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The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 3

Every episode of Bonanza Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 3!

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Bonanza Season 3 Episode 27 - The Gamble
    8.1/10(185 votes)

    S3:E27

    In the town of Alkali, the Cartwrights are jailed on false charges of robbery and murder, but Joe escapes and returns with an army of Ponderosa hands.

    Director:William Witney
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 2 - Springtime
    8.0/10(179 votes)

    S3:E2

    A friend of Ben's (Mr. Milbank) arrives at the Ponderosa at a bad time...when the Cartwright boys are fighting in the mud. Mr. Milbank, who is injured by a flying log during the fight, gives an assignment to each of the three boys. Can they fulfill the assignments, or has Springtime gotten to them all?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 3 - The Honor of Cochise
    8.0/10(190 votes)

    S3:E3

    The Cartwrights and a bigoted army captain are pinned down by Cochise and his braves, who claim the officer poisoned 30 of their people.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 18 - The Ride
    8.0/10(172 votes)

    S3:E18

    Adam races against the clock to prove a man who was once his friend is guilty of robbery and murder and Adam is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt he is guilty.

    Director:Don McDougall
    Writer:Ward Hawkins

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  5. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 28 - The Crucible
    8.0/10(216 votes)

    S3:E28

    Adam is left to die in the desert after two thieves take $5,000 and his horse from him. Near death, he stumbles into an old prospector named Kane who offers to lend him a mule and supplies in exchange for three day's work at his mine. Kane, however, turns out to be a demented madman. He holds Adam prisoner and tortures him to prove his theory that anyone could be driven to kill, even a man as rational as Adam. This is Pernell Robert's favorite episode along with "The Wooing Of Abigail Jones".

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 29 - Inger, My Love
    7.8/10(173 votes)

    S3:E29

    Ben indulges in a nostalgic reverie about Hoss's deceased mother. Having worked his way west to Galesburg, IL., Ben is befriended by a girl named Inger, the fiancee of the tavern owner who gave him a job.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 8 - The Friendship
    7.7/10(160 votes)

    S3:E8

    Joe befriends and takes responsibility for an ex-convict named Danny. Danny loves horses and is not used to people's ways on the outside of jail. Will his rough jailhouse upbringing mar any hopes of friendship?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 11 - Day of the Dragon
    7.7/10(174 votes)

    S3:E11

    Joe wins a card game and an unexpected prize...a young lady. She goes to the Ponderosa and serves them, not wanting to be set free. Meanwhile, an army is looking for her and the Cartwrights.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 32 - The Long Night
    7.6/10(158 votes)

    S3:E32

    Ben, Joe and Adam travel to Bowleg to pay the yearly taxes on the Ponderosa. After the transaction is completed, Ben and Joe ride over the summit to join the cattle drive. Adam is on his way to Genoa and is carrying a $10,000 bank draft his father has given him. A prison guard rides into town and announces two hombres have broke out and escaped who are holdup men and killers. Elmer Trace and his partner Poindexter were assisted by a guard in escaping prison and they betray him on the trail. Trace takes his clothes, horse and firearms, leaving Poindexter with only a rifle and rides off. Meanwhile, the Sheriff of Bowleg organizes a posse immediately.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 14 - Gabrielle
    7.5/10(205 votes)

    S3:E14

    In this Christmas story, inspired by Johanna Spyri's "Heidi", Hoss and Joe come across a blind girl whose family has been killed in a wagon wreck, learning later that her grandfather is a bitter hermit who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 21 - Gift of Water
    7.5/10(165 votes)

    S3:E21

    The Cartwrights dig a well, build a rig and a windmill for a drought-stricken farm family.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 22 - The Jackknife
    7.5/10(159 votes)

    S3:E22

    Adam gives a second chance to a family man he suspects is one of the rustlers who has been hitting the Ponderosa herds.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 6 - Broken Ballad
    7.4/10(162 votes)

