Bonanza: "Escape to Ponderosa"

 Hello again! I (Irene) decided we should have at least two posts done for Legends of Western Cinema Week, so I decided to write a little review of something both Anna and I recently watched so it would be decently fresh in my mind. And despite Bonanza not even being my favorite western t.v show, here I go, yet again reviewing a Bonanza episode. I was inspired, what can I say?

The episode begins.... Well, it begins as you might expect. Near a rock, in Nevada, there lived three convicts, except they don't live there. One of them is sitting by and not helping the others try to break the shackles that are wrapped around an unintelligent looking chap's wrists. The one helping break the cognitively-lacking fellow's shackles' is noticeably attractive and considerate. Anyway, back to the story....From the dialogue being spoken it is easily deduced that they escaped from some branch of the military. And while they are talking about what they should do next, who should come along but dear old Adam Cartwright?

 

 

He hears voices, goes to check on them, and is promptly knocked out. I don't know if this happens more often to Little Joe or Adam, so if anybody has been keeping count, please inform me.

Back at the Ponderosa ranch house, Hoss is intent on building a house of cards and Little Joe, being the delightful little sibling he is, blows it down. This scene is pretty darn funny. As the youngest child, I feel a kindred spirit with Little Joe.

 

 

 

Anyway, while the family is relaxing at home and Little Joe is trying to ward off the imminent arrival of a young death in the form of Hoss, a troop (brigade? squad? I dunno) from the army comes riding up and the leader of them, a Capt. Bolton, walks up to the house and arrogantly knocks on the door. He then arrogantly walks in, arrogantly asking Mr. Cartwright if he's seen three convicts running around. Seems they escaped from the cavalry stockade and are suspected to be on the Ponderosa. Ben Cartwright says no, he hasn't seen any. Bolton wants to search his house, but since he's such a jerk and the fourth amendment is a thing, Mr. Cartwright kicks him out of the house. Right when Bolton is about to leave, Adam shows up at the house with a bad gash on his head. He tells his family that he was jumped, and he thinks he saw prison uniforms on the men who did it. He remembers he heard at least two men, maybe three, arguing about whether they should kill him or not. Capt. Bolton, Mr. Cartwright, and Little Joe take off to find them.

 

The boys looking fine and fresh, especially Adam, with Mr. Ugly Bolton in the background.

We cut back to the convicts and Jimmy Sutton (the unhelpful one) is telling his two compadres about how he knows of a little ranch they can go too where he used to be real friendly with the girl who owned it. He is confident that they will find shelter there. Meanwhile, Tyler (the nice and attractive one) is listening intently for any signs of pursuit. I won't tell you the name of the unintelligent looking one cause he gets left behind and shot and killed later. We won't go into that.

 

Jimmy Sutton on the far left and Paul Tyler on the far right. Inconsequential guy who dies in the middle.

Sutton and Tyler make their way to Sutton's girlfriend Nedda's ranch. They sneak into the barn to change into some less conspicuous shirts that don't have a big letter 'P' on the back of them. Tyler sees a little foal, and immediately goes down to pet it. HE LOVES HORSES GUYS 😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰

He tells Sutton that sometimes he likes horses a good deal better than people. Who can blame him? Tyler seems to have had some bad experiences with people. Sutton is confident that Capt. Bolton will be halfway across the country by now and has no idea where they've gone, but Tyler isn't so sure. While they're talking, someone is heard coming. The two convicts hide and soon enough a girl (played by Gloria Talbott) comes in and lays a blanket over the colt.

 

She loves horses too!!!!!!!! And I also like her outfit. Very cute.

Jimmy sneaks up on her like a creep.

 

 

She is very much alarmed, understandably. He goes straight to kissing her while she's just asking where they came from and probably wondering how the heck she ever liked a guy who would come up behind a girl in the middle of the night while she's alone in a barn and just lay one on her. Honestly. Tyler awkwardly tries to ignore them.

 

 

 

Y'all probably know where this story is going, but I'll tell ya anyway.

Sutton tells Nedda some cock and bull story about how he and Tyler were prospecting for gold or something and then ended up at her house. She doesn't quite believe it, but she lets them inside and feeds them dinner anyway. Very nice of her.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cartwright is trying to get Capt. Bolton disbanded, or suspended, or something like that because he shot the not-so-smart-looking guy from the beginning (remember him?) while he was trying to 'escape'. He wasn't really, but Bolton is kill-crazy. Unfortunately, the superior office does nothing about it, although he does give Bolton a good talking to. I don't think it made much impression on him.

 

 

 

Back at Nedda's ranch, Tyler and Sutton are eating dinner when there comes a knock at the door. As Nedda goes to answer, Sutton asks her not to tell anyone they are there. She asks why. He lies to her, saying they made a silver strike and don't want anybody to know. Tyler again looks uncomfortable on the side.

 

 

 

Who should be at the door but good old Hoss Cartwright! He asks Nedda if she's seen anybody suspicious around, like maybe two army convicts??? She says no, and as she is acting strangely nervous, Hoss asks if she is okay, but she just says no again and quickly gets rid of him. Now Nedda starts to wonder if maybe her beloved and his prospecting partner are actually prospectors after all, and she feels terrible about lying to Hoss. You can't just lie to Hoss!

 

 

 

Nedda goes back in and after thinking about what Hoss said, and also observing the fact that Jimmy had a gun in his hand and looked ready to use it, she realizes that Sutton and Tyler are in fact the two missing convicts Hoss was telling her about. 

