Episode
Bonanza: The Night Virginia City Died
Overview
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?
Details
- Series
- Bonanza
- Season
- Season 12
- Episode
- Episode 1
- Air date
- 1970-09-13
- Runtime
- 49 min
Episode context
The Night Virginia City Died is Episode 1 in Season12 of Bonanza. It aired on 1970-09-13. The runtime is 49 min.
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More episodes from this season
Episode 3: The Weary Willies
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.
Episode 4: The Wagon
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.
Episode 5: The Power of Life and Death
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.
Episode 6: Gideon, the Good
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.
Episode 7: The Trouble with Trouble
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.
Episode 8: Thornton's Account
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.
Episode 9: The Love Child
A dying woman and her son are rejected by her father because she had a child out of wedlock.
Episode 10: El Jefe
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.
Episode 11: The Luck of Pepper Shannon
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.
Episode 12: The Impostors
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.