Plot: Frustrated at the year-long, endless diddling at the peace talks, Hawkeye decides to write a letter to Harry Truman. Among other things, he details the idiocy of trying to "beautify" the camp in order to qualify for a better water heater. A young Korean Americanophile assists in the project, and later asks B.J. to perform surgery on him to give him "American" eyes. (Margaret later persuades him that he's suave and debonair just the way he is.) A young Marine becomes literally "blind" drunk on bootleg hooch, thinking that he was drinking good whiskey. The bootleggers had drilled a hole in the bottom of the bottle, drained out the good stuff, put the rotgut in and sealed it with wax.
Margaret must feel very powerful at times. When Klinger's work detail threw down their tools and refused to work on such a silly project, he told Margaret, who simply smiled at the men and said, "Oh, they are?" The men promptly leaped up and set to.
I thought that the fountain was a bit over the top, myself.
This is a pretty commonly mentioned nit, but no one's posted it yet, so I will. Hawkeye seals his letter and gives it to Kellye in Post-Op to be mailed, then they reveal the fountain, and then Hawk is shown finishing the letter a second time.
I seem to dimly remember Hawkeye asking for the letter back, because he had more to add. Syndication cuts?
That could be it. Unfortunately I've never seen the unedited episodes. Oh well, just one more reason to hate the way Fox butchers the show.
Does anyone know what happened to the fountain, bushes, and bench after this episode? I don't remember seeing them in any later episodes.
Probably after the ambulance smashed into them, they all said, "What the he--, just throw them out." They probably figured that once the order was in for their new water heater, no one would be back to check their maintenance.
I think it's kind of funny that after all those VD films ("Hansel and Regrettel", among others) that the 4077th has an apparently high rate of VD sufferers. You'd think the medical staff would have been concerned about before Father Mulcahy brought it up.
When B.J. talks with the Korean boy, Kim Hahn, look at the trash cans in front of the Mess Tent. One can is clean on the inside, but dirty outside. Not just clean, it looks new; like the prop department (or set designers) bought a new can and touched up the outside to make it look used.
I see that Klinger still keeps women's clothing. When he digs through his footlocker to get the bottle of booze, when of the items he pulls out is a red brassiere.
By the way, Klinger steps outside of office and breaks the bottle. Wouldn't that be counterproductive? I mean they are trying to beautify the 4077th.
It looks to me that Margaret concentrates only on the one area of the 4077th. It doesn't look like the rest of the camp is worked on for beautification.
"I seem to dimly remember Hawkeye asking for the letter back, because he had more to add." - D.K. Henderson
That doesn't happen until the end of the episode - after the ambulance runs into the fountain.
You'd think that in deciding where the fountain goes, they'd've taken into consideration where the ambulances drive. Otherwise, they might have avoided the accident that occured at the episode's end.
By the way, that fountain is downright tacky. That it was proclaimed an addition to the camp's beautification efforts, makes me think no one has any taste.
Didn't Hawkeye write a letter to Truman in an earlier episode?
Yes, I believe that was in the ep, "The Interview". In it, Pierce mentions sending a letter to Truman saying something about Bess Truman. Hawkeye was surprised the President didn't respond by calling him a son-of-a-•••••", since Truman had called everyone else one.
"Horse hockey!"
If this ep does indeed take place on the first anniversary of the Korean War truce talks, then it takes place on July 10, 1952. (See this page for reference to when the first truce talks were held.) If that date is true, then it creates a nit. As "Change of Command" establishes, Colonel Potter did not take command of the 4077th until September of '52. (Which also means neither Charles nor B.J. were in Korea in July of that year.)
Hwkeye has a picture of Harry S Truman among his effects? I dunno why, but that surprises me.
Kinda odd to me that none of the soldiers who quit digging and picking up rocks didn't just leave the work area. Instead, they just conveniently sat down so Margaret could order them back to work.
Didn't Klinger have that same "Foreman" helmet in "Cementing Relationships"? Does this mean the Corporal has two helmets?
The scene where Hawkeye acts as a "chaperone" for the business girls (while Winchester innoculates them) has been cut for syndication, I do believe.
So Kim Han was going to catch a ride to the 8063rd via military transport? Since when did the Army provide transportation to Korean civilians? Other than to send them to a refugee camp?
Close captioning has Kellye saying, "The Harry S. Truman?" IIRC, there is no period after the "Ess" in Truman's name. It's just "Harry S Truman".
What's the source of the water for the fountain? In most episodes, the unit stores its water in a tower. And often has to have it transported to the unit. If this is the case, then wouldn't the fountain be a waste of the camp's water supply?
Just after announcing the 4077th would be getting its water heater, in the long shot, Colonel Ditka has his hand on Potter's shoulder. The shot changes and the hand is no longer touching Sherman.
"The undrinkable chasing the inedible."