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The Best Episodes of Bonanza

Every episode of Bonanza ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Bonanza!

The Best Episodes of Bonanza

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
  1. Background image for Mark of Guilt
    8.3/10(121 votes)

    #1 - Mark of Guilt

    S10:E13

    Hop Sing tells Hoss and Candy they can use the ancient Chinese art of fingerprinting to prove Joe is innocent of murder.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for The Wish
    8.3/10(133 votes)

    #2 - The Wish

    S10:E23

    Hoss spends his two-month vacation helping a black family get their farm in shape, and dealing with racism in the neighboring town.

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  3. Background image for Kingdom of Fear
    8.2/10(116 votes)

    #3 - Kingdom of Fear

    S12:E27

    Ben, Hoss and Joe, along with Candy and a fellow rancher, are jailed on false trespassing charges by a greedy mining tycoon. The despot runs a gold mine (i.e., a thinly-veiled prison camp) and acquires slave labor by pressing phony criminal charges against the unfortunate inmates.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for The Stillness Within
    8.1/10(147 votes)

    #4 - The Stillness Within

    S12:E24

    Blinded by an explosion, Joe wallows in self-pity, and at first resists the efforts of a woman trying to teach him to live without sight, not knowing she is also blind.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Forever
    8.1/10(228 votes)

    #5 - Forever

    S14:E1

    Little Joe finds true love in newcomer Alice Harper. Following a courtship, the two are engaged. Unlike most of the Cartwrights' previous girlfriends, Alice makes it to the altar. Joe and Alice are starting their new life together, and she soon becomes pregnant. All appears well, as Joe and Alice start their new life together in their new home ... until one day Joe is out. Alice's indolent brother owes money to a ruthless businessman and has not yet paid, so they find Alice instead. When she can't pay the debt, they brutally kill her and burn Joe's house down.

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  6. Background image for The Avenger
    8.0/10(291 votes)

    #6 - The Avenger

    S1:E26

    A restaurant owner whom Ben and Adam have confronted over stolen Ponderosa beef ends up dead one night. His daughter, Sally Byrnes runs the cafe and in her resentment, wrongfully accuses Ben and Adam of murdering her father and they are sentenced to hang. A rancher by the name of Hawkins is also jealous of the Cartwrights and has hired his men to stop the town from helping Ben and Adam, ensuring they hang. Hoss and Joe are willing to stop them, but Ben insists they stay within the limits of the law.

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    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for The Honor of Cochise
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - The Honor of Cochise

    S3:E3

    The Cartwrights and a bigoted army captain are pinned down by Cochise and his braves, who claim the officer poisoned 30 of their people.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Thunder Man
    8.0/10(145 votes)

    #8 - Thunder Man

    S4:E31

    Little Joe's 19-year old girlfriend is killed by a good samaritan, an explosives expert who had stopped to render aid to the woman's uncle after he suffers a stroke. Unable to talk, the only clue he can offer the investigating Cartwrights is a scrawled title of the song the assailant was whistling — ""New Orleans Woman.""

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for The Wormwood Cup
    8.0/10(114 votes)

    #9 - The Wormwood Cup

    S8:E31

    A woman - convinced Little Joe intentionally killed her brother - offers $1,000 to the man who kills the youngest Cartwright in what she deems a ""fair fight."" Joe, meanwhile, must overcome his guilt over killing another man in self defense while trying to avoid the dead man's bitterly grieving father.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for My Friend, My Enemy
    8.0/10(110 votes)

    #10 - My Friend, My Enemy

    S10:E16

    Only the testimony of an Indian wanted for horse theft can clear Candy of murder.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for The Saddle Stiff
    8.0/10(108 votes)

    #11 - The Saddle Stiff

    S13:E17

    Fired ranch hand, Cactus, suggests that Ben is too old to put in a real work's week and challenges Ben to take a job as a ranch hand under the name "Ben Brown". He takes the job to prove himself better than Cactus.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for The Hidden Enemy
    8.0/10(132 votes)

    #12 - The Hidden Enemy

    S14:E10

    Dr. Will Agar is Virginia City's new town doctor, and brings with him new skills and expertise to treat area residents' health maladies. Only thing is, Dr. Agar is seriously addicted to morphine, and it results in serious trouble for everyone.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Death at Dawn
    7.9/10(254 votes)

    #13 - Death at Dawn

    S1:E32

    Virginia City is plagued by organized crime, Sam Bryant and his gang. One of his men, Farmer Perkins, kills a storekeeper, and at his trial, the wife of the store owner is afraid to testify. When Perkins is sentenced to hang, Bryant kidnaps Ben and wants to exchange Ben for Perkins, which leaves Adam with the most difficult decision of his life. A stellar cast.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for The Mission
    7.9/10(218 votes)

    #14 - The Mission

    S2:E2

    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.

