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Bonanza Season 12 Episodes
Season 12 Episode Guide
28 Episodes 1970 - 1971
Episode 1
The Night Virginia City Died
Sun, Sep 13, 197060 mins
A series of destructive fires has Virginia City residents on edge and anxious to catch the arsonist. But Deputy Clem's new love interest seems to know a lot more about the fires than what she's letting on.
Episode 2
A Matter of Faith
Sun, Sep 20, 197060 mins
Jamie Hunter, the orphaned 13-year-old son of a rainmaker, arrives in Virginia City to carry on his father's work, as part of a tour of the southwestern United States. And just in time - the area has been stricken by a massive drought that shows no signs of letting up. Jamie and his friend, Dusty, try selling their wares to anxious ranchers and farmers, but when the rainmaking equipment doesn't immediately help, the farmers grow angry and want to lynch the lad. Ben, however, learns that Jamie is orphaned and alone, and - needing someone to stick up for him - decides to allow Jamie to build a rain tower on the Ponderosa. The townspeople become angry that Ben has sided with whom they believe is a scam artist and that night, storm the camp. In the process, one of the farmers burns the rainmaking book that had belonged to Jamie's father. Ben consoles a deeply grieving Jamie (the book was his last physical link to his father) and warns the farmers off ... just as it begins to rain! An all-night soaker brings much needed life back to Virginia City. In the close, Ben invites Jamie to stay at the Ponderosa for awhile.
Episode 3
The Weary Willies
Sun, Sep 27, 197060 mins
The Cartwrights lend their support to The Weary Willies, a group of Civil War veterans who are struggling to re-enter society.
Episode 4
The Wagon
Mon, Oct 5, 197060 mins
A murder suspect escapes a prison wagon. Sheriff Price Buchanan, who covets an appointment to Deputy U.S. Marshal, finds an injured Hoss. Buchanan, knowing his career is at risk if he fails his appointed duty, arrests Hoss and plans to substitute him in as his prisoner. Hoss befriends a fellow prisoner named Madge Tucker who knows Hoss was falsely arrested. Together, the two scheme to escape the wagon and Buchanan's clutches.
Episode 5
The Power of Life and Death
Sun, Oct 11, 197060 mins
Ben and Joe Cartwright are part of a posse that is after Davis, who shot and killed an Army colonel. When Ben and Joe capture Davis in the desert, they are attacked by a rogue Indian tribe, and Ben is seriously wounded. While Joe crosses the desert on foot to seek medical attention (for his pa) and the posse (to take Davis into custody), Ben and Davis must set their differences aside to survive their hostile surroundings.
Episode 6
Gideon the Good
Sun, Oct 18, 197060 mins
Gideon Yates, a corrupt lawman whose wife had shot her soon-to-be ex-husband in cold blood, tries to silence the murder's only witness - Little Joe Cartwright.
Episode 7
The Trouble with Trouble
Sun, Oct 25, 197060 mins
Hoss unwittingly volunteers to be named sheriff of an aptly named town named Trouble. While dealing with problems that one might expect to associate with the town, he must find a way to capture the nefarious Clanton gang.
Episode 8
Thornton's Account
Sun, Nov 1, 197060 mins
After Ben is seriously injured in a horse-riding accident far from home, Joe seeks help from valley settlers who are terrified of a corrupt rancher, Dawson, and his foremen. While Ben suffers from recurring nightmares of Joe being unable to help, Joe tries to persuade Ed Thornton to do the right thing.
Episode 9
The Love Child
Sun, Nov 8, 197060 mins
Old-school Zach Randolph refuses to make amends with his gravely ill daughter, Etta, because her son had been born out of wedlock. Joe risks his family's friendship with the Randolphs to set the stubborn old man straight.
Episode 10
El Jefe
Sun, Nov 15, 197060 mins
The Cartwrights come to the aid of Mexican farmers in the Prince River vicinity, after they were run off the land by a corrupt tycoon wanting to strip mine the area.
