User Reviews

Probably the best episode of the last Bonanza season, Jack Albertson gives a touching performance as a widower farmer who takes in two runaway orphans and bonds with them like no other since their parents deserted them.

The two kids are in the orphanage because of parental abandonment and there's a young couple who is willing to adopt one, but not the other because the younger boy has just stopped talking.

Many years ago I knew a brother and sister who had that situation, both were taken from their parents and made wards of the state. But the girl was adopted and the boy wasn't. I knew the issues he faced in his life and that rejection scarred his soul for the rest of his life.

Orphan director John Randolph is really not a bad person, but definitely thick. Both Lorne Greene and Tim Matheson have to set him straight.

Albertson is wonderful in his role. His scenes with the two orphans are truly sublime.

I had to see who wrote this episode after watching it unfold on MTV. It's a tale that tugs at the heartstrings. Two orphaned boys are threatened with separation, as was often the case in American history. A kindly retired farmer offers them refuge when they run away from the orphanage. As the story unfolded, I thought I recognized the storytelling of Michael Landon. He was a master of the style on Little House on the Prairie. It turns out I was correct, and it is a very entertaining episode, aided with dome fine acting by Jack Albertson.

I just watched this episode on MeTV in September 2021 and I thought it was a very touching episode. Although Bonanza was not the same without Hoss, I thought the plot and character development was excellent in this episode. Michael Landon deserves credit for writing this.