Plot A: Spoiled by Radar's competence, everyone complains about Klinger, until Father Mulcahy points out that Radar was even worse when he first took on the job.
Plot B: B.J. is distraught when he learns that his little daughter addressed Radar in his uniform as "Daddy", making him realize how much of her lifetime he has missed.
That scene with Hawkeye and B.J. in Potter's office has to be one of the most poignant of the series.
I agree. It brings tears to my eyes every time I see it, and I don't even have any kids.
This episode marks the last time the back of Radar's head can be seen during the opening theme.
My bad. "Bottle Fatigue" is the episode where we last see Radar's head.
Just saw this one - I still don't think B. J.'s a whiner. He's a brooder and an exploder, which he demonstrated amply, but nothing he did fits my definition of whining. I think he was perfectly justified in his reaction (but not necessarily his actions). He is losing more than any other main character. And unlike a whiner, once he works through this particular stab to his heart he's back to normal.
Two things about Pierce. "Nobody wants to get home more than I do" - are you kidding?? What about Klinger? What about B. J.? And the little 'alcohol doesn't solve your problems' speech was too funny. I bet Pierce drinks more than anyone else in camp.
I agree that the scene between B. J. and Pierce in Potter's office was one of the most moving I've seen so far.
First of all, I don't like the scene in Potter's office. I think it was contrived, and frankly, poorly acted by Farrell. Somehow, he just didn't make me believe he was a man grieving for his family. The whole crying deal was just not well-done by Mike Farrell.
For another thing, I think that what people have to lose, what they're missing, is all relative. I think that, to Potter, missing his wife, daughter, and the growth and development of his grandson was just as important as missing his wife and kid was to BJ. I think that Charles was hurting and needing his family just as much as BJ hurt and needed his. What you have, you love and hold on to. Just beacuse BJ had a little kid to go home to doesn't make his brand of pain any worse. And if I were there, I would resent the heck out of being told that he was hurting more than I was, just because I missed my parents and sister, and he missed his wife and kid. Cry me a river. We all hurt. We don't all coldcock our "best" friend. We don't all snarl at people who love us, and we don't all hustle everybody around for pinball games and sympathy (Wheelers and Dealers). However, back to my earlier point: How dare anybody say who is losing more? Is the patient who spontaneously aborted twins hurting more than the one who just lost a single baby? No. Pain is relative. How somebody percieves pain is how it is. We can't say "That person isn't hurting that much." All we can say is "that person is saying that they feel a lot of pain." For instance, a patient can say "This contraction is unbearable," while my hand on her belly says that it's of mild intensity. Meanwhile, the patient in the next room is saying "this is uncomfortable, but I can deal with it," yet I assess her contraction as the same intensity as the first lady's. In other words, he who yells the loudest isn't necessarily in the most discomfort.
I just don't think that anybody has the right to say that one person is hurting more than another, because nobody but that person knows how intense that pain is. What one person is losing or missing seems like something of the upmost concern--to that person.
B. J. isn't the only one who reacts excessively when hurt - Margaret's thrown many violent temper tantrums, especially over news of Donald's infidelity. They were both wrong for not acting with more self-control but I think they both had a good enough excuse that they shouldn't be condemned too harshly.
I wasn't saying that B. J.'s hurting more than anyone else. I said he had the *right* to be hurting more. He is missing just about the most important parts of his daughter's life, both for him and for her. Only Potter is in a similar situation, but one grandfather isn't nearly as important to a child as its father.
Taking this to an extreme, it's like comparing a paper cut with a migraine. The person fighting a migraine has more right and cause to grumble (whether they should be grumbling or not).
In your assessment, BJ had more to miss. Okay, that's fine. But how can one unrelated person decide whom has the "right" to hurt more? Because you assess a child as being more to miss than a sibling or parent? It's harder to miss out on two years of your baby's life than it is to lose a marriage? What about Radar, who missed the last two years of his uncle/surrogate father's life? My point is, nobody knows how much something affected somebody. Maybe it hurt Margaret more to lose her husband than it did to be seperated from her family, I don't know. But I do know that somebody who has never even been in a situation like theirs shouldn't be able to say that one person is allowed to hurt more than another. And I sure don't think that BJ had a right to act like he was suffering more.
I think I understand what you're saying. Someone separated from their sister could be hurting as much or more than someone separated from their wife. But as adults it's normal and natural to not see parents or siblings for rather long lengths of time, whereas it's the opposite of normal and natural to be so separated from your spouse or young child. If one adult cares more about being away from their sister than another cares about being away from their daughter in the same situation, something's wrong. That's why I have more sympathy towards B. J. than anyone else (though Margaret's close).
And I sure don't think that BJ had a right to act like he was suffering more.
Well, I think B. J. (and anyone else who suffers so much) has the right to blow up occasionally, as in today's ep., but that most of the time he should bear his burden like the rest. And he does.
Actually, Lurker, there's Sgt. Rizzo, who also had a wife and child stateside. Earlier in the series, there was Henry and Trapper who both had families back home. Trapper also missed the first few years of his yougest daughter's life. But you never saw any of these men whine as much as B.J. did. After a while, it got annoying to me.
