Plot: B.J. is next in line to be on call if another unit requires a surgeon, but he is in Seoul for a haircut and manicure when the call from an aid station comes in, so Hawkeye goes instead. When word comes in that a doctor at the aid station has been killed, everyone thinks that it's Hawkeye. Hawkeye, believing that he IS going to get killed, writes a will in between patients.
To Charles, his dignified purple bathrobe.
To Father Mulcahy, a nickel and his everlasting respect.
To Margaret, his Groucho nose and glasses.
To Potter, his copy of THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS.
To Klinger, his favorite Hawaiian shirt.
To B.J.--
To Erin Hunnicutt, a list of all the men her daddy worked on, so that someday she will understand why he had to be away.
It's been a long time since I saw this episode. Hawkeye admired Charles for always keeping his dignity, even in a tutu. Margaret for the silly side that she showed so seldom. Klinger casually handed Hawkeye an old magazine with an article on Maine, seemingly indifferent to Hawkeye's excitement. Hawkeye then found that Klinger had traded a whole long salami for that copy of Life. Klinger was a scrounger, but he would also give you the shirt off his back.
Potter and Hawkeye had a conversation about fishing (one week after Potter arrived at the 4077th). This, I believe, is the only time Hawkeye expressed an interest in fishing. Henry was the rabid fisherman. Potter liked to tie flies as a hobby, and B.J. once went off in a helicopter for a fishing trip that didn't work out.
Father Mulcahy stopped an outraged Hawkeye from attacking a general who had prevented the cook from serving dinner while he had a pheasant prepared for himself. Father Mulcahy apologized to the general for the disruption, absently tucked the spotless white tablecloth into his waistband, and walked away, dragging the general's dinner into the dirt. If he hadn't been a priest, his life wouldn't have been worth a plugged nickel.
There were no flashback scenes with B.J, but then, there didn't have to be. That was a given. B.J. was the one who realized that Hawkeye was still alive, because he recognized some of his handiwork on a patient.
The second doctor at the aid station (or was he just a medic?) had the most poignant line in the episode, when Hawkeye asked him how he had known that Hawkeye's papers were a will: "I've seen a lot of those written up here."
I've just discovered something about clip shows—they're still boring as hell even when you haven't seen any of the episodes the clips are from.
hmm, it wasn't supposed to format that.
You haven't seen any of the episodes that this episode took clips from--because they weren't clipped. They were presented as flashbacks, but they were made for this episode.
well it still felt a lot like a clip show.
The white knight on the chessboard at the beginning of the ep faces two different ways the first two times we see the chessboard.
While I realize that B.J. did go to Seoul for a haircut and a manicure, but still, he dressed in his class A uniform? Isn't that a bit unusual for Hunnicutt?
And once again, whoever has the job of being the 4077th's barber must have the most boring job in camp. We never see nor hear of anyone using his services. B.J. certainly didn't. (And for those just tuning in, I mention this because several times in the past, we see a red and white sign in front of a tent signifying that the 4077th has a barber.)
When Margaret notices that B.J. got a manicure, Potter is looking at Hunnicutt's hand. In the next shot, the Colonel is looking at B.J.
How does Rackley know where Pierce parked his jeep? The jeep is not visible from the doorway, especially not from Rackley's vantage point. (Rackley tells Hawkeye the other surgeon was killed by mortar where Pierce had parked his jeep.) I also wonder if there'd be a crater where the mortar hit, making it difficult, if not impossible for Pierce to park a jeep there?
As the casualties arrive, B.J. says something about MacArthur making "the blood run on time". This seems to indicate that Big Mac is still in charge of the Allied efforts in Korea. However, Truman relieved MacArthur on April 11th, 1951. That would mean this episode has to take place before then. Except, "Change of Command" has Potter taking over the 4077th in September of '52. Oops.
When Rackley goes to sleep, there's some shelling and Hawkeye hides under a table. On the table are some boxes. Some fall off. The number of boxes remaining on the table changes depending on the camera angle seen.
I know I've mentioned this elsewhere, but Hawkeye's bathrobe is purple? Looks red to me.
Did anyone else notice the flashbacks in this ep are lit the same way the dream sequences in "Dreams" were? Come to think of it, the lighting is also the same as the one used for Frank's testimony in "The Novacaine Mutiny".
In the flashback with Potter, Pierce mentions fishing with his father in the St. Croix River. If this is near Crabapple Cove, then Hawkeye's hometown may be located near the Canadian border.
Muscongus Bay, one of the places Hawkeye recognizes in the issue of Life Klinger gives him, is along the Atlantic coast, south of Bangor, Maine. So Crabapple Cove may be somewhere in that vicinity. (I really wish I could pinpoint an area for Hawkeye's hometown, even though it is totally fictitious.)
The picture of Erin and Peg Hawkeye looks at is also visible in the background in the ep, "Pressure Points".
Traditionally, the end credits of M*A*S*H show scenes from the episode they're attached to. However, in the credits for this one, there's a still of Charles with a bowl of ice cream in front of him. This shot comes from the ep, "The Tooth Shall Set You Free".
"The undrinkable chasing the inedible."
Regarding the bathrobe--I've always wondered if that were a case where the bathrobe was actually purple, but filmed reddish.
After ten seasons, though, you'd think TPTB would be aware that it films red and thus would either avoid calling it "purple", or take steps to make look purple on film. Especially for this ep.
"The undrinkable chasing the inedible."