Seasons & episodes
S13 · E20Shanklin 1972-02-13 · 49 min
A band of ex-Confederate soldiers demands $25,000 from Ben. When Hoss resists their demands and tries to fight them, their leader, Shanklin, shoots Hoss in the abdomen. Hoss lingers near death, and when the doctor is unable to complete the surgery, a nearly inconsolable Ben persuades Shanklin (a confident, competent doctor) to save his son's life. Meanwhile, Jamie - who had witnessed the shooting and nearly got shot himself - searches high and low for Joe, who is involved with a beautiful starlet and intently focused on a poker match.
S13 · E21Search in Limbo 1972-02-20 · 49 min
Sid Langley is a real estate broker who is not well liked in Nevada, thanks to his shady ways of doing business. An irritable Ben is barely polite with Langley when closing a land transaction. However, things soon get worse than that headache and blurred vision Ben suffers from when he learns that Langley has been critically wounded by an unknown assailant. Ben, who somehow can't remember the past 24 hours, fears he may have been the gunman and tries to reconstruct the activities of the past day to prove his innocence.
S13 · E22He Was Only Seven 1972-03-05 · 49 min
A 7-year-old boy is killed after he walks into a bank during a robbery by the ruthless Springer gang. Joe and Jamie help the boy's angrily grieving grandfather track down Springer.
S13 · E23The Younger Brothers' Younger Brother 1972-03-12 · 49 min
A comic tale of mistaken identity, as Hoss (and eventually Ben and Joe) are held in connection with a series of road gang robberies by the bumbling Younger Brothers.
S13 · E24A Place to Hide 1972-03-19 · 49 min
The Cartwrights are once again brought in the middle of the Civil War. This time, the wife of former Civil War Col. Cody Ransom brings her young daughter to the Ponderosa, trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. However, Ben soon learns that Col. Ransom may be trying to search for his family. However, Union Maj. Donahue has been pursing Ransom and his men for many years after the war ended, and has refused to accept anybody's terms of surrender - especially since Donahue considers capturing Ransom a personal matter.
S13 · E25A Visit to Upright 1972-03-26 · 49 min
Ben's ability to close a lucrative livestock contract with a conspicuous widow hinges on the sale of a dilapidated saloon in Upright that Hoss and Joe had impulsively purchased. However, the boys put off the sale when the town drunk (who acts as ""saloon keeper"") insist the crumbling Trails End Saloon may house a fortune. Things get even more complicated when a woman, claiming to be the daughter of the deceased former owner, envisions turning the Trails End into a booming saloon, hotel and restaurant.
S13 · E26One Ace Too Many 1972-04-02 · 49 min
While the Cartwrights are away to Carson City, ruthless land baron Bradley Meredith (Lorene Greene in a dual role) poses as Ben in a scheme to get control of the Ponderosa ... by pretending ""Ben"" is seriously ill and selling his holdings to friends.
S14 · E1Forever 1972-09-12 · 49 min
Little Joe finds true love in newcomer Alice Harper. Following a courtship, the two are engaged. Unlike most of the Cartwrights' previous girlfriends, Alice makes it to the altar. Joe and Alice are starting their new life together, and she soon becomes pregnant. All appears well, as Joe and Alice start their new life together in their new home ... until one day Joe is out. Alice's indolent brother owes money to a ruthless businessman and has not yet paid, so they find Alice instead. When she can't pay the debt, they brutally kill her and burn Joe's house down.
S14 · E2Forever (2) 1972-09-12 · 49 min
Little Joe learns of the tragic and savagely brutal circumstances of Alice's death and is determined to bring her killers to justice. While a good part of this episode focuses on the pursuit of the thugs that killed Alice, what made this episode was a moving scene where Ben comforts Joe over the death of his new wife. Sitting in the smoldering ruins of what was Joe's new home, Ben (who rarely gets emotional) and the ever-emotional Joe really grieve for Alice.
S14 · E3Heritage of Anger 1972-09-19 · 49 min
Ex-con John Dundee, a friend of the Cartwights, is being released from prison. Ben tries to help John readjust to society, but John wants revenge on those who sent him to prison - namely, ex-business partners, Anders, Bartlett and Sangster. Worse, the bad guys, who are friends with a corrupt lawman, are hatching a plan to send John back to prison ... this time, for murder.
