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?"

Hitched

 

 

We find our heroes where we last left them. Lorenzo is marrying the fair Angelica against his will. She really just wants to be with Mac (and vice versa). Leo is making a fancy weapon for the Duke of Florence and Tom is there for moral support.

 

From left to right: Dangerous weapon, its inventor, moral support

 The Medicis are throwing an elaborate wedding for Lorenzo and Angelica. Angelica's father Felipe Visconti is coming for the lavish event, with her enormous dowry. Lorenzo is very unhappy when he realizes that he will have to start a family with Angelica. 

 

"This sucks!"

 

Tom and Leo are horrified when Mac informs them he can't stand seeing Angelica married to someone else and that he is leaving Florence. Leo takes time from his busy inventing schedule to come up with a plan to ruin the wedding so Mac will stay. He forges a letter from the King of Naples, arranging a meeting with his envoy Old Ludovicio. The envoy is of course Leo disguised as an old man. 

 

A very untrustworthy old man

 

"Old Ludovicio" offers Rocco the hand of the king's daughter, Princess Eleanor, claiming that she has been jilted and needs to save face by immediately marrying a young man from a prominent family. Piero of course sees a prime opportunity to move his family up in the world. He lies and says that Rocco is already married, offering up Lorenzo instead of the Duke. "Old Ludovicio" finds the arrangement quite satisfactory. He pretends that Princess Eleanor can not see Lorenzo before their wedding day so no one will find out about the match. Meanwhile, Lorenzo accidentally walks in on in Leo in his old man makeup and realizes that the whole affair is a plot by his friends. Angelica agrees to elope with Mac if he can hijack the wedding. 

 

"I love you because I'm not taller than you."

 

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

 

 Signor Visconti arrives with the news that he has been robbed by brigands on his way to Florence and the dowry is gone.

 

Who could have possibly done such an awful thing?

 

Without a dowry, Piero cancels the wedding and plans to marry Lorenzo off to Princess Eleanor instead.

 

"Princess Eleanor"

 

 Lorenzo's mother insists on visiting Princess Eleanor in the convent where she is supposedly staying. Unable to get out of it, Leo must find a fake Eleanor. Naturally, it falls to Tom to disguise herself as the fictional princess. The friends pretend to be rat catchers and convince the nuns at a nearby convent that they have a rat problem and need to leave while they do a little pest control. Mac disguises himself as a nun while Lorenzo takes on his Old Ludovicio persona to fool Lorenzo's mother. After some rather snobbish behavior from Tom in her princess disguise, Teresa de' Medici is pleased with Princess Eleanor and satisfied with the match.

 

Mac the nun

 

The Medici household continues with preparations for a wedding; but this time it's a royal extravaganza. Mac prepares to run away with Angelica. At the last minute she decides that she can't disgrace her father by eloping with him. Right before the ceremony, the Medicis receive a letter from the King of Naples informing them that Princess Eleanor has had a better offer and will not be marrying their son after all. A panicked Piero desperately tries to renew the betrothal with the Viscontis, but Signor Visconti knows that Angelica doesn't want to marry Lorenzo so he swans off with daughter and dowry in tow.  

 

"Where will I ever find another girl like Angelica?"

Bit o' history:

The Santa Maria convent where the Medicis go to meet Princess Eleanor is most likely meant to be Santa Maria del Carmine, still standing today.

 

The convent today

The Tortoise and The Hare

 Huzzah! Rocco the true Duke has returned and Piero's evil plans have been thwarted once more! But trouble still looms. Mac is in love with Lorenzo's bride-to-be Angelica and Leo has been tricked into making fabulous and dangerous war machines for the nefarious Piero.

Rocco, the Duke of Milan (But for how long?)

Piero is put into further jeopardy when the enthusiastic Rocco proves ready to invade Milan and avenge his father's death. Naturally Piero (who poisoned the Duke and blamed it on Milan) does not want him anywhere near Milan, so he has to come up with a quick plan to distract him. Leo is working on a war machine designed after his pet turtle Tiberius. This provides a convenient distraction for Rocco.

Tiberius, whose shell gives Leo the idea for a powerful weapon

However, he is skeptical about relying on the designs of a teenaged boy expounding on the defensive potential of his tiny pet. 

Skeptical face

Drama unfolds when a lovestruck Mac confesses his feelings for Angelica to Leo who thinks he should "go for it". Tom is not at all surprised at the revelation as she noticed the couple exchanging lovey dovey glances. Lorenzo does not agree and is furious at Mac for falling in love with his fiancée, even though he thinks she is the most tiresome person on the planet.

Property c. 1467

 Leo decides to test out his new invention which is a panel of wood joined together with brass rivets. He fires a cannon at the panel, which alas splinters and allows the cannonball through.

Luckily, they moved first

 Unfortunately, it also breaks the statue of the former Duke, earning Leo the wrath of his son. He accuses Leo of treason and orders him to be put to death. Despite Verrocchio's pleas for mercy, Leo is lined up to face a firing squad. Tom stubbornly refuses to move out of the way and is soon joined by her friends.

