Plot A: Infuriated by the way that stateside doctors are profiting from the war, Hawkeye presents the Army with a bill for his medical services, and keeps pushing his point home.
Plot B: Charles reluctantly demonstrates American medical practices to three Buddhist doctors, until his back goes out.
Charles was being really obnoxious in this episode, but I loved his reaction in OR when the three Buddhists gasped in wonder at their first sight of the inside of a human being.
I always loved this episode. I am not a big believer in alternative medicine, you know, herbs, accupuncture, etc. But, if you give me a treatment for something that doesn't have side effects worse than the disease, I'll take it. Charles was being his own typical self in this episode, but I loved in the end where the Buddhist guy says "Not bad for 3 stooges?" It cracks me up!!
This is the third time that Hawkeye has tangled with the Army over money. On the previous two occasions Hawkeye almost landed in jail for fraudulently trying to get money from the Army. You'd think he'd've learned better than to try this stunt.
Father Mulcahy is one of the people who offer to help fix Winchester's back. His cure is the same one "Captain Casey" used on the Father in "Dear Dad".
What is Pierce's big problem? Over and over again he gives the impression that he doesn't do medicine for money. And yet in this episode, all of the sudden it really seems like the only problem he has is money. He makes no attempt to stop the civilian doctors from getting money from the war... only that he is making less than they are. To paraphrase Potter, this whole plot line give me a queezy feeling in my gizzard.
I do like Rizzo's line "Keep the noise down, people are to work... Hey, it's night... Keep the noise down, people are trying to sleep."
Money may not matter to Pierce, but what does matter is the Army is asking him to have endure severe hardships, barbaric medical conditions, lice, dysentary, etc. Most of all, Hawkeye is being asked to practice the kind of medicine no doctor stateside does - performing surgery on bullet and shrapnel torn bodies. This can be quite psychological damaging. (Look at how many times Hawkeye himself has flipped). Given what the doctors and nurses go through at the various MASH units, they're getting woefully underpaid by the Army. (Hawkeye earns some $300 a month.) Pierce might actually feel undercompensated. This certainly is just one more way for Hawk to rebel against and strike back at the Army. It's a protest; a way for the Captain to make a point.
The first few minutes of the episode (on DVD) are noticibly grainy. Looks like someone spilled something all over the film! ;)
Klinger delivers the mail in the Mess Tent, then leaves. In foreground, Margaret is reading one of her letters. She has her hands on the paper in her hand. In the next shot, she has one hand on her head.
What is Pierce's big problem? Over and over again he gives the impression that he doesn't do medicine for money. And yet in this episode, all of the sudden it really seems like the only problem he has is money. He makes no attempt to stop the civilian doctors from getting money from the war... only that he is making less than they are. To paraphrase Potter, this whole plot line give me a queezy feeling in my gizzard. - stevegoad
Watching this ep again, I can tell you exactly what the problem is - it was the fact that a couple of doctors stateside were charging Selective Services (the military) outrageous fees for doing some X-rays. In other words, the Army was paying the civilian doctors a lot more money than they were Pierce. And paying the doc to send soldiers to Korea. That's what is bothering Hawkeye so much. Frankly, I think his sense of outrage is waaaay out of proportion. But that's just me.
B.J. sarcastically notes that the world was perfect until the two doctors making all the money showed up. He's reading his letter as he says that. There's a change of shots, and Hunnicutt is looking at Hawkeye.
Okay, so... the 4077th has been saving all of those X-rays that have been made at the unit? Why? Once the operation is complete and the patient has either been shipped home, to Tokyo or back to the front, you'd think the X-rays would no longer be useful, and would thus be discarded. Why are they kept?
I love Klinger's ephithet - "Holy Cleveland!", rather than "Holy Toledo!"
Pierce throws a paper airplane at Captain Snyder's back. It falls to the floor behind Snyder. However, as Snyder leaves the Company Clerk's Office, the plane falls on the other side of the door.
Just what are X-rays made of? Snyder kicks the bag of the X-rays and sprains his foot. On what? Film? Is film that hard?
And why was the bag of X-rays left in the Company Clerk's office? Surely, Potter would've ordered the bag moved out?
So two doubles cost $1.20 at the Officers Club, huh? That means they're sixty cents each - more than double the price of "Call Shots" (twenty cents) or "Mixed Drinks" (25 cents).
"I'm so conservative, I make you look like a New Dealer."
It is now generally accepted that cold is a better remedy than heat for muscular aches.
A scene that I believe is usually cut for syndication has Rizzo reporting the jeep theft to Col. Potter. He says that Hawkeye had a "wild look" in his eyes. I didn't notice that he looked particularly wild. Even though Rizzo is not at fault, he seems to think that Potter is going to demote him, and protests that it took him a long time to make Sergeant--five years the first time, six years the second.
There is a incident in the Mess tent that I never really noticed before--probably because it is such a small, throwaway sort of thing. B.J. has pushed away his breakfast tray in disgust. Hawkeye, of course, is still riding his current hobbyhorse, and B.J. listens to him rant, not really paying close attention. While doing so, B.J. casually--almost absent-mindedly--picks up the salt shaker, unscrews the top, dumps most of the salt into the sugar bowl, puts the top back on, and sets it down.
The odd thing is--there is no follow-up. No other character comes up and helps himself to sugar and reacts to the salt. This is something that presumably will happen off-screen. Hawkeye pays no particular attention, either. B.J. seems so much the compleat practical joker that he habitually pulls minor stunts without any more thought than scratching his nose, and without even bothering to watch for the results.
Hawk as Captain Johnathan Tuttle got plenty of buckos to Sister Theresa's orphanage thanks to the Army. Maybe that is where he gets his bravado for the other money incidents.