Original Air Date: 12/1/80
Written by: David Pollock and Elias Davis
Directed by: Charles S. Dubin
After a number of patients come down with staph infections, the doctors determine who--or rather what--the culprit is: the wood floor in OR, which, after years of use, is loaded with germs in its cracks.
They turn to the Army Corps of Engineers to put in a cement floor, which would solve the problem. But the engineers say no, because that kind of floor would not be able to be packed up in the case of a bug-out.
Klinger gets an idea around that: after telling them a totally made-up story, he gets the engineers to deliver enough cement to make the floor. The only problem is, the doctors are going to have to put in the floor themselves.
Hawkeye, B.J., and the rest hunker down and spend a day of backbreaking labor mixing the cement to the proper proportions. After laying it all down in the OR, they realize they've made a fatal error: following Klinger's cement recipe, which has too much water in it--they've just laid down 240 cubic feet of oatmeal!
Everyone, exhausted, prepares to just lay down a new wood floor and call it a day. But after Hawkeye reminds them all that, if they do that, some future patient will die from an infection. Can they live with that?
Of course, they can't, so they redouble their efforts, using the correct recipe this time, leaving them with a perfectly seamless cement floor.
Later, they bring one of the patients that inspired all this to cut a ceremonial ribbon on the new floor. During a session in OR, everyone comments how nice it is to be working on the new cement floor, with Hawkeye dropping an instrument on purpose just to hear the sound it makes.
Fun Facts: There's a B-plot in this episode about an Italian soldier named Ignazio (Joel Brooks) who falls for Margaret, despite her protestations. Its very cartoony, mostly in the performance of Brooks.
Favorite Line: B.J.: "You know, Charles, this floor is a lot like you: full of culture and breeding that nobody can tolerate."
...and after THIS episode, I'm pretty sure I stopped watching the show for awhile. This is a perfect example of how NOT to do comedy.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of anything good about this episode.
My antipathy isn't as strong as Russell's ;-) but this is one to forget. A-plot isn't all that bad, but the B-plot is terrible- one of the worst in the series. Trite concept, and I agree that Brooks' performance is indeed cartoonish (the exact word I would have used). Where earlier seasons had funny foreign characters (The Luxemboug lieutenant, the mad Turk) that skirted overt stereotype, the Italian soldier character here just oozes cheese.
ReplyDeleteSo to speak.
I'm glad i'm not the only detractor of this episode because I find it quite embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThe B story involving the Italian soldier is the worse kind of stock sit-com device, the (un)funny foreigner speaking pigeon English - and illustrates the depths this once greatest ever show often sunk to during the years 9 - 11.
It was the first episode written by Pollock & Davis (who I believe went on to write for Frasier amongst others) which is a bit of a surprise as they went on to write most of the better episodes during the final years. This one however was a stinker lads.
I even find the A story stupid because how long has the OR floor been wood? In every other episode the floor is definitely concrete - remember the sound that dropped instrument made when it clattered on the floor after Radar informs the room about Henry's death. Not wood.
This was the first produced episode of series 9.
I'm glad i'm not the only detractor of this episode because I find it quite embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThe B story involving the Italian soldier is the worse kind of stock sit-com device, the (un)funny foreigner speaking pigeon English - and illustrates the depths this once greatest ever show often sunk to during the years 9 - 11.
It was the first episode written by Pollock & Davis (who I believe went on to write for Frasier amongst others) which is a bit of a surprise as they went on to write most of the better episodes during the final years. This one however was a stinker lads.
I even find the A story stupid because how long has the OR floor been wood? In every other episode the floor is definitely concrete - remember the sound that dropped instrument made when it clattered on the floor after Radar informs the room about Henry's death. Not wood.
This was the first produced episode of series 9
nam4077
It was ok. Although it was a little predictable. Of course you can't have an episode with wet cement without one of the characters stepping in it. It was inevitable that Charles (who was creating a caution sign) would be the one to do it. It was just too obvious with a joke you could see 5 miles away.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Dear Giovanni letter was banale (Italian for corny).Margaret dragging Charles into it was sneaky, but he dodged it by walking into the wet cement. The one redeeming feature was Father Mulcahy's blessing: "May it be used as little as possible". Wishful thinking.
ReplyDelete