EPISODE: Second Chance

Reviewed By Susan Grote

Season 9, Episode 270, Air Date: September 17, 1967

Guest Stars: James Gregory, Joe DeSantis, Bettye Ackerman, Douglas Kennedy, Olan Soule, Jane Zachary

Written by John Hawkins and Paul Sneider

Directed by Leon Benson

SUMMARY:

This of the ultimate "shirtless Joe" episode, with the finest quality and quantity of shots of Joe's unclothed torso among all episodes (this is based on my hours and hours of research into "shirtless Joe" episodes).  This episode also has a number of people comforting our poor hurt Joe -- first Hoss, then the dying doctor, and  finally (because he was feeling left out) Pa shows up to comfort his son. Adam also wanted to comfort Joe, but since he was away at the time, all he could do was send a telegram which was intercepted by the renegade Indians (who were puzzled by the message "Wish you were here, where there aren’t any Indians”).

The story opens with Ben learning that renegade Indians are raiding and killing up in the area where he sent Hoss and Joe to warn the settlers about the renegade Indians who are raiding and killing (you think the settlers would have figured that out by themselves when they saw a bunch of guys riding around with war paint on their faces).  Ben decides to go find his sons and is joined by the remnants of an Army patrol which was practically wiped out by the aforementioned renegade Indians.

Meanwhile, Joe and Hoss are riding through the desert (either to or from home…this is not clear because the “This Way to the Ponderosa” signs were all torn down). The renegade Indians (who are definitely not nice people) attack and one shoots an arrow into Joe’s shoulder. Hoss and Joe manage somehow to outrun the renegade Indians (they must have decided to go pillage someplace else). Hoss helps poor wounded Joe off his horse, and then decides to pull the arrow out of Joe’s shoulder (ouch!). The arrow breaks off (double ouch!) and the head is stuck in Joe’s shoulder. Hoss tries to reassure and comfort Joe by telling him that everything will be all right.

Spotting some smoke, Hoss leaves Joe – wounded, sick, and surrounded by renegade Indians – to find some help. Yeah, that’s smart, Hoss.

Hoss finds a wagon train full of very unhelpful people who take shots at him to make him leave. One of the people on the wagon train, however, is a doctor, but the doctor also is unhelpful because he’s crippled by arthritis. Joe comes riding into the wagon train camp because he heard the shots and thought Hoss was in trouble (okay…let’s recap: Hoss abandons his wounded brother but his wounded brother comes to save Hoss. Hmmmm).

The crippled doctor agrees to remove the arrowhead from Joe’s shoulder but in reality, his wife is going to do it. The doctor will only supervise (Hoss is already making notes for his malpractice suit). Joe grimaces and moans and suffers bravely as the wife removes the arrowhead. 

Meanwhile Hoss finds out the wagon train people are a bunch of losers – a wimpy wagon master, a thieving driver, another driver who was declared a coward because he ran away in the middle of a battle, and the cowardly driver’s daughter, who seems to have no purpose except to whine. The losers were hired by the doctor and his wife to take them to the doctor’s home in the east someplace.

During the night the thieving driver tries to sneak into the doctor’s wagon. SHIRTLESS JOE (with bandages wrapped around his shoulder and magnificent chest) stops him. The doctor thanks Joe and insists on examining his “patient” (well, really his wife’s patient since all the doctor did was nod and say “good” during the operation). The two have a conversation, most of which I don’t remember because I am two busy staring at the close-up of shirtless Joe’s shoulders and chest. The gist of the conversation is the doctor is dying. The doctor comforts shirtless Joe and tells Joe to get some rest.

The next morning, shirtless Joe is eating breakfast and tells Hoss he feels fine. Then we learn the cowardly wagon driver has run off and Hoss goes after him, once more leaving wounded Joe behind. Hoss finds the cowardly driver who is running back to the wagons because the nasty renegade Indians are chasing him. Hoss kills the nasty Indians, and returns to the wagons with the cowardly driver.

After Hoss convinces everyone that they should return to Virginia City, the wagons start rolling. Inside one of the wagons, shirtless Joe is propped up against a box; beads of sweat have formed on his face and are trickling down his bare chest. (ahhhh). The doctor is lying next to Joe and feeling poorly. The doctor’s wife checks on the men and tells Hoss that Joe is burning with fever.

