Original Air Date: 10/13/73
Written by: Alan Alda and Robert Klane
Directed by: Jackie Cooper
After a particularly grueling session in O.R., Hawkeye is a zombie, eyelids only half open.
But before he and Trapper can crawl back into their cots, more wounded arrive, and Hawkeye insists on helping out, even though he's been operating for 20 straight hours. He ignores Henry's order to get some sleep.
He finishes another shift, and Henry orders Radar to put Hawkeye to bed. But once again, before he has the chance to get into bed, more wounded arrive, and Hawkeye goes back to work.
Night falls, and Hawkeye is unable and/or unwilling to sleep. He wanders the camp, taking notes, chatting aimiably with Frank(!), and then he wakes Trapper up and they have a conversation about how the war got started. Trapper tries to talk Hawkeye down, telling him just to go to sleep, but Hawkeye won't listen.
He then wanders into Radar's office, singing sad songs from WW II, and then finally writing up a telegram to President Truman, asking "Who's responsible?"
The telegram makes its way to Truman, which of course catches the attention of General Clayton. While Hawkeye wanders around, talking with Frank and one of the chopper pilots. During one of Frank's weekly lectures, he suggests the reason the Communists have gone to war because "Many of them have never even seen a bathroom, and believe you me, they want one."
Henry and Trapper decided to drug Hawkeye and knock him out by force, and they pour the sedative into his drink.
As they wait for it to kick in, Clayton arrives in camp, just as Hawkeye is preparing to have the 4077's latrine dragged off, presumably into North Korea. Clayton inadvertently steps inside, in time to have it dragged away by Hawkeye by jeep.
Fun Facts: The scene with Hawkeye in Radar's office is touching--as Hawkeye sings one of the songs he remembers from World War II, he begins to tear up, lost in some memory.
The final scene, with Henry and Trapper in The Swamp while Hawkeye is asleep, is one that was always cut from the syndicated version of the show, so I never got to see it until I bought the DVDs. Its a great scene, as Henry and Trapper discuss the war and Hawkeye's reaction to it.
Henry states he's no more happy to be in Korea than Hawkeye is, and adds, "If we had any guts, you, me, and the Masked Marvel there would take the first latrine out of here."
Favorite Line: As Radar is dragging Hawkeye to bed, he tries to whistle at some nurses, but fails. He asks kiddingly how you whistle, "It has something to do with the lips, right?"
Radar: "We had a preacher back home who whistled while he preached."
Hawkeye: "I hope he was run out of town, the filthy hypocrite."
3 comments:
hey rob. first off i might be the YOUNGEST MASH enthusiast out there (21 yrs old) but i have all the dvds and even serve in the Air Force living in Japan (which the show really does hit it on the nose about the military at points)
But i watched this episode recently and i encourage to really listen to Trapper's lines and the way he delivers them to Hawkeye, even mocking Hawkeye. I wonder how much of Wayne ROgers annoyance at taking a back seat contributed to how honest he played this part in this show. Hawkeye almost seems to insinuate he is the ONLY one who can do chests and hard operations to Trapper's disgust. Just a thought, id like to know what you think!
Korey-
Thanks for the comment!
I can't really say I've noticed any particular tone in Rogers' line readings.
But after I learned why he left the show, I will say I noticed how many episodes feature a plot that features both Hawkeye and Trapper equally, only for the third act to center around Hawkeye for no particular reason ("For The Good of the Outfit", "The Consultant", etc.), which must have made Wayne Rogers really wonder what was going on!
Sorry, Korey Pepper, but I'm eighteen and a younger MASH enthusiast than you and I got interested when I was 16
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