Original Air Date: 10/2/84
Written by: Dennis Keonig
Directed by: Burt Metcalfe
Klinger, still on the lam, is reduced to sleeping on the street in a grimy alley. When he's chased away by a nearby tenant, he bumps into a guy saying he has some work for a guy down on his luck, if Klinger wants it.
Klinger asks what the job is, and he learns it involves some less-than-legal activities, like running numbers, transporting money around, and even roughing people up. Klinger says thanks, but no thanks.
Meanwhile, at General General, Col. Potter is none too pleased to learn that Alma Cox is now his secretary. He tells Alma she's relieved of her duty, but due to V.A. regulations she can't be fired, so he's stuck with her (although, from her point of view, its the other way around). Later, Cox is so obsessed with getting all the proper forms filled out she even interrupts an operation to get Col. Potter to sign some forms.
Dr. Boyer stops by the bar across the street from General General, and bumps into Klinger, hiding out. Boyer offers to let Klinger stay at his place, but Klinger refuses, not wanting to get a friend involved in Klinger's legal mess.
A few hours later, Klinger decides to take Dr. Boyer up on his offer, and he barges in right after Boyer has spent the night with a nurse. Boyer tells him to get out, and Klinger splits.
Alma Cox is so obsessed with officiousness that she follows Col. Potter back to his house. When Col. Potter claims she's a total nightmare, she fakes being sweet and kind, so much so she fools Mildred Potter into inviting her in for a cup of coffee.
Col. Potter has a meeting with Wally Wainwright, the new administrator, and it doesn't go well. Earlier, Wainwright told all the patients of General General that he is open to suggestions on how to improve the place. When he reveals to Potter that was just PR, and he has no real intention of making any improvements, Potter is furious.
He storms back to his office, and opens a bottle of booze, demanding Alma Cox imbibe. Since he now despises Wally Wainwright as much as she does, they bnow have a common enemy. Alma Cox agrees, and throws one back like a pro.
Meanwhile, Klinger decides to take up with the nefarious guy he met earlier, who is running all sorts of illegal operations in a seedy apartment--which just happens to be next door to where Father Mulcahy lives!
Mulcahy has been so sick of the noise, he calls the cops, who come and break up the ring. Everyone scatters, and the only one the cops grab is the fugitive Klinger! Father Mulcahy is horrified at what he's done--accidentally.
Klinger is now back in jail, and he's visited by Soon-Lee, Father Mulcahy, and the Potters. He gets to see his infant son, but even that doesn't lift his mood. Col. Potter promises everything will get straightened out once Klinger gets his day in court.
Fun Facts: A sad indication about how things have changed: in the scene with Alma Cox and Col. Potter in the OR, during surgery, there's a laugh track blaring away.
The merchant who tells Klinger to scram is played by Richard Lee Sung, who appeared on a number of M*A*S*H episodes (he carved the wood bust of Col. Potter in Season Four's "Dear Mildred", for instance).
Favorite Line: Klinger, sure he'll never get to see his son again: "Tell him I love him and to always vote Democratic."
In the show Klinger reveals, though not surprising, to be a Democrat. But in real life Jamie Farr, who plays Klinger, is a Republican. This could explain why he and Alan Alda, who is a hardcore liberal Democrat, had big issues throughout the series.
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