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!

 

By The Sword

Verrocchio's art workshop is transformed into an inventor's room for Leo who is hard at work on his tank prototype. Verrocchio constantly gets in his way trying to sketch and paint in the middle of what has essentially become a munitions factory/laboratory. Leo hurts his feelings when he yells at him for being underfoot. The balance of power has shifted as Leo is now the craftsman whose work is valued.

Close quarters

Excitement ensues when famed swordsman Silvio Pirelli, champion fencer of all of Europe, comes to Florence and is hired to teach Lorenzo how to fence. He turns out to be a total jerk, humiliating a small boy in front of a large crowd. Tom, who is dressed in girl's clothes, confronts the arrogant fencer and challenges him to fight her. 

Tom challenges the braggadocious Silvio to a sword fight

He makes a few choice sexist comments and announces that he doesn't fight girls. Tom stalks away in anger. She returns in boy's clothes and challenges Silvio to a sword fight as he insulted her "sister" Lisa. Not wanting to appear a coward, Silvio accepts her challenge. 

Bow out gracefully? Nah!

 Leo reminds Tom she doesn't know anything about fencing so she decides to tell Lorenzo to cancel the match, but she discovers that he has already cancelled it without telling her. Enraged, Tom is determined to go through with it and tells Silvio that she will definitely fight. She convinces Lorenzo to teach her how to fence.

"Ugh, I need new friends!"

Meanwhile, Angelica sneaks out of the Medici palace to meet Mac at his house and tell him that they can never be together. While he is trying to convince her not to marry Lorenzo, Lorenzo and Tom show up to practice fencing and Angelica hides. 

Tom accidentally runs into the curtain Angelica is concealed behind and her wig falls off.  Lorenzo and Angelica get into a massive row as he realizes she has been seeing Mac behind his back and she accuses him of having a girl (Tom) on the side. There are now only around two people in Florence who don't know that Tom is a girl.

Busted!

 Angelica realizes that Tom is the girl that Mac told her he liked. She is very dismissive of Tom's cross-dressing and much to her rage, tries to lecture her on a woman's role in Florence society. This serves to make Tom only more determined to fight Silvio. 

"Oh yes, I do recall that YOU STOLE MY LOOK!"

Lorenzo learns to his alarm that Silvio is planning on making an example of Tom and has no qualms about wounding her. Lorenzo tries to enlist Leo's help, but he is too caught up in his inventing. As agreed, Tom meets Silvio in the morning for their match. He offers Tom the chance to use real swords without blunted tips and fight until yielding or death. Tom accepts his challenge to the horror of everyone but the unsporting Silvio. 

"Smirk, smirk, little peasant boy. Smirk, smirk."

 Knowing only Leo can change her mind, Mac runs to fetch him. Leo grabs his newest invention, some flash bombs, and runs to save Tom. All of Lorenzo's training goes out the window and Tom uses her rapier like a broadsword against Silvio. He easily avoids her hacking thrusts and dances around her, smacking her with the flat of his blade and making a fool of her. While he is showing off, Tom is able to get a cut in. This enrages the vain Silvio as she has ruined his expensive shirt. Silvio launches a concerted attack and disarms Tom just as Leo arrives. As he is about to stab her in the heart Leo throws a flash bomb into the middle of the fight, stunning Silvio. Silvio accuses Tom of cheating, but she has gotten her second wind and relieves him of his suspenders, using his own tricks against him. 

Imagine his shock if Tom pulled off her wig

 Thoroughly pantsed, the humiliated Silvio flees and Tom is the hero of Florence. Leo is roundly scolded for abandoning his work by Verrocchio which restores the balance of power around the workshop.

The Hero of Florence

 The only downside it that Lorenzo now has no fencing tutor, but really he should be fine as he trained the new default champion fencer of Europe. 

"Back to Placidi! Sigh."

The entire episode seems to be based around that well-known quote by Mark Twain: 

"The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him."

The person to be afraid of

Illusion Part 1: Framed

It's three months after the series one finale of rampaging robot and Lorenzo is no longer speaking to his friends because of their accusations against his father. Piero has still not given up his nefarious ways. He has happened on a scheme to pay Leo back for frustrating his plans, sending his goon Placidi to Verrocchio's workshop to threaten Tom in the middle of the night. What Tom doesn't know is that he has also planted a bag of gold under Leo's mattress. Mac is worried for Leo's safety and decides that they mustn't leave Leo alone.

In spite of his fabulous lifestyle Lorenzo is bored without his friends

As it happens Lorenzo is incredibly bored without his friends and goes to the market for entertainment. There he runs into Mac and Leo; Mac wants to reconcile but Leo is still angry with Lorenzo for siding with his father. Meanwhile Verrocchio has completed a portrait of Signor Costa who is disgusted with the work and refuses to pay. Verrocchio and Costa have a very public fight in front of the art workshop and Costa accuses him of stealing his money. Verrocchio goes and drinks off his rage at a local tavern where he spends the night when he misses curfew.

While the Verrocchio is away the Piero will play

Placidi meets Costa outside of the tavern and when Costa asks for payment for starting the brawl with Verrocchio, Placidi kills him, taking his purse. He pays off a man to claim that he saw Verrocchio killing Costa. When Verrocchio wakes up the next morning he is arrested by the magistrate under suspicion of murdering Costa. They find Costa's purse under Leo's mattress, but it is a duplicate purse that Placidi planted the night he broke in to threaten Tom. Neither Tom nor Leo believe that Verrocchio is guilty, but are astonished when they discover that Verrocchio accidentally killed his best friend with a rock when he was younger. Gossips in Florence are saying that his original incident was no accident, but Leo does not believe them and he decides to ask his father for help. He refuses on the grounds that he is prosecuting the case against Verrocchio, Piero having asked for him personally. Leo also learns that not only is his father remarrying, but also he has not told his bride-to-be that he already has a son. Leo realizes that Piero's hand is behind the whole thing and it dawns on him that Piero's goon planted the purse in Verrocchio's workshop. (To be continued…)

"PS you have a new mom!"

There is a big change in series two as James Clyde has replaced Alistair McGowan as Piero De Medici. Piero has really always been a one dimensional character, but it's upsetting to have such an abrupt cast change.

One dimension...

...of EVIL!