A Matter of Circumstance
Episode First Shown:
Left alone at the ranch when Ben, Hoss and Candy head off on a cattle drive, Joe is trampled when a horse is spooked by a thunderstorm. Joe’s left arm and leg are broken and he must struggle to stay alive.
This episode
focuses almost entirely on the emotional and physical struggles that Joe
endures when he is trampled by a frightened horse while alone at the ranch.
Michael Landon gives a tour de force performance in this virtually one man show
which grips the viewer from beginning to end. Not for the fainthearted, this is
a Bonanza episode which focuses on suffering and I would compare Joe's
situation here to that of Ben and Candy in "To Die in Darkness".
While I knew that Joe would survive, just as Ben and Candy did, I still had to
watch the whole episode without interruption, from dramatic beginning to happy
ending just to be sure!
I liked the hidden hints that a drama is about to unfold in the opening scene.
The light-hearted banter between Ben, Hoss, Joe and Hop Sing is offset by the
ominous weather: high winds and a threatening storm (a good metaphor). Everyone
going off on a cattle drive seems quite normal until the departure of Hop Sing
to visit a relative signifies strongly that Joe will be all alone at the ranch
until the temporary cook for the cattle drive arrives.
I think that this episode uses both sound - and silence - very well. As the
storm breaks with lightening in the barn, so the story breaks as Joe is
dramatically trampled by a frightened horse. Joe's cries of pain, his
difficulty breathing and the sound of his crawling across the floor take the
viewer into Joe's world of anguish where he must tend to his injuries - a badly
damaged left arm and right leg - alone. The silence is almost palpable. Ted
Voigtlander's camera work is outstanding throughout, frequently filming from
Joe's level so that the viewer sees things through Joe's eyes. Even the skewed
camera angles and loss of focus are a brilliant representation of Joe's
perspective. William Claxton's direction is spellbinding with every scene a
telling one and the tension built to ever higher levels throughout the story.
Michael's performance is stellar, especially as all his most dramatic scenes
take place alone and he seems to reach deep within his own emotions to portray
Joe's turmoil.
Something that I think that Michael does brilliantly throughout this whole
episode is to act with his eyes which show everything from courage to despair,
focused resolution to blurred delirium, exhaustion to energy. I found Joe's
courage and resourcefulness so inspiring and I also found the scene where he
cries, from despair, against Cochise's back very moving. This episode has some of
the most memorable close-ups of Joe's face in the whole of Bonanza. Michael
also does a terrific job of displaying Joe's physical struggle just to stay
conscious and carry out essential actions to save himself.
While the episode focuses very much on Joe there is some very good
juxtapositioning of scenes for example from Joe finding a way to get back to
the house (having put his leg in a splint and using a broom as a crutch) to
where Ben, Hoss and Candy are camped miserably on the cattle drive. They, so wrongly,
imagine that Joe is having an easy time in comparison to their own coldness and
the non-arrival of hot food. I liked the way that none of the characters is
portrayed as perfect. At the ranch, the resourceful Joe feels desperation at
times. At the camp the normally cheerful Hoss is grumbling about the weather
bringing a "blue norther", Ben is crotchety and the usually energetic
Candy is stoically subdued.
Tension is built so skilfully, for example, the arrival at the Ponderosa of the
temporary cook and his son just might be Joe's salvation yet the boy doesn't
see him in the barn. Later Joe hears the porch bell ring and relief gives way
to despair as he discovers it's only the wind. The episode continues on an
emotional roller coaster as Joe realises that he has gangrene is his arm.
Meanwhile Hoss decides to ride out to see if Joe is coming to the camp only to
meet the cook arriving late and they all assume that Joe is on his way.
I found the final scenes to be edge-of-the-seat stuff though potentially quite
gruesome. As Joe's condition worsens he grabs Ben's home medical book from the
bookshelves and reads about gangrene and the possibility of amputation.
(Michael puts in a tremendously effective stutter as he reads the word
"amputation" out loud.) Back in the kitchen the tension is incredibly
high as Joe becomes disoriented from taking brandy to help himself, feels
delirium and exhaustion from his wounds and starts to experience hysteria. He
laughs in a desperate and disturbed way as he recalls the silliness of the
horse bolting and the mess in Hop Sing's kitchen. The drama reaches its height
as Joe is resolved to amputate his lower arm and hand with the focus of the
camera on a large meat cleaver.
The intense drama is held in tremendous tension as the arrival of Hoss and Ben
at the ranch signals hope but will it be in time? Fearing intruders, they
approach carefully and Ben is both slow and cautious as he finds the chaos in
the Great Room. I kept wanting to shout "Hurry up! Hurry up for goodness'
sake! The kitchen Ben - the kitchen!!" The drama reaches it's height as
the camera focuses on Ben's shock and horror as he finds Joe. The camera stays
with Ben for a few seconds thus building unbearable tension because the viewer
doesn't know what has happened to Joe. Did he go through with the amputation?
The relief is tremendous as we see Joe unconscious on the floor, having passed
out before he could use the cleaver. Only then did I move back slightly from
the edge of my chair!
The relief of the viewer is mirrored in the final scene in Joe's bedroom where
the doctor has dealt with all of Joe's injuries successfully. Yet the pent-up
emotions on Ben and Hoss's faces, tears in their eyes, say it all. The episode
comes back to safe reality with Hoss's comment about Joe doing anything to get
out of a cattle drive. The last shot of a sleepy grin from Joe signals that all
is finally well.
This is a wonderful showcasing of Michael's emotional and dramatic talent and
it ranks, for me, on a par with Lorne and David in "To Die in
Darkness", Pernell in "The Crucible" and Dan in "The
Wish".
The script by B.W.Sandefur (unknown to me) benefits from three very experienced
members of the Bonanza team - Michael (by this time writing and directing
himself), Ted Voigtlander (one of the most experienced photographers) and
William Claxton (one of them most experienced directors.
This very unusual episode, filled with enormous tension is, to me, a
celebration of the depth and breadth of the later episodes of Bonanza.
Hilary
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