I Just Can’t Stop Watching M*A*S*H - Part Four

Yes, I know, it's yet another installment of  I Just Can’t Stop Watching M*A*S*H.  Today we look at M*A*S*H in it's last seasons. The comedy takes a back seat to the drama more and more. For a lot of fans of M*A*S*H, the show became a little too earnest, too serious.


"Are You Now, Margaret?"  takes a page from the growing “Red Scare” in the United States in the 1950’s where fearmongering politicians traded on the hysteria that communists were infiltrating and subverting our government. In this episode, this hysteria has inexplicably turned its focus on, of all people, Maj. Margaret Houlihan. If you can imagine this khaki born army woman who frequently filed complaints over Henry Blake’s head because he wasn’t a straight arrow camp commander as someone who cavorted with communists, well, you don’t know Margaret.  Her consternation over having to name names shows how far her character has come.


“Good-Bye Radar” marks not only the departure of Gary Burgoff as Radar O’Reilly but also the last M*A*S*H script from Ken Levine & David Isaacs.  Levine & Isaacs did exemplary work overseeing the writing for 2 years on M*A*S*H and their deft touch of balancing comedy and drama would be sorely missed in the remaining years of the show.  This episode puts Radar through a lot. Coming back from R&R, he meets a young woman he really connects with. Naturally, they’re heading in opposite directions. When he finally gets back to camp, everything is in chaos. The camp’s last working generator is shot and Klinger has not been able to scrounge up another one. The pressure has building exponentially that when Radar gets back, he’ll fix everything.  Such high level expectations do nothing for Radar’s mood or his levels of stress. Then on top of all that, there’s a message from home: Radar’s Uncle Ed has died, leaving Radar’s mother alone on the farm.  Radar can go home.  But Radar, seeing what state the camp is, doesn’t think he can go. 


"Period of Adjustment" is a powerful and poignant follow up to Radar’s exit.  Seems B. J.’s wife and his daughter Erin met Radar at the airport in San Francisco and Erin mistakenly calls Radar “daddy”.  This totally devastates B.J. Meanwhile, Klinger is in his own corner of hell as the new company clerk, constantly being compared to Radar. There’s a great scene where Father Mulcahy reminds Col. Potter that when he came to the 4077th, he got the broken in version of Radar, noting that Radar himself was a bit of a mess when he first came to the 4077th under Lt. Col. Blake.  


 I enjoy any opportunity deflate Maj. Winchester's pomposity and "Mr. and Mrs. Who?" is a very amusing story designed to do just that. Charles as returned from a medical conference in Tokyo where there was a party and some incriminating photographs were taken and Charles has no memory of what transpired. Or the name of the woman he seems to have married at that party.


"The Yalu Brick Road" finds Hawkeye & B.J. on the way back to the 4077th when they encounter a North Korean soldier. All three promptly surrender. Hawk and Beej are in the role of Hope and Crosby in one of their "Road" pictures. 


"Life Time" is an experimental episode that takes place over real time as Hawkeye and the gang try to beat the clock to save a wounded soldier. He desperately needs an aorta graft to save his life and they've got about 20 minutes to do it. A clock in the lower right corner of the screen tracks the time. The episode was written by Alan Alda and Walter D. Dishell, M.D.. Dr. Dishell was the on-set medical advisor for


 "Dreams" is another experimental episode which connects different vignettes as various personnel, battered by total exhaustion, keep drifting off to sleep into different nightmares. I never cared for this one too much because I felt like the episode was trying too hard to show off how edgy it is. 


 "A War for All Seasons" is another experiment in storytelling as the episode tracks a year in the life of the 4077th. Hawk & Beej build a kidney machine ordering from the Montgomery Wards' catalog, Margaret's takes up knitting, Mulcahy grows corn and other stuff.  It is an interesting premise if one ignores the complete hash the episode makes of anything resembling a time line.


 The fragile mental state of one Capt. Pierce takes a beating in "Bless You, Hawkeye".  Hawkeye can't stop sneezing and itching even though there's nothing physically wrong with him. Dr. Freedman's on hand to help. It's not the war so much as a childhood trauma raising it's ugly head to mess with Pierce's psychosis. 


 It's experiment time again with "Follies of the Living - Concerns of the Dead", a classic written and directed by Alan Alda which puts the main cast in a supporting role to a soldier who has to cope with the knowledge that he's dead. For more on this episode, click here for my write up on this one last year.
 

"Sons and Bowlers" is memorable for one scene. Hawkeye is beside himself with worry. He's found out his father is going in for surgery and he's desperate for news on his condition. Charles takes a moment sit with Hawkeye as they compare notes on their respective fathers. Charles notes, "While I had a father, you had a dad." And he calls Hawkeye "Hawkeye", not "Pierce".


 "As Time Goes By" is the last regular episode of M*A*S*H. It was in fact shot after the series finale was completed. Margaret wants to leave a time capsule at the site of the 4077th. Hawkeye wants in which Margaret distrusts because she thinks Pierce won't take it seriously. But Hawkeye's contributions are surprising moving. Like Radar's teddy bear for those who came to Korea as boys and went home as men. Or B.J. adding a fishing lure from Col. Blake's old hat, for the men who didn't make it home.




 OK, we're not quite done.


 Next week in  I Just Can’t Stop Watching M*A*S*H - Part Five, we revisit "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", the epic series finale everyone watched.