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The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 12

Every episode of Bonanza Season 12 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 12!

Binge this in 20h 25m•Peaking at 8.2/10

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Bonanza Season 12 Episode 1 - The Night Virginia City Died
    7.1/10(124 votes)

    #1 - The Night Virginia City Died

    S12:E1

    In the 12th season premiere, a series of destructive fires strike Virginia City, and always late at night. Is it the work of a ruthless arsonist, or someone very close to Deputy Clem?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 2 - A Matter of Faith
    7.4/10(108 votes)

    #2 - A Matter of Faith

    S12:E2

    Dusty takes in orphaned Jamie Hunter, the son of a recently-deceased rainmaker. Jamie is determined to carry on his father's tradition by using drought-stricken Virginia City to prove his talents.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 3 - The Weary Willies
    7.0/10(126 votes)

    #3 - The Weary Willies

    S12:E3

    The Weary Willies are hippie-like former Civil War veterans who are now drifters and live off the land. Despite protests from fellow ranchers and the people of Virginia City, Ben allows the traveling band to stay at the Ponderosa. The real trouble begins when a teen-aged girl is raped and the Willies are blamed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 4 - The Wagon
    7.3/10(103 votes)

    #4 - The Wagon

    S12:E4

    After being taken into custody by a sheriff who does not care if he is guilty or innocent of a crime, Hoss escapes from the prison wagon with a woman he is convinced got a raw deal.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 5 - The Power of Life and Death
    7.8/10(109 votes)

    #5 - The Power of Life and Death

    S12:E5

    A man called Davis has shot Colonel Clayton and escapes on horseback. Joe and Ben join the posse that sets out to find Davis. Ben and Joe volunteer to cross the desert. Ben and Joe find Davis hold up at a water hole, when Indians attack and Ben is wounded in the leg, and steal the horses. Joe unties Davis, who tends to a wounded Ben, who is suspicious that Davis will try to escape. After playing a game of cat and mouse, Ben and Davis come to an agreement: survival. Joe makes the decision to cross the desert on foot, while Ben and Davis are at the water hole, both men in need of medical help and justice.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 6 - Gideon, the Good
    7.6/10(106 votes)

    #6 - Gideon, the Good

    S12:E6

    On the trail, Joe witnesses a woman kill a man, but the woman rides away before he can positively identify her. He rides into the nearest town, Black River and reports the crime to Sheriff Gideon Yates, and the two ride out to find clues. They find a handkerchief embroidered with the letter "L". Sheriff Yates knows who the killer is, his wife Lydia. She married him before she got a legal divorce from her first husband, Loomis, and killed him to silence him. Gideon tries to coax Joe out of town, but he recognizes Lydia's picture in a photographer's window. When Joe refuses to leave, Gideon tries to shoot him down in cold blood and orders a manhunt against him. Joe's only hope is a Mexican stable boy, who saw Gideon shoot him, and ultimately Joe and Gideon have one of the most memorable confrontations in the series' history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 7 - The Trouble with Trouble
    7.5/10(103 votes)

    #7 - The Trouble with Trouble

    S12:E7

    When Hoss volunteers to be Sheriff of a town called Trouble, he soon finds out that the town had correctly been named. Hoss almost manages to arrest the whole town, and captures the Clanton gang all by himself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 8 - Thornton's Account
    7.4/10(115 votes)

    #8 - Thornton's Account

    S12:E8

    Ben's new horse throws him down a steep slope, injuring his back. Joe tries to round up some help, but the settlers in the valley live in fear of the devious owner and his hired help. Joe goes for help from a man named Thornton, but he is wounded by the lowlife cowboys, and has no choice but to ask them for help. A very imaginitive and visually creative dream Ben has of Joe calling out to him and falling beside him, before waking up and realizes he has just had a terrifying nightmare.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 9 - The Love Child
    7.8/10(119 votes)

    #9 - The Love Child

    S12:E9

    A dying woman and her son are rejected by her father because she had a child out of wedlock.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 10 - El Jefe
    7.1/10(82 votes)

    #10 - El Jefe

    S12:E10

    Ben and Hoss come to the rescue of Mexican farmers who are forced off their land by the greedy mine owner who runs the town of Prince River.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 11 - The Luck of Pepper Shannon
    7.1/10(94 votes)

