EPISODE: The Quality of Mercy

Reviewed by Gina

Episode # 143, Season 5, Original Airdate November 17th, 1963

Guest Stars:  Richard Rust (who also played in Tom Dooley with ML) and Nancy Rennick (uh-oh, she's wearing a blue dress......)

Written by:  Peter Packer

Directed by:  Joseph H. Lewis

SUMMARY:

This memorable episode opens with a beautiful view of Little Joe riding alone along the shores of Lake Tahoe. The water is deep, dark blue, the sky touched with spatters of wispy clouds. Cochise is in perfect rhythm as he carries the youngest Cartwright along. Joe progresses to a meadow, and is stopped in his tracks by a thundering boom: a mine cave-in!  Nice close-up of Joe as he reigns in Cochise to try to determine where the noise came from.  We see a cloud of smoke emerge from the opening of a mine shaft. Joe rides up to the entrance and runs into the shaft to investigate. He sees an unconscious older man half-buried under a pile of mine timbers, dust still swirling around him.  As Joe leans over to investigate, we see a younger man standing behind him holding a very large board.  Joe rises slowly, his face full of angst.  His eyes meet those of the younger man, who throws the board down in resignation.  Joe looks at him questioningly. 

"I had to kill him, Little Joe."

"Why, Seth?!"  (so that's his name!!)

"Because I had no choice." Seth goes on to explain that he was 'back there' when the mine caved in, that he had found the older man screaming and crying from a broken back and screaming that he didn't want to live. "He begged me. He begged me, Little Joe, to finish him off!" Seth insists, and Joe's face contorts in terror as he looks again to the fallen man and then back at Seth. Joe's expression changes from terror to one of shocked disbelief as Seth continues insisting that the man 'made him do it', and that he never would have had there been any choice.

Joe approaches Seth, stands next to him and sighs heavily. "You wanna tell Sarah or do you want me to?" 

Seth states that he was thinking of her, too, when he did it, but he's not gonna tell Sarah what he did; only that her father was killed in a cave-in. Joe doesn't believe his ears as Seth goes on stating that Joe needs to stick to the same story; it doesn't really matter and it'd be best if everyone believes Sarah's father died swiftly in the accident.

Joe is shocked. "You can't do that. You can't lie about this!" he insists.

Seth is thinking only of Sarah:  "How you think she's gonna take being told that the man she's gonna marry killed her father?!"

Joe repeats that Seth cannot lie to Sarah about this. 

"Alright, then YOU tell her, and you be there to see what this does to her. You know her, she'd never be able to live with it,” Seth shouts.

Joe looks understandably perplexed and upset.

"I know what you're thinking: it'd be like closing your eyes to murder." says Seth.

"That's right," Joe snaps.

"Well, that's not what it was," Seth insists. "It was being merciful to do what he asks.  And there's only one person in the world it's gonna hurt if it's told. And I don't want her hurt." Seth throws the ball back into Joe's court, saying that if Joe really thinks it'd be best, he'll go tell Sarah the truth right now. Joe looks torn, upset, sighs heavily, looks Seth in the eye and leaves the mine.

BURNING MAP!  GLORIOUS BONANZA THEME!  FOUR HANDSOME COWBOYS RIDE SMILING THROUGH A MEADOW! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE

Fade-in to see beautiful young lady wearing a dark veil, looking down toward her father's grave as the reverend's words drone on in the background. The Cartwrights are all standing just behind her, Seth to her left. Pa approaches her first, offering soft words of comfort and offers of any help she might need.  She thanks him and states she doesn't know what she'd do without Seth and friends like the Cartwrights.  She and Seth and go, and one-by-one the Cartwright sons approach Pa as they look down into the grave. They all look pretty bummed!

Next scene shows Hoss in the front yard of the Ponderosa, bandaging the leg of a beautiful black horse. Joe comes through the front door and approaches them.  Hoss greets him with a "Weeeell!  C'mere."  Joe shuffles his feet and turns his has in his hands as he makes his way over to where Hoss is wrapping the horse's leg. (How'd they get that horse to stand so still?!)  Hoss informs him that he'd called him a couple times for breakfast.  Wasn't he hungry? 

"No," Joe answers, barely audible.

Hoss finishes wrapping the horse's leg, and stands. "C'mon, Beauty." The horse follows Hoss as he walks a short distance, limping visibly and favoring the bandaged leg. (Okay, how'd they get that horse to do THAT?!).  Hoss closes the horse into the corral, saying, "Yep, he'll soon be good as new."

