EPISODE:  House Divided

Reviewed by Susan Grote

Episode 18, Season 1, original air date: January 16, 1960

Guest stars: Cameron Mitchell, Stacy Harris, Mickey Simpson, Marianne Stewart

Written by: Al C. Ward

Directed by: Lewis Allen

REVIEW:

The story opens with the arrival of Fred Kyle, a one armed man (who eventually re-grew his arm and became Uncle Buck on "The High Chaparral"), arriving in Virginia City looking for "Joseph Francis Cartwright". Kyle finds Joe in a bar being cheated at poker by two men, and wins Joe's friendship by saving him from the cheaters. Why Joe was in Virginia City playing poker in the middle of the day was never explained, although one suspects Pa was not aware of this.

In gratitude, Joe invites Kyle home for dinner. At dinner, Kyle talks of the approaching Civil War, gaining support from Joe for the South, opposition from Adam who favors the North, and confusing Hoss, who has no idea what the men are talking about. Ben remains neutral, as he is not sure which of his sons he wants to alienate. However, Ben does agree to allow Joe to help Kyle with introductions to the owners of the silver mines. Joe is eager to help with this project, not only because he like Fred Kyle but also figures this will get him out of having to do work on the ranch for several days.

When Kyle returns to Virginia City, the two men who were trying to cheat Joe at poker approach him, asking for "work" and implying that they don't mean cleaning barns. Kyle looks at them with distaste but agrees to let them know if he can use their services. In the meantime, the debate on the conflict between the North and South is heating up in Virginia City. Both Ben and Kyle diffuse the situation temporarily by reading from newspapers quoting Abraham Lincoln's famous speech about "a house divided against itself can not stand". (Hence the title of this episode -- clever, eh?).

Kyle continues to attract the owners of the silver mines to his scheme with Joe's help. One of the owners, however, is suspicious and is planning to blab the details to the "authorities", so Kyle decides he now has a job for the two nasty men who approached him. He also decides to seal Joe's loyalty to him by giving Joe a really ugly picture of Joe's mother and implying that the two of them were more than just friends. Joe, nevertheless, is grateful and becomes an ardent support of Kyle. Adam, however, does not trust the one-armed man (having seen episodes of The Fugitive) and checks him out. He sees the two nasty guys coming out of Kyle's room and decides his baby brother shouldn't be hanging around with this kind of riffraff. Adam runs home and tells on Joe to Pa, who decides to save his youngest son from....something -- he's not sure what, but he decides it ain't good.

When he arrives in town to see Kyle, Ben meets a woman who also knows the one-armed man and immediately tells her everything about his family. Kyle shows up and Ben warns him not to try to see Joe again.  As Ben walks off in a huff, Kyle escorts the woman to his room where we learn she was his wife who became estranged from him after a riot between Northern and Southern supporters. The riot killed their son and was the cause of Kyle losing his arm. She tries to persuade Kyle to give up the fight, but he's not convinced. She leaves the next morning on the stagecoach which is also carrying the suspicious mine owner and is killed when the two nasty guys wreck the stage. Ben advises Kyle of the woman's death, and when the Cartwrights try to find out who did the terrible deed, Adam accuses Kyle of being involved. Joe gets mad at Adam for what he thinks is unwarranted suspicions and tries to punch him. Ben is outraged at seeing his boys fighting, and everyone leaves in a huff.

Kyle returns to Virginia City and beats up the two nasty guys, even though the odds are two to one and he has only one arm (those kung fu lessons he took came in handy). Meanwhile, Ben waits for Joe to return, but is told by Hoss that Joe came and went while Ben was napping (trying to solve all the problems of the world had evidently tired him out).

Then Adam announces he is leaving because he can't stand conflict, and Joe needs his father more than Adam does. Ben tries to dissuade Adam, not realizing his oldest son figures that this is his chance to finally escape from the Ponderosa.  Adam rides off, Joe is in Virginia City, and Hoss is still confused about what is going on, so Ben decides he needs to fix things.

Ben goes to Virginia City and breaks in on a meeting Kyle is having with the owners of the silver mines as well as with Joe, who is feeling so grown up at being included. Ben confronts Kyle and forces him to admit that he sacrificed everything, including his wife, for his "cause". Joe is shocked by this revelation (he thought this was all about buying silver). Ben tells Joe that he can make up his own mind about what is important, and Joe agrees to come home (not realizing that Ben would  drag him home by the scruff of his neck if he didn't come on his own).

