Plot: Supplies are low, and the 4077th receives a shipment of ice cream churns and salt tablets, instead of winter gear. B.J. receives a mystery novel, "The Rooster Crowed at Midnight" that makes the rounds of the camp, but the last page is

Plot B: Supplies of light bulbs are also low, and as a result, Charles nearly kills a patient by dosing him with curare instead of another drug.

When Charles brought Margaret Chapter 3 and settled down to read it to her, he opened up to the inner side of the first page. The outer side of the page was completely blank. These are chapters being torn out of a book. I have never seen a book that put a blank page in between chapters.
That book seemed pretty racy for that style of whodunit.
Margaret complained that she wouldn't be able to read it well with the feeble candlelight on her table. She had several other candles scattered around her tent. Why didn't she gather them all on the one table?
B.J. was the first to start the book and naturally was the first to reach the end. I could not understand why he would immediately presume to tell everyone else what he thought the answer was, or why everyone else, including people who were probably on the first chapters, were anxious to hear it. I would have told him to shut up until everyone else had finished.

Is the copy of The Rooster Crowed At Minight the only copy in existence? If the writer's solution is wrong, surely, the MASHers could have called someone Stateside to take a peek at the novel's last page to learn who did it.

Naturally everyone wants to read The Rooster Crowed At Midnight. But doesn't tearing the book apart chapter by chapter seem like a bad solution? You would think that splitting the book up would cause pages to be lost.

Apparently Chapter 1 is twenty-one pages long. That's how many pages B.J. has read when he removes the first chapter out of the book. Please note, that Hunnicutt does not flip through any pages to get to Chapter 1. He simply rips out the pages up to where he's at in the novel.

When Charles read the line, "...and highly responsive to the whip", Margaret laughs nervously. She must be thinking of some of her times with Frank and/or Donald Penobscot.

Charles accidently administers curare instead of morphine to a patient. What, exactly, was the curare doing in Post-Op? Does it serve a post-operative function? From all other eps, it's used for surgery.

Hawkeye says the bag, the last thing that comes off the supply truck, is empty. It has The Rooster Crows At Midnight. How could Hawkeye not notice how heavy the bag weighs?

When Charles accidently calls Margaret "Jessica", Major Houlihan's right eyebrow is raised in one camera angle. The camera shifts angle immediately after and the eyebrow is at its normal level.

Potter tries to refuse to sign the chit for the delivery truck because he doesn't need the salt tablets etc. Why does he let his people unload the truck, then? (And can the surplus be traded in 6 months, when it's summer?)

Benn, Is the copy of The Rooster Crowed At Minight the only copy in existence? If the writer's solution is wrong, surely, the MASHers could have called someone Stateside to take a peek at the novel's last page to learn who did it.

I guess it's a case of "go to the horse' mouth". If the author is wrong about the solution, that means the novel is badly written?

D.K. That book seemed pretty racy for that style of whodunit.

Maybe Charles was adding some spice to the scene?

I guess it's a case of "go to the horse' mouth". If the author is wrong about the solution, that means the novel is badly written? - constanze

Abigail Porterfield, the author of the book, was supposed to be 97 years old when they called her. She seemed to be a bit senile. I mean, the fist solution she gave for the murders was a character who wasn't even in The Rooster Crowed at Midnight. I'd definitely be calling around looking for a complete copy of the novel. Maybe even calling the publisher.

There's a scene (I think it's been cut for syndication) where Klinger enters Post-Op to take a light bulb out of one of the lamps in Post-Op. The lab needs it. Klinger starts to take the one on Charles' side of the room, but Winchester complains that he's already made more than enough sacrifices for one day. He orders Max to take the bulb from Hawkeye's side of the room. Pierce makes a snarky remark about Winchester that Charles takes exception to. He thinks Pierce is implying that Charles is an inferior doctor and person. In a show of one-up-manship, the Major orders Max to take the bulb from his side of the room. One question - In the background, there's a lamp by a patient's cot. Why doesn't Klinger take that bulb?

When Charles is reading Chapter Three to Margaret and the POV is on him, the candle is not visible in that shot. Yet, the shots showing both Charles and Margaret show that Winchester is holding the pages below the top of the candle. And when the POV is on Margaret, the pages cannot be seen, yet I think they should be visible from that angle.

Would holding the pages below the candle top level be the best way to read those pages by candlelight? It seems to me, that the pages would receive less light when held in that position.

Scene cut: Nurse Bigelow knocks on the door of the officers latrine to inform B.J. that Lord Randolph could not have been the murderer.

When Hawkeye is talking to the soldier Charles gave curare to, the close-ups on the patient has him looking to his right. Yet Hawkeye is sitting on his left.

The part of Sgt. Hacker (the supply truck driver) was played by Phillip Baker Hall. Hall appeared in such films as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Ghostbusters II, Air Force One, Rush Hour and the remake of Psycho.

"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."