7.3/10155 votes#1 - The First Born
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1962
Clay Stafford signs on to work for the Cartwrights and shortly afterwards shoots and kills a man who accuses him of cheating at poker. The miners warn Clay to leave town, but it appears he killed in self-defense. Surprisingly, he tells Little Joe that he is his half-brother, and Marie was his mother. Ben listens to his story and takes his word for it, but Adam and Hoss think he should wire the judge in New Orleans to confirm Clay's real identity. Meanwhile, Clay and Joe develop a close relationship, but the vengeful miners still want Clay out of Virginia City and their first warning, is when Joe is beaten up by them. Ultimately, Clay decides life on the ranch is not for him.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/10135 votes#2 - The Quest
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1962
Determined to prove he can succeed at something without the help of his Pa, Hoss, and Adam, Joe sets out on his quest and wins a timber contract for Ponderosa timber, and later discovers that having a family to rely on can definitely be an asset.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.4/10138 votes#3 - The Artist
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1962
Ben helps Matthew Raine, a famous painter who has gone blind and now wallows in self-pity, discover a new purpose in life. However, Raine's employee Gavin has other ideas.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/10145 votes#4 - A Hot Day for a Hanging
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1962
Hoss is jailed for robbing the bank in Dutchman Flats, a town on the brink of economic collapse, even the sheriff knows he is innocent, but a lynch mob gathers and Hoss' fate is not good.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10132 votes#5 - The Deserter
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/1962
An Indian-hating officer, Colonel Edward J. Dunwoody, comes to the Ponderosa looking for army deserter Bill Winters, who is a good friend of the Cartwrights. Bill happens to be his son and is married to an Indian. It seemed Bill deserted when he was ordered to massacre the Shoshone, by poisoning their food and water, genocide. The Shoshone find out and abduct Bill's father.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10148 votes#6 - The Way Station
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/1962
With a storm brewing, Adam takes refuge at a way station, run by cantankerous Jesse and his young grandaughter Marty, who yearns to see what exists away from the way station. The station is also visited by Luke Martin, a killer who is running from a posse. He makes Marty an empty promise to take her with him and see the world together, but Adam steps in and suggests Luke let her alone. Everybody but Marty is relieved to see him go, but he quickly returns and holds everyone hostage to protect himself from the posse.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/10128 votes#7 - The War Comes to Washoe
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/1962
The Civil War once again divides the citizens of Nevada, as well as Adam and Joe Cartwright. One of season four's highlights, the plot involving British spy Bill Stewart, based on historical fact.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10145 votes#8 - Knight Errant
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1962
Hoss volunteers to pickup an injured neighbor's mail-order bride, but by the time they return, she has fallen in love with Hoss and a price is put on Hoss' head.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10117 votes#9 - The Beginning
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/1962
Billy Horne is a white man who was captured by the Shoshone when he was six. He comes into Ben & Joe's campsite one night uninvited. They capture him and take him to town. Roy Coffee wants to put him in jail for safekeeping, but Ben says he'll take him to the Ponderosa. They buy Horne clothes and become friends to him. A guy named Milton Tanner says the deed to the Ponderosa is weak and tries to take a third of it. Billy goes to Tanner's ranch and warns him that he will kill him if he tries to take the land. Tanner turns his dog loose on Billy. Billy kills the dog and then Tanner, who is going for a gun. Billy pleads guilty, but breaks out. Eventually he goes back with Joe and tells what really happened.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10118 votes#10 - The Deadly Ones
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 12/2/1962
The Ponderosa becomes a war zone when it is invaded by a detachment of Mexican mercenaries under General Diaz. The general is furious when one of his men, Forsythe, disobeys his orders to get a hostage peacefully, and instead shoots Little Joe in the back. Diaz forces Ben to lead his men over the back roads of the Ponderosa, so they can ambush a gold train led by Emperor Maximilian's men.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10122 votes#11 - Gallagher's Sons
Season 4 Episode 11 - Aired 12/9/1962
Hoss helps Charlie and Will (Charlotte and Willomina), two young girls who just lost their father. They go on a journey to find their only nearby relative, Aunt Cloe. Charlie takes with her a stolen sack of money that her father gave her and tries her best to lose Hoss. Four bandits show up looking for the loot Charlie has. In the end, Hoss finds out about the stolen money and talks the girls into giving it back. He puts them in dresses and sends them off to Boston on a stage, telling them they did the right thing and will probably get the money back as a reward for helping capture the bandits!
