#BONANZA THE HOSTAGE SERIES#

It also feels more fitting at the end of the season because it caps off the show and that final shot of the Ponderosa coupled with that moving musical flourish at the end feels like it's giving us, the viewers, a real sense of closure- a good-bye. Furthermore, it makes one feel as though Joe has decided to permanently depart from the Cartwright ranch and sort out his grief and decide to shape up and strike out on his own, now fully mature, because he's not shown returning to the household afterward.

#BONANZA THE HOSTAGE SERIES#

This story as a whole becomes especially sad if one decides to watch it at the end of the season instead of the beginning (choosing to believe that Griff is just not appearing in this story, having been introduced midway through this last season), causing it to act as a poignant Series Finale and create a mystery as to why Hoss is no longer with the Cartwright Family that is fully revealed here.The touching final scene, where Joe pays a final visit to Alice's grave and quietly tells her with a tender and loving whisper, 'I love you.' Then the scene hangs on the site of the cross for a while and then shifts to the right, obscuring the cross and then shifting to a panoramic view of the Ponderosa as the music swells very emotionally, likely indicating to us that life goes on and so will Joe's.What was once an innocent music box now becomes a haunting melody another Western-era series would go on to do the same thing. The musical cue used as the couple's Leitmotif gets a Dark Reprise following Alice's death.

Indeed, no direct mention of Hoss' death is ever given, as this is merely implied with the focus on Blocker's photo. The camera then pans in on a photo of Hoss. After leaving the room, Ben sadly walks up to a dresser, looks at a photograph and leaves the room in near tears.

In the next scene, Joe announces he's leaving, perhaps permanently, to sort out his grief and emotions.

Years later, the two surviving cast members - David Canary and Mitch Vogel, who played Candy and Jamie, respectively - have said the emotions were genuine ways of both Lorne Greene and Michael Landon releasing their grief over Blocker's death. Ben then, too, loses his emotions and begins to cry, and the two embrace. Joe breaks out in tears and adamantly refuses, before he completely breaks down. when Ben shows up and tries to ask him to come home. Shortly after Alice's funeral, Joe returns to the charred remains of his house and refuses to leave. Then he tries to barge into the fiery house, badly burning his hands in the process and forced to leave it to go up in flames. He arrives at burning homestead long after she's been killed, rushes over in pure terror, and futilely tries to rescue her while screaming 'ALICE!' in a vain attempt to hear her call out his name. The emotion kicks in shortly after Little Joe's new wife, Alice, who just announced she was pregnant is killed by a ruthless gambler, and her body left to burn.

The 14th (and final) season opener, 'Forever,' was one of the most emotional of the entire series, given that it was the first new episode aired since the death of Dan Blocker, who portrayed the beloved middle son Hoss Cartwright.

Bonanza the hostage