    #11 - The Luck of Pepper Shannon

    S12:E11

    Pepper Shannon is a dime novel hero and outlaw. Ben gives a job to Pepper Shannon on the condition the one-time outlaw stays away from Jamie, who happens to admire him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 12 - The Impostors
    6.6/10(100 votes)

    #12 - The Impostors

    S12:E12

    Hoss and Joe pretend to be stage robbers' partners in order to recover stolen Cartwright money. All goes well until the wife of one of the thieves shows up.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 13 - Honest John
    7.2/10(96 votes)

    #13 - Honest John

    S12:E13

    Jamie forms a bond with a bum and his tame crow. Before long, Jamie suggests they repair an old wagon and leave the Ponderosa.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 14 - For a Young Lady
    7.3/10(102 votes)

    #14 - For a Young Lady

    S12:E14

    A girl's uncle and aunt want custody of her only because they believe she has the rights to her late grandfather's mine.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 15 - A Single Pilgrim
    7.5/10(110 votes)

    #15 - A Single Pilgrim

    S12:E15

    Settlers from Virginia argue over Hoss' fate after one of them accidentally shoots him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 16 - The Gold-Plated Rifle
    6.9/10(106 votes)

    #16 - The Gold-Plated Rifle

    S12:E16

    An insecure Jamie is unsure of his place in the family, having trouble adjusting at his new school and keeps getting harassed by a bully. When he takes Ben's prized gold-plated rifle and breaks it, he runs away, sending Ben to go looking for him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 17 - Top Hand
    7.8/10(124 votes)

    #17 - Top Hand

    S12:E17

    The Cartwrights are about to start a major cattle drive with other ranchers. It has been decided that Ben's foreman will be trail boss on the drive. Weatherby, a fellow rancher who is also with Ben, has agreed to have Kelly as trail boss, until he finds out that Kelly was previously on a cattle drive with him, and fired him for drinking. Weatherby also suggests that his younger wrangler take the job as trail boss, and a conflict is started between both Ben's foreman and Weatherby's wrangler.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 18 - A Deck of Aces
    6.3/10(108 votes)

    #18 - A Deck of Aces

    S12:E18

    Bradley Meredith, a Ben Cartwright look-a-like, causes trouble when he sells land to the railroad. Ben has already turned down the deal, but Meredith, acting as Ben, accepts the deal, which stirs up all kinds of trouble.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 19 - The Desperado
    7.2/10(108 votes)

    #19 - The Desperado

    S12:E19

    Hoss is held prisoner by a fugitive black couple who they admit hate white people and have nothing to lose by killing them.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 20 - The Reluctant American
    6.9/10(103 votes)

    #20 - The Reluctant American

    S12:E20

    An English couple comes to Nevada to learn why a ranch owned by the British investment firm is the only company holding not showing a profit.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 21 - Shadow of a Hero
    7.0/10(100 votes)

    #21 - Shadow of a Hero

    S12:E21

    Ben is shocked to learn the Army general he is backing as governor, advocates a policy of genocide towards all Indians.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 22 - The Silent Killer
    7.8/10(123 votes)

    #22 - The Silent Killer

    S12:E22

    An epidemic of influenza hits the Ponderosa and the only person who seems sure of what to do is the wife of a doctor, whom Doc Martin says is a fraud.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 23 - Terror at 2:00
    7.9/10(118 votes)

    #23 - Terror at 2:00

    S12:E23

    A racist and his henchmen steal a Gatling gun, with plans to massacre everyone - including the Cartwrights - involved in a peace treaty signing between the U.S. Army and the Paitues in Virginia City. The man's hope is that the tragedy will spark another war and eventually lead to the genocide of all Native Americans.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 24 - The Stillness Within
    8.2/10(155 votes)

    #24 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Bonanza Season 12 Episode 25 - A Time to Die
    7.6/10(114 votes)

    #25 - A Time to Die

    S12:E25

    While visiting the Ponderosa, Ben's friend, April Christopher, is bitten by a rabid wolf. Ben and April and her daughter must come to terms with her illness as they all realize the terrible fate that awaits April.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 12 Ratings Summary

"The Night Virginia City Died" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza" season 12. It scored 7.1/10 based on 124 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/13/1970. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "A Matter of Faith".