up

 On the outskirts of the city Lucia is reunited with her grandmother and they flee to safety. Alberto is furious that Lucia has escaped, but with posters labeling him a double agent all over Florence his thugs soon turn on him. 

"Oh, bollocks!"

 They also turn on Placidi when Piero declines to protect him, seeing an excellent opportunity to rid himself of a man who knows too much. Betrayed by his employer, Placidi reveals Piero's true schemes to Leo. Duke Rocco prepares to march on Milan and cordons off Verrocchio's workshop to prevent the theft of the weapon.

Moral of the story: Make sure your lieutenant is really dead before he can spill the beans

One nice thing about this week's episode is how all of the friends pulled together to help out Lucia and her grandmother. Even the usually reticent Verrocchio was guilt-tripped into helping by Leo, who successfully pulled his remember-when-you-were-falsely-accused-and-I-saved-you card.

"What can I say? My bark is worse than my bite."

This week after having had lots of storylines and dialogue in the past few episodes, Mac is back to his traditional role as occasional background helper. 

"Is it just me Tom or do I only have around two lines in this episode?"