Episode 228 - SHINING IN SPAIN

[rolsson]

There really wasn't much depth to her character, it was really cringe worthy when she was making the toast at Hoss's birthday and kept making a toast to her father who wasn't there.

[Janet the Wicked]

There really wasn't much depth to her character, it was really cringe worthy when she was making the toast at Hoss's birthday and kept making a toast to her father who wasn't there.

Very cringe worthy. I only watched up to that scene and may finish watching later. It's one I haven't seen and was curious.

Nice stunt, Little Joe double! Really nice!

[rogell]

This is an episode for a younger Little Joe...season 1 or 2. The young Joe would go for any woman in a dress. A full grown Joe would like the pretty face but run for the hills when she started rambling on about her father. I was embarrassed for her when she kept toasting her father.

Bonanza is my favorite show but this episode is so boring that I found myself shopping on Amazon while this was on tv. Wendy was like a dandelion...cute and all, but flighty and forgetable.

[debbiejo]

I think that Wendy could have just recited the alphabet and Joe would have been enamored, lol. How a young woman of 19 didn't want to give any more time to a possible relationship with a young handsome rich rancher like Joe is beyond me. She still could have had a relationship also with her father. But then we would have not had those sad lingering looks at the end.
BTW, Judi Rolin has now for many years sold real estate in Hilton Head, SC
https://www.thealliancegrouprealty.com/ ... udi-ROLIN/

[Adamant]

I watched this episode the other day--it was the first time I've seen it and it wasn't much of an episode as that it really served no purpose except as a psychological study of how a young girl grew up adoring her father who was always out pursuing his grandiose dreams. Although Wendy spent time talking about her father (her toasting him in absentia didn't bother me as she did realize what she had done and was embarrassed and left; that shows self-awareness which implied she wasn't narcissistic.) But she could have eaten her cake! It seemed though, that Wendy spent more time talking about her mother and how gracious and what a good wife she was, supporting her husband in all his dreams to build "castles shining in Spain." She wants to be just like her mother and a woman like that would have made Joe a good wife.

Wendy is 19 and should have been already married, is actually close to becoming an old maid and the ending gives the impression that she will stay single for far more years; Wendy will end up supporting her father in all his future failures as he is nothing more than a dreamer. And as they're driving away and Wendy looks back at Joe, I received the feeling that she was regretting leaving, that she realized (since she actually did have moments of insight) what her future would probably be and that she made a mistake.

One thing that stood out to me is Joe's fight in the hotel. It seemed out of place to me as he could just as easily threatened the drummer with the sheriff or said Wendy was with him; he's not in Julia's Palace or in some other bar where fights are common. I expected the hotel manager to call the sheriff and for Joe to end up in jail but nothing came from the fight. If he had been locked up, it would have added to this episode. But they may have wanted Joe to be a "man of action", unlike Wendy's father--to be a dramatic foil.

As for Gene Lyons who played Wendy's father, he was an alcoholic and died in his 50's from alcoholic complications. That is why he looks so awful in both this and his STTOS appearance. But in his younger days, he had a serious fling with Grace Kelly.

[daisy60]

I didn't know that about Gene Lyons. That 's so sad. I had an uncle who also drank a lot but he lived into his late 70's. When he didn't drink he was so nice and very easy to talk to. Wendy was just too immature for Joe.