Season 4 on Bonanza premiered on September 23, 1962 .
Episodes[]
# | Image | Title | Airdate | |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | The First Born | September 23, 1962 | ||
Clay Stafford just arrived in Virginia City but already seems to know who Joe and the Cartwrights are. When he gets a job on their ranch as a cowhand, his past is revealed and hopes it will not affect his new relationship with them, especially Joe. | ||||
02 | The Quest | September 30, 1962 | ||
Wanting to prove his independence and (at the same time) break out of the shadows of his Pa and older brothers, Little Joe sets out to win a lucrative timber contract for the Ponderosa. | ||||
03 | The Artist | October 7, 1962 | ||
Painter Matthew Raine lost his sight and has been wallowing in self pity ever since. He starts to come out of his shell thanks to his new housekeeper, but an unsavory employee wants to keep Raine incapacitated. | ||||
04 | A Hot Day for a Hanging | October 14, 1962 | ||
On an errand for his father, Hoss delivers a huge amount of money to tiny Dutchman Flats where a bank robbery has just been committed. Sheriff Stedman, desperate to prove his worth to the townspeople, arrests Hoss even though he knows he's innocent of the crime. The unhappy locals are furious over losing their money; they form a lynch mob and march to the jail, noose in hand. | ||||
05 | The Deserter | October 21, 1962 | ||
Colonel Edward J. Dunwoody arrives in search of an Army deserter--his own son--who's a well-liked neighbor of the Cartwrights. The Shoshones are planning revenge against Dunwoody, who was the mastermind behind the massacre of an Indian village. | ||||
06 | The Way Station | October 29, 1962 | ||
Adam takes shelter from a storm in a way station run by elderly Jesse and his granddaughter Marty. Also coming in from the elements is a fugitive murderer Luke Martin. The young woman is fascinated by the killer, so Adam intervenes and orders Luke to leave her alone. Luke leaves, but soon returns and proves how dangerous he is. | ||||
07 | The War Comes to Washoe | November 4, 1962 | ||
08 | Knight Errant | November 18, 1962 | ||
Hoss picks up a mail order bride for a friend, but problems arise when the bride decides she has fallen in love with Hoss and has no interest in her husband-to-be. | ||||
09 | The Beginning | November 25, 1962 | ||
Joe befriends Billy Horne, a young white man who was raised by the Shoshones since childhood. Meanwhile, shady operator Milton Tanner produces some ancient deeds and claims a third of the Ponderosa belongs to him. While Ben works with his lawyer, Billy doesn't like what's being done to his new friends and takes matters into his own hands. | ||||
10 | The Deadly Ones | December 2, 1962 | ||
Mexican freedom fighters loyal to Benito Juárez take over the Ponderosa, gravely wound Little Joe, and force Ben to guide them to a wagon train loaded with gold being smuggled to California by Emperor Maximilian. | ||||
11 | Gallagher's Sons | December 9, 1962 | ||
Will and Charlie bury their father with the help of Hoss. He decides to help them get to their aunt but he finds out soon enough that he's taken on more than he bargained for when he finds out how their pa was killed. | ||||
12 | The Decision | December 16, 1962 | ||
Hoss is seriously injured on a cattle drive and Ben takes him to a nearby town in search of a doctor. Unfortunately, the only physician is in jail, waiting to be hung for murder. Ben talks the judge into letting the doctor take a look at Hoss, and helps to prove the innocence of the medicine man. | ||||
13 | The Good Samaritan | December 23, 1962 | ||
A jilted friend of Hoss can't seem to shake the bottle. When a woman and her daughter arrive on the stage the party that was supposed to greet them has left town. Hoss tries to play matchmaker but his friend seems determined to sabotage the whole thing. | ||||
14 | The Jury | December 30, 1962 | ||
Hoss is serving on the jury of a murder trial and is the lone holdout who thinks Jamie Wrenn is innocent. When there's talk that Hoss has received a bribe for his vote, Adam becomes involved in the situation. | ||||
15 | The Colonel | January 6, 1963 | ||
One of Ben Cartwright's old war buddies who claims to be a business tycoon developing a new territory, woos a wealthy Virginia City widow and jeopardizes a Ponderosa land deal. | ||||
16 | Song in the Dark | January 13, 1963 | ||
Incriminating scratches on cowhand Danny Morgan's arm and his penchant for riding alone through the night strumming his guitar makes him the prime suspect when a woman is found strangled the morning after witnesses heard Danny's voice singing in the dark outside her cabin. | ||||
17 | Elegy for a Hangman | January 20, 1963 | ||
Adam helps an angry young man to confront the "hanging judge" who sentenced his father to death in a high-stakes miscarriage of justice. | ||||