"You're wasting your time," Joe mumbles. "He'll hobble around like that the rest of his life."

"Aww, c'mon, Joe!  He'll be running around that pasture good as new in no time!"

"Well, look at him. Can't you see he's hurting?" retorts Joe.

Hoss is incredulous. "I can see he's trying to get around like a normal horse!  What's eating at you, anyway?"

In the meantime, Adam has ridden into the yard, dismounted, and approached his brothers. "Looks like he's gonna be all right!" he exclaims as the three continue to watch the horse limp on the bandaged limb. Hoss informs Adam that Joe here doesn't seem to think there's much chance of a recovery; Adam counters that he BETTER improve, 'cause he spent $100 of Pa's good money for that horse. (Forgive me for digressing, but someone please tell me where I can get a horse like that for $100!  I'll buy it, I'll buy it!!)  Anyway, Joe wonders aloud why the horse should be made to suffer like that just 'cause he doesn't know what to do with himself (Can you say FORESHADOWING?!) 

Joe stands there looking distressed while Adam states that the little bit of suffering is worth it if the horse recovers. Joe says to forget he said anything.  They all turn to go into the house, when Adam announces that, by the way, there's one whale of a poker game going on in town and one Seth Pruitt is the big winner, been playing going on 24 hours. 

"Seth Pruitt? Playing poker?!" Joe asks with a frown.

"So what's wrong with playing poker?" Hoss wonders.

"Nothing. See you later," Joe answers. He goes to the barn, mounts Cochise and rides into town where he finds Seth still in the throes of the poker game. Joe walks in.  He doesn't look very happy. Seth wins the hand and sees Joe and goes to him, wondering what he's doing there so early.  He says he knows it doesn't look right, him in town playing poker instead of staying with Sarah.  He says he had come to town yesterday to catch a stage to San Francisco for some 'business', but it was late so he got caught up in playing poker instead, got lucky, and here he was. 

Joe insists it's none of his business, but Seth seems to need Joe's approval. They discuss "the accident" and both admit they haven't been sleeping well. Seth again justifies his actions, saying if he hadn't killed her father, she'd have been obligated to caring for him the rest of his life. Then Seth says, "Don't you think she'd find herself wishing he was dead?"

"I'd never believe that of Sarah," Joe replies.

(This exchange really gets to me, the discussion over whether her father would be a burden to Sarah and that Seth believes he's better off dead.  <shudder>)

Seth goes on to say that he had no choice but to kill the man, and no choice but to keep it from their childhood friend, his future wife, Sarah.

"So you live your life a lie," Joe states flatly.

Seth nods. "Lots of people do. But most of them don't have good reasons the way we do."  He states that they're going to get married when she feels better and he's going to do everything he can to make Sarah happy. Then he puts his arm around Joe and asks him to go visit Sarah. Joe agrees.

Next scene is Joe riding up to Sarah's house (how do you have flower beds in the middle of the desert?!). Sarah welcomes him in. He looks really sad and uncomfortable. Sarah is fiddling with some flowers and says how her father really liked them. After some fumbling and small talk, Sarah tells Joe she's not in as much a hurry to marry as Seth is; it wouldn't be fair to Seth for her to marry until she can forget about the past. Joe is understanding. Joe urges her to come stay at the Ponderosa for awhile.

Next scene is Adam playing his gee-tar. "Sweet Betsy from Pike!" The Cartwrights are serenading Sarah, poor girl!  She is wearing a smile (and a pink dress, smart girl.) Joe conducts while Adam plays and they all four sing. Such fun! It's time to turn in and Sarah thanks Joe for persuading her to come. They plan to go for a ride around the ranch the next day.

Great Pa/Joe moment after Sarah retires to the upstairs. Joe is standing with his hands on the staircase post and Pa has his arm on his shoulder. Pa says he thinks Sarah is feeling better and Joe agrees. They reminisce about when Joe and Sarah were kids and she was around all the time. Joe says he hopes Sarah can get over the shock of her father's death. Pa agrees. "It was so sudden," he says. "If ever there was a man who wanted to live..." 

Joe's head drops in despair, and Pa notices. "Oh, what's the matter?" Ben asks, both puzzled and concerned.

"Nothing's the matter," Joe whispers unconvincingly, as he turns and walks away. Pa looks after him. Something's wrong.

Next day shows Joe and Sarah riding in the buggy together. More small talk about their childhood antics, when Sarah accidentally mentions her father. She states she can't believe he's really dead. She repeats again and again that it all happened so quickly. Joe responds that no one can be prepared for accidents. Still, it was so sudden she insists. Joe asks, doesn't she think it's better it happened quickly?

