WHAT ARE PARDNERS FOR?
Episode First Shown:
Hoss comes across two would-be bank robbers and gets arrested for helping them. When he tries to sort things out the men call him ‘pardner’ which gets him into even deeper trouble.
Oh dear! I thought
this episode was a real flop due to a good idea but very poor script. The concept
is potentially good comedy material - two easterners whose ideas about robbing
banks for a living have come from dime novels. Of course they mess up the robbery
and the real crook is the bank manager! Poor Hoss who had befriended the two
inept robbers then finds himself under arrest by the simple minded sheriff.
The problem is that the whole episode isn't remotely funny because there are no
real comedy situations and no punch lines and the pace has all the energy of a
constipated slug!!
For example various people end up in and out of jail. Now if this had been done
at high speed like a French farce it could have been very good but it is simply
tedious.
Lorne, Dan, Michael and David put in their very best as they always do but they
simply have no half-way decent material to work with. The same applies to Slim
Pickens who could have been very funny as an
inept sheriff and Dabs Greer as the irritated judge in a chaotic court room.
Even William Claxton, a very experienced Bonanza director, couldn't bring this
episode to life, let alone to laughter.
I always say that I would recommend watching every episode if you are a fan but
even so you might want to do some fast forwarding with this one! Just a very
poor script IMHO.
Hilary
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