Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Damian's mooks and hired muscle are obedient to a fault, never questioning the completely psychotic Damian. So much so that even the man-mountain Mr. Hanley — well over 350 pounds! — never questions his master's authority, possibly for fear of the consequences.
Beard of Sorrow: Joe grows one during his time as an aimless drifter, perhaps symbolizing his grief over Alice's death (under to him yet-unknown circumstances) ... and by extension Michael Landon's real-life grief over Dan Blocker's death several months prior to this episode being aired.
Berserk Button: Joe stops at a saloon-hotel to get some rest and is going to his room when he hears an all-too-familiar melody ... and goes completely crazy when he breaks into the room and — upon recognizing it as exactly the one he bought Alice as a gift — threatens a prostitute if she doesn't tell how she got it.
The Bus Came Back: But it brought back Candy instead. (David Canary, who played ranch foreman Candy Canaday from 1967-1970, returned after a two-season absence). No mention why Pernell Roberts never returned from his (by now) seven-year-long sojourn from Australia to replace the late Dan Blocker.
Cartwright Curse: Perhaps the trope codifier of the trope inspired by the entire series, given Alice's tragic (and violent) demise.
Alice is implied to have suffered this. How much of it she was conscious for is not known. (The scene was one of the leading reasons why several networks, including the Family Channel, refused to air this episode for many years, even though no on-screen physical violence is depicted.)
Damian, when he finally gets his (well-deserved) beatdown.
Cruel Mercy: Mr. Hanley, when he finally has enough of Damian and kills him with his own two hands.
Off-screen but implied, Mr. Hanley when he kills Alice with his own two hands, in what's implied to be the most brutal way possible. Alice simply never had a chance.
Mr. Hanley, when he finally kills his master, Damian, for all the years of (implied) abuse.
Death Glare: Damian had a tremendously scary one, reflecting his cold-blooded, murderous and merciless wrath.
The Dog Bites Back: After Mr. Hanley has been defeated in his fight against Little Joe, Damian, thinking Hanley is unconscious (or worse), tells Joe that Hanley killed Alice and has had no problem brutally killing other women. Only problem is — as Damian will quickly find out — that Hanley overheard the entire thing.
Earn Your Happy Ending: It is implied Joe returns home to the Ponderosa after the events of this episode. To do so, he went into a self-imposed exile, content on living life as an aimless drifter wrought with grief. And then, after learning the truth behind Alice's death, has to survive a shootout with two of Damian's mooks, a brutal fight against Mr. Hanley (which Joe wins) and barely avoid a deadly-accurate shot aimed at him by Damian ... just an instant before Hanley attacks Damian. Only then — when it is implied that Hanley and a surviving stooge (one of the others was killed in a shootout) were brought to justice — does Joe finally get to visit Alice's grave and tell her he loves her.
A Fate Worse Than Death: Implied to have happened to Alice before she finally dies; it's oft been argued that her death — not depicted onscreen — was not a quick one.
Five Stages of Grief: Joe goes through three of these. At first, Denial as – in a scene rarely seen in rerun prints – the doctor advises Ben to keep the pain medicine locked up in case a despondent Joe tries to get at it, and later in the signature scene where he breaks down in his father's arms in the burned out shell of his new house. Later comes Depression when, after the funeral, he goes off on what could be a very lengthy self-exile from the Ponderosa. Then, when he learns the truth of Alice's death, he goes back to Anger, determined to bring her killers to justice. In the end, after Damian is killed and the other bad guys captured, he finally comes to the Acceptance phase.
Fourth-Date Marriage: While a lot of the tropes seen here concern Alice's brutal death and Joe's efforts to bring her murderers to justice, it shouldn't be forgotten that much of the first part of the episode was devoted to Joe finally finding true love in a beautiful young woman named Alice Harper (several years younger than he is), their courtship and their ultimate marriage. Alice promises Joe one thing: "Forever."
The Gambling Addict: John Harper is a hopeless one, and crosses the wrong side of Damian after he runs up a huge debt he could never hope to repaynote (in the early 1870s, $5,000 was often a lifetime's wages) and is on the run to avoid repayment.
