Plot A: First Col. Potter, then Charles, comes down with the mumps. They are forced to share a tent for the duration, to their mutual displeasure.
Plot B: The replacement surgeon seems to fit right in at the 4077th--until his past experiences in combat surgery catch up with him.

B.J.'s comment to Newsome, "It usually takes weeks for the new guys to stop fainting" indicates that the 4077th has had several other surgeons assigned to it. However, there is very little evidence that this is true. The 4077th usually has only four doctors: Pierce, Hunnicut, (McIntyre), Potter (Blake) & Winchester (Burns).

In the second OR scene (the one where Newsome leaves), we see the operating tables in a different arrangement. Normally, it's set up as four parallel tables. However, only Captain Newsome's gurney is in the normal position. Hawkeye's and B.J.'s tables run parallel to the doors of the OR. (Such an arrangement also happens a couple of other times in the series. It just isn't the norm.)

At the end of the episode, we see Klinger entering Colonel Potter's tent with his cot. The implication being that Max, too, has the mumps. This raises in my mind a couple of questions. Number one, who took over for Klinger as Company Clerk? As "Period of Adjustment" demonstrates, the job of Company Clerk isn't something you can just step right into and take over. It requires some training. AFAIK, no one else at the 4077th is trained to be the Clerk. So who took over?

At first I wondered why Klinger doesn't stay in his office. But then I remembered the obvious. It's too public a place. With the mumps, Klinger would need to be quarantined. But then I thought of Max's old quarters. Why couldn't he go back to it? Well, probably because it's now occupied. But here's my question, just who did get Klinger's old tent? And how did a mere corporal rate getting his own private tent? (He did share his tent in one ep with Corporal Miller - the crazy guy who opened the toy factory after he got his discharge. But that was the only time Klinger shared his tent with anyone.)

Maybe the camp voted to allow him his own tent because nobody wanted to room with him ?

Could be, Margie. But let's examine this a little more closely. It appears that there are about 14 tents/huts in the 4077th's compound. Among them are 1.) the Mess Tent, 2.) the Showers, 3.) the Latrines (I would say that there at least four of them.), 5.) the Supply Tent 6.) the Officer's Club and 7.) the OR/Pre-Op/Post-Op/C.O. Office building. That leaves seven more tents. Of them we have 1.) the C.O.'s tent, 2.) Father Mulcahy's tent, 3.) Margaret's tent, 4.) Klinger's tent 5.) the Nurses' tent, 6.) the V.I.P tent and 7.) the Swamp. It makes sense that Colonels - Blake and Potter - have their own quarters. They are in charge of the unit, after all. Mulcahy's tent often doubled as his office, so I can see how he rates his own place. Margaret is Head Nurse, thus it also makes sense that she has her a tent to herself.

Now we have the remaining three tents. The V.I.P. tent is apparently unoccupied until someone like General MacArthur, Magaret's dad, Aggie O'Shay or someone else of such stature visits the 4077th. The Nurses' tent is usually shown having four nurses living in it. The Swamp, after the first season, only had the three officers living in it. (This despite the fact that it has four cots in it.)

Here's the problem, in "Dear Ma", Radar says there are 200 people assigned to the MASH unit. In many episodes we see more than four nurses.
What we have are seven tents set aside as living quarters. Three of these tents are not filled to capacity - The Swamp, Klinger's tent, and the Nurses' quarters. With 200 people in the 4077th, it's hard to imagine a mere corporal could get his own tent, even if the rest of the camp voted to make it that way. Moreover, you've gotta wonder, just where did the other 188 people live? (Among those I'm wondering about are Igor, Zale and Rizzo. Where did they bunk?)

Rizzo staid at the motor pool. Whever that was.

I think Rizzo slept in, or under, a jeep a few times.

Yeah, I remember that Rizzo slept under the jeeps from time to time. IIRC, the motor pool had no buildings to it. It was only the jeeps and ambulances. Presumably, it had a toolshed. But that's not really a place for Rizzo could live in. The thing is, Rizzo would need a tent or hut to be in when it's raining or cold. (I can live with the idea of the Sgt. stashing his personal effects in the toolshed or someplace similar. So I'm not too worried about that.)

When Newsome disappears from OR, Hawkeye and BJ squawk about how many patients there are in line for surgery. So why do they (and Margaret) go outside to look for Newsome? Maybe I'm the victim of a syndication cut, and they actually finished that OR session. But if not, they couldn't have enough time to look for Newsome if there are that many patients waiting.

In the syndicated version of this episode, we hear Klinger make reference to the fact that getting mumps after puberty can result in sterilization for males. This is the only reference to that delicate matter.

Uncut, Charles refers to it himself. While quarantined, he hesitates about mentioning the true reason for his agitation. When Potter says that he doesn't have to tell him anything, Charles promptly decides that it would be better to get it off his chest. He feels that he will not have done his duty as a Winchester until he has sired a son. What if Charles Emerson Winchester III turns out to be the last? Potter gruffly assures him that he has a mild case, he's getting plenty of bed rest (apparently that's an important factor) and that Charles will no doubt end up with a whole houseful of little Roman numerals.

I hadn't really noticed it before, but Charles makes it clear just where the mumps have settled with him. He sits down and gets up very gingerly, and if he happens to shift his legs around, he winces. I don't know if this has to do with his age, but Potter didn't react that way very much. The only indication was that he walked quite slowly (such as when he came after Charles' Caruso record).

After winning yet another round of gin, Charles places his pencil down on top of his record player. In the next shot, we see Winchester picking the up the pencil from the side of the record, as if the writing implement rolled off the record player surface. Doesn't look like it rolled off in the first shot.

It looks like the book Colonel Potter is reading is called The Hell Riders. And from what I can tell, it is not a Zane Grey novel.

I believe there's another small scene cut. In OR, Margaret announces that two more nurses have come down with the mumps and that she's drafting Father Mulcahy and Klinger to help out. The scene then cuts to Potter and Winchester in the Colonel's tent.

I assume that Charles and Colonel Potter will recover from the mumps fairly soon. Which begs the question of where will Klinger bunk when the two officers heal up? It's very doubtful Colonel Potter will allow the Corporal to stay in his tent for the duration of the mumps. So where did Klinger go?

Did the camp get a replacement for Newsome? Or did Hawkeye and B.J. have to tend all the wounded the unit was getting?

This ep contains this season's first mention of Major Freeman. Sydney will later appear in this season's ep, "Goodbye, Cruel World".

"I'm so conservative, I make you look like a New Dealer."