Episode Guide - The Lonely House
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Title The Lonely House
Episode No: 70 Season: 3
Summary: Joe is sent to do an errand for Ben, which turns out to be far more complicated than expected – of course! A robbery, a wounded gunman who is not quite what he seems, an unusual romance and several fistfights – centering around a beautiful widow, living in her “lonely house”
You’ll like this if: You like vulnerable Joe, maimed Joe, competent Joe. A whole gamut of Joes, in fact. Including slightly mucky Joe, which is always rather lovely!
Synopsis: Ben decides to send money to his friend’s widow, Lee Bolden, in order to help her out, as she has fallen upon hard times. He disguises the gesture as a payment from some investments, but Joe sees through the subterfuge! Joe takes the bank draft, but while he is cashing it, the bank is robbed by Trock, Gavin and Pooch. Quick thinking on Joe’s part averts the killing of the young bank clerk, and Trock reveals himself to have an unusual streak of compassion and common sense, unlike his companions. He is wounded, but gets away.
Joe arrives to break the news to the widow, who turns out to be young and pretty, not the old hag that Ben’s attitude had implied. When a storm breaks, Joe agrees to stay the night, but is held up at gunpoint by Trock, who is hiding out in the barn with the money from the bank robbery. Already feverish, Joe and Lee persuade him to allow them to operate and remove the bullet.
Later that evening, while Trock is unconscious, Joe returns to the barn and hides the money. On his return to the house, he is apprehended by Gavin and Pooch, who beat him up and then hold him and Lee hostage. Only Trock stops Gavin from killing Joe. The next morning, the situation deteriorates again when it is discovered that Joe has hidden the money. Gavin forces his attentions on Lee, thereby forcing Joe to reveal where he has hidden the money. You can always rely on a Cartwright to do the decent thing! Trock is furious with his accomplice, for he has fallen in love with Lee. Joe agrees to take Gavin to the barn and give him the money. They fight (with Joe making a spectacular leap from the loft to the ground) and when Pooch rushes out to see what is happening, he accidentally shoots and kills Gavin. In turn, Joe shoots Pooch, wounding him in the leg.
Joe returns to the house with the money, but Lee insists that Trock should be allowed to go free. He leaves and Joe gets ready to go into town with the money and the wounded Pooch, only for Trock to return, knowing that he and Lee have fallen in love and that he cannot live without her. The episode ends with all three men going into town, where Trock will give himself up for the robbery – but after he serves his time, he will return to Lee. Don’t we all love a happy ending? And as no Cartwright is directly involved in the romance, they might just stand a chance!
JPM: Joe and Ben are seen together at the beginning, but it’s not much of a JPM. Joe looks very cute perching on the edge of the desk though. Tellingly, Ben urges Joe to take care. Knowing his youngest son’s propensity for getting in trouble, you do wonder why he didn’t just go himself.
Clothes:
Adam: is not seen at all. And we only get a fleeting mention of him.
Hoss: is not seen or mentioned at all.
Joe: is wearing his uniform of green jacket and too-short trousers, but the fit around the butt is wonderful! Several luscious shots from the rear emphasise this fact. During the course of the episode, the jacket gets smeared in mud, so it is a fair bet that Hop Sing had a few choice words to say when Joe got home.
Ben: Is wearing his aubergine shirt, but his trousers are a mystery, since he is sitting down. For all the viewers see, he might not have any on at all!
Lee: wears a blue blouse at first, but soon changes into a rather diaphanous red blouse, hinting at her fiery nature.
Trock: wears a grey shirt, hinting at the ambiguities in his character. He later tells Lee he has worn it for a week, which rather makes you wonder about his personal hygiene. This author would certainly not have been too keen about kissing him! He is also left-handed, like Joe.
Token Female Interest: Faith Domergue, playing Lee Bolden. She is initially a rather unsympathetic character, religiously calling Joe ‘Mr Cartwright’, but she does thaw quite suddenly, even if she doesn’t fall for Joe’s many and varied charms. Silly woman. Interestingly enough, the actress playing Lee, Faith Domergue was born in New Orleans, and there is a hint of southern intrigue in her voice.
Marvellous Medicine: A home-grown operation, but unlike the one in MBK, they use the correct medical instruments. Lee reveals that she assisted her husband at many operations, but struggles to get the bullet out and passes the task to Joe, on one of the rare occasions we see a Cartwright operating – (cf with Ben in ‘The Deadly Ones’ and Adam in ‘My Brother’s Keeper’. Hoss seems content to confine his medical skills to obstetrics). Joe tells Lee that he is none too interested in medicine – except when he is sick. That would be about 25% of the time then…!
