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Season 2, Episode 26: The Recovery Room
Original Air Date: 10/30/84
Written by: Jay Folb
Directed by: Charles S. Dubin
The Potters are up very early in the morning, to catch Father Mulcahy's first televised sermon. They're also caring for the baby Klinger, which Mildred takes in stride, but Col. Potter has more problem with.
Raising a baby--at their age--is causing a but of stress between the Potters. Col. Potter is angry at how busy Mildred always is, but she reminds him that's the way it is when raising a baby--something he missed the first time around, since he was off at war.
Meanwhile, at General General, Klinger gets an idea to make some money--a fellow patient has been collecting his disability payments and investing in the stock market, so Klinger decides to apply for the benefits, too.
Klinger tells Dr. Dudziak the story of how he was wounded in Korea, but we see the reality, via flashback. She doesn't believe it, and Soon-Lee is worried that if Klinger tells the government he needs disability pay, he'll never be able to get himself free.
Klinger, realizing he screwed up, jumps Alma Cox to make sure she doesn't mail the disability payment forms he gave her. Cox, thinking Klinger's attacking her, screams, and two of the hospital's orderlies come and take Klinger away--but not before he tears up the forms.
Col. Potter and Mildred reconcile at the bar across the street from the hospital (The Recovery Room), and Dr. Boyer decides, after much protesting, to sit down with a group of fellow Korean vets who are part of a therapy group of Dr. Dudziak's.
The next morning, we see another TV sermon by Father Mulchay, playing in a hotel room, where the Potters spent the night, so they could have some time alone.
Fun Facts: Dr. Boyer, over these Second Season episodes, was definitely being crafted into more of an angrier Hawkeye type. He romances (or at least tries to) every nurse he can find, with a never-ending stream of pick-up lines. But the role is continually well performed--and given a nice edge--by David Ackroyd.
This episode features something we've never seen, on either series: a flashback to Klinger's first day in Korea.
Favorite Line: Soon-Lee is skeptical about Klinger's plan to get money without having to do anything: "Max, unless you're a high Korean official, this does not happen."
Season 5, Episode 119: Post-Op
Original Air Date: 3/8/77
Written by: Ken Levine & David Isaacs, Gene Reynolds & Jay Folb
Directed by: Gene Reynolds
The 4077th is low on blood, so low that they have to call around to other units to see if they can scrounge up some more.
Col. Potter begs and pleads (and Hawkeye demands), to little avail. Things are made even worse when more wounded arrive. This leads to a tension-filled session in O.R., with Hawkeye and B.J. threatening to break Frank's legs when he complains about the working conditions. Potter tells them all to clam up.
In Post Op, various cases are tended to: Hot Lips helps a soldier write a letter home, Klinger helps console a Puerto Rican solider who is upset the doctors had to shave his impressive mustache to patch up his face, B.J. comforts a solider who lost his leg due to a land mine, and Hawkeye gives advice to a solider embarrassed by getting wounded in his rear end.
Frank is worried about his patient, who is still unconscious and can't figure out why. He asks Col. Potter for help, but is really looking more to just find someone to blame. After he learns that the solider was found in his sleeping bag, unconscious, it dawns on him that perhaps a snake crawled in there with him and bit him, knocking him out. He orders Nurse Kellye to give the young man a shot of anti-venom.
One of B.J.'s patients is a soldier who's actually upset he's being shipped home: he has such a great series of black market businesses going on in Korea, he actually tries to bribe B.J. into letting him stay. Of course, it doesn't work.
Klinger helps the despondent Puerto Rican soldier by giving him a custom-made mustache, which he gratefully accepts. Hot Lips rebuffs the advances of a soldier who, even though he's married, pledges his eternal love.
The blood supply gets so low that Col. Potter asks everyone in the camp to donate, even though it's been less than 48 hours since everyone donated the last time. Only Frank has managed not to donate at all, but he's dragged into it by Hawkeye and B.J.
The blood supply problem finally ends when a truck full of Turkish soldiers arrive. Thankful to the 4077th for taking care of one of their wounded, they are here to each donate blood. They file in to the Mess Tent to the applause of everyone in the compound, just as Frank bursts out, chased by a needle-carrying Klinger.
