EPISODE: The Abduction
Reviewed by Lindy
Episode 40, Season 2, originally aired October 29, 1960
Guest Stars: Gerald Mohr, Jackie Russell
Written By: Herman Groves
Directed By: Charles F. Haas
SUMMARY:
It starts out as Joe, Hoss, their dates, Pa & Adam are at the carnival. Pa & Adam go home. Gerner the knife thrower, says that one of the girls looks familiar. Mr. Reed tells Gerner that the redhead is Jennifer Beale. She is the daughter, of one of the richest men in the world. Gerner asks Reed what he figures Mr. Beale would think his daughter is worth to him.
Roudin, the mind reader is going to do a disappearing act. Jennifer Beale volunteers, even though her father didn't want her out of Joe's sight. Jennifer comes back from the disappearing act & Joe & Hoss are relieved. Joe & Hoss try to beat Hercules the strong man. They gave it their everything, but lose anyway.
While Joe & Hoss are trying to beat Hercules, Jennifer disappears out of the tent. As she is walking around the carnival, Jennifer runs into Mr. Reed. Della, Mr. Reed's girlfriend comes upon & sees Jennifer & Mr. Reed together in his tent. She looks upset and quickly leaves. Gerner comes in and tries to talk Mr. Reed into asking Jennifer's father for a million dollar ransom. Mr. Reed finally agrees. Reed ties her up and puts her behind Daisy, one of the other carnival workers area. Mr. Reed tells Daisy, the fat lady, that she always has a job with the carnival, as long as she saw nothing.
Joe questions Mr. Reed about where Jennifer might have gone. Reed tells Joe, that he sees lots of girls and that a lot of the girls don't always leave with the guys they come with. Joe asks Della, Mr. Reed’s girlfriend, if she knows anything. Della leaves to look around, to see if she can find out anything for him. Gerner sends in
4 men to beat up Joe. One of the men steal Joe's gun and Gerner takes it from the thug.
Della figures out that Reed is responsible for Jennifer Beale's disappearance. Della tries to convince him to let her go. Gerner comes in, & finds out that Della knows about Jennifer. He doesn't like this at all. Meanwhile Hoss & his date Harriet leave to go get the sheriff. Della starts to tell Joe that Jennifer is somewhere at the carnival but before she can finish, Gerner shoots Della with Joe's gun. He then throws the gun by Joe, who is leaning over Jennifer's dead body. You guessed it, in walks the sheriff.
The sheriff is going to arrest Joe, but Joe crawls under a buggy and escapes. Roudin, the mind reader, grabs Joe, & helps him hide out. He tells Joe, that he knows that Joe didn't kill Della but Hercules is trying desperately to find Joe. Hercules says he will kill the man who killed Della. He had been in love with her.
Joe runs into a tent and sees a scantily dressed woman with her back to him. He puts his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming. Much to his surprise, this girl has a full beard. The surprised look on his face is priceless. Joe goes into the tent where Jennifer is tied up, searching for the missing girl. Little does he know, she is hiding right under her, and he doesn't even realize it.
Roudin tells Mr. Reed that he thinks Reed had something to do with the disappearance. Roudin, Hoss, & Joe set up Hercules to find Joe. They want him to get him away from all the other workers. They are trying to convince him, that Joe is innocent. It works. Hoss & Joe grab Reed so Hercules can make him spill his guts. Gerner and Reed are terrified of Hercules. They turn on one another. Gerner grabs a knife and flings it into Reed, killing him.
Joe and Roudin question Daisy. Little does she know, Gerner is standing behind her with a knife, ready to silence her too. Joe grabs Gerner’s knife & they struggle. Joe knocks Gerner out. Joe then finds Jennifer hiding in tent. Jennifer asks Joe, if he will ever forgive her. Joe kisses her and says yes, but it may take some time. He then kisses her again. He gets this cute grin on his face, and tilts his hat. They walk off arm in arm. Lucky Girl. :-) You get a very nice butt shot, as they are walking away. Sorry guys!! I had to add this for the Joe fans. :-) This was too good to go unmentioned. *LOL*
REVIEWS:
"I thought this episode shows exactly what greed will do to people. Gerner & Reed, went from half decent people, to horrible individuals. It even turned Gerner into a multiple killer. Yes, everyone would love to have a million dollars, but not at this price. I thought it was so great of Joe to not give up, looking for Jennifer, until he finds her. He went through some horrible things to get to the bottom of Jennifer's disappearance." Lindy
"What an obnoxious little twit that Jennifer was in "The Abduction"! Here she has Joe mooning over her, and all she can think about is finding some excitement somewhere else. Bet Joe would have shown her some excitement if she had let him. On the serious side, I do like the way this episode shows people helping and taking care of one another. Joe is doing his best to find Jennifer and to take care of her, while Hoss is doing his best to help Joe. The carnival people look out for one another, but also want to help both Joe and Jennifer. The dividing line between the good guys and the bad guys is pretty clear in this one. The good guys are the ones who try to help other people, even those they don't know well. The bad guys don't care about other people and look for ways to take advantage of them." Susan Grote
"Liked this episode too, but the girl Joe dated annoyed me a little. I like the strong women; this girl was just into getting into trouble." Nancy
"Crazy girl, wanting adventure she flirts outrageous with the circus leader and shouldn't have been surprised to find herself in trouble. Seems like the type of girl that Joe would be intrigued with, although she doesn't seem like the type he'd settle down with being as she'd constantly be searching for more adventure. Loved the bearded lady part! The look on his face when he realized that the woman had a beard. LOL" sherri
"I love the teaser...where Adam takes away Hoss' popcorn and eats it himself! Cute snippets - excellent venue for Joe's flirtatious excellence and for Hoss' "gotta take care of the kid" stance." Lillian
"This was such a surreal creepy episode. I even remember being scared to death as a little kid when I watched it. I wonder if Connie McKee and Jennifer Beal compared notes on "being wild" as well as Little Joe. I loved how Ben cautioned Joe and Hoss to watch out for the girls and bring them home on time while Adam ate peanuts and made some remark about who was watching out for his brothers. And I also loved the antics of Hoss and Joe challenging the carnival strong man." Robin
"This episode is just one example of how Lorne modeled Ben Cartwright after his own father. I guess he met with a lot of resistance from the producers of Bonanza when he suggested changes to the character after the first season but fortunately Lorne won out and was able to shape Ben Cartwright to how he (Lorne) felt a father should be. And as we all know, he was an absolutely wonderful Pa :-)" Lu