Second Sight
First shown
'Jamie is missing, and Hoss and Joe search round-the-clock.
Hoss asks Judith Coleman's help - Judith was born with 'second sight' or
psychic ability. Hoss brings her Jamie's bandanna but she refuses to help.
She's engaged to a pastor, and she has been called a witch by pastors before'.
Guest Stars: Joan Hackett as Judith Coleman, James Booth as
Rev Jess Avery, Larry Ward as Deputy Harve, Bob Gravage as Station Master, Don
Adkins as Stableman, Biff Manard as Smokey.
*******
A really unusual and enthralling episode in which Jamie
is missing in the high country around Washoe Flats and Hoss enlists the help of
Judith Coleman and her psychic abilities – "second sight". There is an
interesting sub-plot with Judith's fiancé, a pastor who is dubious about her
abilities. Also another theme is the scepticism of Joe and the ranch hands. Joe
initially thinks that Judith's perceptions were merely coincidence while the
ranch hands view/fear her in a
superstitious way.
The story begins with a very worried Hoss and Joe searching amongst the
boulders and trees of Washoe Bluffs and assisted by the ranch hands. Despite
their earnest efforts there is no sign of Jamie, just the bandana he was
wearing. We see an unconscious Jamie lying beneath huge rocks quite near to
Hoss so the searchers are so near yet so far.
Meanwhile Judith Coleman and her fiancé Jess Avery are enjoying a picnic when
Judith suddenly senses that something is wrong. Hoss encounters the couple and
Judith says she knows that Jamie is lost. She is afraid to tell Jess, a pastor,
of her psychic knowledge because she has been hounded out of a town in Montana
by superstitious residents in the past and she fears that Jess's religious
beliefs might cause him to condemn her gift.
Hoss is aware of her dilemma and visits Judith at home to persuade her to help
in the search for Jamie. Judith is too frightened of the consequences and
refuses, so Hoss wisely does not pressure her at this time. He accepts her
decision but accidentally leaves Jamie's bandana behind.
Judith fingers the bandana and senses the danger that Jamie is in, changes her
mind and resolves to help the Cartwrights who have been very good neighbours to
her. She visits the ranch and speaks to Hoss and asks him to keep her
activities secret temporarily to which Hoss agrees. (I did enjoy Hop Sing at
his kindly best and felt hungry at the site of the delicious looking cake on
the coffee tray!)
Poor Jamie is shown struggling with a shoulder injury (I did feel sorry for the
youngster and wanted help to arrive!) but remembers Hoss teaching him to find
water and follow it downhill to safer country. This he does.
Meanwhile Hoss, Joe and the ranch hands continue to search the rocky terrain.
(Some nifty footwork by Cochise amongst the boulders!) There is a very
realistic argument between Hoss and Joe over Judith's involvement. Joe thinks
that her abilities are just coincidence while Hoss believes that there is
something to them. Knowing that the ranch hands are hostile towards Judith, Hoss
persuades Joe to send the hands home, thus giving Judith an hour on the scene.
Out of respect for Hoss, Joe puts his own scepticism aside and cooperates with
that decision.
When Judith arrives she senses that Jamie has gone uphill by mistake and has an
image in her mind of a lone tree projecting from a boulder. In the midst of
this Jess arrives and there is a very good dialogue between him and Judith as
each tries to understand the other's point of view. Because of the past, Judith
cannot imagine that her skills will be respected and Jess struggles to accept a
gift outside of his usual religious teaching.
Meanwhile Hoss and Joe head for a pine tree growing out of a boulder on the
skyline. Hoss suddenly sees Jamie and cradles him in his arms in a very
touching scene, calling him "little buddy" as he used to do with Joe.
Joe comes dashing to them and touches Jamie's shoulder affectionately. It's a
moving scene showing the bonding of the two
older brothers with Jamie.
Later we see Jamie safely in bed with Hoss, Joe and Judith treating him very
kindly. When Jamie thanks them all, Judith simply discretely says that Hoss and
Joe never stopped looking for him. Joe smiles at Judith and thanks her, a way
of acknowledging that he was wrong and in gratitude for the safe return of
Jamie. A really nice closure to
this scene is Hoss giving Jamie a sedative and tucking him into bed.
Downstairs Ben and Jess are having an in-depth discussion about Judith's gift
of second sight. An interesting point is that Ben himself is undecided but
makes an excellent comment that what matters is that Judith and Hoss do believe
in her gift.
There are two nice touches to the ending. Ben goes upstairs to see how Jamie is
doing, knowing that Hoss and Joe won't leave their little brother's bedside.
Judith comes downstairs where Jess holds out his hands to her as a symbol that
their love can embrace any issue.
I very much enjoyed seeing the maturity of Hoss in wisely engaging with Judith
and taking control of the search for Jamie. This is one of the important
Cartwright character developments of the later seasons. I felt really worried
about injured Jamie: Mitch has very few speaking lines while Jamie is lost but
his body language really convinces the viewer that he is hurt. It was really
nice to see Hoss and Joe bonding with Jamie and a very timely inclusion of the
bonding since Jamie was recently officially adopted by Ben.
Joan Hackett gives an excellent performance as Judith – not an easy role as it
could easily have descended into "ham acting" – and was extremely
convincing in that her psychic powers came to her in fragments and naturally. I
found James Booth's performance as the pastor to be rather "wooden"
and a bit too saintly. (This was the actor, not the script.) I thought that
Larry Ward as the ranch hand hostile to Judith's powers was realistic and
convincing.
Suzanne Clauser as co-writer with Arthur Weingarten gives us another fine,
strong role for a woman and another very unusual story line. Lewis Allen's very
experienced directing keeps up the suspense throughout and the outdoor
locations are both appropriate, attractive and refreshingly different.
This is of those later seasons episodes that show us how well Bonanza developed
and a story where a controversial theme is confidently explored. For the
record, Pat Robertson refused to air this episode on the Family Channel in the
Well worth viewing for the unusual story line and the loving relationship of
the original Cartwrights with the new family member Jamie.