It’s a Bloodless Bullet Wound!
But it isn’t! Trock has a large smear of blood on his right shoulder. Funnily enough, there is no trace of blood when they actually remove the bullet itself…Luckily, Lee is a dab hand at the laundry and soon has it looking as good as new. Her fire seems to burn extra-hot, too, for it dries to ‘rather damp’ in a few short minutes!
And the Drugs Don’t Work
Or rather they are non-existent. So at first Lee and Joe resort to giving Trock half a bottle of whiskey. And when that doesn’t quite do the trick – Lee kisses him and he passes out. She must be one heck of a smoocher!
Where am I? The Ponderosa ranch house and barn are cunningly disguised to become Lee Bolden’s small-holding.
Continuity; what continuity? Joe’s gun was taken from him at the bank, but he had it back when he arrived at the house. That was clever!
Joe’s gun and gunbelt are thrown down the well and he does not bother to retrieve them…yet we just know his familiar left-handed gunbelt and pearl handled revolver will be back next week! The local store must keep a handy stock for when things like this happen.
Lee has a rather nice willow-pattern dinner service. Would that the Cartwrights could get rid of their smudgy red transfer print and follow her good taste!
Have you been following the plot?
Joe is the son of the deceased Dr Bolden’s good friend – yet Lee tells him he can sleep in the barn! Isn’t that taking propriety just a bit too far? The Cartwrights let all manner of female guests sleep in their house, after all!
At first, Lee seems rather smitten with Joe. She changes for dinner and gives him several smouldering glances. And then when Trock appears, she switches all her attention to him. Which makes you wonder exactly what happened to her hired hand…She’s quite a goer, is Lee.
The Crucial questions no-one asks: Why do the Cartwrights persist in going to the bank? Don’t they know that trouble beckons every time they set foot over the threshold?
Dr Bolden clearly had enough money to buy and furnish a rather nice house. Strange that he didn’t leave his widow with any money.
Lee seems rather scared of living alone – and reveals she has had to fight off the unwanted amorous attentions of several men. So why didn’t she sell up and buy a smaller place in town?
Guest stars: Faith Domergue is one of the more feisty women characters and doesn’t wear a blue dress. Stunningly beautiful, she was one of Howard Hughes’ starlets and was once touted as the next Jane Russell. Married four times, Domergue died in 1999 of cancer. She appeared twice in Bonanza, the second time in the episode ‘The Companeros.’
Paul Richards (Trock) is suitably creepy as the villain. This was the first of his three Bonanza appearances, with him also appearing in ‘A Woman in the House’ and ‘Catch as Catch Can’. Born in 1924, Richards died of cancer in 1974.
James Beck (Gavin) makes his second of four appearances in Bonanza. He was also in ‘The Quest’, ‘The Roper’ and ‘Second Chance’. He was credited as Jim Beck in ‘The Quest.’ He mysteriously disappears from acting in 1967.
Vitto Scotti (Pooch) also appeared in “Thunderhead Swindle”. Born in 1918, he spent much of his youth in Naples and had a long acting career, with one of his last appearances being in “Get Shorty”, shortly before his death in 1996.
Ray (sometimes Roy) Hemphill (bank clerk) had many small parts in Bonanza and also appeared in “The Hanging Posse”, “The Mission”, “King of the Mountain”, “Love Me Not” and “The Reluctant Rebel”. He too disappeared from acting, this time in 1977. Which makes you wonder – is there a posse of Bonanza actors holed up in the wilderness somewhere, swapping stories?
Well I Never!
This episode was originally written for the character of Adam.
You Can Quote Me on That.
Lee: “I forget there are decent people left in the world”
Joe: “Well, there are lots of them – you just have to take time to look for them.”
This seems to sum up the Cartwright approach to life rather neatly.
“Kiss him and keep him quiet!” It’s an unorthodox approach – but jolly effective. Poor Trock doesn’t know what has happened to him and promptly passes out. It is up to the viewer to decide if this is from rapture or from pain! Or maybe both…
Lee: “Was it worth it?”
Trock: “Who knows? Might have been…”
Joe: “They don’t hang a man for robbing a bank, but they do for murder.”