Pulling a Spartacus

 Unwilling to have multiple Florentines cut down in public, Rocco postpones Leo's execution and Lorenzo begs Piero to use his influence and convince Rocco to spare Leo's life. Leo spends his time in jail covering the walls with his latest design: an early prototype of a tank.

In jail... again

Upon seeing this design, Piero decides he must save Leo's life so the ultimate weapon can be built. He discovers that Rocco's anger towards Leo's actions is based on an underlying guilt at his failure to save his father. He persuades Rocco to both pardon Leo and allow him to build his prototype tank. Leo improves his design and successfully demonstrates it to Rocco's satisfaction. Piero is delighted that his evil plans are back on track as all he has to do is polish off Rocco when Leo completes his fabulous weapon.

Pictured: new and improved tank material thingy

Meanwhile, back at the Medici palace Lorenzo confronts Angelica about her relationship with Mac. She readily admits that she is in love with Mac and that she doesn't want to marry Lorenzo. Lorenzo decides to ask his father if they can break the betrothal. Predictably, Piero is not pleased with their decision and tells him in no uncertain terms that the marriage will proceed as planned.

Did we mention that he is evil?

This was probably one of my favorite episodes of the season. Piero's plotting actually had some action to back it up. There was a romance storyline without it dominating the plot and the new Duke Clayton Boyd (looking like a taller version of Errol Flynn) had some pretty funny lines.

"WTF? I'm in charge of funny lines!"

Sadly, I am afraid that enormous creaking noise you hear is the Mac/Tom ship being dismantled for scrap. She seemed unfazed that Mac likes someone else, and is still so into Leo that she almost got shot by a firing squad.

Devotion

Also, the music! In this episode Colin Ryan sings the famous Carnival Song written by Lorenzo de' Medici himself. The original Italian version can be heard below.

 He also sings an English translation of the Italian poem "Una dona el cor m'ha tolto" ("Thus did a lady take my heart"). With luck there'll be more tunes from Colin in future episodes!

The Mask of Death

The Duke is dead. Long live the new Duke!
Having at last polished off the Duke, Piero is ready to assume power in fair Florence. As we saw last week, he poisoned the Duke and blamed it on Milan, meaning that Florence and Milan will almost certainly go to war. Lorenzo is upset about the Duke's assassination and is determined to fight in the war to avenge him. 

Alone with the dead: Leo and Verrocchio make a cast of the Duke's face

 To tie up loose ends Placidi is sent to deal with the failed assassin Scarpa who demands payment; Placidi only laughs at him. Scarpa next shows up, threatening to tell all unless Piero delivers his promised fee. Naturally, he only ends up enraging Piero who decides to dispose of the wily assassin before he can open his big mouth. When Leonardo is hired to make the death mask of the deceased Duke, Tom is suspicious of Piero's motives. Piero's plot becomes obvious when he tells Leo that Florence will lose a war against Milan unless they use Leo's amazing inventions. Meanwhile, the cast of the death mask cracks and turns a weird red color. Leo realizes that the blemishing is caused by some strange chemical, possibly poison. Leo tests several poisons to see if they match the substance on the mask. He is able to duplicate the cracking effect with a sample of cyanide. 

"Hmm, pretty sure that's not supposed to happen."

To obtain more concrete evidence, Leo and Tom sneak into the crypt to take scrapings from the Duke's mouth, but Piero catches them in the act. Leo quickly makes up a lie to cover his tracks and they are escorted out before he can get evidence. Leo gets the name of the attending physician Dr Pentangeli from Lorenzo and goes around to ask him about the death. He confides in the doctor who agrees to help him do a post-mortem, warning Leo to not tell anyone else about his suspicions. Naturally, the good doctor hotfoots it to Piero and alerts him to Leo's detective work. Piero calls Scarpa and tells him he can have his money if in return he commits a previously unscheduled murder.

Scarpa, winner of The Most Trusting Assassin Award

 Leo is startled when Piero shows up at the post-mortem feigning concern at the possible poisoning of the Duke. The post-mortem is suddenly interrupted by Scarpa who pretends to be targeting Piero, but shoots Dr. Pentangeli as he is (unlike Leonardo) dispensable. With his dying breath the doctor tries to tell Leo that Piero hired the assassin, but dies before he can reveal his secret. Leo examines the arrow and realizes that it is covered in cyanide. His suspicions are put to rest as he now believes the Milanese killers dipped the arrow that killed the Duke in poison. 

"You see Leo, it's because I'm just so very evil."

He agrees to help Piero and designs terrible war machines to use in the upcoming war against Milan. Placidi disposes of the assassin, who in the end turned out to be stupid enough not to see the double-cross coming, but smart enough to warn Placidi that the Duke will one day kill him as well since he knows all his secrets. Placidi declines to burn the poison stained handkerchief that Piero used to wipe the Duke's mouth, clearly hoping to use it one day as insurance.