The Last of Leonardo

Sadly, the BBC have decided not to recommission Leonardo for a new series, so two series are all we will ever have :( Us Leonardo fans will miss the show, but we look forward to seeing the young stars go on to bigger and better things and feel thankful that we were able to watch two great series!

Series 2 Now Available on iTunes

Huzzah! We may not have any DVDs of Leonardo but at least series 2 has been released on iTunes. That's right. All 14 episodes are available in HD on iTunes for £2.49 each or £24.99 for the whole series. For those with smaller purses, the regular version is only £19.99.

Eccellente! 

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

How to watch CBBC's Leonardo

So you've heard a bit about Leonardo. It's a television series starring the ubiquitous Jonny Bailey and also Alistair McGowan was on it for a bit or something. One of the main obstacles to becoming a fan of the series is that it can be difficult to get hold of. 

#1 Television

The most obvious option. Watch Leonardo on CBBC 5:00 on Thursday nights. CBBC will occasionally have reruns, generally airing in the morning. Check your listings.

#2 Online

Of course for busy fans you can always catch up on the latest episodes on BBC iPlayer. The only downside is that episodes are only available for a few weeks after airing (and only to UK viewers). If your internet connection is slow it might be easier for you to use BBC iPlayer Desktop. For fans on the go, there is a mobile iPlayer for your phone.

#3 iTunes

Luckily, series one was recently released on iTunes. The bad news is that international fans are out of luck as it has been released on iTunes UK only. We are still crossing our fingers for a DVD copy of series one that we can actually own as opposed to merely leasing it.

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

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!