Plot A: Father Mulcahy comes down with infectious hepatitis, which necessitates a check-up for all personnel.
Plot B: Hawkeye, reading about the exploits of an "incredibly average" doctor back home, must deal with psychosomatic back pain while conducting examinations.
Plot C: B.J. must perform a very tricky operation.
I understand that the idea for this episode came when William Christopher actually came down with hepatitis.
I loved the scene in Margaret's tent, but if Hawkeye had to have a second person present while examining the FEET of the opposite sex, then surely he would have needed someone there while checking a woman's eyes, tongue, and liver, not to mention the rump shot.
One would think so! *grin*
This is one of the only two episodes I have never seen before. I've been trying to see it for some time now, but the only time that the TV guide said it would be on, somebody in my house (I've yet to find the culprit) left the VCR turned on, so it didn't tape! Boo hoo!! Anybody want to tell me about it?
This episode has a really funny scene which is always cut, now. In the Swamp, Hawkeye explains to Frank about the need to check for hepatitis. Frank becomes frantic and pushes himself at Hawkeye, wanting him to check his tongue and eyes. Hawkeye mentions that he needs to check the liver and Frank cries, "Well, feel it!" and flings himself down on his cot, rather like a dog looking for a tummy rub.
In the syndicated version, this is reduced to Hawkeye commenting in Margaret's tent that Margaret handles the matter much more calmly than his last patient, Frank.
The scene D.K. describes (Frank wanting his liver felt) was shown in this print of the episode. It is classic.
In the episode "Carry On, Hawkeye", Margaret would resolutely refuse to allow Pierce to give her a shot in the butt. In this ep, she almost refuses, even going so far as to demand that Hawkeye administer the shot in her right arm. She ends up giving in and allowing him to give her the shot in her rear.
I know Hawkeye gave Margaret two shots, but I believe he only gave B.J. and Klinger one each. Klinger's was administered in the arm. B.J. got his "in the end".
As well as being so frantic about the hepatitis, Frank also shows a touch of hypochondria. He complains of not feeling well, of having a lump under his sternum that feels like a marble (not like an "aggie", more like an...well, I'm not sure what the word was. Marble enthusiasts would know), and that the lymph nodes under his arms were swelling. He wants Hawkeye to feel them. Hawkeye suggests leaving them under his pillow, and he will give them a squeeze before he goes to bed. He also complains bitterly about the shot, and accuses Hawkeye of breaking off the needle.
Margaret is concerned about her mother-in-law to be, who seems to be putting Margaret down at the same time that she's "welcoming" Margaret to the family.
Klinger and Zale have apparently been fighting again. Klinger shows a penchant for losing his temper that he really has never shown before. There is also a reference to his wife suggesting that he ask Saint Anthony for help, which implies that his wife, at least, is Catholic.
It's rather funny that in other episodes, Father Mulcahy seems to think that he's rather useless at MASH. Once sick, he realizes that he actually has a lot to do.
I would like to know if Hawkeye ever did right a letter to his "incredibly average" colleague.
B.J.‘s physical fitness kick must have been a passing phase. We never see him exercising as much later in the series. As a matter of fact, he’s among those who are “out of shape” for the “M*A*S*H Olympics”.
As Radar is reacting to the news that Father Mulcahy has hepatitis (“Eww! Ick, Father!”), you can see a soldier start to walk behind the Corporal. The camera cuts to Father Mulcahy, then back to Radar. By the time the camera got back to O’Reilly, the soldier should have been further along than he is.
Once again we can see someone in the background getting their haircut. This time they can be seen just outside of the Swamp as Hawkeye enters to examine Frank. I swear, no one at the 4077th uses the camp’s barber.
I suppose this should have been mentioned already, but the beers everyone’s drinking on the Officers Club are in aluminum cans. Back in the Fifties, beer was served in tin cans, not aluminum cans.
"Mule fritters!"