7.2/10151 votes#1 - She Walks in Beauty
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1963
Hoss wants to marry mysterious Regan Miller, a woman with less than a pristine past. When he thinks Adam is trying to steal her away, he loses control and beats Adam up.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10136 votes#2 - A Passion for Justice
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1963
Renowned English novelist Charles Dickens comes to Virginia City. In short order, he is accused of a crime he didn't commit. The problem then becomes how to convince the stubborn author to defend himself.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10125 votes#3 - Rain from Heaven
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/1963
A destitute rainmaker and his family arrive in drought-stricken Virginia City. While Ben tries to help him make rain, Hoss tends to the man's seriously ill little girl.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/10236 votes#4 - Twilight Town
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/1963
Joe is bushwhacked in the desert and awakens to find himself in Martinville, a town that may or may not be populated by ghosts. An errie, surrealistic and well-produced episode.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/10113 votes#5 - The Toy Soldier
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1963
Adam encounters drunken artist James Callan, branded a "squaw man" because he is married to an Indian, and whose talent is going to waste in the town of Sheep Head.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10130 votes#6 - A Question of Strength
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/1963
Hoss and a pair of nuns, the younger one having a difficult time training for the order, are robbed and stranded at a way station.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10150 votes#7 - Calamity over the Comstock
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/3/1963
Joe has a run-in with Calamity Jane, and takes her home with him after promising her dying father to take care of her. At first the Cartwrights (besides Joe) think ""Cal"" is a boy, but they soon find out differently. Cal begins to fall in love with Joe, but Joe finds her attentions unwanted...especially when Cal's boyfriend, Doc Holliday, has it in for Joe.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.9/10117 votes#8 - Journey Remembered
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/10/1963
Ben finds an old journal that he kept while in a wagon train travelling from St. Joseph, Missouri to Ash Hollow. As he is reading it Ben remembers the journey he undertook with his wife Inger and a young Adam. During the trip Hoss is born and they have trouble with some Indians.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10123 votes#9 - The Quality of Mercy
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/17/1963
Joe struggles to understand whether his friend was right in killing a dying man who pleaded to put out of his misery.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10113 votes#10 - The Waiting Game
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 12/8/1963
Adam becomes involved with the recently widowed Laura Dayton and her little girl, Peggy.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/10138 votes#11 - The Legacy
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 12/15/1963
Adam, Hoss and Joe mistakenly believe their father was murdered. They split into 3 different directions to confront the supposed killers. In his heart, Ben knows his sons will not act outside the law; but he is not 100% sure that Joe will behave correctly.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/10267 votes#12 - Hoss and the Leprechauns
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 12/22/1963
In what is arguably the best comedy of the series, Hoss swears he has seen green elves running around the Ponderosa and a smooth-talking Irishman complicates matters even worse.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/10124 votes#13 - The Prime of Life
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 12/29/1963
Ben becomes irritable and reckless when the completion of an important timber contract is hindered by an old rival.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/10141 votes#14 - The Lila Conrad Story
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 1/5/1964
Joe and Adam protect a saloon girl, who has killed in self-defense, from an angry lynch mob. The accompanying Judge, along with his wife, takes a liking to Lila, and before it is all over, he and Lila discover much more about themselves.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10124 votes#15 - Ponderosa Matador
Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 1/12/1964
Adam, Hoss, and Joe vie for the attention of a pretty young lady named Dolores. Hoss talks Joe into entering a bull fight, but it doesn't work out quite as planned.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10120 votes#16 - My Son, My Son
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 1/19/1964
Ben's plans to marry Katherine Saunders are upset when her son Eden is accused of killing his former girlfriend.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.8/10140 votes#17 - Alias Joe Cartwright
Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 1/26/1964
A man who looks similar to Joe uses Joe's name and gets Joe in the position of facing the firing squad.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/10106 votes#18 - The Gentleman from New Orleans
Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 2/2/1964
The new stranger in town claims to be the famous pirate Jean Lafitte, and Hoss believes him.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/10118 votes#19 - The Cheating Game
Season 5 Episode 19 - Aired 2/9/1964
In this sequel to "The Waiting Game", Laura resents Adam's advice on how she ought to be running her ranch. A newcomer, Ward Bannister, comes to her aid, but is actually part of a scheme to steal her ranch.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/10118 votes#20 - Bullet for a Bride
Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 2/16/1964
While out hunting for a mountain lion, Joe accidently shots Tessa Caldwell causing her to go blind. As a result of his guilt, Joe ends up proposing to the girl. However, other circumstances arise that cause Tessa to make a rash decision - one that both her and Joe may regret in the future.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.3/10113 votes#21 - King of the Mountain
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 2/23/1964
When mountain man Jim Leyton decides to marry, he chooses Hoss as his best man. Julie's father, Grizzly, does not agree and Hoss must come to the rescue.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.7/10127 votes#22 - Love Me Not
Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/1964
While talking with an Indian, Ben is given an unexpected present...a woman. She is a young white woman named Joan who has lived with the Indians since she was a little girl. Through a humorous learning experience, Ben tries to teach Joan how to behave like a white woman. In the process, Ben finds himself in an awkward situation.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/10110 votes#23 - The Pure Truth
Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 3/8/1964
Hoss is suffering from spring fever, goes to the wrong town and is accused of bank robbery.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.8/10125 votes#24 - No Less a Man
Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 3/15/1964
The town council feels Roy Coffee can no longer do his job, and with the notorious Wagner gang on their way to rob the bank, everyone is in a panic. Ben and Adam disagree with the town council and do what they can to help Roy out.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.2/10114 votes#25 - Return to Honor
Season 5 Episode 25 - Aired 3/22/1964
Ben must travel to pay his respects after he learns of the death of his nephew Will. When he visits the grave, he finds his nephew barely alive with a bullet wound. He takes him to a doctor and Will insists that he leave, but Ben refuses. Will explains that the men after him must believe that he is dead. Ben decides his best bet is to take Will home. He and Will are followed by the same men who are interested in some valuables Will is carrying.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 5
Every episode of Bonanza Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 5!
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 5 Ratings Summary
"She Walks in Beauty" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza" season 5. It scored 7.2/10 based on 151 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 9/22/1963. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "A Passion for Justice".