    S3:E6

    Adam tries to help a reformed gunman who wants only to live peacefully near Virginia City. Good story without a tidy ending. Pernell's first chance to sing on the series.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 19 - The Storm
    7.4/10(163 votes)

    S3:E19

    Joe plans to marry Laura White, daughter of a man Ben once sailed with, but she is fatally ill. Ben consoles him with words spoken years before, by the father of Adam's mother.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 24 - The Wooing of Abigail Jones
    7.4/10(173 votes)

    S3:E24

    In order to keep peace on the ranch, Hoss and Joe try to help ranch hand, Hank Meyers woo the the plain-looking schoolteacher, Abigail Jones. When their first plan backfires, they convince Adam (who doesn't want to get involved) to help and this makes things worse because Abigail believes it is Adam who is wooing her and Hank Meyers believes Adam wants to steal her away.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 25 - The Lawmaker
    7.4/10(153 votes)

    S3:E25

    Ben supports the appointment of Asa Moran as Virginia City's temporary sheriff, but Moran goes overboard with his authority, jailing Adam in the process and pistol-whipping a Ponderosa hand.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 26 - Look to the Stars
    7.4/10(167 votes)

    S3:E26

    A young genius, Albert Michaelson, vies for a scholarship. Adam assists Albert in the boy's experiments. Albert only needs the school teacher's approval to be granted a scholarship-which will be very difficult to get considering Albert was expelled from school.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 33 - The Mountain Girl
    7.4/10(159 votes)

    S3:E33

    Joe promises a dying sheepman he will make sure the old man's granddaughter gets her rightful inheritance from a wealthy San Francisco family. This episode was filmed immediately after "Inger, My Love", which explains why Blocker's arm is still in a sling.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 4 - The Lonely House
    7.3/10(161 votes)

    S3:E4

    Little Joe pays a visit to the widow Lee Bolden, and brings her a bank draft for her husband's investments with Ben. Actually, the investments were losing propositions. Ben just wanted to help out his friend. During his visit, a wounded man stumbles into the house, and Joe recognizes him as Trock, who had just robbed the local bank. Lee Bolden was a nurse to her husband physician, and removes the bullet from Trock. Joe soon learns that Lee is in love with Trock, and that is the only thing standing between him and an early grave.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 7 - The Many Faces of Gideon Flinch
    7.3/10(173 votes)

    S3:E7

    Hoss and Joe become involved when "Bullethead" Burke vows revenge on an old man he claims cheated him in an investment deal.

    Director:Robert Altman
    Writer:Robert Vincent Wright

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  21. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 10 - The Horse Breaker
    7.3/10(147 votes)

    S3:E10

    A professional wrangler working for the Cartwrights is paralyzed when thrown by a particularly mean bronco. The woman nursing him was once engaged to the late son of a neighboring rancher out to get Ben.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 13 - The Tin Badge
    7.3/10(152 votes)

    S3:E13

    Joe accepts the job of temporary sheriff in the town of Rubicon, unaware he is being used to facilitate a scheme involving murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 1 - The Smiler
    7.2/10(165 votes)

    S3:E1

    A drunk is killed in a saloon brawl with Hoss, and though the man's brother insists there are no hard feelings, he is actually a silver-tongued devil bent on revenge.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 30 - Blessed Are They
    7.2/10(171 votes)

    S3:E30

    When two feuding families argue over the custody of two orphaned children, a reluctant Ben is called upon to straighten out the situation before real trouble erupts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Bonanza Season 3 Episode 5 - The Burma Rarity
    7.1/10(157 votes)

    S3:E5

    In this comic episode involving a precious emerald and the sweet widow, Clemantine Hawkins who is attracted to Ben, turns the tables on a pair of land swindlers.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 3 Ratings Summary

"The Gamble" is the best rated episode of Bonanza season 3. It scored 8.1/10 from 185 votes. Directed by William Witney and written by Unknown, it aired on April 1, 1962. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Springtime".