18 | Half a Rogue | January 27, 1963 | ||
Hoss harbors kindred spirit Big Jim Layton on the Ponderosa while trying to clear the wounded mountain man's name from charges of theft and murder. | ||||
19 | The Last Haircut | February 3, 1963 | ||
Little Joe finds himself at the scene of a murder, and befriends the victim's vengeance-minded son. | ||||
20 | Marie, My Love | February 10, 1963 | ||
When Joe sustains a life-threatening injury after a fall, Ben reminisces about his third wife (and Joe's mother), New Orleans belle Marie. The memories include a scandal that almost tore the young couple apart. | ||||
21 | The Hayburner | February 17, 1963 | ||
Unlucky Hoss loses his valuable Kentucky thoroughbred racehorse in a poker game then schemes with brother Adam to buy it back before the end-of-the-month entry deadline for the Virginia City Sweepstakes race. | ||||
22 | The Actress | February 24, 1963 | ||
Joe falls in love with aspiring actress Julia Grant, a young woman with more ambition than talent. He promises Julia that he'll help her with her career, so he seeks advice from the greatest actor of their time: Edwin Booth, who's performing in Virginia City. | ||||
23 | A Stranger Passed This Way | March 3, 1963 | ||
After being whacked over the head by outlaws, Hoss suffers amnesia. He's nursed back to health by an elderly Dutch couple who recently lost their own son. When Hoss comes to, the couple tells him that he is their son and must stay with them. Their deception begins to collapse when Ben comes by searching for his son. | ||||
24 | The Way of Aaron | March 10, 1963 | ||
Adam falls madly in love with Rebecca Kaufman and asks her hand in marriage. Her father, an Orthodox Jewish peddler, is bound by tradition and refuses to give his consent. Further problems arise when the old man's wagon is attacked by bandits on the Sabbath. | ||||
25 | A Woman Lost | March 17, 1963 | ||
Ben wants to rehabilitate alcoholic singer Rita Marlowe, but she remains desperate for a drink. So much so that she accepts $200 to lure former boxer Mace Sindell back into the ring. Unexpectedly, Rita begins to fall for the prizefighter. | ||||
26 | Any Friend of Walter's | March 24, 1963 | ||
On a trip to visit his sweetie, Bessie Sue, Hoss stays in a run-down shanty that's home to a run-down prospector, Obie. His supposedly genius dog, Walter, proves to be a dope when three none-too-bright robbers come calling. They're there to steal the fortune in gold they think Obie has stashed away. | ||||
27 | Mirror of a Man | March 31, 1963 | ||
Righteous resident Jud Lally is visited by his twin brother, outlaw Rube Barnes, and forced into trading places. While posing as his brother, Rube murders a man and steals a horse, leaving Jud looking guilty of the crimes. The Cartrights try to help Jud, but are unable to tell the two apart. | ||||
28 | My Brother's Keeper | April 7, 1963 | ||
During a wolf hunt, Adam accidentally shoots Little Joe, and must find help if Joe is to survive. | ||||
29 | Five into the Wind | April 21, 1963 | ||
Joe and his fellow stagecoach passengers are left stranded in the desert, 50 miles from the nearest town, when their driver is killed. Violent fur trader Howard Benson is their key to survival. Adding to the tension are several passenger who blame Joe for the death of the driver. | ||||
30 | The Saga of Whizzer McGee | April 28, 1963 | ||
A short man named Whizzer McGee is very sensitive about his height. He keeps losing jobs, usually because he's gotten into a fist fight with his employer. Hoss take the pint-sized scrapper under his wing and bites off more trouble than he expected. | ||||
31 | Thunder Man | May 5, 1963 | ||
Little Joe's girlfriend Ann is molested and killed by an explosives expert who tries to pass himself off as a concerned visitor. Ann's uncle Fred is the only person who can identify the murderer, but, after suffering a stroke, is only able to name the song the killer was whistling. In the meantime, deaths continue to mount. | ||||
32 | Rich Man, Poor Man | May 12, 1963 | ||
Town laughing stock Claude Miller gets rich quick when he strikes a lode of silver. He plans to get revenge on all the townspeople who ridiculed him by buying out their mortgages. His plan falls apart thanks to his new partner, a shady deputy. | ||||
33 | The Boss | May 19, 1963 | ||
Power-hungry freight line owner Tom Slayden has cheated, connived and bullied himself into the "boss" for Virginia City. The Cartwright family has the misfortune of crossing his path when one of Slayden's henchmen shoots Joe in the back for trespassing. | ||||
34 | Little Man -Ten Feet Tall | May 26, 1963 | ||
An Italian immigrant and his son seek a new life after fleeing violence in their home country. |
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