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!

Stupid Cupid

Leo's father asks Leo to design the invitations for his wedding to Francesca. The only catch: he still has not told her about Leo's existence. As eager for paternal approval as ever, Leo borrows a baby to pose as Cupid for the invitations and the cute little pest ends up wreaking havoc in Verrocchio's studio. 

Keeping baby happy

When Leo finishes the invitations, his father praises them but has decided to invite only Verrocchio. Leo is shattered as his (cowardly) father wants to keep his only son a secret from his presumably child-hating bride. 

 Meanwhile, Mac lands in hot water when Gorgoni the smuggler comes after him after he turns him in. Little does he know that Gorgoni has escaped from the authorities and is out for revenge. 

The incompetent local authorities

 War with Milan is looming on the horizon and Lorenzo is itching to fight. His mother has other ideas and warns her precious piccolo tortellini that he will not be allowed to fight and must stay home with Angelica. Sick of Angelica, Lorenzo pays Mac to entertain her so he can get some peace. Posing as Lorenzo's cousin Count Gianlucca di Modina di Batista di Lampedusa, Mac shows Angelica around Florence. She forces him to give money to some beggars and demands that he take her to the most expensive restaurant in Florence. 

"Oh my God, the bill!"

Mac discovers another side to Angelica when she tells him about her carefully ordered existence where she has no choice in either the way she wants to live her life or even her husband. Mac in turn tells her about his crush on Lisa. Gorgoni shows up and ruins the convivial atmosphere by kidnapping both Mac and Angelica. 

Conveniently tied up back to back

Lorenzo goes to Leo and Tom for help and Tom remembers that Mac mentioned Gorgoni to her. They race off to find Gorgoni who has decided to sneak out of Florence by posing as Angelica's uncle. Leo finds them at the city gates and creates a diversion by starting a fire with a magnifying glass. Mac is able to disarm the man holding him at gunpoint. Leaving a lovestruck Mac behind, Angelica hurries back to the Medici palace for Piero's coronation as Duke of Florence. Just as Piero is about to be crowned, a man bursts in declaring he is Rocco son of the former Duke, previously believed to be drowned at sea.
(To be continued…)

Called it!

I'd like to gloat point out that I predicted Rocco's appearance a couple of weeks ago. Also, Clayton Boyd who plays Rocco, is reputedly a skilled swordsman so hopefully that means we'll see a lot of swashbuckling in future episodes!

Here's hoping that Angelica doesn't go back to her snooty former self now that she has a handsome young thief lord (Although she's still unhappily engaged to Lorenzo).

It looks like Tom might start looking at Mac differently now that he is interested in someone else; the well-known "I didn't want you, but now you want someone else so I want you" syndrome (aka Green-Eyed Epiphany).

"Leo, Mac just suddenly seems so hot!"

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.

Dragon Hunt

 

A distressed Salvatore Landucci hires Mac to help him find his brother Adriano who went off in search of a cursed silver statuette of the mythical Mesopotamian dragon Humbaba. Leo is able to solve the substitution cipher, the only clue to the dragon's whereabouts. Mac is quickly ditched by Salvatore in favor of Leo who of course ignores Mac's suspicions that he is not all he appears to be. Off they go to the piazza to find out which way the shadow of a statue points at 3 hours to noon. 

Leo calculating where the statue's shadow will fall

They follow the subsequent trail of clues to a well outside of Florence and Leo is lowered down to investigate. Sure enough, the silver dragon Humbaba is safely nestled in a niche and Leo sends it up the rope to Salvatore's eagerly waiting hands. Of course, having gotten hold of his long-awaited prize Salvatore pulls up the rope and runs away, leaving Leo trapped in the well. He is excessively annoyed to find that Adriano is trapped in the well too and was tricked in the same way. He seems to have spent his time underground eating beetles and raving about what a genius he is. 

Unable to solve the clues, Mac tries finding Humbaba in a more traditional way

Meanwhile, Mac is disgruntled at his usurpation and he sets out to prove that he can find the dragon just as well as Leo. He and Tom misinterpret the clues and land up in the Medici palace which is on high alert following an attempted assassination of the Duke of Florence. Naturally, the botched attempt is the work of Piero who blames it on Milanese plotters. 

 Mac and Tom evade the guards at the palace and catch sight of Salvatore. When they confront him on the whereabouts of Leo, he bursts into tears and claims the curse has killed Leo and his brother Adriano. Mac is instantly suspicious and quickly concocts a tale of a second dragon, realizing that only Leo can follow the clues and it will be easier to tail the greedy Salvatore. 

Fool me twice: Leo and Adriano abandoned in the well

Salvatore hotfoots it back to the well to take possession of the second dragon allowing Mac and Tom rescue Leo from the well. The three leave the two brothers to argue over the dragon which begins to glow eerily (It's cursed!). Back at the Medici palace Piero at last manages to dispatch his cousin by poisoning him and pretending that he died of his wounds. It is noteworthy that after almost two series of plotting and planning, Piero has at last killed off the Duke. However, the Duke's last words hint that his long-lost son and heir Rocco is not quite so dead as everyone believes. I'd bet my nonexistent DVD of series one that he will likely show up in the next episode to step into the power vacuum and derail Piero's ambitions once again.

