Episode 44 - THE SAVAGE

[PlatoofthePonderosa]

I always figured it was pain rather than fatigue that did him in so quickly. He's still barely hobbling along with that stick, and then he gets into a fight which requires running, leaping, crouching...when he and the Indian were locked for several seconds, the wounded leg was taking all the pressure. Once the moment of crisis passed, it wouldn't be surprising if he blacked out.

Personally, I don't think it was a dream. Sure, there were far-fetched elements, but that's normal for Bonanza. The main reason you'd think it was a dream is Ben's/Hoss's doubt at the end (they think he's delirious). But when Joe brings out the Bible with the ring inside, it seems to debunk that theory.

[patina]

I think Adam’s romance with Ruth was a fever-induced dream. The music leads me to that conclusion. I believe Ruth was a medicine woman respected by the Shoshone, she took Adam back to her camp to patch him up, and she left with the Shoshone once she was satisfied his wounds were healing.

It makes no sense to me that she (or the Shoshone) would take the time to button Adam’s shirt up before they left. (When found by the rest of the family, Adam’s shirt is again buttoned as it was when he initially awoke in her camp.) Hoss (or is it Joe?) points out Adam is running a high fever. Adam is grateful to Ruth for caring for him and, since he believes they had a romance, he wants to find her. Was she perhaps wearing the wooden ring when they met and she left it behind as a tantalizing clue that she had in fact patched him up?

Was Ruth what she seemed? Was she a beautiful, young woman or perhaps an older woman? Was she more than just a medicine woman the Shoshone came to for help? Had she possibly been adopted by the Shoshone and retreated to live, and mourn, on her own after her husband died? Is that why she had a wooden ring? Food for ff thought.

[Tahoe Lee]

First off I love the opening scene about the windmills. Good stuff there!!

To the story....I could actually see this as a dream. Not saying it is...but it has dreamy elements to it that you guys have pointed out. I agree..the music was off in this episode. David Rose used his music to express emotion so wonderfully in Bonanza...but not here.. Was this weird music done on purpose? It didn't fit the emotion.

The language was more of a dreamy Adam . Garden of Eden...I Love you very much. Music, books, laughter. The language is in another dimension...like in a dream. By the way, I could believe Adam Cartwright would have a dream about falling in love with a White Buffalo woman. Now that sounds totally in character.

And then his memory was thinking back to what had just happened in his life...just like you do when you dream. He remembered Ben telling him "as long as your education doesn't interfere with your. Thinking." And telling her about "I have a stubourb father and two hard headed brothers, but they're home to me no matter where they live."

He had remembered the Book of Ruth in the Bible.
In the Book....Ruth enters a foreign land and meets Boaz...a type of redeemer.
Kind of like what Adam wants to be????

And it ends too abruptly...like a dream
He looks dazed on his horse going home

[Janet the Wicked]

I couldn't get into this the other night when I picked this one to watch. Maybe I was too tired. But I loved Pa and Adam arguing and Hoss and Lil Joe listening in. That was pretty funny. I will try it again soon. Maybe.

[RedShirt]

Saw a large portion of this again recently.

Still don't think it was *all* a dream; it is possible that White Buffalo Woman (there's a fair number of legends around figures with similar names) might really have existed, and indeed really have patched up a fatigued, dehydrated, fever-stricken Adam after finding him wounded. The real lack of her apparent interest in the man struck me as more appropriate for a professional nurse, on re-viewing.

You can argue that the "romance" is born out of gratitude on his part, too -- but the best scenes in this are (aside from the sheer unadulterated scenery) the early scenes where Ben and Adam argue; (and o, by the way, how come Adam here is aware of and knowledgeable about windmills, but by the time we see the episode featuring a drought-endangered community and a man insisting on artesian water, the whole notion of windmills appears to be a new strange alien concept?) -- I absolutely love the way Adam, completely at wit's end, simply throws his hat in the floor, turns his back and shuts up altogether. It's both a display of temper and of control -- he retains a great deal of respect for the father who's raised him, despite really being fed up with the current situation. Would Adam fall for a woman who saved his life? I don't know; but he very well might think he *should*, especially if her situation kept her in what he thought of as dangerous circumstances. But it might even be as simple as being isolated with an eligible woman while convalescing. Or partly so -- she's long gone before his family finds him.

Now that I've got HDTV to watch on, some of the continuity bits (socks that look like they belong on a basketball court, forex, peeking over the tops of his boots) are worth a chuckle too.