The Dowry

Walking down the road, Joe flags down a passing stagecoach and asks for a ride. He explains to the driver that his horse ran way while fixing fences (Cochise must have decided to go on strike and abandoned poor Joe while he refused to work). As Joe is climbing aboard the stage, the passengers look out and demand to know what is causing the delay. Right away, Joe spots the beautiful young woman in the coach and gives her one of his charming smiles

The coach continues on its way, with Joe riding with the driver. They don’t travel very far, however, before being stopped by a gang of bandits. The driver tells the bandits they aren’t carrying any money, but the outlaws ignore him and go right for a chest of jewels that they seem to know was on the coach. Joe and the driver are

content to let the bandits take the jewels (after all, the outlaws have guns and they don’t) but an older passenger pulls out a small gun to try to stop the robbery. The older man is shot and the outlaws ride off with the jewels. Joe suggests the wounded man be taken to the Ponderosa, which is closer than Virginia City.

At the Ponderosa, the doctor assures the Cartwrights the older man, who is identified as Alexander Dubois, will recover with rest. The other passengers are Dubois’ daughter Michelle and her fiancé Ricardo Fernandez. The missing jewels were Michelle’s dowry and Ricardo now insists he can not marry Michelle because she no longer has a dowry.

As Dubois is resting, Ricardo decides he wants to tour the Ponderosa and Joe is pressed into service as his escort. Ricardo, however, insists he can tour the ranch on his own, so Joe happily sends him on his way, intending to return to the house to “comfort” the beautiful Michelle (Joe is so good at volunteering for a chore like that!). But Ben stops his youngest son and puts him to work fixing some broken boards on the porch. As Joe is working, the beautiful Michelle comes out and laments her unhappiness about Ricardo and her now seemingly called-off marriage. Joe listens sympathetically, and then proceeds to flirt with the girl.

Meanwhile, Adam and Hoss are chasing down the bandits. They find the gang hiding in a draw and cheerfully discuss which outlaw each of them should take. Unfortunately, the bandits get away from them, but Adam and Hoss recover the chest of jewels.

When they return home, Adam and Hoss (after making fun of Joe working) show the chest of jewel to Joe and Ben. The straps on the chest have broken and this allows Ben to open the small strongbox. Ben discovers the jewels are fake. He decides to say nothing about what he has discovered and goes off with Adam to repair the chest. Meanwhile, Joe starts speculating that, since the jewels are fake, Michelle will be unable to marry Ricardo. Hoss warns Joe about getting in-between a “fiery Spaniard” and his lady, but Joe obviously has no intention of heeding his brother’s advice.

Later that night, the bandits break into the Ponderosa in an attempt to steal the jewels again. Dubois thwarts them once more with a pistol he has with him. As the boys search for the bandits around the house, Ben talks with Dubois and finds out the man is an expert in crafting replicas (Ah ha!). Ben is now getting suspicious about this whole deal, but decides he needs to think about what to do next. Adam and Hoss head off to bed, leaving Joe outside on guard duty.

As Joe is standing guard in the moonlight, the beautiful Michelle comes out to see him, wearing her negligee. She is unhappy because Ricardo no longer seems interested in her, so she decides to flirt with Joe for awhile (sounds like a plan to me!). She spots Ricardo coming out of the house and decides to make him jealous by having Joe kiss her (it didn’t take much prompting). But to her surprise (and Joe’s), Ricardo seems not to care that he finds his fiancée kissing another man in the moonlight. Joe is puzzled, Michelle is angry (she slaps Joe for want of a better target) and Ricardo is indifferent to it all.

The next day, Ben is in town and runs into the stage driver who picked up Joe on the road. As Ben is thanking the man for watching out for Joe (ever the father, Ben thinks his grown-up son needs someone to watch out for him), the driver tells Ben he found out something strange about Ricardo. The scene ends before we find out what this strange piece of information might be.

Back at the ranch (I do love that phrase!), Joe is working in the yard. The beautiful Michelle strolls out to apologize to Joe for slapping him and also to announce she isn’t going to marry Ricardo. Ricardo rides into the yard at that point, but before the beautiful Michelle can tell him about her decision, Ricardo challenges Joe to a duel. He has decided he must defend his honor against the man who kissed his fiancée. Joe decides on fists as weapons, and the two go at it. Michelle is horrified and runs to the house to get Adam. Adam, though, thinks the fight between Joe and Ricardo is a nice afternoon’s entertainment and gleefully watches the two combatants trade punches. When Adam asks what caused the fight, Michelle explains Joe kissed her, which doesn’t surprise Adam in the least.

As the fight continues, the bandits sneak into the ranch house and this time they get the chest of jewels and escape.

Joe finally knocks out Ricardo, although Ricardo declares he won the fight. Michelle, to Joe’s surprise, rushes to Ricardo’s aid, while Adam congratulates his younger brother on a good fight. In the midst of this, Ben rides in and demands to know what is going on. Adam explains Ricardo was defending his honor while Joe was defending himself. Suddenly, Dubois rushes from the house, exclaiming that the jewels have been stolen.