Henry missed the birth of his son! Slightly more traumatic than missing out on two years of a child's life, I think.
I just saw this one again yesterday and suddenly noticed something. In one scene, Charles comes to relieve Hawkeye in Post-Op, warning Hawkeye that B.J. is drinking heavily. Hawkeye goes back to the Swamp, has the conversation with B.J, and gets punched out. Commercial. Next scene, Charles is in the Swamp, discussing what happened, when Potter and Margaret come in. Potter, Margaret and Charles go looking for B.J. and Klinger, while Hawkeye goes back to operate again on a problem patient. The nit is...who is covering Post-Op? In other shows, they make it clear that Post-Op is manned around the clock. Whom did Charles get to cover for him, and why? He wouldn't have known that there was a need to leave Post-Op...until after he had left!
This marks, what, the third time that the still has been damaged and repaired? Frank's broken it at least once (The Pilot episode).
Mulcahy tells Colonel Potter about what a klutz Radar was when he was first made Company Clerk. Some of the details on how bad Radar was are mentioned in the episode, "Love Story".
In the episode, "Operation Friendship", B.J. has his hand operated on. Frankly, he should have had his other had worked on this ep. It's kind of a long standing complaint with me, but anytime somebody uses a part of their body (or their entire body) to break a window (or any piece of glass), it'd be virtually impossible for them to do so and not get cut. In this ep, a drunken B.J. trying to unlock the Colonel's liquor cabinet, instead slams his hand through the glass. Again, odds are he would've needed stitches. (Yes, I know Hollywood uses "candy glass", but having worked with glass for six years - raw and tempered - I know how easy it is to get cut by it. I've got the scars to prove it.)
I got my hand slashed in about 8 places by putting a fist through a car window once. It took about 27 stiches to get things under control and a lot of sedatives to get me under control.
Well, Hunnicut certainly the sedative, after all he'd been drinking.
Something to consider in the scene in Potter's office BJ seems to sober up a little to quickly. I mean Klinger passes out yet BJ is able to talk and move as if he hadn't had a drop all night.
In the episode "Change of Command," Potter asked Mulcahy if he could do a Methodist service for him on Sundays.
In this episode, when Mulcahy told Potter that they once had a company clerk worse than Klinger, Potter asked "you wouldn't lie to a Presbyterian would you?"
Benn said above:....anytime somebody uses a part of their body (or their entire body) to break a window (or any piece of glass), it'd be virtually impossible for them to do so and not get cut.
Don't forget that Kirk used his bare hand to break glass in Star Trek II, despite having items that he could have readily used instead (e.g. the handle of his phaser). Yes, I know it was in reality "candy glass." That scene still makes me cringe a bit.
Yeah, it makes me cringe, too. Instead of using the butt of the phaser, he could've used the phaser to disintegrate the glass, too. I guess Kirk was just feeling extra macho that day because he had just turned 50.
Horse hockey!
The opening credits to this ep lists "Gary Burghoff starring as Radar." Yet, Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly, who was just discharged from the Army in the previous ep, does not appear in this one. Unless you count the caricature that Klinger and B.J. threw darts at. Or the painting in Colonel Potter's office.
Thus far, from the episode "Too Many Cooks" to this ep, a little more than a month has expired for the people at the 4077th. "Too Many Cooks", "Are You Now, Margaret?" and "Guerilla My Dream" all take place within a week's time. (Given how long Radar was on R&R.) Then comes "Goodbye, Radar". That's about 4 days, maybe. Depending on how long it took "I" Corp to process Radar's discharge. Then in this ep we learn that Klinger has been company clerk for two weeks.
In the longshot where Klinger explains to Potter that he's busy with mail call, Max's right hand is pointing at the mail. In the next shot, a close up, where Klinger is reciting the postman's creed, the hand no longer is pointing at the mail. It doesn't appear to have ever been pointing in that direction.
Klinger dumped a whole duffle bag-full of mail on his bunk and he's only delivering a handful? What about the rest of the mail on his bunk? He didn't even sort through any of the mail from what we see.
When Charles complains to Klinger that the Major found his mail on the ground, Max says, "I dropped it." Watch carefully as Klinger says that. Several more letters fall from his hand. A nice little joke.
Y'know, Hawkeye really shouldn't talk to people who miss their wife and children. Especially when they're drunk. When he did that with Trapper in "Mail Call" (the "Pioneer Aviation" ep), Captain McIntyre used his duffle bag to knock Pierce down. In this ep, B.J. just flat out decks Hawkeye.
In case anyone cares, the menu at Rosie's features
For me, the biggest nit of this ep (and the ones prior to this one) is how inept Klinger is at the company clerk job. It's not like Max hasn't replaced Radar before. Klinger apparently did a competent job back then. Otherwise, Potter wouldn't have made Max the new company clerk. Yet, all of a sudden, Max can't do the job very well at all. Huh?
"I'm so conservative, I make you look like a New Dealer."