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  16. Background image for Any Friend of Walter's
    7.9/10(180 votes)

    #15 - Any Friend of Walter's

    S4:E26

    Classic comedy in which Hoss first meets prospector Obie and his lazy but allegedly brilliant mongrel dog, Walter.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for A Man to Admire
    7.9/10(123 votes)

    #16 - A Man to Admire

    S6:E11

    Hoss relies on clever attorney Whitney Parker, who has a drinking problem, to clear him of a murder charge.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for The Flapjack Contest
    7.9/10(130 votes)

    #17 - The Flapjack Contest

    S6:E15

    Hoss unknowingly enters a flapjack contest and Joe puts Hoss on a diet which Hoss doesn't care for. Joe's betting on the flapjack contest could get him into some trouble and will he ever succeed in getting the window pane his Pa wants?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Credit for a Kill
    7.9/10(118 votes)

    #18 - Credit for a Kill

    S8:E7

    Though his friend is badly in need of the reward money, Joe insists it belongs to him, to protect his friend from the dead outlaws' brothers.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for The Medal
    7.9/10(112 votes)

    #19 - The Medal

    S11:E7

    Ben lends a hand to a down and out war veteran, Matthew Rush, who received the Congressional Medal Of Honor.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Dead Wrong
    7.9/10(100 votes)

    #20 - Dead Wrong

    S11:E11

    While in Sunville on business for the Ponderosa, the town's storyteller, Salty - who has a talent for grossly exaggerating his tales - identifies Hoss and Candy as outlaws Big Jack (Hoss) and Sid (Candy). After a frustrating endeavor of convincing Salty of their real identities, Candy and Hoss get him to help stage ""Big Jack's"" death in a gunfight, unaware that the real Big Jack and Sid are in Sunville and plan to take advantage of the townsfolks' distraction to rob the bank.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for The Passing of a King
    7.8/10(107 votes)

    #21 - The Passing of a King

    S10:E5

    The son of a rancher to whom the Cartwrights are selling a prize bull is trying to get his father ruled mentally incompetant, and will let no one stand in his way.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Five Candles
    7.8/10(100 votes)

    #22 - Five Candles

    S10:E22

    The floor of the Virginia City courthouse collapses, trapping Ben in the basement with three other people, one of whom may or may not be guilty of murder.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for A Ride in the Sun
    7.8/10(111 votes)

    #23 - A Ride in the Sun

    S10:E30

    A pair of con artists swindle Ben out of nearly $30,000 after convincing the Cartwright patriarch to enter into a deal to buy his cattle. The brother and sister shoot Ben, rob the Virginia City Bank and go on the run with Little Joe hot on their trail.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for The Trouble with Amy
    7.8/10(113 votes)

    #24 - The Trouble with Amy

    S11:E17

    Ben comes to the aid of Amy Wilder, an eccentric animal lover whose mental competency is questioned when a neighbor declares an interest in her land for mining. The neighbor asks the court for a hearing to have Amy declared senile so he can obtain her land, setting off Ben's race against time to track down Amy's relatives to defend her mental state.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Decision at Los Robles
    7.8/10(107 votes)

    #25 - Decision at Los Robles

    S11:E24

    Ben and Joe stop in Los Robles for a couple of beers and a night's rest. Ben sees the town boss, John Walker, bullying the saloon waitress, and he comes to her defense. When Ben steps outside of the saloon, Walker shoots him in the back. Badly wounded, Ben shoots back, killing Walker just before he falls unconscious. While Joe keeps a vigil at Ben's bedside, the priest tells him Los Robles had always been ruled unquestionably by John Walker and his son Jed. Now Jed will certainly want revenge. Sure enough, he tells Joe if he doesn't hand Ben over in 24 hours, he will kill every citizen in Los Robles, one an hour. To complicate matters more, Walker's foreman, Garth, deliberately tells Jed that Ben shot his father in the back, in hopes that Joe will kill Walker, so he can run the Walker ranch. When Joe tries to mobilize a few citizens to fight Walker and his army of men, he finds a town full of cowards. The biggest coward of all is the doctor. He purposely left the bullet in Ben's back, hoping that he'd die within 24 hours. Jed and Garth make final plans to blow up Los Robles with dynamite, unless Joe surrenders Ben to him.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"Mark of Guilt" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza". It scored 8.3/10 based on 121 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/15/1968. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Wish".