Ben decides he has had enough of all this. He tells Ricardo that he knows the man isn’t a rich ranch owner but has only a small ranch with sod huts. Ben also declares he knows Ricardo arranged to have the jewels stolen in order to stop the marriage. Ricardo admits Ben is right. He tells the beautiful Michelle that he originally planned to marry her only to get the jewels, but then fell in love with her. He had to have the jewels stolen in order to stop the marriage because he didn’t want her to find out the truth. The beautiful Michelle decides she really is in love with Ricardo and wants to

marry him anyway, but her father huffily declares there will be no marriage. Ben sends everyone off and then quietly explains to Dubois that he knows the jewels were fake. Dubois admits that he was trying to deceive Ricardo because he wanted to find a rich husband for Michelle. Ben points out that everyone has been deceiving everyone else and it’s time to be honest. The beautiful Michelle and Ricardo love each other and that’s the only thing that counts (good ol’ Ben – he always knows what’s important!).

The episode ends with Dubois, Ricardo and Michelle getting ready to leave in the buckboard. Dubois reluctantly declares he is ready to live on Ricardo’s small ranch, while Ricardo invites the Cartwrights to the wedding. Joe wants to know if he can kiss the bride, but is sternly warned off by his father. Dubois, Ricardo, and the beautiful Michelle ride off into the sunset.

During the filming of this episode, Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker were injured in a riding accident. They were riding down a hill chasing the bandits, but no one realized the hill had become muddy and slippery. Both Sport and Chub slipped, collided, and went down, throwing their riders. Pernell Roberts was a bit battered and bruised, but basically all right. However, Dan Blocker was more seriously injured, suffering a broken shoulder. That's why you see Hoss with his arm in a sling for several episodes after The Dowry.

In a Bonanza Gold interview, Dan Blocker's wife said their son David was on the set when the accident happened. The crew was horrified and thought the accident was a terrible thing for the little boy to have to see. But instead of being traumatized, David reportedly said, "Hey, did you see that? Did you see my dad throw that horse?"

“I love this light-hearted episode. I think it really showcases the family dynamics of Bonanza. Adam and Hoss banter with Joe, who displays his tendency to be a "Romeo". Meanwhile, Ben is the one who figures out what is really going on and solves all the problems. It's a fun episode to watch and I always enjoy seeing it.” Susan Grote

“I, too, always enjoy this episode. There is enough of a story line to follow, plus it is lighthearted, with the Cartwrights interacting with each other (which is always the best, to me.) Joe is being just a little bit naughty by flirting with a "betrothed" woman, and which Cartwright could get away best with being naughty but our Joe. Typical of this is when he tricks Michelle into bending over to get him a spike, when all he wants to do is get a slightly better look at her cleavage. OH, if Pa could see his baby boy in action here, he would not be pleased. I also love the part where Adam kind of scoops his hand around Michelle's waist and is very casual while watching his little brother fight Ricardo. It's Pernell at his subtle best, as he is not going to get excited as he's seen lil bro in this situation before, plus he's sort of getting his little "grab" in by keeping his hand around her waist. Another scene I love is at the end when Ben is letting Senor DuBois know that he knows the jewels are fake. Ben's lines and how they are said are priceless. Personally, I love Michelle's negligee ensemble in the nighttime scene. I just thought it was quite pretty. All in all, I always enjoy this episode.” Debbiejo

“I too liked this episode, especially the character dynamics between Joe and Adam. I just love Adam's mix of smugness and sarcasm at the end of the fight scene. I also delighted watching Joe radiate sensuality. Really no other way to describe it but I know you wouldn't be able to tear me away from watching Joe fix anything even if that fixing involved a midnight kiss.” Nancy

“It is truly one of my favorites. :) This is one of my fav scenes Joe and Michelle outside, Joe just can't stand it!!! He's soooo sexy and cute!! :) and the way she teases him LOL***The fight is hilarious! Ricardo is so bad at it LOL***Adam's also is so sexy in this epi (oh wait he's sexy in all of them ha!). He tickles me the way he likes to watch Joe fight "his own battles". Doesn't Joe in the fight with a glove across Ricardo’s face (??) and Adam claps and says well done!*** It ends well and humorous. It makes me want to see right now!!!” Pam

“I like this lighthearted episode and its clever little premise revolving around the endeavors of both parties to hide their lack of wealth. I think it's rather sweet that Ricardo fell in love with Michelle and didn't want her to have to live on his poor ranchero, and is really trying to spare her feelings by making the lack of a dowry an excuse for calling off the marriage. I like the interactions of the brothers in this episode, especially the elder brothers' good-natured teasing of the younger. And Adam's nonchalance while watching the fight is quite funny. I like the night scene with Joe and Michelle - Joe's reaction when Michelle tells him Ricardo has come upon them is priceless, as is his reaction at Ricardo subsequently lightly forgiving the transgression and Michelle slapping him. I do think it was a little lame when we are told that Hoss is sleeping to explain his absence during the fight scene - it's likely they felt compelled to say something because Hoss was probably originally supposed to be in the scene, but I think it would have been better if they just said nothing.” Sue W.