"At last my evil plans have come to fruition!"

Cat and Mouse

Leo has been hard at work perfecting an early version of his "Mona Lisa" painting. Naturally, Lisa is the one who's secretly posing for it in her famous pink dress. Verrocchio is tired of Leo's "freelancing" and temporarily banishes him from the workshop to work on a mural. While he's gone Verrocchio sells his painting to an art dealer. Leo is upset as the painting is not yet up to his standards. Tom persuades Verrocchio to retrieve the painting and he gives it back to Leo.

"Bellissimo!"

Meanwhile, Lorenzo is hurtling down the path to matrimony. When his parents go to Pisa to arrange his wedding date he meets Bruno, an old acquaintance of Mac's who is looking for help with a "job". He befriends Lorenzo who is flattered by his attention and tries to impress him by showing him Leo's bicycle. In a fit of recklessness he decides to show Bruno that he is not a spineless, obedient little son.

Lorenzo and Bruno hard at play

They proceed to wreck the Medici palace fencing on the dining table and breaking priceless ornaments. Mac tries to warn Lorenzo that Bruno is only interested in his money, but as usual no one listens to Mac.

"If people would take my advice we would have 50% less bad stuff happen to us!"

That night while Lorenzo sleeps Bruno sneaks out of the Medici palace to rob his employer, the hook-handed queen of thieves Mazzola. Bruno uses Lorenzo for an alibi as he believes that Bruno has been in his house all night. In a particularly nasty move, Bruno lies and tells Mazzola that Mac has been bragging about a big haul. When she searches Mac's house she finds a locket from her stash that Bruno planted. Lorenzo finds Bruno gloating over his loot and realizes that he's been used. Lorenzo helps Mazzola find Bruno who is drinking up his profits at a local tavern. He disarms him in a fencing bout and hands him over to Mazzola's tender mercies.

Mazzola's tender mercies

Lorenzo makes the requisite apology to Mac for ignoring his good advice and rushes to clean up the palace before his parents come home.

Sadly, some things will have to be chucked

This episode is notable for the appearance of Pam St Clement, most famous for her role as Pat Butcher on East Enders. She plays the fearsome Mazzola, so frightening that even the swashbuckling Bruno is afraid of her. She does make a lovely villain all decked out in a leopard fur coat and waving her hook around menacingly.

Pam St Clement as Mazzola

On a more historical note, in this episode Leo is working on the "Mona Lisa". Now everyone knows that the Mona Lisa wasn't painted until at least 1500, more than 30 years after this episode takes place. It's fun to think that Leonardo spent years perfecting his masterpiece, one of the most recognizable paintings in the world, even if it's completely improbable (Let's be honest; if we pick the series apart historically speaking we will be here all day!). What is really interesting about this is that it means in this timeline Tom (real name Lisa Gherardini) will one day marry Francesco del Giocondo and have five children. Two of these children were named Andrea (presumably after Verrocchio in the Leonardo universe) and Piero!

Leo's early version of the "Mona Lisa"

Another brief historical reference is the mention of Leo's work on a mural at the Pazzi Chapel which in fact is a real chapel in Florence. Although there is no evidence that Leonardo Da Vinci ever painted a mural in the chapel, it was still being finished in the 1460s, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he did some work there. The patron family of the chapel (The Pazzis) also made an attempt on Lorenzo's life in 1478, about a decade after this story takes place and after his scheming (in the Leonardo universe) father had died.

A 19th century painting of the Pazzi Chapel

The Betrothal Ball

After last week's defeat of Piero's Evil Scheme surely Leo and Company will settle down to a nice quiet life? Wrong! Piero is not yet subdued and has multiple Evil Schemes up his Florentine sleeve. This week he has decided to expand his horizons and forge an alliance with the wealthy Visconti family from Pisa. The forging will be accomplished through an arranged marriage between the unwitting Lorenzo and the beautiful, but oh-so-haughty Angelica Visconti. Florence is abuzz as it's Carnevale and the Medicis are throwing a lavish masqued ball. Lorenzo is flabbergasted when his father suggests he invite Tom, Mac and Leo to the ball. This leads to a very awkward moment when Lorenzo hands out invites to his friends who still haven't quite forgiven him for siding with Piero. At first they don't want to go, but the lure of an exclusive shindig is too much to resist and Tom has her eye on a fancy ball gown. Leo find himself agreeing to both attend and accompany Lorenzo on his new invention, the viola organista. Excited to be back in Leo's good graces, Lorenzo presents him with a fancy new doublet for the ball; and he has the matching version!

