A Matter of Circumstance

"This is Mike's best performance for me as Little Joe Cartwright. No one else could have accomplished what he did in this episode. I saw it when I was a teenager and loved it. I didn't see it again for almost 40 years. Thanks to my BONANZA friends I am a happy camper! It gets a 5 in my book. " - jfclover

"I had to give it a 5 too. I hated the severity of the injury to the hand - it was horrible and freaked me out, LOL, but the acting was first rate. Great episode! I would have loved a WHN with some family scenes on his recovery." - tig365

"I rated it 4.5 although I agree, it does deserve 5, come to think of it.

The ending is a bit tacked-on, everything is dramatic, Ben finds Joe in the kitchen - and then: all is well that ends well, the doctor is there, Joe in his bed, with a happy smile.

Apart from that I love the intensity of this stirring episode, I love the visualization of Joe's flashes of thought: gangrene - amputation - death... and so on, and ML's acting is brilliant." - TeddyBuletti

"It gets a 5 from me too. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having this episode when Joe was at his DDG best during Seasons 2-5 and without the Ingally hair.

And I agree with you Teddy...it ended all too quickly. There was such a load of potential for a JPM as Joe hovers on the brink of life and death! But we were denied." - Dodo

"This was definitely a great episode... great acting and lots of intensity that leaves you at the edge of your seat.

The only reason I gave it a 4.5 was because it lacked a good JPM." - iceangelmkx

"It was a 5 for me, I thought ML's acting was amazing as he pretty much carried 99% of the episode on his own. Not with many words, but his emotions just playing out on his face as he tried to help himself out of a seemingly hopeless situation. This episode to me displays the best acting performance by ML in it's 14 year run.

Oh, and did I forget to mention how much I do love that 'Ingally' look? " - DonnaB

"I gave it a 5 because it was the first episode I ever saw and it got me hooked on LJoe." - Debby

"I gave it a 4.5 because I wanted more at the end, a JPM at least, but apart from that Mike did a terrific job." - ljlover2001

Bonanza Episode Guide by Julie-Ann Sanderson © 2008
Compiled for Bonanza Brand
All episodes are rated out of 5