Bonanza

This episode is a great example of why Bonanza is the greatest television show ever made. As Ben, Adam and Hoss try desparately to find Little Joe, who is caught somewhere in the desert, during an indian uprising, he and a Mexican companion, try to bargain with comancheros for water to stay alive.



The scene in which Ben finds Joe, tied up by Sam Wolf, who obviously plans to let him die of thirst and exposure, is a classic "Pa/Joe moment". Sam Wolf has Joe writhing in the sun, as he takes his canteen to a nearby stream to fill it. As he is kneeling down, a shadow falls across Wolf--It's Pa--and he is not happy! The look on Pa's face, as Wolf lies and says he is "finishing off a horse thief" is chilling!



This episode really shows the closeness of the Cartwright family, which is, perhaps, what gave the show it's greatest appeal to such a wide variety of viewers.

The indians are between Ben and Joe. You know this has to be a good one. There are some scenes in this episode which are just priceless! The last scene with Ben and Joe is a tearjerker and shouldn't be missed and the scenes with Joe and Emiliano is very good acting, I think. They've definitely gotten better with the acting since the first season, you must admit. The first episode is a good plot...but the acting is so cheesy! I think it's most likely because they were trying to get the charaters established and over did it a little bit. But "The Gift" is very, very good. The best scene I'd have to say is the scene where Adam and Hoss tell Ben what Joe is doing and why. It really shows the tight-knitted family that the Cartwrights are. I think that's the greatest theme about this episode.