Sarah's answer is a firm "No."  She replies that if he had lived, even for a little while, she could've at least said good-bye to him. She collapses into his chest in tears and he begs her not to cry. He can't bear to see her cry. They dry their tears when Joe apologizes; he's supposed to be helping her forget her pain and isn't doing a very good job.  She smiles at him. "Let's go," she says.

They return to the Ponderosa from their ride to find Seth in the living room with Pa.  He's telling Pa he'd had some urgent business in San Francisco that was important. Sarah comes in and runs to Seth's arms, surprised he's returned so soon. Seth thanks the Cartwrights for caring for Sarah in his absence and states that it did her good; she looks better. Sarah tells Pa that now that Seth is back, she thinks it's time for her to return home. Pa says he kinda thought she might be saying that. ;-) (Hmmm, wonder what Seth and Sarah are gonna do?!)  She repeats to Seth that she's ready to go home and they kiss (if you can call that a kiss...)

Next scene shows the Cartwrights at the dinner table. The boys are all picking at their food. Pa says, "Well, there must be something you boys can think to talk about, even if it's just to complain about Hop Sing's food!"  Long pause. Pa tries to start a conversation: "Adam, how's the grazing?" Adam replies it's almost finished, they're beginning to stray.

Joe's looking especially bummed and Pa announces. "All right, so she's gone. It was nice to have Sarah here for a time, but she's got a life of her own to make!"  Joe throws his napkin down in disgust and leaves the table, sullen. Pa goes after him...something's wrong for sure.

This next scene is one of the greatest in Bonanza history: Joe is in his room, very troubled, face in his hands as he leans on his dresser. Pa walks in; Joe hears him but doesn't turn.  "Would it help to talk?"  Pa asks.

"I don't know. I'd like to go away by myself if it's all right with you, Pa," replies Joe.

"All right with me, of course, if you think that going away would help solve whatever it is that's troubling you."

"I just have to think it out alone, that's all," Joe says as he holds his clenched knuckles to his mouth.

"Hm...hmm...if you don't mind combining a little business, well, there's a, well, there are some trees I'd like you to take a look at...."  Joe is lost in thought. Pa redirects his own thought. "You can go wherever you want," he sighs, and turns to leave the room.

"Pa!  Pa, I want to think it out for myself, but even if I go away, I don't think I can do it." Joe has turned to follow his father and stops beside his bed, head down. 

Pa turns back to him, listening. "Son, I don't know what it is, or I don't know if I can help you, but I'll try."

Joe continues. "It's not the...it's not the kind of thing I thought of very often. It's the sort of thing you can't decide the right or wrong of until it happens. And then it happens...and you think you've done what's right. You think you've done the only thing that you could do...the ONLY thing...and then it starts." Pa is looking increasingly worried, and Joe starts rubbing his head. "You start thinking…maybe you were wrong." He starts blinking rapidly, rubbing his head faster and faster. 

Pa responds. "Well, men generally know the difference between right and wrong." He approaches Joe, standing right behind him against the dresser. "Of course when they're wrong, they don't like to admit it."

"That's just it, Pa, I don't know any more!  I don't know right from wrong any more!" exclaims an agonized Joe.

Pa shakes his head. "Surely you don't want me to decide for you?"

"I know I have to make the decision for myself. But maybe you...you could tell me what you'd have done in the same situation?" Joe asks plaintively.

Pa agrees. Joe continues, "This is the kind of thing that could happen to anybody, I mean, it could happen to anybody, Pa; any one of us could be in the same situation and have to decide."

"Right..." Pa listens intently.

"See now, a man is...is badly hurt. In a lot of pain...his friend knows he's in a lot of pain. The man knows he has but a short time to live, but even those last few minutes of his life are gonna be filled with agony."

"I understand, go on," Pa says.

"He...asks his friend..." (long pause) "if he would end it."  Pa looks shocked, surprised. Joe continues.  "...if he would put him out of his misery. Now his friend can't bring himself to do it, but he won't let him alone. He keeps begging and pleading with him for mercy, just to be able to die. And he keeps at him and keeps at him until there's nothing he's can do except do what his friend asks.  And he kills him."

Joe looks at his Pa.  "Was that so wrong, Pa?" he asks quickly, desperately.

"Don't you know?"  Pa answers quietly.

Joe collapses in tears. "Help me, Pa, I'm not sure..." 

"Well, I am sure," Pa responds resolutely. "That was wrong."

Joe explodes. "How can you be so sure? How can you be so definite when I told you what the friend was going through?"