Fun Facts: Almost all of this episode takes place in, as the title suggests, Post-Op, which makes it a nice companion to the Season Three episode "O.R." I guess if the show had gone on past the Eleventh season and they started really running out of plots, we would have had episodes "The Scrub Room", "The Supply Shed", and "The V.I.P. Tent."
Actor Hilly Hicks appears in this episode as a medic named Moody. This was Hicks' second appearance on the show--he played a different character in the Season Three episode "White Gold."
The soldier with all the black market businesses is actor Sal Viscuso, who was frequently one of the always-unseen P.A. announcers on the show.
Radar does not appear in this episode at all.
Favorite Line: Col. Potter commiserates with a solider from Chicago, telling him about all the good times he had there as a young man. When he makes a mistake regarding where a bar he frequented used to be, he shrugs off the soldier's correction with "Well, I used to drink a lot in those days."
Season 5, Episode 117: Movie Tonight
Original Air Date: 2/22/77
Written by: Gene Reynolds, Don Reo, Allan Katz, Jay Folb
Directed by: Burt Metcalfe
Without any wounded to take care of, the 4077th is bored and cranky. A simple session of cleaning up the O.R. leads to each of the staff yelling at one another. Col. Potter gets so frustrated he walks out on all of them.
But Father Mulcahy, coming from Seoul, brings some good news: a movie that Potter requested and he is clearly very excited about. He's so excited, in fact, he announces that his "all-time favorite movie" will be shown after dinner.
The crankiness continues through dinner--everyone's in such a bad mood, no one's talking, so dinner is a tension-filled event. But Potter comes in and announces the night's movie is the classic Henry Fonda picture My Darling Clementine. This--and Potter's enthusiasm--seems to cheer everyone up.
Later, the movie starts, to the cheers and applause of the audience. Unfortunately, just a few minutes into the picture, the film goes off the reel and the screen goes dark.
As Klinger fixes the film, Col. Potter organizes a community sing-along, and after some cajoling they all sing "The Tennessee Waltz."
The film starts again, and runs for another few minutes, when--at a crucial scene--it goes out again. The crowd starts to get really annoyed, when Father Mulcahy--via piano--breaks into "Gee Mom, I Want To Go Home", causing everyone to sing along, and add their own specific sets of lyrics.
Radar then does some impressions, followed by everyone doing impressions of Father Mulcahy (Radar doing the best job), ending with Hot Lips singing a song all on her own, getting so wrapped up in the performance she doesn't even stop after the movie starts up again.
During the film's climactic shoot-out, everyone gets in on the act, play-pretending shooting each other, with them all falling over in mock agony. It leads to everyone laying on the floor as the movie rolls on.
The mood is broken when a jeep arrives carrying wounded, snapping everyone into action.
Fun Facts: Hawkeye and B.J. have an argument about a shirt Hawkeye bought for B.J.--one sleeve is longer than the other. Hawkeye says that nonsense, and puts it on as proof. Unfortunately, one sleeve is indeed longer than the other. One of the show's all-time great props, Hawkeye shifts his shoulders like Quasimodo to make the sleeves even out, a great bit of physical comedy.
The scene of everyone adding their own lyrics to the "Gee Mom" song brushes up against being completely improbable--how do Hot Lips, Radar, the Nurses, et al, manage to come up with perfectly-fitting lyrics so fast? (Ironically, the most realistic addition is from Frank, who clearly was sitting in his seat quietly trying to come up with something, and breaks into the song long after everyone else has stopped)
The episode's final scene features everyone in O.R., quietly singing "My Darling Clementine" in perfect harmony--a nice, mellow ending, and a great way to wrap-up an episode partly about the transformative power of movies and their ability to bring a group of people together, if only for a short while.
Favorite Line: Col. Potter: "Now this movie's a classic--it has the three things that make a movie great: horses, cowboys, and horses."
Season 5, Episode 108: Exorcism
Original Air Date: 12/14/76
Written by: Gene Reynolds & Jay Folb
Directed by: Alan Alda
A Korean peddler pushing an overloaded a cart full of knick-knacks set up shop on the compound. Col. Potter asks the man to leave (giving him an hour to have a "going out of business" sale), because he's blocking traffic.
He also asks Radar to move a "spirit post" that some of the locals set up, to ward away evil spirits. Potter, not believing in any of that stuff, asks Radar to move it out of the way. Radar tries to talk him out of it at first, but Potter insists.
