The Yalu Brick Road

Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: M*A*S*H: Season Eight: The Yalu Brick Road
By D.K. Henderson on Friday, February 11, 2000 - 4:11 pm:

Plot A: The entire camp is down with salmonella from Klinger's Thanksgiving turkeys. Hawkeye and B.J, who were away at the time, are rushing back with medicine. They get lost, crash the jeep, and run into a North Korean soldier who is very anxious to surrender.
Plot B: Margaret, Father Mulcahy, and Charles, who were also away for Thanksgiving, are the only able-bodied people available to nurse, cook, and clean. Charles is not impressed.


By Dave on Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 7:15 pm:

I wonder what that N Korean soldier (Ralph) said to his comrades that kept them from killing or capturing the doctors? This is another moment in television were they should have used english subtitles


By Lolar Windrunner on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 2:55 am:

Actually I find it funnier not knowing what "Ralph" said as it lets me imagine all sorts of things.


By margie on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 11:20 am:

"They're mine and you can't have them!"


By Benn on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 11:34 am:

That's close to what I thought Ralph said. I think he may have added that he really wants/needs the reward (or medal) he'd get for capturing the two. Or maybe just that he had the situation under control.


By margie on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 11:43 am:

Actually, I was just joking! I thought it sounded good! :)


By Benn on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 11:39 pm:

I guess I should've read your post a little more closely, Margie. Then again, I'd've gotten the joke right off if it had been posted by John A. Lang. I guess I'm just too used to seeing the phrase on TOS boards.


By D.K. Henderson on Friday, August 26, 2005 - 8:34 pm:

When Hawkeye and B.J. are driving along, the camera suddenly swings to the front and we see a jeep or truck lying on its side. Swerving to avoid it, they crash. Problem is, if you take Hawkeye's warning yell and see where the overturned vehicle is, there should have been plenty of time to get out of the way without crashing.

The medicine must have been very carefully packed, considering all the abuse it took.


By Benn on Sunday, November 13, 2005 - 9:47 pm:

Surprise, surprise. This ep also has the "Also Starring Gary Burghoff as Radar" credit, even though Corporal Walter O'Reilly is no longer in Korea, much less on the show.

Hey! Is this Sgt. Rizzo's first appearance in the series, or did he appear last season?

After Rizzo is put on a bed in Post-Op, Colonel Potter puts an emesis bowl under the Sgt.'s chin. After Rizzo asks who are "Sam and Ella?" (salmonella, the disease he has), there's a cut and the emesis bowl is missing.

Back in "M*A*S*H Olympics", B.J., Hawkeye, Margaret, Klinger, Father Mulcahy and Winchester, among others, tried to right an overturned jeep. What makes Hunnicutt think he and Pierce can get their jeep back on its wheel?

And why did B.J. say he saw some MPs right an overturned vehicle before? Shouldn't he have been asking Hawkeye if Pierce remembered when the MPs got the ambulance back upright? They were both there when it happened.

Hawkeye and B.J. are walking down the road just after their failed attempt at righting their jeep. In the foreground, we can see "Ralph". As they near Ralph, Pierce and Hunnicutt are talking. Strangely, Ralph doesn't know they're there until one of the captains yelp. Surely, Ralph could have heard them talking before that? It's not like the two surgeons were whispering.

Why do Father Mulcahy and Charles have to do the laundry? I thought the 4077th hired L.I.Ps to do such tasks? In reality, there would also be South Koreans to do the bedpans and other menial labors, too. But then, M*A*S*H never quite accurately showed how the military put the locals to use in the Korean War.

For that matter, if there also so much work to be done - linens, bedpans, etc., then why are both Charles and the Padre doing linens? Shouldn't one be doing the laundry, the other the bedpans? That way both tasks are accomplished.

Wonder if Pierce and Hunnicutt returned Farmer Fred's motorbike? Then again, I'm also wondering why Fred kept the bike? I'm sure he could've gotten quite a bit of money for it if he sold it.

"I'm so conservative, I make you look like a New Dealer."


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