The BEST episodes of The Virginian season 7
Every episode of The Virginian season 7, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Virginian season 7!
The Virginian was the very first 90 minute western on prime-time television, and is about a man, only known as "the Virginian" who served as foreman on the Shiloh Ranch (owned in sequence by Judge Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Col. MacKenzie) in 19th century Medicine Bow, Wyoming. James Drury starred as the title character with the likes of Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, John McIntire, and Clu Gulager co-starring. It is in these settings that a variety of stories, much more based on character and relationships than the usual westerns, take place.
#1 - Silver Image
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1968
Dan Sheppard and his son Jeremy arrive at Shiloh to photograph the west. Dan learns that an old sweetheart Della Price is a widow with a ranch caught in a bidding war between an oil speculator and the other local ranchers who are afraid of the negative aspects of the oil industry. Unknown to everyone her foreman is working with the oil speculator to cover gambling losses he incurred with the ranch's money. Della tries to rekindle their lost romance while Dan tries to help the Graingers.
#2 - The Price of Love
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/12/1969
An orphan who lived with the Graingers in Texas 15 years earlier comes through Medicine Bow. He decides to stay and work for them and is very protective of the Graingers but his years away from them have changed him - in a bad way.
#3 - Stopover
Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/8/1969
Frank Hammel known as a gunman arrives on the stage in Medicine Bow shortly after The Virginian arrives in town. When the people of Medicine Bow learn of Hammel's arrival many of the residents with skeletons in their closets believe he is after them. Hammel tells The Virginian who knows Hammel personally that he is waiting for the 2:30 pm stage but the Virginian believes he after someone. One by one Hammel indicates he is not after various citizens of Medicine Bow. However, The Virginian uncovers the truth with a twist.
#4 - The Land Dreamer
Season 7 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/26/1969
A dispute ends with one man dead, the Sheriff unconscious, and the shooter on the run. The Virginian, Trampas, and David catch the shooter with his family. The softhearted David wants to let the shooter go but The Virginian won't go along.
#5 - The Stranger
Season 7 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/9/1969
The Virginian encounters a stranger, Garrison, on a trip when both are victims of separate robberies. Garrison is very standoffish with everyone but The Virginian finds him a reliable person and hires him at Shiloh. When the foreman at a neighboring ranch is murdered and the owner is shot and robbed, Garrison is thought by the community to be guilty based primarily on his actions. However, The Virginian is not so sure but the case tightens against Garrison.
#6 - Crime Wave at Buffalo Springs
Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/29/1969
After a fight with Trampas, David leaves. He finds himself not only robbed of his clothes and horse by bank robbers but arrested for the robbery himself. Trampas who followed to get him to return, finds himself in the same jail cell.
#7 - Eileen
Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/5/1969
The daughter, Eileen Linden, of a friend of the Graingers comes to visit the Graingers. Her father has asked her to take a six week hiatus from seeing Peter Bowers who she wants to marry. Her father does not trust him. When Peter follows her and starts working at Shiloh, her and others become entangled in a situation that make none of them happy. Eileen finally comes clean with Clay but other problems surface.
#8 - Death Wait
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/15/1969
David kills a man in self-defense on Shiloh who stole his girlfriend. He is forced to stay at Shiloh as the man's father and brother wait for him in Medicine Bow as Trampas who is in charge encounters unusual problems on the ranch.
#9 - Fox, Hound, and the Widow McCloud
Season 7 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/2/1969
Luke Nichols arrives at Shiloh searching for Trampas. He and Trampas were cell mates in prison when Trampas was sentenced to hang for a murder he did not commit. They escaped prison together. Trampas was cleared of the murder and Luke escaped to Canada where he waited for Trampas to join him. Bracken, a bounty hunter, traces Luke to Trampas who tries to hide Luke with Widow McCloud but Bracken finds him and blackmails Trampas for Luke's freedom.
#10 - Last Grave at Socorro Creek
Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/22/1969
The Virginian runs into an old friend Bill Burden who is accused of robbery and murder after their meeting. Bill's son, Dan, comes and ask The Virginian to come immediately to Socorro Creek to clear his dad. The Viriginian is delayed a day by Shiloh business but still arrives before the scheduled trial. However, when he arrives at Socorro Creek he finds his friend lynched. The Virginian is determined to learn the truth and Dan wants revenge while Kate still has feelings for the Virginian as he had for her.
#11 - Big Tiny
Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/18/1968
Trampas and David are sent to buy a bull at Durango for Shiloh. The Virginian vouches to Clay that Trampas can be relied on but it is David who finds himself in trouble. He agrees to be engaged to a woman he bumps into on the street.
#12 - The Mustangers
Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/4/1968
The Virginian and David are to pick up a herd of horses Shiloh needs for a cattle drive. The horses are stolen from the seller so they must catch and break a new herd but a conflict between a father and his son over his future intervenes.
