Occasionally Bonanza took on some serious subjects and you can't get more serious than racial prejudice. This episode, The Fear Merchants deals with an unscrupulous politician stirring up hatred against the Chinese which include Victor Sen Yung as Hop Sing, the Cartwright cook.
On an errand in town Hop Sing is beaten up by some toughs that include Ray Stricklyn and Christopher Dark and these two are in the employ of Gene Evans, a lawyer who's running for mayor on a Nativist platform. It's mentioned that earlier Evans had previously sought office running against the influx of Irish immigrants, a Know Nothing platform in keeping with the times.
Anyway when young Patricia Michon is accidentally killed in front of young Guy Lee, Evans seeks to whip up a lynch mob and turn the mob into voters for him. The episode really belongs to Evans, he's an incredibly evil man.
The Fear Merchants is one of Bonanza's best early episodes, a lesson about scapegoating whole groups of people that sadly we don't learn no matter how many examples are put in front of us.
On an errand in town Hop Sing is beaten up by some toughs that include Ray Stricklyn and Christopher Dark and these two are in the employ of Gene Evans, a lawyer who's running for mayor on a Nativist platform. It's mentioned that earlier Evans had previously sought office running against the influx of Irish immigrants, a Know Nothing platform in keeping with the times.
Anyway when young Patricia Michon is accidentally killed in front of young Guy Lee, Evans seeks to whip up a lynch mob and turn the mob into voters for him. The episode really belongs to Evans, he's an incredibly evil man.
The Fear Merchants is one of Bonanza's best early episodes, a lesson about scapegoating whole groups of people that sadly we don't learn no matter how many examples are put in front of us.