No sooner does he move it, then a young Korean man riding a bike loses control and crashes into the peddler's cart. Then more unusual phenomena take place: a gauge breaks in the middle of an operation, an O.R. bulb bursts, the P.A. conks out, Col. Potter stabs himself with his scalpel, and Hawkeye accidentally breaks Frank's mirror, cracking the glass in two.
Hoping to change their luck, Radar puts up a horseshoe on Col. Potter's office wall. Potter still scoffs at the idea, but likes the horseshoe as a simple ornament.
Later, a jeep carrying some of the 4077th's patients home crashes, and they are all brought back to camp. One of the other wounded is a very old Korean man, who doesn't want to be operated on at the camp because of supposed evil spirits haunting the place. He's so scared he won't let Hawkeye touch him, even though it means he'll probably die because of his injuries.
His daughter, who followed her father to the 4077th, says there is a village priestess who can perform an exorcism, which would put the old man at ease. After a debate about it in Col. Potter's office (with Frank against it, of course), they bring the priestess to the camp, where she performs an intricate, colorful, and (to the members of the 4077th) baffling ceremony.
The old man, now relieved, allows Hawkeye to perform the operation. All of a sudden, the P.A. starts working again, and the gauge that was broken earlier is now fixed. Hmm...
Later, as a way to say thank you, the old man's daughter gives Hawkeye a metal wind-chime: "Not for scaring away evil spirits--for decoration."
Col. Potter, just to be safe, has Radar put the spirit post back where it was. Radar, as always, is ahead of him, having already done so.
Fun Facts: The scene in Col. Potter's office debating whether to let the exorcism go forth is interesting, and I love Father Mulcahy's open-minded approach to spirituality--he's eager to see the performance, and even quotes the Bible in support of the idea, much to the chagrin of Frank.
Favorite Line: Klinger assures Col. Potter and Father Mulcahy that there are evil spirits, curses, and the like.
He tells a story: "I come from a long line of short-nosed people. One day, my Grandfather's camel spit in the eye of the village witch. Ever since then, we've been growing them like this", pointing to his own sizeable nose.
.
Season 5, Episode 106: Hawkeye Get Your Gun
Original Air Date: 11/30/76
Written by: Gene Reynolds & Jay Folb
Directed by: William Jurgensen
During a long, grueling session in O.R., Frank keeps making less-than-subtle comments about Col. Potter's age, and how he might not be as capable as his three younger surgeons. Potter is, of course, insulted.
Later on, the 4077th gets a message from a Korean hospital, asking for help--two doctors, and all the medical supplies a jeep can carry. While trying to decide who will go, Frank puts his foot in his mouth again, suggesting that Potter is too old to go on this mission.
Potter uses a deck of cards to decide who's going to go--and it ends up being Hawkeye and...Col. Potter.
As they climb into the jeep, Potter notices Hawkeye does not have his standard issue sidearm. Hawkeye argues he doesn't want to bring it, but Potter insists.
Soon, they arrive at the Korean hospital, but it's not quite a hospital--its more of a dilapidated hut. The commander, Major Choi (Mako), greets them, and immediately puts them to work.
Hawkeye is dismayed (and more than a little snide) at the lack of sterile conditions, but Major Choi reminds him they are making do with what they have.
Its a marathon session, with the added feature of shelling going on outside. Eventually, Hawkeye and Col. Potter try to catch some sleep in a side room, resting on a wooden crate. Hawkeye boasts he can put Potter to sleep, and tries to pseudo-hypnotize him into doing so. It works, but in reverse--its Hawkeye who passes out, leaving Potter to go back to work.
Surgery goes on all night, eventually ending in the morning. Major Choi commends them on their work, and they head home.
On the way back, Hawkeye and Potter drink liberally from a canteen of booze Klinger packed in their jeep. They both get hammered and silly, but things get serious when bombs start to fall on the road they're driving on, getting so close they stop the jeep and hide in a nearby ditch.
A shell hits their jeep, blowing it up ("The case will be in court for years!", Hawkeye comments). Then bullets start to fly, and Potter, refusing to be "dragged off to some Chinese prison camp", empties his gun firing back.
He insists Hawkeye do the same, but he adamantly refuses. Potter flat out orders him to, yet Hawkeye still refuses. He lets Potter know it is simply not in him to shoot anyone, for any reason.