 

Just thought I'd share this photo...

When he sees the game is up, Sutton confesses to being a convict, but pleads with Nedda to understand how terrible it was at the stockade, how Bolton beat him and Tyler, and how they had no choice but to escape. Tyler was beaten and agrees with Sutton about how Bolton was a monster, but he hates the way Sutton is using Nedda and constantly lying to her.

 

 

 

And Sutton is generally just a really gross and annoying guy. But despite that, he convinces Nedda to still hide them, after using Tyler's tortures as leverage to persuade Nedda. Tyler does not appreciate that.

 

 

 

Back at the Cartwright ranch Hoss tells his brothers and Pa that he figures there is something worrying Nedda. Mr. Cartwright decides they better all go over there and check it out. All except Adam :(

 

 

 

And back at Nedda's ranch, Paul and Nedda bond over their shared love of horses...

 

 

 

... Before the Cartwrights rudely interrupt. And it was just as Nedda was telling Paul that she maybe, kinda liked him!

 

 

 

He doesn't drop the stick 'cause Sutton comes in behind Mr. Cartwright and hold a gun on him. Tyler knocks him on the head (Ben, that is) and then stops Sutton from killing Mr. Cartwright. He's all over the place.

 

Then the tables turn yet again when Little Joe and Hoss come busting in and make Tyler and Sutton the captives yet again.

 

 

 

They hold the two convicts at gunpoint until Ben regains consciousness. After realizing how Bolton treated them, and talking it through a bit, Mr. Cartwright offers to take Sutton's and Tyler's name tags to Bolton's commanding officer and thus they can turn themselves over to the army without getting beaten or killed by Bolton.

Mr. Cartwright takes off with Sutton's and Tyler's name tags but unfortunately gets caught by Bolton on the road. The Captain discovers the name tags and follows Mr. Cartwright's tracks bad to Nedda's ranch.

During these altercations, the convicts, the Cartwright boys, and Nedda are all waiting nervously back at the ranch. As they wait and feed the little colt, Hoss asks Tyler what he did to get put into the stockade in the first place. Tyler tells him the slightly shocking truth about his past and why he was charged with cowardice and arrested. They don't tell us why Jimmy ended up there. I think it's cause we all know he deserved to be there. He soon begins to plead with Little Joe and Hoss to let them escape, so's they don't have to go back to Capt. Bolton.

 

 

 

Little Joe and Hoss ain't having it. Sutton turns to Tyler and tries to convince him. That doesn't work. Then he tries to convince Nedda by attempting to scrape up the drags of a relationship long dead. When she isn't touched by his drawing up of romantic memories, he starts to get nasty. He notices that Paul Tyler is rather handsome, and that he is also kind and brave and noble and practically perfect in every way. He suggests that maybe a little something more than colt feeding has been going on in this barn recently.

 

 

 

Tyler promptly promptly punches him. Most satisfying moment in the whole episode.

 

Unfortunately, this leads to Sutton getting his hands on Little Joe's gun and fleeing detainment.

 

 

 

But the wicked shall have their just reward, and as Sutton is running out of the barn, Bolton and his men arrive, along with Mr. Cartwright. Sutton tries running one way, and then the other, but is caught. In one last desperate attempt to flee capture, he climbs a fence and gets shot by Capt. Bolton in the process. This time the prisoner actually was trying to escape. 

 

 

 

As the shots are heard inside the barn, Tyler decides to go out, unarmed, and give himself up. Nedda pleads with him not to do so. He ask her why. She says it's because she, well, um... She kinda, maybe loves him. He is shocked, the audience is not. It was pretty obvs, not gonna lie.

 

This is when he realizes he can't run. I wish I looked like this when I realized things.

Anyway, after Little Joe and Hoss assure Capt. Bolton that Tyler does not have a gun, the latterly mentioned man comes out prepared to give himself up.

 

 

 

But Capt. Bolton fails to acknowledge Tyler's armlessness. Whether this is because he purposely wants to kill Tyler no matter what, or because Tyler did indeed still have two arms attached to his body and Bolton made an honest mistake, I'm not sure. I think it's both. Anyway, he puts out his gun and is about to shoot...

 

When kaboom! Sutton, who was actually not dead yet, blasts him to kingdom come! 

 

Unfortunately for Sutton, the rest of the soldiers then blast him to kingdom come....

Anyway, everybody we care about is unharmed and although Tyler is still going back to jail, we know that it should be for a very short length of time, and he will most likely not be watched over by a sadistic Captain. Although that seems to happen an awful lot in western t.v. shows.... But we also know that the day he gets out, Nedda will be waiting for him.

She tells him so.

 

 

 

THE END 

And there you have it folks. I think Escape to Ponderosa is a very apt name for this episode, as it is quite a piece of escapism, and I don't say that in a negative sense. There aren't any big plot twists, it's predictable, and the main guy is maybe too perfect. But it's still super enjoyable. Grant Williams plays Paul Tyler quietly and calmly, and he definitely emits awesomeness. Not to mention he's pretty darn good-lookin'. All the other actors are good too, and their dialogue and interactions are snappy and entertaining to watch. It's really a very fun episode. I didn't give everything away, so you can still watch it and be surprised and delighted by certain happenings.

This has been Horseback to Byzantium's second blog post for The Legends of Western Cinema Week. I hope you enjoyed :D Now I'd better be going to bed. It's getting colder than a hairless dog in a snowstorm down here. Adios again!

- Irene