Plot: A small Korean boy with minor injuries charms everyone, especially Trapper, who wants to adopt him.

Everyone seems awfully casual about that mine field. In "The Moose", Hawkeye makes out with a nurse inside it, and here Margaret and Frank decide to have a picnic right next to it. Wasn't there someplace else they could have gone?

When Pierce and McIntyre pass by a sleeping Colonel Blake in the Mess Tent, they put a sign that says “Reserved” in front of him. I can’t help but wonder on what sort of occasion a table in the Mess Tent would be reserved. I mean other than when Klinger turned it into a restaurant (“Che Klinger”).

One of the patients in Post-Op (he has his left hand bandaged and a mustache and glasses) can be seen as an extra in several episodes of M*A*S*H.

Once again, the 4077th sure could have used a translator in the episode. They might have learned more about Kim, his family and village if they did.

This is the second time Sister Teresa is mentioned in the series. The first time was in “Tuttle”.

The plot for this ep could easily have been written for B.J. Hunnicut’s character without much difference. “B.J. Papa San” is pretty close though.

A rare early glimpse of Margaret’s maternal, softer side is shown in this ep. It shows that her character, unlike Frank Burns’, could grow and develop.

The best sequences in this ep are when Radar takes teddy bear back from the kid while they’re both asleep and when Frank sticks his tongue out at Kim. Kim’s imitation of Ferret Face is priceless.

Scene cut: Hawkeye and a nurse after experiencing a little “afternoon delight”. They primarily discuss whether Trapper was asleep while they were…uh….um. In syndication the scene begins with Father Mulcahy entering the tent, asking if he’s interrupting anything. The Padre asks if Trapper’s in the Swamp (can’t he see him?). McIntyre replies, “Yes, but I’m asleep.” It’s funnier when we get the full sequence.

When Frank says he “the happiest man in the world”, Margaret replies, “So am I”. That can be taken two different ways.

Frank and Margaret do not seem to have much common sense. I mean taking Kim on a picnic so close to the minefield doesn’t seem very bright to me.

Hawkeye tell Trapper that six inches in any direction in the minefield will set off a mine. Not true. Obviously, if Trapper goes back the way he came, a mine will not explode.

This is the third time chopper pilot O’Brien is mentioned and/or seen. It is also the second time Hawkeye asks, “Where’s O’Brien?” (He asks the same question in “To Market, To Market”.)

Where is the chopper pad? O’Brien is presumably near the 4077th, but when he flies to the minefield to rescue Trapper and Kim, he comes in over the mountains, flying towards the 4077th, not away from it (In “Dr. Pierce and MR. Hyde” he’s seen in the Mess Tent, so I assume he lives in the camp.)

Apparently South Korea has several Sister Teresas who run orphanages. The one in this ep is not the same one we see in “Tuttle”. (They’re played by different actresses. )

Hawkeye tell Trapper that six inches in any direction in the minefield will set off a mine. Not true. Obviously, if Trapper goes back the way he came, a mine will not explode.

It's possible he got incredibly lucky and stepped over a mine or two on his way in, which is how I always figured it. (Of course, that doesn't preclude him retracing his exact steps...)

Frank and Margaret do not seem to have much common sense. I mean taking Kim on a picnic so close to the minefield doesn?t seem very bright to me.

Mmmmm. Their taking Kim on a picnic at all seems way out of character to me - Frank especially.
However, the point of the (ongoing) gag here is that Frank and Margaret don't have much common sense when it comes to their relationship. Of course these characters, if they felt the need to take a little kid with them, would be completely convinced they'd have no trouble with him at all...

"It's possible he got incredibly lucky and stepped over a mine or two on his way in, which is how I always figured it. (Of course, that doesn't preclude him retracing his exact steps...)" - kerriem

Exactly.

"Mmmmm. Their taking Kim on a picnic at all seems way out of character to me - Frank especially." - kerriem

Margaret I can understand. Here and there she would show her maternal side ("The Kids"). But Frank... Yeah that is hard to believe he'd take Kim on a picnic. Margaret must have talked him into it.

