EPISODE:  Breed of Violence

Reviewed by Susan Grote

Episode #41, Season 2, original air date: November 5, 1960

Guest Stars: John Ericson, Myrna Fahey, Val Avery

Written by David Lang

Directed by Johnny Florea

SUMMARY:

As the episode opens, Joe is coming out of a store when he spots a girl he knows, Dolly Kincaid, struggling with Vince Dagen.  Joe thinks Vince is assaulting Dolly, not knowing that the two of them had been playing kissy-face only moments earlier. Joe runs to the rescue, punching out Vince and telling him to keep away from Dolly. As Joe leaves to escort Dolly home, Vince starts to go after Joe but his restrained by his three friends who tell him not to cause trouble. They imply that they are going to be causing some trouble of their own shortly, and don't want to attract attention to themselves before then.

 When Dolly and Joe arrive at Dolly's house, we learn that Dolly and Joe had gone to school together. Now either Dolly was several classes ahead of Joe in school or she was a slow learned because she is obviously several years older than Joe (based on what happens later in the episode, I'm going with the slow learner theory). Joe warns Dolly to stay away from Vince, telling her that his family had to fire him from the Ponderosa when Dagen was caught stealing. When Joe says Vince isn't the man for her, Dolly responds by putting her arms around Joe and cooing that Joe is her type of man. For the first (and perhaps only) time in the history of Bonanza, Joe rebuffs the advances of this pretty girl.

Dolly gets angry, yelling at Joe and accusing him of being just like her father, the sheriff, who thinks she is a tramp (well, she is but that's beside the point). Joe is trying to calm Dolly when her father shows up and threatens to shoot Joe if he doesn't stay away from his daughter. Now Joe gets mad, and tries to explain, but wisely leaves when Sheriff Kincaid cocks his shotgun and takes aim at him.

Dolly rushes into the house, and her father follows. He tries to explain to Dolly that he is simply trying to protect her from all those evil men in the world, but Dolly refuses to listen to him. She accuses her father of trying to keep her locked up, just as the sheriff kept her mother locked up until her mother had enough and ran away. Sheriff Kincaid scornfully tells Dolly her mother was no good (yeah, that's likely to win his daughter's heart), and Dolly angrily replies that maybe she's no good either.

The next morning, Ben, Hoss and Adam are having breakfast, and Hoss is telling his father about a pack of wolves which are bothering their cattle. Ben agrees that Adam and Hoss should look into it, which they enthusiastically agree to do. Then Ben dampens their enthusiasm by telling them that they have to fix the fences first. Joe wanders down the stairs at this point, looking half asleep, with his shirt hanging out and carrying his boots. Adam sarcastically asks Joe if he has enough sleep, and Joe replies that he hasn't but it will have to do.

Ben mildly comments that Joe was late getting home the night before, and Joe explains he stopped to get something to eat in a nearby town and had to rescue Dolly Kincaid from the evil Vince Dagen. Joe adds that Dolly is always chasing after the wrong guys, and Hoss observes that Joe had no trouble letting Dolly chase after him. Joe responds by throwing a boot at Hoss.

After Hoss and Adam leave, Joe goes to the breakfast table where he tells Ben after Dolly's father running him off with a shotgun. Joe then indicates that he thinks he's going to ask Dolly out, mostly because her father told Joe that he couldn't. Ben points out that asking Dolly out might not be a good idea and suggests Joe go wolf hunting with his brothers to take his mind of Dolly (ok, wolf vs. pretty girl - which does Ben thinks Joe is really going to be concentrating on?).

Adam, Hoss and Joe ride up to inspect some cattle and find a steer which has been attacked by a pack of wolves. Adam agrees to go back to tell Ben what they found while Joe and Hoss ride on to hire a trapper named Traeger to hunt the wolves. When Joe and Hoss arrive at Traeger's place, the trapper tells them about a bank robbery and a posse let by Sheriff Kincaid who is looking for the robbers. Joe and Hoss are mildly interested, but more concerned with catching wolves, and Traeger agrees to help them.

