Episode 175 - Period of Adjustment

Season 8, Episode 175: Period of Adjustment
Original Air Date: 10/22/79
Written by: Jim Mulligan & John Rappaport
Directed by: Charles S. Dubin

In the immediate aftermath of Radar leaing the 4077th, things are not going smoothly--Klinger hasn't quite gotten the hang of his new job as company clerk, so things are pretty chaotic. Potter's office is buried in paper, and he has to fend off calls from I-Corps about late or completely missing morning reports.

Potter tries to cover, but he's so mad at Klinger that he considers that perhaps the job is "too much" for him--"We can't all be Radars", he offers, which hurts Klinger's feelings.

He delivers mail to the Swamp, where B.J. gets a letter from Peg, where she describes what it was like meeting Radar on his way home from Korea. Wearing his uniform, little Erin Hunnicutt saw Radar and exclaimed, "Hi, Daddy!"

During a session in O.R., Hawkeye tries to get B.J. to tell everyone about the meeting between Peg, Erin, and Radar, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about it. Later, in the Mess Tent, he sides with Klinger in being sick of everyone talking about Radar.

Later that night, Winchester takes over for Hawkeye in Post Op, and he warns Hawkeye that, back in the Swamp, B.J. is drunk--very drunk.

Hawkeye goes back to the Swamp, and after a few moments he starts to get the idea that something's bothering B.J. He finally hits upon it being the letter from Peg, and it quickly devolves into an argument. B.J. gets furious, and suggests that his missing his daughter by being stuck in Korea is worse than what Hawkeye is going through.

Hawkeye doesn't buy that, reminding B.J. he's been stuck at the 4077th even longer than B.J. Hawkeye then tries to get B.J. to stop drinking, which sets B.J. off--he smashes the still with a chair, and punches Hawkeye in the eye! He immediately runs out of the tent.

Potter and Margaret are searching for a now-missing Klinger, and come to the Swamp, only to find Winchester tending to the black eye Hawkeye has. They decide to team up and try and find both of them, with Margaret and Winchester going one way, Potter the other (with Hawkeye having to tend to a patient).

During his search, Potter runs into Father Mulcahy, where Mulcahy explains to Potter that once, before he arrived, there was someone even worse than Klinger: "This lad was quite a bozo--couldn't do anything right. Drove everyone crazy with questions. You should've seen him put through a call was like hand-to-hand combat. Folks here were convinced the enemy had sent him here to sabotage the unit.

[O]ver time, he got a little better...your late predecessor, Col. Blake--rest his soul--took him under his wing and sort of helped him grow into the job."

Potter realizes Mulcahy was pulling one over on him--he's talking about Radar. Mulcahy asks, doesn't Klinger deserve the same time to get adjusted to the job? After all, he reminds Potter, when he arrived at the 4077th, he got "The broken-in model."

Potter and Margaret meet back up, and decide to call the MPs. But when they arrive, they find the totally smashed B.J. and Klinger in Potter's office, smashing into his liquor cabinet. Potter asks Margaret to go fetch Hawkeye, while Potter talks to Klinger alone.

He sits Klinger down, and "clears the air." He admits that, when he showed up at the 4077th, people weren't "jumping for joy" over him, since they all thought so much of Henry Blake. But everyone gave him time to make the job Sherman Potter's, since he "Was no Henry Blake...never tried to be."

He decides that, as of this moment, "Radar's office is closed...Klinger's is open." Klinger, relieved, passes out. Potter adds, "Okay, we'll open tomorrow."

Hawkeye arrives, and heads inside Potter's office to talk to B.J. B.J. apologizes for hitting him, and breaks down in tears when he thinks about the first time Erin ever called anyone Daddy..."and it wasn't me."

He admits that he's so jealous of Radar that he almost hates him. He also admits he's even jealous of Trapper--who he's never even met--because "He's home, too." He collapses into sobs, while Hawkeye promises: "You'll go home...some day we'll all go home."

A few days later, Hawkeye and B.J. rebuild the still, with the help of Klinger, who got the necessary parts. They allow Klinger the honor of "The first belt."


Fun Facts: I love Potter's speech with Klinger about what it was like for him to take over for Henry Blake. Potter is so stoic, and since they never covered any of this at the time, its interesting to hear that Potter did have his own period of adjustment after arriving at the 4077th.

Mulcahy's speech is also excellent, and I think its a great hook to build the episode around--namely, that it took someone who's been at the 4077th even longer than Potter to give him the proper perspective.

I also love Klinger's sweet, if drunken, response to Potter's question, "People around here were awfully fond of Henry Blake, weren't they?" Klinger responds, emphatically: "Well, sure...the Colonel was a top-notch kind of a guy."


Favorite Line: Potter suggests he and Klinger talk outside, alone. B.J. laughs, but Klinger is worried: "Oh God, B.J....he's gonna beat me up!"