Plot: In a unique episode, the camera becomes the eyes of a Texas soldier wounded in the throat. Starting with just before being wounded, he is then treated by a medic, flown to the 4077th, and operated on (twice). He also manages to help out with Col. Potter, who is out of sorts after forgetting his wedding anniversary.
I'm sorry, but after repeated viewings, this episode does not hold up too well. I thought it was great the first few times I've seen it, but now... Well, I feel it's much too manipulative. I mean we rarely, if ever, saw the staff of the 4077th take their troubles to their patients. Nor did they ever center on a patient quite like they do in this ep, either. It didn't look at all like any of the other wounded were being given much medical care. Of course, the whole idea, I assume, of this episode was to fulfill the fantasy of the M*A*S*H fans and them feel that they were being personally taken care of by the M*A*S*H gang.
Of course, first views from a camera never really work. Look at something on the wall. Keep focusing on the object and shake your head no. Even though your field of vision changes, you still are focused on the one object, right? This is something the camera has yet to properly duplicate. For me, it makes the whole experience seem superficial.
I dunno...I always really liked this show. Besides the novelty value (I agree, the point-of-view effects are pretty chintzy) it shows off the M*A*S*H crew in a really nice light -- as people who do their best with these patients' lives in their hands.
As for the focusing in on one patient thing...i get the impression that Private Rich was supposed to be a sort of pet, somebody everybody was rooting for. Also it could have been a slow week for casualties (lots of time to fuss with a few patients.)
Having just seen this episode, I have to say I agree with kerriem's observations. So much so, really, that I would really have felt for the M*A*S*H crew if the soldier hadn't survived.
Again, as I've said, I just don't feel this ep is as good as it was the first time I saw it. It's lost much of its impact and just comes across as a gimmick. Without the first person viewpoint, the story is rather weak, IMHO. But, hey, if you and Kerrie and everyone likes it, what does my opinion matter?
Regarding the way everyone focuses on Private Rich...how do we know that they don't focus just as much on their other patients? We just don't get to see that because the storyline usually focuses elsewhere. Sure, it's a gimmick, but that's television. I always enjoyed seeing it. Now, if they'd tried to beat it to death by using the gimmick every season....
I think that I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for this episode because it was the first episode of MASH I ever saw. I do think, though that it's not so much that all thier attention was lavished on one soldier, so much as, we only see that soldier's perspective. I always had the idea that they give that much attention to the other patients as well when they can, but that in this case we don't see it with the other wounded.
It does seem to be a rather light time casualty-wise. Besides the point of veiw wounded, there seems to be the one from the same unit who was hit in the leg, the one that keeps trying to hit on Margaret, and maybe one or two others.
Pentalarc
You know, Private Rich (the POV soldier) must be pretty tall. The angle of his "eyesight" seems to indicate that he's taller than his fellow soldiers. About a head taller.
Who cleaned Private Rich's boots? When he being taken off the jeep, his boots were quite dusty. However, in Pre-Op, they're clean and shiny.
I had to use the zoom on my DVD player to read it, but the book the lech in the bed next to Rich, it's called (ironically) Visiting Nurse.
It does seem to be a rather light time casualty-wise. Besides the point of veiw wounded, there seems to be the one from the same unit who was hit in the leg, the one that keeps trying to hit on Margaret, and maybe one or two others. - Pentalarc
Actually, it's probably a full house in Post-Op. If you look carefully, you can see that on the side opposite of Private Rich there's not one empty bed. Plus, there are at least two on Rich's right.
So Potter makes it a point to meet every patient at the 4077th? Did he ever take time out to meet the others in Post-Ops?
This is the third episode, I believe, to mention General Imbrie.
According to the letter Rich is writing to his Mom and Dad (just after his tour of the Mess Tent), it's 9-12-51. That's almost a year before Colonel Potter was assigned to the 4077th. (Much less before Charles and B.J. were.)
In "Images" Colonel Potter says he's been married to Mildred for 38 years. In this ep, three years of marriage is lost. Potter tells Private Rich the Potters have been married for 35 years as of last Saturday. (Which is also a nit. In "Images", Potter specified they married in April, not September, the month this ep takes place in.)
Did Hawkeye ever wear that plaid shirt in any other ep? (The one he has on after Potter tells Rich about missing the wedding anniversary.) I don't remember seeing it again.
After Private Rich is operated on again, he's put into a different bed. Why? (Director got tired of shooting the same scene?)
If you look carefully to the right of the screen as the truck moves away from Potter, B.J. and Hawkeye, you can just make out the camera crew reflected in the truck's glass.
"All that good whiskey shot to hell."
I realize that they were played by two different actors, but at the very beginning of the episode, when we hear Private Rich speak clearly for the only time in the episode, he sounds remarkably like the young medic with amnesia in "The Billfold Syndrome."
I'm sure that Potter does make a point to meet everyone in Post-Op. This is just one of the thousand and one things that occur off-screen.
In Life Time the entire Ep focuses basically on one patient.
I first saw this episode 25 years ago.
It played again yesterday, and I could recite it word for word.
It is the best TV show I have ever seen.
Now that's one helluva good memory you got there, Anon. I might be able to remember selected lines. But the whole ep...?
"All that good whiskey shot to hell."
You need to have the same experience as Private Rich, and I did.
I was mesmerized by it 25 years ago, and I broke down watching it again Saturday.