"It's not up to the friend to make the decision,” Ben explains firmly. “No matter how much pain the injured man was going through, it's not up to the friend to decide."

Joe spells it out for his father:  "Can't you understand? He did it out of pity!  He thought it would be more merciful...he couldn't watch this man die in agony."

"He...couldn't watch this man die in agony,” Ben says in a disapproving tone. “Well, how about the injured man?  Don't you think that perhaps in his suffering he was trying desperately to live? Not to die?"

"He begged him to help him die."

"Sit down. Come on." Pa pulls Joe by the arm to sit beside him on Joe's bed. ”Now, I've always believed, when a man is badly hurt, really hurt badly, his body's broken, nature tries to pick up the pieces and try to make him whole again. Now I don't know how much nature thinks about the pain she's causing the man while she's mending his body, but her main purpose is to preserve life.  To nature life is sacred whether the body is whole or crippled, and that's why I think that no one has the right to end someone else's life. Nature doesn't give up that easily.  She's always working for survival. Not for destruction.  She doesn't always know when she's licked...but when she finally does admit to it, I guess there's nothing man can do except...yield to the inevitable. But until that moment, until that moment, no man has the right, morally or legally, to snuff out a man's chance to survive."

"So you'd let him suffer," observes Joe in a voice full of misery.

"I'd help him all I could; I'd do everything I could, I'd get all the help...I'd try to ease his pain as much as possible...."

Joe looks down, sadly.

Suddenly, a frown crosses Ben’s face. "Joseph...have you ever seen a man in this condition?" Pa asks with great concern.

"No," Joe replies, to his father's immense relief.

"Well, I have. I saw a man fall to the deck of a ship from a crow's nest. I saw a man trampled in a stampede; oh, I've seen a lot of men trampled in stampedes.  None of them died right away.  They were in terrible pain.  But none of them wanted to die.  A man, when he's in bad pain, he doesn't know what he's saying.  His body's fighting for survival, and his mind isn't always aware of that.  It's...it's suffering the pain.  So he begs to die. He shouldn't be listened to. A friend should only listen to the pulse of life. Fight with it, not against it. Well, you think about it, Joe."  He stands. "You...still want to go away? Say, why don't you ride out with Adam tomorrow and round up some of those strays." He leaves Joe alone in his thoughts.

Now it is nighttime and we see SHIRTLESS JOE (down, Susan!) writhing in his bed, saying, then screaming, "Seth...Seth, no.  SETH!  SETH, NO!" 

Adam hears his cries and comes to check on him. (Adam's wearing a red robe...)

Joe sits up (even better view of shirtless Joe) and looks dazed. Finally he realizes Adam is talking to him. Joe insists it's nothing and Adam leaves, not convinced.

Next scene shows Joe and Adam on horseback helping with a herd of cattle. 

Soon they are seated in the shade of a tree. Adam states that Joe hasn't said two words all morning and asks if it has anything to do with last night.

"What does that mean?" Joe asks in irritation.

"Well, you were having a nightmare...yelled out something about Seth...remember that?"

"No, I don't," Joe throws down the stick he'd been fidgeting with and stands and goes to Cochise. He's tightening the cinch when Adam follows him. 

"You're still friends with him, aren't you?" Adam presses.

"There any reason why I shouldn't be?!" Joe snaps.

"You can answer that better than I can," Adam retorts. 

"Look, just because I mentioned his name in a dream, doesn't mean I've got anything against him."

"I know that..."

"All right then, don't talk about it,” Joe snaps again.

"Look, Joe, something's bothering you, so why don't you just tell me about it, eh?" Adam offers.

"Seth killed Sarah's father,” Joe blurts out. “He didn't just die in a cave-in, Seth killed him." There, Joe had said it.

"What?!"  Adam whispers in disbelief.

"His back was broken, he was in agony...he begged Seth to finish it for him,” explains Joe.

Adam asks Joe if he was there when it happened, and Joe tells him he got there right afterwards. Adam asks Joe if anyone else knows about it. Joe tells him that he talked to Pa about it last night; no names, but he's pretty sure Pa figured out who it was he was talking about.  Adam asks what their Pa said.

"He said it was wrong," Joe states.

"Well, I agree with him," Adam advises. Joe winces and looks like he' really didn't want to hear that opinion. Adam continues that he thinks Sarah and the law should be the real final judge of whether it was right or wrong and Joe agrees.  Adam asks if there's anything he can do. Joe says no and rides over to out to find Seth.

