The BEST episodes of Bonanza season 2
Every episode of Bonanza season 2, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Bonanza season 2!
The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright. He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss"; and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or "Little Joe". Via exposition and flashback episodes and each wife was accorded a different ethnicity. The family's cook was the Chinese immigrant Hop Sing.
#1 - The Duke
Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/11/1961
Hoss takes on The Duke Of London, an arrogant, abusive bare-knuckle fighter, though his brawn is no match for the Duke's agile skills.
#2 - The Savage
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/3/1960
Adam's life is saved by a woman known to the Indians as White Buffalo Woman, but who is actually the daughter of Norwegian immigrants.
#3 - The Bride
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/21/1961
The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?
#4 - Bank Run
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/28/1961
When they "rob" the bank in Virginia City to save depositors from being cleaned out by its president, Hoss and Joe wind up wanted by the law.
#5 - The Last Viking
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/12/1960
Gunnar Borgstrom is the leader of a vicious band called the Commancheros. They burn houses, kill people and steal anything of value. When the Commancheros get to Nevada, Gunnar decides to visit his relatives, the Cartwrights. Meanwhile the gang capture Little Joe and his girlfriend. When Gunnar returns to the gang, he has no idea who Joe is because he'd never met his nephew before.
#6 - Badge Without Honor
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/24/1960
Adam's life is saved by an enigmatic U. S. Marshal who has come to Virginia City to arrest a friend of the Cartwrights.
#7 - Vengeance
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/11/1961
Hoss accidentally kills a drunk he was trying to disarm. The man's brother bushwhacks Hoss, who has lost the will to live. Joe makes a promise to Hoss that he will kill Red Twilight, the vengeful brother who bushwhacked Hoss, no matter what happens, and will not let Adam stand in his way.
#8 - The Dark Gate
Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/4/1961
Adam is confused by the sudden behavior of his good friend, Ross Marquette. He beats up his wife, Delphine, after accusing her of having an affair with Adam. He also joins a group of rustlers and killers and helps rob a gold shipment. Adam thinks Ross is suffering from insanity, in this highlight of season two.
#9 - Day of Reckoning
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/22/1960
Prejudice erupts on both sides when Ben gives an Indian named Matsou and his wife, some of his land, after saving Ben's life from a renegade Indian who almost killed him on the Ponderosa. An intense and magnetic performance by Ricardo Montalban.
#10 - The Ape
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/17/1960
Hoss becomes friends with dull-witted Arnie Gurnie, who is a brute of a man with the mentality of a child. His temper scares everybody, including the Cartwrights.
#11 - The Courtship
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/7/1961
Hoss plans to marry the widow of one of Ben's friends, not knowing she is a compulsive gambler and refusing to believe it when the other Cartwrights confront him with the truth.
#12 - The Dream Riders
Season 2 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/20/1961
To finance his dream of constructing an airship capable of crossing the Atlantic, Ben's old friend plans to rob the Virginia City bank while diverting the citizens' attention with a hot air balloon.
#13 - The Secret
Season 2 - Episode 31 - Aired 5/6/1961
Joe is the victim of an elaborate frame-up, accused of murdering a pregnant girl. When Ben is asked if Joe is telling the truth, he replies, "If I were to start doubting my son at this point, everything I've lived and worked for would be lost".
#14 - The Mill
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/1/1960
The Cartwrights construct a grist mill to provide income for a crippled rancher who blames Ben for his predicament. Ben has to contend with the man's depraved caretaker, and finds himself attracted to his wife. "Sons can't be everything," Ben tells her.
#15 - The Hopefuls
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/8/1960
Adam guides a wagon train of Quakers and falls for the leader's daughter, Regina. The force Adam must employ to protect them, conflicts with their passive philosophy of life.
#16 - The Spitfire
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/14/1961
Joe becomes the target of a tough and vengeful Kentucky family, after he kills one of them who almost sets the Ponderosa on fire and the Cartwrights take in the dead man's daughter.
#17 - The Rival
Season 2 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/15/1961
Jim Applegate, Hoss' rival for the affections of Cameo Johnson, is a member of a vigilante group who lynched an innocent man and his wife.
#18 - Silent Thunder
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/10/1960
Captivated by the pretty, deaf-mute daughter of a reclusive mountain man, Little Joe teaches the young woman sign language. Thrilled with her newfound ability to communicate, Annie mistakes her gratitude to Little Joe for love, much to the chagrin of Albie, who is determined to have her for his own.
#19 - Breed of Violence
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/5/1960
Joe's friend Dolly Kincaid is the daughter of the sheriff and she's always getting caught up with the wrong crowd. When she gets close to Vince Dagen, Joe gets worried and tries to intervene.
#20 - Sam Hill
Season 2 - Episode 34 - Aired 6/3/1961
Blacksmith Sam Hill fights to keep the land on which his mother is buried, after his drunken father signs the deed over to Colonel Tyson and his private army. Poetic episode written by John T. Kelley and directed by Robert Altman.
#21 - The Mission
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/17/1960
Filmed almost entirely outdoors, this is more like a feature than a series. Captain Pender is looking for a scout to lead him and his company of men across the desert, along with a currency shipment they are carrying to another army fort. Charlie Trent, a former scout and now a drunk, still blames himself for his troops being led to massacre. Hoss sees that this is Charlie's opportunity to redeem himself and win back his honor. Meantime, Captain Pender is having trouble with Cutter, another scout who is a devious and cunning bear of a man, who agreed to lead him across the desert, but Pender lets him go and with Hoss' suggestion, Captain Pender agress to have Charlie be their scout.
#22 - The Tax Collector
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/18/1961
The kindness Hoss extends to shiftless Jock Henry is not exactly repaid when Henry becomes an assistant assessor and raises the Ponderosa's annual tax bill from $375 to $1700.
#23 - The Trail Gang
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/26/1960
On a cattle drive back to Nevada from Texas, Ben hires a young man who is both an outlaw and the son of the sheriff whose town the Ponderosa cowhands are entering.
#24 - The Fugitive
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/4/1961
Adam goes to Mexico to find out how the son of a family friend was killed, only to learn the man is still alive.
#25 - The Thunderhead Swindle
Season 2 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/29/1961
With Virginia City on the verge of economic ruin, out of work miners put their hopes in word of a strike at a mine everbody believed was played out. Ben suspects the new owners have been stealing silver from an adjoining mine also thought dry, and resolves to prove it.