Plot: Wanting to go to Tokyo to secretly celebrate her birthday in a "civilized" fashion, Margaret urges Klinger to take a dangerous shortcut and they end up with the jeep wrecked. Finding that it's her birthday, Klinger attempts to liven things up a bit, but Margaret is depressed, saying that each birthday just reminds her of how far away she is from the goals she has made.

Plot B: A farmer comes in with a wounded, pregnant cow, the last of his herd. Klinger tries to put together a pool for the calf's birthdate.
Plot C: In order to get to Tokyo, Margaret persuades Charles to give a required lecture on Lanocaine (Sp?) a blood-pressure drug, which ends up being used on the cow.

At one point, Hawkeye is instructed to put his hand inside the cow to check the progression of the calf. Hawkeye does so without scrubbing his arm or disinfecting it in any way, let alone lubricating it to make it more comfortable for the cow. The cow might have ended up with an infection.

I didn't understand why Klinger was so petrified at the end. He had only sold two or maybe three tickets, so the odds of one of them actually hitting the correct time couldn't have been very high. Margaret's getting it was very convienient, considering that she had told Klinger to pick a time for her. He could have claimed that no one had gotten it right, and no one could have proved otherwise.

I always thought it was just whoever guessed the closest to the correct time that won. Even if he'd sold tickets to the entire camp, the odds of one of them picking the exact minute out of an entire day or so are pretty slim. Going by that, he would have had reason to worry, because someone would have won no matter what.

Another issue with this episode is the use of the drug Levophed. Not only did they once before use it on the series, but this drug is not the wonder-drug they make it out to be. In fact, people in the medical profession call it "Leave 'em dead" because so few of the people who get it live through the experience. Either their blood pressure is so low that it can't be brought up at all, or it's not low enough to warrant use of Levophed and so the drug makes the blood pressure go so high that the person dies from that. So, why was that some miracle drug in this episode?

Did that slang for that med show up before or after the '50s?

Probably after, but my point is that it isn't that great, and not that many people benefit from it, so why did they go off on how wonderful it was?

I got the impression that, at the time, it was a brand new drug. Everyone thinks a new drug is a wonder drug until time proves otherwise.

(They had medical consultants for the show; wouldn't one of them have mentioned something?)

Thanks, DK, that's what I was getting at.

I just finished a book recommended by Khaja, "Watching M*A*S*H, watching America". (Very good.) In the episode guide for this one, the author stated that the drug Levophed had actually been mentioned in several previous episodes. Which episodes? Now you really hard-core nitpickers have something to look for.

They said that the Levophed was for raising blood pressure. Period. When Potter came in and told Charles that he and his class would have the opportunity for a hands-on demonstration of the drug. Charles, incredulous, asked who the patient was, and Potter replied, "On the only pregnant lady in camp." I realize that that was one way of describing the patient, but when Potter put it that way, it gave me the impression that Levophed is specifically a maternity drug.

Why did the nurses need to be briefed by someone who's rank was at least major?

Is there a reason the medics couldn't call B.J.'s father-in-law for help with the cow like they did when Sophie was stricken with colic?

The Army has a veternarian? Really? Why?

Just for the record, Artur Schnabel was a pianist and composer. For some reason, I've always overlooked that Charles refered to him as a soloist and assumed he was a conductor. I feel like such an idiot.

And the reason for that smug laugh Charles represses after Major Houlihan says she'll bring Schnabel to the 4077^th if she can't find the recording Winchester wants is probably because Schnabel died in 1951, so most likely by the time of this ep, he'd been dead for about a year.

Okay, I just wonder, what's Kellye up to during the scene where Margaret and Charles are talking in the Swamp? At one point, you can see Kellye walking in the background behind Margaret. A little later she shows up walking behind Charles. Was she looking for someone? Walking aimlessly? Or did the director forget he already had her pass by in the background once and told do it again in another shot? The next time we see Kellye in this ep is the following Mess Tent scene, getting a cup of coffee.

Unless I'm mistaken, the cow was wounded on her left side. Yet when we see her lying in the stall, she's lying on her left, rather right side. You'd think the doctors and the farmer would have done all they could to prevent the bovine from lying down on her wound. Moreover, I would think Bossie herself would avoid lying on her wounds. Guess not.

The jeep carrying Margaret and Klinger stops. Margaret has both hands in her lap. In the next shot, her left hand is at her side.

Kellye sure is impatient asking about the history of Lephoved, isn't she? For all she knows, Charles was just about to get into the history of the drug when she raised her hand to ask Winchester about it.

You know, I'm beginning to think it's a bad idea to go on R&R and have Klinger drive you to the airport. In season seven, in the episode "They Call the Wind Korea", Max was supposed to drive Winchester to catch a plane and both got stranded before reaching their destinations. And now Margaret and Klinger are stranded. I definitely would find another driver than Max if I was going to Tokyo.

Klinger wasn't expecting to be gone long, so why did he take a bran muffin with him? For that matter, when did he get the muffin? Considering how much in a hurry Margaret was to get to Kimpo that she practically dragged Max to the jeep, the Corporal had no time to get it. So I guess the real question is, "Where did the muffin come from?"

Earlier in the ep, Potter says he "don't no nothin' about birthin' no bovine", yet when the calf starts sucking on B.J.'s finger, the Colonel says it's a "good vital sign". So I guess he does know something about "birthin' a bovine".

The jeep Margaret and Klinger were using has Thorobred tires on it. According to this site, DayCo didn't start manufacturing that brand until 1954, roughly a year after the Korean War had ended.

Incidentally, Levophed is a brand name. Generically, the drug is known as "Norepinephrine".

"The undrinkable chasing the inedible."