He looks first at Sarah's house and finds Sarah with the dressmaker, trying on her wedding dress. After seeing her smiling and anxious for the future, Joe doesn't have the heart to tell her the truth about her father and in fact tells her if she sees Seth, not to even tell him Joe was looking for him. Sarah says Joe can find Seth at the mine, 'clearing away the debris from the...accident'.  Joe does his way-cool vault mount and rides off towards the mine.

Surprisingly, the next time we see Joe, he's not at the mine, but in his room furiously packing. Adam finds him there and asks, "Where are you going?"

"Away," Joe answers simply, as he continues packing. (Never knew he had all those different clothes!!)

Adam asks Joe if he's seen Seth and when Joe says no, he asks why not?

"Because I think you and Pa are wrong,” answers Joe angrily. “Sarah's father is dead and there's nothing we can do about it. Sarah's happy and that's all I care about."

"Why'd you change your mind?" Adam presses.

"Look, I changed my mind and that's all there is to it," Joe hollers at his brother.

Adam thinks for a moment and then says, "Well, I told Pa. I didn't think I was giving away any secrets; he'd half-guessed anyway."

Joe turns on Adam. "You couldn't even wait for me to tell him myself, could you, Adam?" Joe's eyes are smoldering. He starts to leave. "If Pa's told Sarah..."

"Now wait a minute, Joe," Adam admonishes, stopping his brother with a hand on his arm.  "If you'd been so sure you were right, you wouldn't have had to discuss it with Pa or with me. Now, I think you're trying to convince yourself that two wrongs make a right, and they don't. Now, it's got to be told. You know it does."

Joe slaps Adam's hand from his arm and leaves angrily. 

Next we see Hoss in the yard working with the all-healed-up Beauty. "See, Joe, she's all better!" But Joe doesn't respond as he stomps resolutely past Hoss and the horse toward the barn. Hoss looks hurt by his brother ignoring him.

Joe's greatly relieved to see his father emerge from the barn. "Pa...I thought you'd gone to tell Sarah."

"Now, you really think I'd do that without talking to you first?" Pa answers. Pa tells Joe that it's not a simple problem and there are no simple answers, but there ARE answers. And there's no more time for talking. Joe has to tell Sarah, even though he doesn't want to hurt her. 

Next we see Joe riding away towards the mine where he confronts Seth and tells him he has to tell Sarah the truth of what really happened. While Joe is trying to tell Seth that honesty is the best policy, Seth throws him one from way out in left field. A few feet below them is silver worth a fortune. Seth hadn't bothered to tell Sarah's father of the find because they hadn't been getting along very well, and Sarah's father objected to the marriage.

It all starts to come into focus for Joe as he sees how neatly everything is working out for his conniving friend. "You got Sarah and you got the mine, didn't you Seth?"

Seth offers Joe part ownership in the mine after the wedding if Joe will just keep his mouth shut, and things would be just like old times. Joe doesn't want any part of it. They end up duking it out in the mine and our Joe overpowers the no-good scumbag. 

In the next scene, we see Sarah coming to the Ponderosa (Joe is laying on the settee with his feet on the seat reading!  For shame, for shame!!)  Sarah announces she was coming to say good-bye and is going to San Francisco to stay with her uncle for awhile. Seth is in the slammer and it'll take her awhile to get over everything. She leaves to the background strains of Sweet Betsy from Pike.

REVIEWS:

"My favorite scene is when Pa and LJ are in his room talking. Ben is so wise. The moments he takes to think before answering LJ and his good answers to LJ's questions. A really great father/son moment. As for the rest...I just LOVE those nose flares when Joe is angry!" Judy

"There are two rare occurrences in this ep. First, Joe confiding in Adam and not Hoss.  Even if Joe did ruin it by accusing Adam of telling Pa.  And second, Adam checking on Joe when he was having the nightmare.  Although there are many scenes such as this in fanfic, moments like that between Adam and Joe are rare on the show, and they were nice to see." Ginny

"I love that Pa and Joe scene. They unspoken way that Ben fears that Joe may have done the mercy killing and his relief when he realizes that Joe is not talking about himself; and Joe's answer 'No' said without any emphasis or emotion. Great acting." Pat

"Of course, the best part of this episode is the "shirtless Joe" scene when he's in bed having a nightmare. "Quality of Mercy" is one of the finest episodes in Bonanza's run. The acting is terrific, and the subject deals with an important issue that hopefully made people think." Susan Grote

 "It was another episode having those close friends of the Cartwrights that you have never seen before and you never see again. Was Joe supposed to be the best man at that doomed wedding?" Robin