Plot A: Father Mulcahy is disappointed but resigned to being passed over for promotion again--until he finds that a famous helicopter pilot has been promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to Captain in only six months. Demanding that more efforts be made in his behalf, he is later embarrassed by his self-centeredness. Soon afterwards, he volunteers to become a live counterweight for a helicopter that is to carry only one patient.
Plot B: After a simple practical joke, Charles pushes for an all-out war, carefully keeping himself in the background, until the tables are turned on him.

Two things about this episode:

David Ogden Stiers at the beginning of this one does some nicely subtle acting. Watch his face, as the self-centered Winchester looks on sympathetically, as the Padre is told he's been passed over for a promotion. Then note how subtly he watches Margeret pour all that sugar into Hawkeye's coffee.

One nit: At the beginning of the episode, over the P.A., we're told that the previous night they had celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of the Officer's Club. The first year, right? Later, Margeret informs B.J. that she sent a letter to Peg telling Mrs. Hunnicut of the Major's and B.J. YEAR-long affair. B.J.'s been there a year? He was there when the O. Club opened? Must've been one of Hawkeye's cousins we didn't get to see.

If you listen carefully, you can hear a syndication cut. It's at the helicopter pad, where the pilot tells them about his counterweight. Margaret goes on to say something like "Little Mac! Then you must be Captain Toby (whatever his name). It's not often we get a change to meet a bona fide hero!"
In the cut, all that comes out is "Li--"

You know, you'd think by now that the members of the 4077th would learn not to hang their clothes by the door of the showers. I for one would be asking the C.O. to have the nails for hanging the clothes on the opposite side of the Shower Tent. I mean how many times have someone's clothes been stolen because of their proximity to the door?

I wonder if this is the ep where Nurse Kellye first became interested in Hawkeye? ("Hey Look Me Over") I mean, she does get to see him naked in this one. I guess she liked what she saw.

In this episode, the Padre acts like he's never been to the Front before. What about "Mulcahy's War"?

In the ep, "The Merchant of Korea", Charles claim he never sweats. Look at him after Margaret, Hawkeye and B.J. pay him back for instigating the practical jokes. His underarms are soaked.

Question... When Margaret pulls the prank about of stealing the clothes, she first goes to Charles and thanks him for setting up the joke. What did Charles do??? The nurses were Margaret's responsability, so one would assume that she got them together in the swamp. She walked into the shower. There was only so much set up in the prank. Did Charles convense Hawkeye and BJ to take a shower? Did he tell them that they must hang up their clothes by the door? It doesn't seem that he really did anything.

Probably all Winchester did was suggest the plan - the idea - of the prank and Margaret was thanking him for the idea.

I've watched this episode several times, and I'm still trying to figure out the pie prank. Was this something people would get in the the 50's or 70's that someone in the 21st century not get?

The pattern of powder on B.J.'s chin changes between shots.

After Hawkeye tells Klinger to "hold the rust" on the "fresh canned peaches", B.J. starts to turn. In the next shot, he makes the same turn again.

Does Margaret have another cabinet/closet that we haven't seen before? The one we see in most episodes would cause Little Mac to fall on her feet, not on top of her.

That red shirt Beej has worn earlier in the season is starting to fade into the familiar pink shirt of later seasons, it seems.

It's incredible that Hunnicutt, Pierce and Winchester thought they could just take Captain Hill's personal property (Little Mac) and use him in their little practical joke apparently without Hill's permission. (There's no indication one way or another that he was asked if they could borrow Mac.) That's pretty damned rude of them.

You can tell Margaret started to get suspicious of Charles when she commented on how good Winchester was with the practical jokes. And when the Major mentioned he visited Margaret after the Little Mac incident, that had to have convinced Pierce and Hunnicutt of Charles' complicity in the jokes.

Judging by Hunnicutt telling Margaret "You're welcome" for the idea of how to get back at Charles, that whole letter to Peg gag was B.J.'s idea.

As Charles is trying to pretend he wasn't fooled, "Row Row Row Your Boat" is playing in the background.

How did Charles raise his head into that lamp without breaking the bulb?

Please note that both times Hill brought in a wounded soldier, that soldier had a head wound.

I've watched this episode several times, and I'm still trying to figure out the pie prank. Was this something people would get in the the 50's or 70's that someone in the 21st century not get? - Corey Hines

It looks to me like it was just done so Margaret could make a fool of herself. She thought the pie came from Hill and started to flirt with Captain Hill. The Captain, of course, knew nothing about the pie, and thus had no idea what Major Houlihan was talking about. This created a rather awkward situation for Margaret, thus embarrassing her. That seems to be the whole point of the gag - embarrassing Margaret.

"All that good whiskey shot to hell."

There's an early part in the Mess tent scene that's cut. Toby is sitting with Col. Potter and expresses an interest in Margaret. Potter warns him to go easy on her because of her divorce. This explains why Toby was so surprised when Margaret walked up and began flirting. If he'd been quicker on the uptake, he could have said something like, "Well, I didn't send over that pie, but I wish I'd thought of it."

BTW, what strings did Charles pull to get a rare lemon pie made in the first place?