Episode 11
The Luck of Pepper Shannon
Sun, Nov 22, 197060 mins
A reformed outlaw named Pepper Shannon comes to the Ponderosa seeking a job. Ben agrees to hire him, but has to keep both Pepper and an impressionable Jamie away from each other - a task that's easier said than done.
Episode 12
The Impostors
Sun, Nov 29, 197060 mins
Joe and Hoss pose as stagecoach robbers in an effort to track down their stolen money. However, their plans are forced to change after the wife of one of the robbers shows up.
Episode 13
Honest John
Sun, Dec 20, 197060 mins
Honest John, a drifter, is looking for a nest and hopes to settle on the Ponderosa through his rapport with the newly "adopted" Jamie. But John's breakthrough with the boy must be weighed against the seamier side of his character.
Episode 14
For a Young Lady
Sun, Jan 3, 197160 mins
Jamie's friend Carrie Sturgis, herself an orphan, is the subject of a heated custody battle between her scheming aunt and uncle, Gifford and Vella Owens, and her gravely ill grandfather. The point of contention: the grandfather owns a gold mine ripe to be harvested, and Carrie is believed to be the heir. The Cartwrights become involved when Jamie rescues Carrie, and the Owens couple want anyone named Cartwright arrested.
Episode 15
A Single Pilgrim
Sun, Jan 10, 197160 mins
Hoss is seriously wounded by a member of the Brennan clan, Virginia natives who are settling out West, across the state of Nevada. The Brennans debate whether to seek much-needed medical attention for Hoss or let him die.
Episode 16
The Gold-Plated Rifle
Sun, Jan 17, 197160 mins
Ben enrolls Jamie at the Virginia City School to get an education. Due to his previous lack of studies, 13-year-old Jamie is assigned to sit with the school's younger students, which makes him the butt of ridicule by a bully named Frank. Things become worse when Jamie fails miserably at a school spelling bee. Tired of constantly being beaten up and shown no respect, Jamie takes Ben's gold-plated rifle (which is against the rules) and shows it off to Frank. However, Frank attempts to steal the rifle and Jamie tries to run away, but in the process, the gun is dropped in a nearby lake and damaged. Jamie makes it home and tries to replace the rifle in its cabinet in such a way that nobody would notice it. Ben and Hoss don't see anything amiss, but Joe immediately spots the damage and suggests that Jamie must have taken the rifle. Ben's questioning results in a denial, so Joe tries to prod Jamie's conscience. After another tough day at school, Jamie snaps at Ben and says he damaged the rifle. Ben tries to assign extra chores as punishment, but Jamie announces he's going to run away. Ben eventually tracks Jamie down and - after going easy doesn't work - gives him a tough love speech. He then tells Jamie that, unlike his sons, he picked Jamie to live with them and invites him to come home. Eventually, Jamie (much like the Prodigal Son) does come home and learns to accept the consequences.
Episode 17
Top Hand
Sun, Jan 24, 197160 mins
During a cattle drive, Ben finds himself involved in a power struggle between the trail boss the Cartwrights appointed and a fellow rancher's foreman, who schemes to take over the job.
Episode 18
A Deck of Aces
Sun, Jan 31, 197160 mins
Ben's dead-on lookalike, the scheming Bradley Meredith, causes serious problems when he poses as the Cartwright patriarch and sells area ranchers' land to the railroad. Ben, who refused to deal with the railroad, must find a way to expose Meredith and convince one and all that he wasn't responsible.
Episode 19
The Desperado
Sun, Feb 7, 197160 mins
It's a case of reverse racism, as a white-hating black outlaw couple kidnap Hoss, hold him hostage in the mountains and scheme to kill him. The couple are on the run from the law after killing a white burglar (who killed their son), and they surmise that the law looks the other way when whites kill blacks but persecute with a vengeance when blacks are the killers.