#13 - The Dark Corridor
Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1968
The Viriginian finds a woman unconscious on a remote mountain trail on the way to visit his friend Jingo. He takes her to Jingo's cabin and they wait for her to recover as no help is available. She wakes up but is slow to communicate and recover her memory. At the same time another visitor arrives with a lame horse asking to stay until his horse can travel again. As the woman recovers she is attracted to The Virginian in a romantic manner but remembers no details.
#14 - The Storm Gate
Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/13/1968
Trampas and an old friend clash over the building of a dam in Nebraska.
#15 - Image of an Outlaw
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/23/1968
Shiloh hand Rafe Judson is mistaken for an outlaw as the two men look identical. When Rafe loses an option on a ranch due to a lack of funds, he decides to take advantage of the situation to rob a stagecoach without taking the blame.
#16 - The Orchard
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1968
Clay Grainger continues to help an old friend, Tim Bradbury, from 20 years ago in Texas who he feels obliged to since Tim went broke due to a drought after buying out Clay's share of their ranch and cattle. Clay went north and became wealthy. Tim has two sons. One, Mike, works for Clay but is unreliable and gambles heavily. The other son, Walt, is industrious but wants to farm to become financially solvent while his father continues to dream of rebuilding his Texas ranch life. Mike becomes involved with rustlers who are hitting Shiloh and adds to the strain in his family. Holly Grainger attempts to make Clay see the reality of the relationship between him and Tim.
#17 - A Vision of Blindness
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/9/1968
Elizabeth is blinded by a stagecoach accident. She is found by Ben Oakes who wanted to kill Trampas who had to miss the stage. Ben tries to help her home but becomes lost. After they are found, She is in love with the conflicted Ben.
#18 - The Wind of Outrage
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/16/1968
In Montana on business, The Virginian and Trampas stay at the inn run by Louis Boissevain (Ricardo Montalban), an exiled Canadian revolutionist, and his wife, Suzanne Mayo (Lois Nettleton) whom Trampas recognizes as a former love interest. The Shiloh duo find that some of Louis' former confreres want him to return to Canada to lead another revolution, but that there are traitors in the group who plan to hand Louis over to the Canadian government for execution.
#19 - The Heritage
Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/30/1968
A Shoshone Indian girl return from the East after receiving an education. She is unsure if she want to rejoin her tribe and seeks advice and help from the Graingers. Her tribe is facing threats from a land-greedy cattleman.
#20 - Ride to Misadventure
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/6/1968
Shiloh and its neighbor's cattle herds are threaten by an outbreak of anthrax. A wounded man and woman wanting horses tell Clay the stage with a vaccine was robbed and they are chasing the outlaw gang so The Virginian and David join them.
#21 - Nora
Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/11/1968
Clay's old sweetheart Nora and her husband a Major in the Army stop at Shiloh. Nora tries to impress everyone with herself and her down to earth husband. She is willing to put others lives on the line to help her husband win a promotion.
#22 - The Ordeal
Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/19/1969
Clay Grainger sends a letter to The Virginian to take on a new hand, Scott Austin, while Clay is in Denver. Scott is the spoiled son of a wealthy self made man who is hoping a summer working at Shiloh will make him a responsible person. Scott is insecure and after several incidents including one involving the thoroughbred colt belonging to Elizabeth,he decides to leave. The Virginain goes after Scott and tries a scheme to change Scott but it has unintended consequences for both of them.
#23 - Incident at Diablo Crossing
Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/12/1969
Trampas is sent by stagecoach on a cattle buying trip. At a way station two soldiers and a payroll join the stage and they are told there may be Indian trouble ahead. When the coach stops for rest and water, Trampas finds Jason Adams standing in the river over the dead body of the ferry man from Diablo Crossing where the stage is headed. At Diablo Crossing they find the ferry destroyed and Bud McLister and Marcy McLister who are brother and sister. While repairing the ferry, Trooper Rankin takes a shine to Marcy, they are shot at, and the horses disappear followed by the payroll.
#24 - Storm Over Shiloh
Season 7 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/19/1969
Elizabeth goes missing. Clay and The Virginian ride out to search, soon followed by Trampas and Holly. They find Elizabeth trapped in an abandoned mine, where she had taken refuge during a storm. Another cave-in thwarts efforts to dig her out. Things look bleak until wolves are spotted near the mine, raising the possibility that the animals may have been using a forgotten emergency tunnel as a den. A desperate search for the tunnel ensues.
#25 - The Girl in the Shadows
Season 7 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/26/1969
Claire Garson and her manager Nathaniel E. 'Doc' Watson who are entertainers are hired to have Claire assume the identity of the lost niece of Charles Grainger, Clay's dead brother. Charles was killed in a mine disaster in California and Clay has no knowledge of him other than his death since Charles left Texas. Claire's "entertainment" abilities and honesty, however, interfere with her ability to assume the role.