Bonanza

The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 2

Genres:WesternAction & AdventureDramaFamily
Network:NBC

Every episode of Bonanza Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 2!

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
Episodes
34
Avg. Rating
7.1
S1
S2
S3
S4
E1
E2
E3
7.2
7.8
7.1

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  1. 7.8/10(213 votes)

    #1 - The Mission

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    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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  2. 7.6/10(127 votes)

    #2 - Vengeance

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    S2:E21

    Hoss accidentally kills a drunk he was trying to disarm. The man's brother bushwhacks Hoss, who has lost the will to live. Joe makes a promise to Hoss that he will kill Red Twilight, the vengeful brother who bushwhacked Hoss, no matter what happens, and will not let Adam stand in his way.

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  3. 7.5/10(124 votes)

    #3 - The Thunderhead Swindle

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    S2:E30

    With Virginia City on the verge of economic ruin, out of work miners put their hopes in word of a strike at a mine everybody believed was played out. Ben suspects the new owners have been stealing silver from an adjoining mine also thought dry, and resolves to prove it.

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  4. 7.5/10(158 votes)

    #4 - Sam Hill

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    S2:E34

    Blacksmith Sam Hill fights to keep the land on which his mother is buried, after his drunken father signs the deed over to Colonel Tyson and his private army. Poetic episode written by John T. Kelley and directed by Robert Altman.

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  5. 7.4/10(207 votes)

    #5 - The Mill

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    S2:E4

    The Cartwrights construct a grist mill to provide income for a crippled rancher who blames Ben for his predicament. Ben has to contend with the man's depraved caretaker, and finds himself attracted to his wife. "Sons can't be everything," Ben tells her.

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  6. 7.4/10(222 votes)

    #6 - Silent Thunder

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    S2:E13

    Captivated by the pretty, deaf-mute daughter of a reclusive mountain man, Little Joe teaches the young woman sign language. Thrilled with her newfound ability to communicate, Annie mistakes her gratitude to Little Joe for love, much to the chagrin of Albie, who is determined to have her for his own.

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  8. 7.4/10(163 votes)

    #7 - The Dark Gate

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    S2:E24

    Adam is confused by the sudden behavior of his good friend, Ross Marquette. He beats up his wife, Delphine, after accusing her of having an affair with Adam. He also joins a group of rustlers and killers and helps rob a gold shipment. Adam thinks Ross is suffering from insanity, in this highlight of season two.

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  9. 7.4/10(159 votes)

    #8 - The Secret

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    S2:E31

    Joe is the victim of an elaborate frame-up, accused of murdering a pregnant girl. When Ben is asked if Joe is telling the truth, he replies, "If I were to start doubting my son at this point, everything I've lived and worked for would be lost".

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  10. 7.3/10(164 votes)

    #9 - The Courtship

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    S2:E16

    Hoss plans to marry the widow of one of Ben's friends, not knowing she is a compulsive gambler and refusing to believe it when the other Cartwrights confront him with the truth.

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  11. 7.3/10(210 votes)

    #10 - The Spitfire

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    S2:E17

    Joe becomes the target of a tough and vengeful Kentucky family, after he kills one of them who almost sets the Ponderosa on fire and the Cartwrights take in the dead man's daughter.

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  12. 7.3/10(130 votes)

    #11 - The Rescue

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    S2:E23

    The Cartwright boys are concerned that Ben might be getting on in years, yet it is he who saves them from cattle rustlers.

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  13. 7.3/10(136 votes)

    #12 - The Duke

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    S2:E25

    Hoss takes on The Duke Of London, an arrogant, abusive bare-knuckle fighter, though his brawn is no match for the Duke's agile skills.

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  14. 7.3/10(144 votes)

    #13 - The Gift

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    S2:E27

    While crossing the desert to Yuma, Arizona with a white stallion intended as a birthday present for Ben, Joe runs into a pack of merciless comancheros. His companion, a former comanchero, Emiliano, who raised the horse, must get he and Joe through safely.

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  15. 7.3/10(162 votes)

    #14 - Elizabeth, My Love

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    S2:E33

    At the bedside of a seriously ill Adam, Ben thinks back to his days as a first mate in the merchant marines and his marriage to Adam's mother, Elizabeth Stoddard.

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  16. 7.2/10(199 votes)

    #15 - Showdown

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    S2:E1

    A young bank robber hires on at the Ponderosa in order to keep his gang informed of the law's efforts to discover their whereabouts.

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  17. 7.2/10(165 votes)

    #16 - The Trail Gang

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    S2:E11

    On a cattle drive back to Nevada from Texas, Ben hires a young man who is both an outlaw and the son of the sheriff whose town the Ponderosa cowhands are entering.

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  18. 7.1/10(210 votes)

    #17 - Badge Without Honor

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    S2:E3

    Adam's life is saved by an enigmatic U. S. Marshal who has come to Virginia City to arrest a friend of the Cartwrights.

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  19. 7.1/10(195 votes)

    #18 - Day of Reckoning

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    S2:E7

    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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  20. 7.1/10(172 votes)

    #19 - Breed of Violence

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    S2:E9

    Joe's friend Dolly Kincaid is the daughter of the sheriff and she's always getting caught up with the wrong crowd. When she gets close to Vince Dagen, Joe gets worried and tries to intervene.

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  21. 7.1/10(245 votes)

    #20 - The Ape

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    S2:E14

    Hoss becomes friends with dull-witted Arnie Gurnie, who is a brute of a man with the mentality of a child. His temper scares everybody, including the Cartwrights.

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  22. 7.1/10(160 votes)

    #21 - Bank Run

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    S2:E19

    When they "rob" the bank in Virginia City to save depositors from being cleaned out by its president, Hoss and Joe wind up wanted by the law.

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  23. 7.1/10(144 votes)

    #22 - The Rival

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    S2:E28

    Jim Applegate, Hoss' rival for the affections of Cameo Johnson, is a member of a vigilante group who lynched an innocent man and his wife.

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  24. 7.0/10(180 votes)

    #23 - The Hopefuls

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    S2:E5

    Adam guides a wagon train of Quakers and falls for the leader's daughter, Regina. The force Adam must employ to protect them, conflicts with their passive philosophy of life.

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  25. 7.0/10(210 votes)

    #24 - The Abduction

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    S2:E8

    Hoss and Joe take their sweethearts to a colorful and strange carnival for the day. Joe's recent girlfriend Jennifer Beale is abducted by the sinister owner, Philip Reed and his accomplice Gerner. Her father is Joshua Beale, the richest man in the Comstock. Gerner convinces Reed to hold her for a $1 million dollar ransom, and her father will gladly pay them to ensure her safe return. Reed's girlfriend Della Thompson is jealous of Jennifer and has second thoughts about the abduction. Hoss and Joe take notice of Jennifer's disappearance and travel deep into the bowels of the carnival, meeting fierce resistance from the carnival people at every avenue. They come up without a trace of finding her.

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  26. 7.0/10(157 votes)

    #25 - The Bride

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    S2:E18

    The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?

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Season 2 Ratings Summary

"The Mission" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza" season 2. It scored 7.8/10 based on 213 votes. Directed by James Neilson and written by Robert E. Thompson, it aired on 9/17/1960. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Vengeance".