EPISODE: Showdown

Reviewed by Lori

Episode 33, Season 2, originally aired September 10, 1960

Guest Stars: Ben Cooper, Jack Lambert

Written by Dean Riesner

Directed by Lewis Allen

SUMMARY:

Poor Joe, falls off horse and hurts his pride.  Then some stud cowboy comes along and  big brother Adam lets him get on the horse that just threw the green jacketed one.  The cowboy's ride is a succesful one and Adam hires him on.  Can't they see the fact in front of their face?  He is a bank robber!  Joe knows something is up, however.

The town is all bent out of shape because the big doin’s might not happen. Roy is trying his darnest to bring the robbers to justice and get the money back before the town finds out the money is missing. Well, the picnic does take place and it is a dooser. The picinic is in celebration of "A GIRL". This is a girl Joe is interested in and all seem to be having a good time. All, that is, except for Hoss. See, Hoss is hungry and the witch (is she in a blue dress?) won't let Hoss have any pie. How rude. He tells her he's just a growing boy but she don't buy into it.  So, the new cowboy/robber is introduced to the bimbo, ah girl, and he kinda thinks she's hot. Joe doesn't like this at all and the two start a fight. Joe flies over the picnic table like a bird gliding on a wave of wind. This little interuption in the party doesn't make the bimbo happy.  Nor Pa.  Adam either. 

The cowboy takes off, supposedly back to the Ponderosa,and Joe is prompted to go after him and apologize. Well he does go after him and follows him right into

the camp of the bank robbers. He is now their prisoner and takes a beating.  The cowboy is now Joe's friend and helps Joe. Joe always seems to make friends :) 

Pa is worried because Little Joe doesn't make it home and says they will look for him in the morning.  I want to know why Pa wants to wait till morning but nobody answers my question.

Adam goes into the bunk house to ask the cowboy what the deal is (He came back to make it look good) and he hits Adam over the head knocking him out.  Then cowboy goes back to the robber camp. 

By the time Ben, Hoss and Adam find Joe, Joe and the cowboy have single- handedly taken on the robbers and the money is saved. They all go on to live happily ever after.  Well, maybe not everybody.  We never see the bimbo again in any future eps.

REVIEWS:

"I thought that this was one of the early episodes that defined how Joe would be viewed during the series -- his brothers make fun of him and don't pay much attention to what he says, Pa worries about him without any good cause, and Joe blithely rides off into danger without giving a second thought to how many bad guys might be waiting for him. And on top of that, Joe makes a move on the prettiest girl at the picnic and gets mad when someone else tries the same thing. Good early episode with even a few minor "Joe's hurt" scenes. However, the producers still hadn't worked themselves up to the "shirtless Joe" scenes yet." Susan Grote

"This is one of my favorite eps, LJ and Adam both in chaps ! I always compare how they react to LJ's suspicions of the new ranch hand with how they would have reacted in later years.  In this ep, LJ is dismissed as just a kid who doesn't know what he is talking about and is upset that the guy rode the horse that threw LJ and jealous over the girl.  In later years, they would have taken Joe's suspicions seriously."  Ginny

"I love this episode. Great on DVD  Lori

"I  wanted to know why they didn't go straight out and look for LJ when they realised he was missing, Pa even went to bed, but came down again to look for Adam, who was still in the yard (well in the bunkhouse, anyway)" Lynne

"Is someone going to mention LJ's rather saucy suggestion that he and the girl could go behind the wagon if she was too shy to canoodle with him in public?   At least she was respectable enough to refuse!  (How many of us would, I wonder?)" Susan Groves

"Ben has just left for bed and seemed rather lost in thought and worried.  Hoss looks a little worried himself (whether about Pa or Joe, who knows, but the words are for Pa) -  Hoss says “He’s sure enough worried about Joe, ain’t he?”, and Adam (who has been looking towards the door rather distractedly, presumably thoughts more on Sam) responds, “(Yeah, well) you know how he always is about him.”  I always thought it was simply a reference to Pa always worrying about the youngest, which many fathers tend to do. Another example of the ever-changing ranch house layout in those early years in this scene.  Adam suggests it’s time for bed, and Ben says goodnight and heads towards the “fourth wall” (not upstairs).  The very instant as he’s off camera you hear the sound of a door opening then closing." Sue W

"When Adam says "You know how pa is about him"  I think the unspoken message is "because he's young and impulsive and tends to get in trouble, it causes pa to worry about him." Prairie Susan 

"Ah, but it's those bank manager's daughters you've gotta watch out for, or any girl with a pa doing something with money and figures. I can imagine the stress when you find out you only love him as a brother. The horror of it all. You poor girl. I think you need a hug from Hoss." Katja