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The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 2

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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Bonanza Season 2 Episode 2 - The Mission
    8.0/10(239 votes)

    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.

    Director:James Neilson
    Writer:Robert E. Thompson

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  2. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 21 - Vengeance
    7.7/10(144 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 24 - The Dark Gate
    7.6/10(177 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 34 - Sam Hill
    7.6/10(179 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 4 - The Mill
    7.5/10(241 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 13 - Silent Thunder
    7.5/10(259 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 16 - The Courtship
    7.5/10(191 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 27 - The Gift
    7.5/10(162 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 31 - The Secret
    7.5/10(175 votes)

    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".

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 1 - Showdown
    7.4/10(227 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 17 - The Spitfire
    7.4/10(248 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 23 - The Rescue
    7.4/10(146 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 30 - The Thunderhead Swindle
    7.4/10(135 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 33 - Elizabeth, My Love
    7.4/10(175 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 3 - Badge Without Honor
    7.3/10(246 votes)

    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.

    Director:Arthur Lubin
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 7 - Day of Reckoning
    7.3/10(227 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 9 - Breed of Violence
    7.3/10(204 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 11 - The Trail Gang
    7.3/10(194 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 14 - The Ape
    7.3/10(290 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 19 - Bank Run
    7.3/10(173 votes)

    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.

    Director:Robert Altman
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 25 - The Duke
    7.3/10(148 votes)

    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.

    Director:Robert Altman
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 28 - The Rival
    7.3/10(156 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 5 - The Hopefuls
    7.2/10(205 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 18 - The Bride
    7.2/10(181 votes)

    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?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Bonanza Season 2 Episode 8 - The Abduction
    7.1/10(240 votes)

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 2 Ratings Summary

"The Mission" is the best rated episode of Bonanza season 2. It scored 8.0/10 from 239 votes. Directed by James Neilson and written by Robert E. Thompson, it aired on September 17, 1960. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Vengeance".