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10134 votes#12 - The Decision
Season 4 Episode 12 - Aired 12/16/1962
Hoss is seriously injured internally and Ben seeks help from the only doctor within 50 miles, who happens to be in prison for murder. Ben talks to the judge, and with some convincing, talks him into letting the doctor look at Hoss. Danny, who works for the Doctor, tells Ben what he saw about the murder. Ben discovers what really happened and proves to the judge that the doctor really is innocent. The judge stops the hanging and Hoss survives.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.8/10120 votes#13 - The Good Samaritan
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 12/23/1962
Hoss decides to help out Wade Tyree and introduces him to Abigail and her daughter, Bonnie. Hoss hopes this will stop Wade's constant drinking. Wade soon marries Abigail, but when things don't go his way, he goes back to drinking. Hoss helps out by helping the new family plant crops. When no rain comes, Hoss introduces them to irrigation, and Abigail faints while watering the crops. Wade realizes he has been a terrible husband and father, but gets a second chance when Abigail finds out she is going to have another child. Abigail and Bonnie both forgive Wade and a new family is born!
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10130 votes#14 - The Jury
Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 12/30/1962
When Hoss is responsible for causing a hung jury, Ben tells him, "a man is never wrong doing what he thinks is right", and Adam attempts to validate his brother's reasonable doubt.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.7/10131 votes#15 - The Colonel
Season 4 Episode 15 - Aired 1/6/1963
Frank Medford, a figure from Ben's "wild, misspent youth", shows up in Virginia City, and though down on his luck, creates troubles for the Cartwrights by claiming to be a successful businessman.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/10142 votes#16 - Song in the Dark
Season 4 Episode 16 - Aired 1/13/1963
Adam's guitar-strumming friend, ranch hand Danny Morgan, is arrested on suspicion of murdering and robbing the Widow Baker. Someone had reported hearing Danny singing outside her place at the time of the murder. More, importantly, Morgan has bad scratches on his arm, and the widow was found with human skin under her fingernails. Adam is thoroughly convinced that Danny couldn't have done it; the two became friends after Danny saved Adam's life a few years ago.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10129 votes#17 - Elegy for a Hangman
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 1/20/1963
A stranger, Bob Jolly, arrives in Virginia City to accuse a drunken Judge Harry Whitaker of sending his innocent father, Carl, to the gallows. Adam defends the judge's honor because of his long friendship with the Cartwrights. After Adam talks with Jolly, he begins to believe his story. Upon further investigation, Adam discovers that Senator Cal Prince and Hobie Klinderman as well as the judge might have had a lot to gain from Carl Jolly's murder. In an attempt to learn what really happened, Adam organizes an informal meeting in the saloon.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10117 votes#18 - Half a Rogue
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 1/27/1963
In this entertaining episode, laced with humor, Hoss first meets mountain man Jim Leyton. Bing Russell makes his first appearance as Deputy Clem Foster.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10148 votes#19 - The Last Haircut
Season 4 Episode 19 - Aired 2/3/1963
A vain outlaw murders a man in front of witnesses, including Joe, but a clever lawyer is able to get him acquitted. Though enraged, Joe has to convince the dead man's son it is wrong to take the law into their own hands.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.8/10122 votes#20 - Marie, My Love
Season 4 Episode 20 - Aired 2/10/1963
When Cochise falls on Joe, Ben cannot help but remember that is how Marie Cartwright was killed. He thinks back to meeting her in New Orleans in a rather confusing story not quite in synch with details discussed in "The First Born".
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/10136 votes#21 - The Hayburner
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 2/17/1963
For a change, it is Adam rather than Joe who becomes mixed up in one of Hoss' funny exploits. Together they purchase a thoroughbred horse, and end up competing against their little brother in the big Virginia City race. This is Pernell Robert's favorite comedy episode.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.3/10128 votes#22 - The Actress
Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 2/24/1963
Joe becomes romantically involved with a woman who considers herself a serious dramatic actress. Unfortunately, she is the only one who does.
Director: Christian Nyby
Writer: N/A
7.3/10137 votes#23 - A Stranger Passed This Way
Season 4 Episode 23 - Aired 3/3/1963
Hoss develops amnesia after being bushwhacked and hit over the head by two outlaws and moves in with a Dutch couple. The woman regards him as a substitute for her dead son, and unless he recovers his memory, the other Cartwrights fear he will leave them forever.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10126 votes#24 - The Way of Aaron
Season 4 Episode 24 - Aired 3/10/1963
Adam takes a shine to Rebecca Kaufman, the daughter of a Jewish peddler, and bandits are convinced the Kaufman wagon is worth robbing.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.7/10123 votes#25 - A Woman Lost
Season 4 Episode 25 - Aired 3/17/1963
Ben's attempt to rehabilitate an alcoholic singer he knew in better days are complicated by her involvment with a former prize fighter.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 4
Every episode of Bonanza Season 4 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 4!
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
Genres:WesternAction & AdventureDramaFamily
Network:NBC
Season 4 Ratings Summary
"The First Born" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza" season 4. It scored 7.3/10 based on 155 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 9/23/1962. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "The Quest".