Bonanza (TV Series) A Deck of Aces (1971) User Reviews

The Flim Flam Man

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 4 December 2019]

This classic episode from Bonanza features Lorne Greene both as Ben Cartwright and as Bradley Meredith noted old west bunco artist with whom the wanted posters haven't caught up yet. If they had folks in Virginia City would have realized Ben Cartwright had a doppleganger.

When Meredith does realize it he tries to rip off the Central Pacific railroad for a lot of money by selling some timber forests that the real Ben Cartwright has no intention of selling.

This is a pretty funny story with a surprise ending. There's also a very funny sequence with both Lorne Greenes and Hop Sing.

Seeing Double

[nlathy-839-300677 · 8/10 · 18 April 2024]

This episode is an oddity to say the least. Hollywood loves to have fun with a dual role. Ben has a lookalike in this movie. And his doppelganger is a charlatan. The ending has to he seen to be believed. And there's an unsatisfying feeling to the viewing experience. Still it's funny. I never thought of Lorne Greene has a comedic actor. Laughs seem more the territory of Buck Sexton and Michael Landon. This is one is worth a watch for a scene involving Victor Sen Young. Young is so good in this and many other episodes. It's a wonder he's not in the opening credits or at least in the guest star portion. It's not as funny as Three Stooges or even Honolulu or Parent Trap. Still it's a good one.

Very rarely do you have doppelganger stories that are well told

[glitterrose · 3/10 · 26 April 2021]

And imo this isn't one of them. If you want doppelganger stories told well try "The Rifleman" where there's a couple of episodes showing Micah and Lucas dealing with the chaos their doppelgangers are raising. And if you want something more serious, try the episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" when a man's doppelganger is slowly pushing him out of his own life!

It just bothers me when you have intelligent characters acting like idiots to justify the storyline. I think the end scene was the cherry on the sundae. Why in the world would Ben have to enter the doppelganger's jail cell in order to talk to him and give the man a chance to escape? It's a jail cell. Ben could've stayed outside the cell to talk to him.

Sorry, but this is really stupid.

[apelieuproar-69389 · 1/10 · 29 November 2022]

I didn't see the whole episode but got the general gist. I'm just going to focus on the ending, which is, of course, ridiculous. So many things wrong with it, so I'll just itemize:

1. As another reviewer says, there's no reason for Ben to go into the cell to talk to his doppelganger. He can speak to him from outside the cell.

2. Neither Ben nor the sheriff ever once suspect that Ben's double, a con man, wants to speak to his double in private.

3. Ben could also have called for the sheriff when the meeting was over, but declines.

4. The double then pulls his ruse, shouting that the con man has punched him and is escaping. The sheriff then takes him at his word and demands the real Ben get into the cell at gunpoint. No attempt to or try to verify either's identity, such as asking them a question only the real Ben would know the answer to.

5. The sheriff fails to suspect the fake Ben even when he almost leaves without Ben's gunbelt and hat. The sheriff eagerly laps up some flattery the fake Ben heaps on him (another red flag he misses) and lets him depart and fake-Ben rides off with his girlfriend.

And that's it. That's how the episode ends. No resolution and by the next episode the reset button will have been pressed (as was the case with shows of yesteryear, unless they were multi-part episodes), but this is just egregiously ridiculous, and not funny in the slightest. I can't imagine how anyone could possibly enjoy this episode or think this was a good idea.