The BEST episodes written by Leonard Heideman
#1 - Day of Reckoning
Bonanza - Season 2 - Episode 7
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.
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Have Gun, Will Travel - Season 2 - Episode 37
Paladin is hired to protect the Avery family from Manuel Garcia. Garicia is a Mexican bandit who seems to have taken a special interest in their son.
#3 - The Spanish Grant
Bonanza - Season 1 - Episode 21
In "The Spanish Grant", a young bargirl, Rosita Morales is pretending to be a Spanish noblewoman named Isabella Marie Inez de la Cuesta and at the end of the story, it's revealed she is really Rosita Morales, but on the other hand, is she really Rosita Morales? This little twist at the end is simply entertaining everytime it's viewed, with the viewer able to determine the young woman's real identity at the end of act four.
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#4 - The Stranger
Bonanza - Season 1 - Episode 24
Nevada Territory is awaiting statehood, and Ben considers running for governor until he learns he is wanted for murder in New Orleans. Inspector Charles Leduque arrives and says Ben is wanted for commiting the murder 20 years earlier, and after Joe kills his bodyguard in self-defense, Inspector Leduque makes it appear the other way around. Ben has no choice but go with Leduque, to clear his name in a very suspense-filled episode. Once again, there are several references to Joe's mother, and viewers are shown Marie's grave near the shore of Lake Tahoe.