Meanwhile, we see the three men who had been with Dagen hiding in some rocks, watching the posse ride by. The men are complaining about having

to wait for Dagen who has the money from the bank robbery. One of them explains that Dagen is smart to get the sheriff's daughter to come with them because they can use her to keep her father away from them. Dagen shows up with Dolly, who doesn't know about the bank robbery and thinks the posse is out looking for her. (This is obviously a girl who thinks the world revolves around her!).  Dagen, Dolly and the other outlaws decide to head for Traeger's place to escape the posse (play music implying impending danger here).

When Dagen and the rest show up at Traeger's place, Joe immediately figures out they are the bank robbers. Dolly is shocked (shocked!) to learn about the bank robbery but is mollified when Vince tells her they need the money to live on. Joe baits Vince into a fight, thinking he can round up all the bad guys (with a little help from brother Hoss). But in the ensuing melee, Traeger is killed, Hoss is knocked out, and Joe is overwhelmed by the bad guys (hmmm, things didn't go quite according to Joe's plan).

Hoss and Joe are taken captive by Dagen and his gang, and Dolly runs crying into the house. Vince once more convinces Dolly that things aren't what they seem and their love can overcome all these little problems like bank robbery and murder (I told you she was a slow learner).

As Joe and Hoss are held by gunpoint in Traeger's house, Joe starts taunting Dagen, telling him that he's going to get caught and he and the others will hang. This makes Dagen mad (duh, do you think?) and the rest of the gang nervous.  Trying to show he's in charge, Dagen decides Hoss and the rest of the gang should bury Traeger (Vince tries to show he's the boss by watching while the rest of them do all the work). He leaves one of the gang behind to watch Joe. The bad guy gets drunk and Joe jumps him. As Joe is getting ready to escape, Dolly emerges from the bedroom in which she has been moping and points a gun at Joe. Joe tries to sweet talk Dolly into letting him go, and for a moment, she wavers. But then Vince and the others walk in, and Dolly proudly announces she has prevented Joe from escaping. Dagen smacks Joe and then goes after Joe with the intention of pistol whipping him. Hoss calls Dagen a coward for not taking on Joe without a gun in his hand. Dagen, who obviously has decided he can't take Joe without some help, stalks off, saying he'll take care of Joe later.

The next morning, the posse - without Sheriff Kincaid - shows up at Traeger's place. Vince tells Hoss to make the posse go away, and points a gun a Joe's head, indicating what will happen if Hoss fails. Hoss and the other bad guys go out and talk with the posse, and Hoss convinces them that he hasn't seen any bank robbers. He tells the posse that the bad guys are just some fellows they hired to hunt wolves. The deputy leading the posse believes Hoss and the posse rides away.

Once everyone is back inside the house, Joe starts taunting Dagen again, pointing out that they are trapped now, surround by the posse and can't leave. Joe also suggests that the other guys could leave, though, because the posse thinks they are just hunting for wolves. The other guys think leaving is a good idea but Dagen angrily refuses to give them their share of the money, telling them that he's in charge and will decide what to do. Joe wryly observes that Dagen isn't a very good leader and the other bad guys agree. Meanwhile, Dolly is panicking and wanting to leave, still thinking the posse is really after her (Dolly, Dolly, Dolly...it's always about Dolly).  One of the bad guys stalks off to another room while the rest hang around grumbling about Dagen's poor management skills.

Sheriff Kincaid shows up at Traeger's place, leading his lame horse. He quickly figures out the bad guys are in the house (that's why he's a sheriff), and bursts in to arrest everyone. He's got things under control he thinks, but the bad guy in the other room comes out, upsetting the situation. Guns are fired, and the sheriff is shot. Dolly is upset that her father is hurt, and Dagen tries to turn on the charm again, telling her that now is their chance to get away. Dolly pretends to believe him, and Joe disgustingly tells Dolly that she's no better than the rest of the bad guys. Dolly slaps Joe for insulting her, but at the same time, slips him a gun. As Dagen and his gang are preparing to leave, Joe shoots one of the bad guys and jumps Dagen. The long-awaited fight between Dagen and Joe finally happens, and naturally Joe beats the living-daylights out of Dagen (although he ends up with some major boo-boo's of his own) before killing him. As Joe and Hoss round up the rest of the gang, Dolly runs to her father's side, trying to help and comfort him.