Meanwhile, Ben and the soldiers are still looking for Joe and Hoss. He and the Army lieutenant arrive at an abandoned stage station, but find no sign of Hoss, Joe, or the nasty renegade Indians.

By happy coincidence (this happens a lot on Bonanza), Hoss is leading the wagons toward the abandoned stage station. The nasty renegade Indians, however, find them and start chasing the wagons. Ben and the lieutenant hear all the shooting and go out to help. As the wagons arrive at the stage station, the thieving driver is killed and the doctor’s wife grabs the reins. Proving she can’t do everything, the doctor’s wife wrecks the wagon, turning it over in front of the stage station. Joe crawls out of the wrecked wagon, looking dazed but ready to fight (we get another fine view of the shirtless boy). Everyone else helps carry the sickly doctor into the stage station while Joe follows them, gun in hand.

Inside the stage station, Ben tries to comfort Joe and find out how Joe got hurt, but Joe brushes him off. Hoss explains to Ben that Joe was wounded by an arrow (but conveniently leaves out the parts where he abandoned Joe).  Joe kneels by a window and starts shooting at the Indians who are riding around the building, doing little but providing target practice for Joe and the others.

The lieutenant tells Ben that the doctor is dying and about the cowardly driver, whom he recognized. Ben takes charge as usual (showing that the officer training in the old days at West Point needed much improvement). He comforts the doctor as the doctor dies, comforts the doctor’s wife and has a stern talk with the cowardly driver. Meanwhile Joe is over at the window, continuing to shoot Indians. Ben and Hoss go to help and comfort Joe. Ben runs his hand over Joe’s bare shoulder, removing some sweat and dirt (something I would have like to done!). Joe once again assures them that he’s all right.

Everyone is worried that the Indians will push the wrecked wagon up to the stage station and use that to get into the building. However, no one knows what to do to stop the nasty renegades.

Joe, for his part, bravely suffers through all the agony of his wound (not to mention suffering through all the people trying to comfort him) and manages to kill another renegade Indian or two before collapsing from pain and fever. Hoss carries his injured little brother to safety (a scene in which no stuntmen were used and was probably filmed in one take because neither actor wanted to try that again!)

A bunch of other stuff happens and there are some meaningful exchanges of dialogue, but I haven't been able to concentrate on that, being distracted by my "shirtless Joe" research (one must keep focused in the pursuit of scientific excellence). The wimpy wagon master gets killed trying to run away, the cowardly guy blows himself and a bunch of the Indians up, and the rest of the Indians decide things getting way out of hand and go home.

In the end, Joe recovers enough to cover up with a blanket (darn!) and walk to the wagon which will take him home. Once at the wagon, however, he realizes he missed his afternoon nap, and promptly lays down for a snooze. In the final scene, we see the survivors riding home, with Joe's boots hanging out of the wagon in a final act of defiance toward the mean old Indians.

REVIEWS:

"Here are the top 5 reasons this is indeed the best shirtless Joe episode. 1) Once Joe gets that shirt off, it stays off for the entire episode (except for the blanket at the end).  2) Best display of muscle definition (The left shoulder specifically) in the entire series in the part where the doctor has Joe lie down on the cot to check his wound.  3)  Joe's shirt stays off the whole time.  4) Bandages strategically placed over the wound to show off bronzed, glistening skin. 5) Did I mention that Joe never puts his shirt back on?" Helen 

"The part where Hoss has gone to get help, and then he looks up to see Joe and his horse riding towards him.  Then when Joe falls off his horse and directly into Hoss' arms, saying essentially, "I was worried about you."  Awwwwwwww!" Sherri

"The concern and care written on Hoss' face are heart wrenching. When he lays Joe down on the ground and tries to extract the arrow from the shoulder and inadvertently breaks the shaft, I thought he would actually collapse from the pain of disappointment.  The way Hoss brushes the hair out of Joe's face while Joe is lying on the bed awaiting surgery depicts a genuine gesture of love.  These are very tender "brother" scenes and I think Dan Blocker did an outstanding job of conveying the passion and compassion he has for his brother."    Lillian

