: A pivotal 10-minute conversation occurs between Joe and his father, Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) . Ben argues that life is sacred and humans do not have the right to end it, even to ease suffering, famously asking Joe, "Don't you know?" .
: Bill Clark, who played Sara's father, was famously known as the regular stunt double for Dan Blocker (Hoss) . "Bonanza" The Quality of Mercy(1963)
: Richard Rust played the troubled Seth Pruitt, while Nancy Rennick portrayed Sara, the woman caught between her father's death and her fiancé's secret . : A pivotal 10-minute conversation occurs between Joe
: Joe’s childhood friend, Seth Pruitt, admits to killing his future father-in-law, claiming the man's back was broken and he was begging to be put out of his misery . : Richard Rust played the troubled Seth Pruitt,
: The title is drawn from William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice , specifically Portia's speech: "The quality of mercy is not strain'd; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven..." .
: The episode takes a dark turn when Joe discovers Seth's motives weren't purely merciful; Seth had found a rich silver vein in the mine that the father-in-law didn't want him to have . Key Scenes and Themes
: Sworn to secrecy, Joe suffers a deep crisis of conscience as he struggles to decide if the act was morally justifiable .