The final scene is back at the ranch, where Sheriff Kincaid is laying in bed at the Ponderosa oddly bandaged (I never could figure out what kind of wounds he had which required the bandaging he ended up with). Ben assures Kincaid that the robbers are dead or in jail, and then tells him that Dolly is waiting to see him. Kincaid isn't thrilled with the idea of talking to his daughter (she ran away with bank robbers and almost got him killed, so it's not exactly a Hallmark moment). Ben gently chides Kincaid for being too hard on her and the sheriff grudgingly admits that maybe Ben is right. Kincaid agrees to talk with Dolly and to see if they can patch things up. Ben goes out to the hallway were Dolly is waiting with Adam, Hoss and Joe who has a big bandage over his eye (not sure how it is kept in place because adhesive hadn't been invented yet). Ben tells Dolly her father will see her and she rushes to his side. Ben then tells Joe if he wants to ask Dolly out, he should ask Kincaid's permission first. As Joe is looking a bit abashed at this statement, Ben adds that he feels Kincaid will give his permission. Adam then chimes in that he might ask her out first, and Hoss exclaims that having one Romeo in the family is quite enough. Joe ends the episode by asking Ben how he got mixed up in such a family and Ben replies he has no idea (um, remember those three wives, Ben?).

REVIEWS:

“This is one of those episodes I really like, although it’s hard for me to say exactly why. I think I like it because Joe is portrayed as smart and audacious, rather than simply the love-struck little brother. Joe’s taunts sow the seeds dissension among the gang of thieves, and he keeps Dagen off-balance through much of the episode. There are several points where it looks like Hoss and Joe are either going to escape or get killed, which keeps the tension going in the story. There also are some nice scenes with Adam, Hoss and Joe joking and working together, which didn’t occur that often later in the series.” Susan Grote

“The only thing that should have been different in the episode was the ending--Joe should have said, "Who wants to ask that self-centered, loony girl out??" Or else told Adam, "Go ahead and ask her because I can do better than her! Heck, so can you, Adam!"  LOL”  Leesa

“Dolly was so so so NARCISSISTIC...so adolescent girl...so snotty. WHINE WHINE WHINE!!! This whole story played out like one of those 1930s Warner Brothers gangster movies...The good guys  (maybe Pat O’Brien or Jimmy Stewart or Gable or maybe Paul Muni) grew up with the gun moll who is the cops daughter (Barbara Stanwyk/Jean Harlow/ Joan Crawford) who falls for the gangster (Bogart or Cagney or Edward G. Robinson). The bad gangsters rob the local bank and hold the good guys hostage. All they needed was the little crippled orphan boy or the Dead End Kids.” Robin

“I think Dagen didn't shoot Joe because he was a little afraid of him - afraid Dolly liked Joe better, afraid Joe was a better man, afraid maybe that Hoss would kill him before he could kill Hoss if he killed Joe. Hoss warned Joe to watch how far he went, but Joe had no worries about it.” Judy S.

“I really don't think Dolly was supposed to be more than 18 or 19, though.  I think she seemed older because she has a deep voice for a girl.  Usually the girls on Bonanza had soft, sweet voices, hers was very strident, I thought.” Ginny

“I like the brotherly interaction in this ep. Hate to see Joe hurt, but all turned out right in the end. Love Joe/Pa moments.” Ann

“Why is it that the women portrayed in Bonanza were either mirrored after "Cybil" or "Polly Anna"!  Ask me how I could forget this Bonanza episode? Well if the woman was dorky than I'm sure I tried to erase it from my memory completely!  The scenes I do remember are the ones with Joe defiantly antagonizing the bad guys!  Not a boy, but a man tough and determined!  Love it!” Nancy