Plot: In a two-part episode, there is a rash of serious thieving in the camp. One of the stolen items is a fancy new self-developing camera that the father of a patient gratefully sent to the doctors. Blaming himself for the camera's loss, Klinger goes to "Little Chicago"-- a huge, mobile black market. He finds the very camera that was stolen. Detained by MPs, Klinger cannot convince them that he had not stolen the camera, since "Little Chicago" had already moved on. Klinger faces a court-martial, with only Charles' questionable legal aid. Back at the 4077th, the others work to trap the real thief.

I never liked this episode much, since it's so much a standard sitcom plot. Maybe it would have been okay as a single episode, but why the two-parter? It's obvious from the get-go that Klinger will somehow be cleared of the charges, so why try to create a feeling of suspense with the double episode? Maybe my standards are too high, but I always felt M*A*S*H should have been above this sort of stuff.

I always hated that MP who blandly ignored Klinger's explanation of why he had the camera.

After seeing Charles's emotional appeal at the end of the trial, all I can say is that I would NOT want him to represent me in a legal case. "My client is not guilty and if I lose, I'll be humiliated" is not the kind of argument I would want my lawyer using.

Why does Winchester want to be Klinger's lawyer? I'm not sure I understand his motivation.

Couldn't Hawkeye simply refuse to press charges? Would that have gotten Max off the hook?

I realize Klinger didn't know about Little Chicago, but surely there would be rumors floating around about the mobile black market.

>Why does Winchester want to be Klinger's lawyer?>

I think he just wanted to show off. He need so little provocation to do something like that.

Is it just my TV, or does the horseshoe game scene suddenly get a bit brighter as Father Mulcahy mentions "Thou shalt not kill"?

Hawkeye just gets a package from Highland Park, Illinois containing the camera. In the background, B.J. gets ready to throw another horseshoe. His position changes with two camera shots.

The guy Klinger bought the camera from in Little Chicago looks familiar. I think he has a brother who carved the bust of Colonel Potter in "Dear Mildred". (The actor playing the peddler appeared in a number of previous M*A*S*H episodes.)

Jail procedures must be very different today than back in the '50s. Today, if you're sent into a jail, all your valuables are taken from you. Including your wallet. Klinger, however, was apparently allowed to keep his wallet when the MPs arrested him.

"The undrinkable chasing the inedible."

Among the first scenes of "Snappier Judgment" is one in the Swamp where we see Hawkeye giving B.J. a haircut. Either the camp's barber is very bad or too expensive. Because once again, we see that no one ever uses the services of the Barber of the MASH.

Before the trial, Charles preps the witnesses (Margaret and Father Mulcahy). Winchester asks the Padre to give his assessment of Klinger's character. In one shot, the Father is looking downward. In the next shot, his head is tilted up.

BTW, wasn't Margaret's portion of the pre-trial prep edited out for syndication?

Klinger tells Potter he wishes the Colonel could go with him to the trial. Potter replies that someone has to stay behind, "in case we have to break out the welcome stretchers." So, in other words, Colonel Potter is going to treat all of the wounded by himself? Or are there other surgeons at the 4077^th we never see? As implied in a few other eps.

I realize Klinger didn't know about Little Chicago, but surely there would be rumors floating around about the mobile black market. - me

Let me expand on this. My thinking is that everyone but Klinger seems to be ignorant of the existence of Little Chicago. Yet, with the rash of thefts and the invesitgations the MPs and the Army's CID have going, you'd think they'd've heard something about Little Chicago. Yet, apparently, no one but Max (and Rosie) has heard of them. Certainly Captain Tripplet, who investigated Klinger in "Snap Judgment", heard Rosie mention Little Chicago. Surely, the Army would have followed up that reference and began looking for Little Chicago and would have learned the L.C. was constantly on the move. Yet, from all appearances in this ep, L.C. did not in any form exist as far as the military investigators were concerned.

I wonder if Charles' obvious incompetence as a "lawyer" could have gotten Klinger a retrial?

Pierce and Hunnicutt's picture does not necessarily exonerate Klinger. The MP could easily have been an accomplice of Max's. I'm surprised the Army didn't pursue that line of thought.

I hate that this ep ends with an MP arriving at the camp to investigate the 18 "hot Bibles" Klinger gave the Padre. That Klinger and Father Mulcahy escaped prosecution in this matter is obvious. I'd just like to know how they did it.

"The undrinkable chasing the inedible."

Doesn't the military courtroom look a lot like like a heavy re-dress of the post-op ward? Slanted ceiling, double doors near the far right corner...

The extra time afforded to the two-part story presents a missed opportunity to explain how trials are more about convicting or acquitting a defendant rather than determining the fact of guilt or innocence.