S14 · E4The Initiation 1972-09-26 · 49 min
Jamie's friend, Ted Hoag, is unfairly blamed for the death of another young fellow during a club initiation. In the end, it's a lesson in responsibility for the boys of Virginia City School.
S14 · E5Riot! 1972-10-03 · 49 min
While at the Nevada State Prison to inspect conditions, Ben is taken hostage in a riot. The riot is an attempt by frustrated inmates to expose horrific conditions at the prison. While Joe and Candy plan to resolve the situation, Ben begins a friendship with Griff King (who isn't exactly receptive), and helps communicate the inmates' demands to the warden and state prison board.
S14 · E6New Man 1972-10-10 · 49 min
In what was essentially the second part of a two-part episode centering on Griff King, the young parolee arrives at the Ponderosa and is hired as a ranch hand. Ben, Joe and the others exercise patience as they tries to help an arrogant, resentful Griff adjust to society and life an honest life.
S14 · E7Ambush at Rio Lobo 1972-10-24 · 49 min
Ben and a pregnant woman named Teresa are held hostage by desperate outlaws, who plot to rob a stagecoach and force the two to go along with the scheme.
S14 · E8The 26th Grave 1972-10-31 · 49 min
Mark Twain ruffles dangerous feathers in Virginia City with accusations of claim-jumping and murder.
S14 · E9Stallion 1972-11-14 · 49 min
The moving tale of Little Joe and his beloved black stallion, which Ben purchases for his son as a birthday gift.
S14 · E10The Hidden Enemy 1972-11-28 · 49 min
Dr. Will Agar is Virginia City's new town doctor, and brings with him new skills and expertise to treat area residents' health maladies. Only thing is, Dr. Agar is seriously addicted to morphine, and it results in serious trouble for everyone.
S14 · E11The Sound of Sadness 1972-12-05 · 49 min
A lonely old man opens his home to two orphan boys but runs into bureaucratic opposition when attempting to adopt them.
S14 · E12The Bucket Dog 1972-12-19 · 49 min
Jamie obtains an Irish setter pup and forms a special bond between dog and man. The dog's owner learns the puppy is at the Ponderosa and arrives to claim it ... so he can put it to sleep (since it was a runt and, according to the master, an inferior example of the breed. The dog is soon in a trial for its life.
S14 · E13First Love 1972-12-26 · 49 min
Jamie becomes friends with the wife of an unpopular schoolmaster, who often browbeats her.
S14 · E14The Witness 1973-01-02 · 49 min
An elderly business associate of Ben's is killed after a man, posing as Candy, tries to rob her; the woman suffers a fatal heart attack, which - since it happens during the commission of a felony - is considered to be the same as if the assailant had pulled the trigger. The real Candy, who had been assaulted at a hotel by the same man, is held in connection with the old woman's death. A woman named Kate is the only one who can back up Candy's alibi, but she has left town with her husband, who is the thief. Griff agrees to go after Kate and have her provide a statement. Only thing is, he discovers - as Ben and Joe do later - that she, too, has a past that, if revealed at trial, could do serious harm to Candy's defense. Meanwhile, Ben is unsure about the young defense attorney's ability to defend Candy, particularly since the state's attorney has a nearly spotless conviction record. But the budding lawyer is determined to play David to the prosecutor's Goliath.
S14 · E15The Marriage of Theodora Duffy 1973-01-09 · 49 min
A serious game of ""let's pretend"" begins when Griff and government agent Theodora Duffy pose as husband and wife to capture a gang of war criminals.
S14 · E16The Hunter 1973-01-16 · 49 min
In what turned out to be the series finale, Little Joe is making a delivery for Ben when he meets Bill Tanner, a psychotic killer that is posing as a soldier he has killed. His delivery wagon stolen and sans supplies, food or water, Joe - whom Tanner has called his ""prey"" - tries to evade the well-stocked madman, who takes sadistic pleasure in his role as a predator.