Plot: When a sniper attacks, Charles discovers that he has escaped death by a hairsbreadth. He becomes obessed with the thought of death, staying by the side of an unconcious patient whose life he has saved, and later plaguing him with questions about what he had experienced while he was at the point of death. Charles then takes off for an aid station, and spends time with a mortally wounded man, asking him what he was feeling.
Plot B: Secondary duties are rotated for the month, with Hawkeye in charge of the mess tent, Charles of the motor pool, Margaret of morale, Father Mulcahy of garbage...I can't remember what B.J. was in charge of, and I just saw it this morning!
Hawkeye found himself responsible for 50 (then 75) missing mess trays. Father Mulcahy was surrounded by mountains of garbage, and I couldn't understand why. They have garbage trucks, after all. Unless this was something else clipped for syndication, explaining WHY the garbage trucks hadn't shown up.
Margaret was basically the only person in camp who understood that something was troubling Charles. Everyone else thought he was just being weird. B.J. at one point asked what was wrong, but overlooked Charles' problem because he was more concerned with their patient who had "died".
Reportedly, the incident about the trays actually happened to Alda when he was in the service.
What I want to know is why we never see them doing these jobs at any other time. There's only a couple officers in camp -- shouldn't Hawkeye have been in charge of the mess tent at some other point before this and already know about the trays?
The garbage thing with Father Mulcahey was utterly ridiculous. Besides the points above, he seems to be fighting what looks to be nothing more than a large mound of cabbage. Shouldn't there be a little more in the garbage than unwanted vegetables?
Well, Hawk was once pay officer and officer of the day. But, you would think they'd've had more surgeons than what they did. Especially since the P.A. often announced all shifts to OR. Of course, if there were only the four surgeons, they seemed to spend more time together as a foursome than on duty.
Being in charge of morale seemed to be a duty that came and went. In the episode where they were short on supplies and in a state of "red alert", Henry had assigned everyone separate duties. When Father Mulcahy asked what his job was to be, Henry hesitated, then said "You'll be in charge of morale." It was obviously just a make-shift job, so that Mulcahy wouldn't feel left out.
The only other time I can think of was when Potter assigned both Hawkeye and B.J. to be morale officers, and only because they had been complaining the loudest.
Did Hawkeye stop complaining about the food after this episode, once he realized the problem of cooking in mass quantities? I don't think so.
I always thought that Rizzo was in charge of the motor pool.
Charles certainly was in a fey mood, wasn't he? Up at the aid station, when Potter asks if he realizes that he could get killed, Charles, with a far off expression, says something like, "No, I hadn't really thought about it. That would be interesting, wouldn't it?"
Several questions.
1) Why didn't Charles unburden himself to anyone but the wounded soldier in Post-Op? Why didn't he show his hat to anyone?
2) Why was Klinger so anxious to trick Hawkeye into signing for the mess trays, when it was Father Mulcahy who had been in charge the last time?
3) Hawkeye had said openly, in front of Margaret, that he was missing 75 trays. Why did Margaret so casually accept the "full" count of trays without asking Hawkeye how he had retrieved the missing ones? It's not as though we're talking about about one or two missing trays, and "Oh, I found them shoved under a bunk in the nurses' tent."
(There is one missing tray that we know about, from an episode where a North Korean sniper came into the chow line, filled up on food, and ran out--with the tray. I hardly think that he would have troubled to return it--Radar even commented on it.)
Didn't Charles also revcieved word that his brother was killed in the line of duty. Or was that another episode.
The only sibling I've ever heard Charles refer to is his sister Honoria.
(Of course, Hawkeye used to have a sister, but doesn't anymore....)
Charles does mention his brother Timmy, who died as a child in some sort of accident. That's in this episode -- connected to his obsession with death. No other siblings were ever mentioned, though Charles did have a nephew who was discharged from the army for fainting spells. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of.
I guess it had been so long since I saw this episode it just got scrambled. I probably did not see the entire episode and just the dialouge about his brother and filled in the gaps. I was probably ten or eleven when I last saw it.
Why is B.J. so upset with Charles? Given that Winchester is acting strangely, you'd think he'd try to find out why. Or someone would try.
In "Movie Tonight", Frank Burns was Garbage Officer. It certainly didn't look like he had to deal with a mountain like Father Mulcahy does in this ep. As a matter of fact, all Frank did was watch to see to it no one was throwing away edible food.
Just as Colonel Potter enters the changing room, Charles is looking up. The camera shot changes, and he's looking down.
Isn't the scene where B.J. talks with the soldier as he takes over the Laundry cut for syndication? It doesn't look all that familiar to me.
When Hawkeye starts to sit with B.J. in the Mess Tent, Hunnicutt is about to put a forkful of food in his mouth. The camera swings around and the fork is no longer near B.J.'s mouth.
I can't believe Hawkeye gave the MP 75 trays. Frankly, if it'd been me, I'd've told the MP I could only give 50 (or less).
Did Klinger steal (borrow) 75 trays from the 8063rd to make up for the missing 50 trays?
I think the scene in the compound where Margaret and Potter discuss Charles' mental state has been cut for syndication.
As Garbage Officer, did Mulcahy ever get any rest, or did he spend all his time making sure his mountain of trash didn't collapse? It looks like a never ending task.
The medic at the aide station answered the phone saying, "Battalion aid." What? The Army doesn't assign numbers to it's battalion aid stations? How does one know if they contacted the right station?
So Margaret signs for the trays, thinking she has all she'll need. Did Klinger ever tell her the truth? I mean, I would expect that at some point he would almost have had to told her there were 75 missing trays. Otherwise, if there's any charges against her because the 4077th was short 75 trays...well, Klinger and Hawkeye better run like hell.
The Orderly (the Medic at Battalion Aid who answers the phone) was played by Meshach Taylor, who would later star in such TV series as Designing Women (as Anthony Bouvier), Buffalo Bill (as Tony) and Dave's World (as Dr. Sheldon Baylor).
"Beaver biscuits!"
The medic at the aide station answered the phone saying, "Battalion aid." What? The Army doesn't assign numbers to it's battalion aid stations? How does one know if they contacted the right station?
Maybe the call has to be routed through a central batallion comm post? So you'd get the unit number when you call the comms, who will then hand you over to the only batallion aid station he's got.
Could be. But then again, whenever they call, say, another MASH unit, the call is placed to the 8063rd, for instance, and not another "MASH" unit, if you see what I'm saying.
"Beaver biscuits!"