Episode 183 - THE FLAPJACK CONTEST

[Episode Guide]

Date: January 3, 1965

Summary: Joe puts Hoss on a starvation diet to ensure Hoss stays hungry enough to eat his way to the $500 prize in Virginia City's annual flapjack contest.

Written by: Frank Cleaver
Directed by: William F. Claxton
Guest Stars: Johnny Seven (Trager), Mel Berger (Big Ed), Joan Huntington (Lily)


Slideshow courtesy of Freya

[Chenoa]

This is a wonderful episode, with Hoss and Joe being, ...well..., Hoss and Joe!

I love how Hoss keeps trying to sneak into the kitchen for some food with Joe, knowing his big brother, being always one step ahead of him. After Hoss stumbles on the stairs and falls straight into Joe´s "security measurements", the look on their faces is priceless! Poor Hoss starving, and his little brother sending him back to bed without food, but with a slightly mad look in his eyes.
Also, the little subplot with Joe loosing one window pane after the other is great; when I first watched this one, I did not know how many ways there were to break a window pane...

There is just one scene that I don´t know what to make of, that is where Joe asks Hoss to imagine what Ben will do to him if he learns the truth. To me it sounds like he is going to be beaten, but I just won´t believe Ben EVER did this to his boys.
I think Lorne said that he based Ben on his own father, and all it would take to bring him down to earth was one look by his father. Besides, they have done worse things in the past, and I think he would know better than to punish Joe for telling the truth!

[ellen]

There is just one scene that I don´t know what to make of, that is where Joe asks Hoss to imagine what Ben will do to him if he learns the truth. To me it sounds like he is going to be beaten, but I just won´t believe Ben EVER did this to his boys.

Oh, I don't think Joe was afraid of being beaten by Ben. I think he was afraid of his temper! As children, I think most of us have thought at one time or the other "my parents are going to KILL me!"

I enjoy this episode because again, Hoss is just putty in Joe's hands. But the episode has so much silliness you just have to sit back and enjoy. Don't try to think about it logically because your head will explode!

[Chenoa]

There is just one scene that I don´t know what to make of, that is where Joe asks Hoss to imagine what Ben will do to him if he learns the truth. To me it sounds like he is going to be beaten, but I just won´t believe Ben EVER did this to his boys.

Oh, I don't think Joe was afraid of being beaten by Ben. I think he was afraid of his temper! As children, I think most of us have thought at one time or the other "my parents are going to KILL me!"

I enjoy this episode because again, Hoss is just putty in Joe's hands. But the episode has so much silliness you just have to sit back and enjoy. Don't try to think about it logically because your head will explode!

I think I got this idea because I recently watched "Love me Not", and there is that scene, early on, where Ben leaves the dinner table after Joan "refuses" to come down, and Joe wonders what he might be up to. Adam tells him he ought to remember that look in Ben´s eyes from his childhood, and then we see Ben putting her over his knee...That´s where I felt that this so unlike Ben, even with quite a handful like Joan he would not react like this, but leave her be and calm down before going to see her, after all, he raised three Cartwright´s.

You are absolutely right about Hoss, he let´s his little brother get away with murder...I love these two, they can always make me laugh!

[daisy60]

Hoss and Joe comedy at their best! I love the trap set up by Joe and when Hoss sneaks down the stair for a late-night snack to find Joe, right there waiting for him. The window pane breaking was funny and Michael used it again in LHOP.

[Fanofoldtvshows]

A great comedy episode. One of my favorites.

[littlejoenice]

Love this episode. I agree with Chenoa. The breaking of the window panes was my favorite part. Especially the first one where Joe told Ben he forgot the window pane, and jumps on the back of the buckboard. The looks on both Ben and Joe's faces are absolutely priceless! And how Joe's voice cracks when he says, "I guess Hoss remembered." Or at least it was something like that. And the scene, too, where Joe put the window pane under the couch cushions, and Ben went inside to lie down for a while. Another great scene there, too.

[Gillie]

While sometimes I find the extent to which Joe can manipulate Hoss into doing crazy things annoying, The Flapjack Contest makes me laugh out loud. There's something so light-hearted and real about the brotherly dynamics.

The scene where Hoss falls down the stairs after tripping on Joe's alarm system is !

[debpet2]

This is one of the funniest episodes to be sure. Hoss sneaking downstairs and falling into Joe's trap and the broken windowpanes are hilarious. The one part that doesn't make sense to me is the whole subplot about the ruby. It turns out to be fake, and yet Joe is still expected to reimburse Adam as though it was real? Scratching my head about that one.

debpet2

[CowgirlAtHeart]

Was it really a fake, or did the woman just think it was? (I don't know much about rubies...would a real ruby shatter if it was dropped?)