Music hath charms

Coincidentally, when Tom gets to the ball she discovers that her fabulous new gown is a copy of Angelica's designer original. Angelica is not pleased and gives Tom the cold shoulder. Mac spends the ball in a jealous stew as Tom is feted by the eligible young men at the party. He trips up when Leo switches masques with Lorenzo. Thinking he is Lorenzo, Mac complains that Tom is so obsessed with Leo that she doesn't notice that he loves her. Leo is astonished to hear this and Mac quickly covers up by pretending he knew it was Leo the whole time and was joking. Leo then mistakenly confides in Angelica (who he thinks is Tom) that Mac has just claimed that she likes him. Leo then blabs to Tom that Mac likes her, which she doesn't believe. Before Leo can muck up everything, Lorenzo drags Leo away to play for him while he sings.

Comedy of errors: Tom and Angelica realize they are wearing the same dress

Lorenzo's mother takes the opportunity to announce Lorenzo's betrothal to Angelica, mistakenly pulling Tom in from the crowd. Suddenly, smoke fills the ballroom and when it clears Tom and Lorenzo are gone. Piero can't disguise the shock on his face when Angelica announces she has not been kidnapped as that was his plan all along. Meanwhile, Tom and Lorenzo are escorted at gunpoint by a masqued man through the back alleys of Florence.

Tom is no slouch and has left feathers from her costume along the way as clues, allowing Mac and Leo to follow her. She also manages to distract the kidnapper long enough for Lorenzo to get away. He runs for help to some nearby cut purses, who decide to kidnap him for ransom instead. Leo, Tom and Mac follow him and rescue him from the cut purses. The masqued kidnapper is waylaid by Piero who is furious that he allowed Lorenzo to be kidnapped. He warns the kidnapper not to forget their deal and when Lorenzo returns safely the kidnapper falsely testifies that the Duke of Milan hired him to kidnap Lorenzo and Angelica. Piero's cousin The Duke of Florence decides he must hasten to Milan to prevent a war.

"I'm sure there will be absolutely zero plotting while I'm gone!"

The episode's tensions are left unresolved when Leo appears to have forgotten the whole "Mac likes Tom and she likes Leo" incident. Or has he?

Third wheel

In this episode we get to see Colin Ryan show off his vocal training as he sings the English version of a medieval frottola by Renaissance composer Bartolomeo Tromboncino. Piero is given a bit more dimension in this episode when his son is kidnapped and he seems to genuinely be upset (The only legitimately non-evil emotion he has shown this season).

Medicis stick together

On a historical note, Leo's invention of the viola organista was a real-life creation of Lenardo Da Vinci, although his design was somewhat different.

Drawing of viola organista from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebook

Illusion Part 2: Perspective

It's part two of the second series premiere and we find Maestro Verrocchio where we last left him: in jail for the murder of Signor Costa. Leo tries to get the witness to confess he was lying about seeing the murder, but only earns the outrage of his father for tampering with a witness.

Leo's father gives everyone a good scolding despite—you know—totally being in the wrong and everything

Out of options, Leo goes to Piero and begs him to free Verrocchio. Piero feigns ignorance and Leo watches helplessly as Verrocchio is condemned to death for a murder he did not commit. To Lorenzo's shock his father freely admits that he framed Verrocchio. He secretly hopes that Lorenzo will return to his friends. Disgusted with his father's complicity Lorenzo apologizes to Leo and lends him his horse to help free Verrocchio. Meanwhile Tom and Mac have hatched their own scheme to break Verrocchio out of jail.

No one will ever guess

Tom disguises herself as Verrocchio's grieving "mother" and Mac Wambas it up as a priest who only knows one line of Latin. They bring along a fellow "priest" who is really a life-sized dummy they hope to exchange for Verrocchio when the jailer's back is turned. The jailer is not fooled and gives them a night in his cells for their pains.

Mac begins to see the upside of incarceration

Leonardo shows up to rescue his maestro and is thrown in with him. Unlike Mac and Tom however, this is all part of his plan. Together with Verrocchio, Leo spends the night painting a false cell wall. in the morning the two hide behind the canvas and to the astonished eyes of the jailer it seems as if they have escaped.

"Why yes, this wall does make a lovely pair of drapes!"

When the jailer is raising the alarm he leaves the jail unguarded and everyone escapes. Leo distracts the guards by riding away on his bicycle and Verrocchio heads for the hills. Right at the city gates they are nabbed by the city guards. Piero offers his son a chance to turn Leo in for stealing his horse, but Lorenzo refuses to lie and threatens to leave home unless his father frees Verrocchio. Piero feigns repentance and arranges to have Verrocchio acquitted. The entire scheme seems to be some elaborate plot to have Leo lulled into a false sense of security. The fact that Leo is not fooled and the plan is overly complicated seems to have no effect on Piero whatsoever. Leo is not quite ready to welcome Lorenzo back into the fold, but Mac and Tom definitely look like they will be working on him. The gang should be back to normal within an episode or two.

"Huzzah, we are free to resume our romantic triangle!"