House Fire: Damian and his goons setting fire to Joe and Alice's home, to cover up their robbery and murdering of Alice and her indolent brother.
Just Between You and Me: Damian was hoping, when Joe confronted him, that his confession that he killed Alice and burned down their house would be heard just between the two of them (and Hanley). Indeed it was ... but it didn't turn out as Damian had expected, and less than five minutes after his confession, he himself was dead.
Laser-Guided Karma: Damian finally (unknowingly) crosses the line when he throws Mr. Hanley — the man he ordered to kill Alice (and, it is implied, several other people, including women) — literally under the wagon, accusing him of the murders. Hanley, perhaps also having put up with years of abuse as his bodyguard and muscle, finally gives Damian a beatdown he will not survive.
My God, What Have I Done?: As Joe and Candy are bringing the surviving members of Damion's gang — Mr. Hanley and one of the stooges — back to Virginia City (along with the corpses), they stop by the meadow where Alice is buried. As Joe is visiting the grave, an establishing shot has the defeated and (presumably) remorseful bad guys looking downcast as Candy holds them at bay.
Alice, after she unsuccessfully tries to escape Damian and his gang by locking herself in the bedroom. The look of sheer terror on her face is frightening after Mr. Hanley breaks into the room and begins stalking his prey.
Joe, when he realizes his entire world is collapsing in flames (upon seeing his house engulfed in flames and Alice nowhere to be found).
Damian, when he realizes that Mr. Hanley is coming after him and tries to beg off, but Hanley is in no mood for mercy.
John Harper, when cornered and beaten by Damian and his mooks for repeatedly trying to avoid repayment of a $5,000 gambling debt, squeals out the Cartwrights, whom he says will have more than enough to cover the debt. In the end, when John — whom, per the series bible was estranged from Alice — foolishly tries to stop Damian from threatening to hurt Alice, he is shot to death. When the gang sets fire to the house to cover up the crime, John's body is so badly burned that Clem is unable to identify it ... until later when (in a scene not included in syndication prints) a ring is found on the corpse's finger, with the inscription "JH."
In the climatic scene, where Damian — thinking that Mr. Hanley is dead after having been beaten by Joe — rats out Hanley, basically saying he (Hanley) killed Alice. Damian finds out — too late — that Hanley is very much alive ... and is not very happy he was stooged.
Stupid Crooks: When Joe finally confronts Damian, Damian asks how in the world he could dare accuse him, since there was no evidence left behind. Joe replies: "Not the music box!" Damian then realizes that and laughs him off, as he plans to have Joe killed anyway.
The Tearjerker Scene (in the burned out shell of Joe's home):
Broken Tears: One of television's leading trope makers, where Joe collapses in grief and embraces an equally distraught Ben. Some say this was metaphoric of them grieving Dan Blocker, who had died several months earlier.
Everybody Cries: Joe trying to contain his emotions in the burned-out shell of his home, and Ben visibly near tears himself, before the two break down in deep sobbing. Surviving cast and crew members — including Mitch Vogel — have said in later interviews that once filming the scene was complete (done in one take), everyone that was on the set also joined in the grieving.
Tearjerker: Arguably the leading one in series history, and in all of episodic television.
Turned Against Their Masters: In the climatic scene, when Mr. Hanley surprisingly knocks his master, Damian, into a river (as Damian was shooting at Joe) and proceeds to stalk him. Damian screams for mercy ... but Hanley is royally pissed off and isn't about to give any.
Oh yes, Mr. Hanley — a Goliath of a man who is nearly 250 pounds (of pure muscle) heavier than the very petite Alice — would. It's not seen, but Word of God is that it was very brutal, to put it nicely.
In the series' entire run, this is the only time that Joe comes close to hitting one. He stumbles across the music box he had bought Alice as a gift (but was stolen by Damian as collateral), and finds it is now owned by a prostitute and a young man who was about to go all the way with her in a hotel room. After Joe chases the young man out, he grabs the woman by the neck and screams at her demanding answers on how she acquired it.
Word of God is that it was very brutal, to put it nicely.