Plot A: Sidney Freedman, wounded while doing some front line therapy, is depressed because the soldier he was working with blames him for the soldier's injuries.
Plot B: The entire camp is tense and irritable, and when it becomes necessary to burn some Chinese uniforms, the fuel for the bonfire keeps growing and growing and....

I've always wondered just what that soldier's initial problem was. I know I should make allowances for his mental and physical state, but I still found his reactions very childish. Being so bright and friendly and happy one minute, then turning if off the moment he saw Sidney. After all, he wasn't hurt that badly, and Sidney was hurt, too. Would he rather have gone home on a Section 8?

The initial bonfire was put awfully close to someone's tent.

I'm surprised that Charles didn't run and toss Hawkeye and/or B.J's cot on the fire.

I loved having Radar throw his bugle on the fire, thereby "improving" the tone.

I'd love to have seen Col. Potter talking to Supply about requisitioning new items: "What happened to the old ones?" "Um, well, we, uh...burnt them."

Also, I keep thinking that that bonfire would have been an alert to enemies, something like someone standing on top of the roof shouting "HEY WE'RE OVER HERE, AND ALL OF US ARE STANDING AROUND A FIRE SINGING, SO YOU CAN JUST WIPE OUT ALL OF US AT ONCE IF YOU WANT!"

Well, the 4077 was not exactly a favorite of enemy fire, and their position was certainly no sectre from the other side. I mean, they seldom were fired upon by enemy forces. It's illegal to fire on a medical unit anyway, though North Korea and China were not the most likely to obey the Geneva Convention.
--Lilith

This is the episode where Margaret accuses Charles of touching his nose. The argument would be revisited in the M*A*S*H finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen".

Sydney must be psychic. He tells Radar that when he leaves Korea, the Corporal will probably not need his teddy bear anymore. Sure enough, in "Goodbye Radar", Lt. Walter O'Reilly does indeed leave his teddy bear behind.

Did you notice that near the end of the episode, Klinger is wearing his lucky red bandana? The one his mother gave him? This bandana was first seen in the first season episode, "Dear Dad". I thought it vanished after that ep.

>Lt. Walter O'Reilly does indeed leave his teddy bear behind. <

I thought teddy's almost always had a "bear behind!"

Well, I found out what the soldier's problem was. It was during the scene in O.R. that usually gets cut now--the infamous "nose-touching" sequence. (BTW, Charles did, in fact, leave the O.R. to re-wash his hands, at Col. Potter's orders.) Sidney, his own head injury tidied up, is gowned and masked, watching Hawkeye operate on his patient. The problem was one that Hawkeye himself had dealt with in an earlier episode--hysterical paralysis. Sidney said that when he first treated the soldier, the boy had had to be carried into his office. He had seen three of his buddies die in very short order.

The scene in the mess tent is a little longer than is usually shown now. It shows Margaret and Charles in the chow line, followed by Hawkeye, B.J, Potter and Sidney. Charles makes a biting comment to Margaret, which resumes the nose argument. (Interestingly, Margaret and Charles elect to sit beside each other at a table even while they're snapping at each other.)

The initial bonfire was put awfully close to someone's tent.

Yeah, the Swamp. Not only is that bonfire too close to the Swamp, but you'd think it would have been built outside of the compound period.

When Potter is talking to Sidney about seeing some of the 4077^th's personnel, you can see inside of the Mess Tent. Inside, to the right of the screen, is someone holding a cup of coffee. What you should be seeing is Radar and Klinger arguing over the teddy bear.

Zale is shown scooping up the infested Chinese uniforms with two shovels. Is there a reason he can't use surgical gloves instead? And why are the infested clothes lying on the ground? Shouldn't they be kept in a bag or something to keep the lice from jumping off the uniform and finding a new home in the dirt or the Swamp?

Okay, now I'm curious. According to Winchester, he'd had enough of psychiatry when he was nine years old - and no, you may not ask him about it. But I wanna know. What would a nine years old Charles Winchester be seeing a shrink for?

The soldier helping Zale build the bonfire, is not, it appears, wearing combat boots. He seems to be wearing black dress shoes. And boy do they squeak!

The next morning, when Potter sees the bonfire, its position has been changed. It was originally between the Mess Tent and the Swamp. It is now no longer between the two tents and further away from them.

After talking to Sidney, Potter orders the camp to build "one regulation bon-type fire". Would a ladder, a bench, a bunch of crates, the Army cookbook, Sidney's clothes and all the other stuff the camp heap upon the pile be considered part of a "regulation bon-type fire"?

Radar, trying to get Sidney's attention in the V.I.P tent, goes "Psst" a few times. The Major asks Radar if he's sprung a leak. Hawkeye made a similar joke in the first season.

Notice that Radar often refers to his teddy bear as "it". Despite the fact that they are close.

Sidney mentions I Love Lucy, a show that debuted in 1951, to Radar. Would Corporal O'Riley really have any idea what the Major is talking about? We know from "Abyssinia, Henry" that Radar was in Korea in '51. So how could he have ever seen the show?

NANJAO: If you look at B.J.'s head when he runs to get Sidney, it looks like he has a bald spot on his head.

By the time Sidney is talking to Father Mulcahy, the tape on the bandage on Major Freedman's head has changed positions. I suppose it could have been redone since Sidney talked to Tom.

You know, Potter helping to throw his desk into the bonfire reminds me that this makes about the third time in the series that the C.O.'s desk had to be replaced. Twice for Henry. ("To Market, To Market" and "Crisis")

That soldier helping Zale build the bonfire was apparently named "Igor". But it wasn't Jeff Maxwell playing him. Apparently Maxwell was unavailable at the time and the role was more or less recast.

"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."

And why the heck is Klinger going around with the army cook manual tucked in his pants? Seems it would be stored in the kitchen.

>That soldier helping Zale build the bonfire was apparently named "Igor". But it wasn't Jeff Maxwell playing him. Apparently Maxwell was unavailable at the time and the role was more or less recast.<

There could have been more than one guy in camp with the same name. Granted, Igor's not exactly a common name in the States, but it could happen!

Charles might need to see a "shrink" cause his "father" (not his "dad") took no interest in him, or treated him like dirt.

At least that is the impression I got from his talk with Hawk in "Sons & Bowlers"

I have a "father", you (Hawk) have a "dad."