"For a post-Adam episode this one is pretty good.  I like all the brotherly affection between Joe and Hoss.  Of course, given Native Americans' tragic history in this country, stories showing them as wild, rampaging savages are problematic to say the least (sorry to sound like the PC police)."  Meira Bracha

This is one of my favorite Hoss and Joe episodes.   Hoss' love for his little brother is highlighted in so many scenes:  The anguish on Hoss' face when the arrow breaks off when he is trying to pull it out of Joe's shoulder,  the way he catches Joe when he pitches off his horse and gently lays him down and the way he holds Joe's hand, the tears in his eyes when the doctor agrees to help them and the way he pats Joe's head and  runs his fingers through Joe's sweaty curls while he tell him about the doctor and nurse going to take care of him, the way he keeps looking over to where the doctor and his wife are working on Joe and then afterwards tells Joe he sure gave him a scare and that now he looks pert as a jaybird, and then later at the way station when Joe collapses and when Joe says he can get up Hoss tells him no and carries his away from the window.  Also the way Joe feels about Hoss is also evident:  When Hoss rides away to investigate the smoke and Joe looks wistfully after him, the way Joe is worried about Hoss when he hears the shots and comes riding to help even though he can hardly stay on Cochise, the way he reassures Hoss that he will be alright and that he doesn't need to stay while the doctor and his wife take the arrowhead out and then the way Joe touches Hoss' arm when Hoss comes to check on him afterward. Then not to leave out the Pa, Joe scene after Pa gets there when he wipes Joe's sweaty back with his hand. This whole ep is one big AAAAAWWWWWWW scene. Ginny

I think it is kinda funny when Ben asks Hoss "What happened to Joe?" and Hoss kinda casually says "He got an arrow in the shoulder"  It was almost---"heck, Pa, you should know by now the kid attracts arrows, knives, cannon balls and other implements of death. EEsh--look where he is bandaged and figure it out already, I got Indians to try to take on. I still say Joe was going for the batman look as he put the blanket over his shoulders there at the end.  I remember my brothers doing the batman song as Joe walks away from camera, his cape flapping in the semi wind. Great fun that episode, one of the better ones that season. Wrangler

"Second Chance contains my favorite shot of Joe from the entire series.  It's in the scene at night when the old doctor is being approached by a bad guy, and Joe runs him off.  Then the old doctor comes out and they have that late-night conversation.  Joe's eyes are so bright and green and beautiful in the shot of him right after the doctor explains to him that he's a dying man.  The pain and compassion just glow from Joe's beautiful eyes.  Awwww.....gets me every time." Gina

"I think it's a great Hoss/Joe episode. The way the two of them interact shows what wonderful actors they were and I think it shows (as do other DB/ML episodes) how close they really were off-screen. That closeness allowed them to really open up to each other onscreen. The scene with the doc telling LJ he was dying is one of my favorites too-those eyes! Mmmmmmmmmm! And to quote Susan:  "the ultimate shirtless Joe episode". Judy 

"Not really one of my favorites.  Oh, Joey looks good and really suffers well, Hoss is worried and suffers well that Joey is suffering well, Pa comes to the rescue and worries about Joe's suffering well.  I like the Doc and his wife.  He's suffering with the pain of his hands; she's suffering with him suffering the pain of his hands.  But he's nice to Joey.  The Indians almost won....now THAT would have been different!  The Old Yankee Granite Head was missing so I suffered!!!!" Gail (Sir Gail of the Yankee Granite Head aka Bunny Bonanza)

"My biggest grouch is that we never saw LJ again, after Hoss picked him up, until he was walking out to the wagon. A bit more brow mopping would have been nice! My favorite bit of this ep is when Hoss does the Pa bit, just before the lady removes the arrow. We see him comforting LJ and stroking his hair, it is so lovely, makes me cry. It is lovely seeing these two worrying about each other. I know that we know how much Hoss loves his little brother, but we don't often actually see him showing that love, as Pa is usually there to do so, instead, and he does it wonderfully, but it's nice seeing Hoss being so attentive, bless him." Lynne