Episode 20
The Reluctant American
Sun, Feb 14, 197160 mins
Leslie and Gillian Harwood arrive from England to Nevada to take over the daily management a poorly performing ranch owned by their holding firm. At first, the Harwoods mistake the Ponderosa as their new place and make themselves at home, much to the bewilderment of the Cartwrights when they return from a cattle drive. Eventually, they realize there is a misunderstanding and agree to help the Harwoods restore their ranch to sound financial health. There are a number of problems in the way, however. The Harwoods have to adjust not only to life in frontier America but also to the resistance of locals who don't want to work for them on their ailing ranch. Their problems are complicated by cattle rustlers who are stealing what little stock they still have on hand.
Episode 21
Shadow of a Hero
Sun, Feb 21, 197160 mins
Gen. Ira Cloninger, an old friend of the Cartwrights, is toasted at a ceremony as a hero and asked to run for governor. Cloninger accepts and Ben enthusiastically backs the candidate - until the investigation of the killing of a young Nez Perce exposes his attitude toward Native Americans.
Episode 22
The Silent Killer
Sun, Feb 28, 197160 mins
When an influenza outbreak strikes the Ponderosa, the treatment methods and philosophy of two women from different generations clash. A nurse named Harriet Clinton believes in old-fashioned methods, while the other nurse, Evangeline Woodtree, has studied up on more recent methods. Not helping matters: Doc Martin backs Harriet, in large part because he believes Evangeline's husband is a fraud.
Episode 23
Terror at 2:00
Sun, Mar 7, 197160 mins
News of a peace treaty signing between the Paiutes and people of Nevada give cause for a big celebration. Virginia City is filled with a circus-like atmosphere, but nobody is aware of a deadly threat that a white supremacist has planned. Mr. Ganns - a white supremacist who killed his own son after marrying a Paiute - arrives in Virginia City with two henchmen, all of them posing as reporters from St. Louis and hoping to cover the treaty signing. Inside boxes marked "camera equipment" are actually parts from a stolen Gatling gun, which they plan to use to kill everyone. Ganns - whose hatred of the redman had been building for years, resulting in his son's estrangement and eventual murder - suggests that, by massacring everyone at the peace treaty signing, each side will blame the other and eventually, a raging war would start with the Paiute tribe (then other tribes) eventually being killed off. Eventually, Hoss is taken hostage by Ganns's men, and when Joe and Clem go to investigate, learn the true identity of the "reporters." The bad guys begin to take Joe and Clem inside at gunpoint, but they are quickly subdued. Joe rushes to the room where Ganns is and - after avoiding the gunfire from the Gatling gun - shoots the villain in the chest. Minutes later, Ben and the Paiutes arrive to begin the ceremonies, and the celebration goes on with nobody knowing what had happened inside the hotel.
Episode 24
The Stillness Within
Sun, Mar 14, 197160 mins
Little Joe is blinded by an explosion and wallows in self-pity as he struggles to come to grips with his condition, which may be temporary or permanent. Ben hires a teacher from the Institute for the Blind to help Joe deal with his predicament.
Episode 25
A Time to Die
Sun, Mar 21, 197160 mins
Ben's friend, April Christopher, is bitten by a rabid wolf during her visit. With no treatment available, the Cartwrights and April's family struggle to watch her condition deteriorate.
Episode 26
Winter Kill
Sun, Mar 28, 197160 mins
During a harsh winter that kills off the stock of many ranchers, Ben offers to test a new breed's endurance by herding a cow from the stock on Sawtooth Mountain. A rival rancher attempts to undermine Ben's plans by having his foreman shoot the cow, then claim it had succumbed to the cold.
Episode 27
Kingdom of Fear
Sun, Apr 4, 197160 mins
A delusional mining tycoon has the Cartwrights and Candy arrested on false trespassing charges and sentences them to slave labor at a gold mine.
Episode 28
An Earthquake Called Callahan
Sun, Apr 11, 197160 mins
A traveling professional boxer named Tom Callahan is the only person who can prove Dusty Rhodes' innocence when the Ponderosa foreman is falsely jailed. But when Callahan stubbornly refuses to come to Virginia City to provide the alibi, Joe decides to pursue him and do everything he can to bring him back.