Finally, Joe goes after Adam, and when he catches up with his oldest brother, Joe gives him some song-and-dance about how he and Hoss don't want to do all the work without him around. Adam, realizing he has no money and no place to go, decides to come home. And they all lived happily ever after....until the next episode.

REVIEWS:

"House Divided" is an episode about people making a choice about what is really important to them. To Fred Kyle, the cause of the South was the most important thing in his life -- more important than even his family. On the other hand, each of the Cartwrights makes the choice that family is the key to their happiness. They realize that conflicts caused by outside forces shouldn't be allowed to take precedence over family unity. Once each of them comes to that realization, they reunite again. And Joe gets a really ugly picture of his mother to keep as a souvenir.” Susan Grote

"I believe that this show helped solidify the Cartwright family as they dealt with the issues that divided the country into north and south.  Unfortunately, a lot of young men who didn't particularly like slavery or didn't particularly embrace the ways of the south, fought for the south out of a sense of loyalty.  I did like the ending.  Cameron Mitchell's part was really good.  He is such a fine actor." Michael

"This one was very good. It had a lot of unspoken moments with the brothers. All they have to do is give each other a look and it says it all."    Layne

"I found this episode to be powerful in both the area of its message and in the performance of the cast.  It once again establishes the definitive personalities of all the Cartwrights - especially Adam's role as "older" brother who takes his responsibility to the family and to his younger brothers quite seriously.  Once again Joe's impetuous nature leads him into trouble and as always Hoss is the "peace maker."  It is interesting to note that at this point (as well as in the War Comes to Washoe) Ben refuses to take a stand on an important political issue - because his home and his family take precedence above all.  Wonderful episode."  Lillian

"One scene that stands out for me is when Lily asks Ben what the names of his sons are, and Ben merely says Adam is the oldest, makes a brief comment on the reason for Hoss's name, but with Joe he says, "and the youngest - the youngest and most impressionable - we call him Little Joe."  It's rather odd of him to add the editorial comment like that to a stranger who was just asking their names - seems to be there in case we hadn't already figured out that Joe is naive in his friendship with Kyle.  Duh.  But Ben says it so tenderly that it's a nice moment." Sue W.

This is one of the episodes I remember from when I was a  kid.  I really didn't like Little Joe at all for his stance in this one plus the fact that he took a swing at cutie-pie Adam who had the wherewithal not to knock the daylights out of his little brother.  Not with Pa standing there anyway.  I thought Cameron Mitchell was very good as "Mr. Kyle"." Gail

"Ben's response to Adam & Joe's fight is so much more Ben then when they fight in "Rose for Lotta".  In "House Divided" he wades in and personally breaks up the fight.  In "Lotta" he just stands there and yells and tells Hoss to make them stop fighting." Ginny

"I always felt that if Kyle had used the arm he had hidden behind him under his coat in the fight, it might have been a little easier for him.  Well, he won anyway!" Eileen "Fluffy"

"My favorite part is when Hoss and Adam wake Ben up to tell him that Joe's left home . . . the ensuing drama as Adam also leaves and Pa is pushed aside.  It's one of the few  times where we see Adam lose control of his own emotions, but more important, we get a glimpse of the big brother looking out for his little brother."  Jane

"When Adam left, it was almost like he was about to burst into tears. He was doing that "Adam-like" older brother self-sacrificing behavior, telling Ben that Joe needed him more. But it was almost like Adam was hoping his father would come after him and say "No Adam, stay. You need me more. Let Joe get off the Ponderosa if he can't get along." But Ben didn't." Robin

"My favorite parts are the bit when Adam decides to leave and says that Joe needs Pa more than he does; that just shows how much he really cares about Joe, and the bit right at the end when Adam throws his bedroll over his shoulder and Joe catches it. That is such a brotherly moment, and indicates that they have done that before when Adam has returned from a trip." Lynne

"The last scenes with Adam fascinate me because of the way his horse reacts to his emotions.  When Adam leaves the ranch, so upset that he knocks his father aside, Sport has his ears turned back and braces himself for when Adam mounts.  Once Adam's in the saddle, they take off as if shot from a catapult.  Later, when Adam is moseying along the Tahoe rim, Sport is a bit floppy-eared and relaxed.  When Adam decides to go back with Joe, Sport also perks up into a beautiful collected canter.  The horse mirrors the moods of the rider?  Seems so . . ." Becky

"I didn't like the fact that Mr. Kyle was a weasel and used LJ as he did. I do like the fact that Adam and Joe made up in the end. It was cute when Adam tossed his bedroll at Joe. Ben's anguish at his family being torn apart was good also." Judy