Finally Potter talks Hawkeye into it, telling him to think of the gun as "The biggest noise-maker in all of Korea." Hawkeye relents, but only partially--he shoots straight into the air, warning everyone within earshot to take cover. Now that he's used up all his bullets, he reasons, can he go home now?
Potter is amazed at the extent of Hawkeye's refusal to play along--simultaneously angry and impressed. But since he's also drunk, he finds it very funny. They both end up giggling in the ditch, just as the bullets stop flying.
They wander back, running across a platoon of U.S. soldiers. Told that the North Koreans have moved out, Hawkeye and Col. Potter are safe to walk home, staggering drunkenly as they do it.
That night, Frank visits Col. Potter to say goodnight, amazed that the old man is still standing, let alone awake. Potter says he's about to do fifty push-ups, would Frank like to join him?
Frank begs off, leaving Potter to crawl into his bed, finally going to sleep after a very long day.
Fun Facts: This is actor Mako's second appearance on the series, after first appearing in Season 3's "Rainbow Bridge."
Hawkeye's utter hatred of guns ("Look, Colonel--I'll treat their wounds, heal their wounds, bind their wounds, but I will not inflict their wounds!") had a huge effect on me as a kid.
Combined with another hero of mine, Batman, who had a similar view of them, I grew up with a visceral dislike of guns and the damage they cause. (I later spent some time skeet-shooting and target-shooting, with a variety of guns, coming away with an even bigger feeling of disgust. But I felt better--or more informed, at least--for getting some actual, real world experience to back those initial feelings up)
Favorite Line: Col. Potter defends his ability to go on the mission to Frank, by saying that "I may not be a colt, but I'm not an old grey mare, either!"
Hawkeye, backing him up: "She's right."
Season 4, Episode 83: Of Moose and Men
Original Air Date: 11/21/75
Written by: Jay Folb
Directed by: John Erman
Sgt. Zale gets a disturbing letter from his wife, confessing to an affair. In a drunken rage punches a metal barrel in the Mess Tent, breaking his hand.
B.J. takes him to the hospital, and Zale asks him to help him write a letter home, since his writing hand is out of commission.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye runs afoul of a Colonel, who he accidentally splashes with mud when his jeep hits a puddle. The Colonel, named Spiker (Tim O'Connor), ends up getting wounded and brought to the 4077th, but he demands Hawkeye not touch him.
But he's so gravely wounded Hawkeye ends up working on him anyway, and its only through his superior surgical skill that he pulls through.
Later, B.J., having finished Zale's letter, tries to track him down. Radar tells him he's with his "Moose"--a Korean girlfriend. B.J. hands Zale the letter, but lets his dismay be known: Zale is mad at his wife for cheating, yet here he is with a woman! B.J. talks Zale into forgiving his wife, and sending the letter he wrote.
Col. Spiker wakes up, in Post Op, still enraged at Hawkeye--he finds his clothes, his lack of a shave, his whole demeanor "a disgrace." He fully intends to file a Court Martial against Hawkeye.
It isn't until Col. Potter tells Spiker that it was Hawkeye who worked on him--and that Hawkeye, while being "an oddball officer" is nevertheless a top-flight surgeon. "Suffering saddlesoap--you owe your life to that man!"
Spiker reconsiders, and decides to drop the charges, albeit grudgingly. Hawkeye is thankful, but can't help being a little sarcastic, too, ordering up "Another bottle, here--put it on my tab!"
Hawkeye and B.J. meet up in the Swamp that night for drinks, relating to each other the events of the day. They also pop inflated rubber gloves on the count of three, causing the always-paranoid Frank to jump out of his bed, pulling the trigger on his gun, which is actually just a harmless lighter.
Fun Facts: This is the first episode employing the standard sitcom format--having an "A" and "B" plot, running on two different tracks, ideally meeting up at the end. Despite the title, this episode feels like its more about the Hawkeye story.
Potter's scene with Striker is a great one--talking to him as an equal, with respect, but also not taking any crap from him, either.
Favorite Line: Zale makes an excuse as to why he's got a Korean girlfriend: "Who knows when we could be knocked off, doc? We're pretty close to the action!"
B.J. amusedly replies, "Some of us are a little closer to the action than others."