Did I miss something, or did Trapper turn into a married man with 2 daughters only for this ep.? I always had the impression from his behaviour that he was single like hawk.

So, who put the mines there in the first place - the US soldiers? That would be against the UN conventions. If enemy soldiers put them there, how did they get a map? If they had the equipment to make a map, why not remove them? I know usually mine fields are cordoned off to be dealt with later, but having a map....

Once again (as in the ep. with the bomb) henry is very bad at giving instructions that save a life. One wonders how he can work as doctor: imagine him telling a patient something like "take these pills - oh, i forgot, you shouldn't take them if ..." I can understand that he is bad at administration, but that he is so inept is hard to believe.

I really like it that Margaret takes the trouble to translate the story she is reading. The others just act as if Kim understands English fluently, which is unlikely.

The reunion with his mom at the end seems typical hollywood; but in later ep. the problems would be adressed better (in the last ep. Klinger thinks he has found the girls parents, but they are somebody else. Of course, a description of "they are small" isn't very helpful. Also, in a later ep. we see hawk battling red tape and hear about how impossible it is to really adopt a foreign child.)

Did I miss something, or did Trapper turn into a married man with 2 daughters only for this ep.? I always had the impression from his behaviour that he was single like hawk.

Nope - despite his footloose Korean lifestyle Trapper was a married man etc. from the start. Several other eps reference his family directly (notably Mail Call, in which he gets a cute letter from his girls and immediately plans to desert).

Once again (as in the ep. with the bomb) henry is very bad at giving instructions that save a life. One wonders how he can work as doctor: imagine him telling a patient something like "take these pills - oh, i forgot, you shouldn't take them if ..." I can understand that he is bad at administration, but that he is so inept is hard to believe.

Mmmmmm...I'm flashing back to the 'nug' incident in Five O'Clock Charlie here, too.
But the general idea of the character is that Henry's a very competent doctor (and overall loveable average Joe) who's just overwhelmed by the whole Army setup. Which gets pushed right past belief in the name of comedy quite frequently, I agree.

Constanze, the mine field is bothersome for another reason. The 4077th is supposed to be a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Yet in countless episodes we found the MASH unit parked next to a mine field? Are they purposefully setting up camp next to one every time they bug-out? Do they take the mine field with them? Or are they just not that mobile?

No they would leave the minefield. In fact, those mines from the Korean War are still there.

Um, what I meant Richie was "Every time the 4077th bugged-out do they take the minefield with them?" As a joke based on the fact that the unit seems to always have a minefield near them. They are supposed to "mobile", yet the internal evidence of the series is that the 4077th stayed invariably in one place.

I'd forgotten all about Frank walking into Margaret's tent while she was reading to Kim. It's Thursday night, and Frank plans his week around their Thursday night "discussions". It seems rather odd that Margaret would have arranged to have Kim spend the night on a Thursday. Her utter indifference to Frank at this point seems inexplicable when you consider their next scene together. They only have eyes for each other and are contemplating an outdoor "discussion" in spite of the fact that Kim is presumably close by.

Notice that it's Frank who is the first to spot where Kim is?

Frank also gives Margaret a rather strange look when she begins calling out in Korean.

Regarding the "afternoon delight" scene with Hawkeye and the nurse: the tent is open for summer, with only the fine, see-through mesh. I wouldn't be so concerned about Trapper in the next bunk as I would of suddenly looking up and finding a large portion of the camp standing around the Swamp, peering in. (And Father Mulcahy pushing through the crowd to see what was going on.)

Meanwhile, back at the minefield; Hawkeye asks where O'Brien is, and Radar says, "Wait for it." A pause, then he suddenly points with his finger. It looked as though he came very close to putting Hawkeye's eye out.

Did anyone else think that the scene with the nun was rather abrupt? Run forward, grab the kid, hustle back to the truck, and take off. No thank yous, and not even any goodbyes.

When we first see Kim in the mine field, he is sitting on a largish boulder and Margaret manages to tell him to stay seated there and not move. However, in the scene where the helicopter flies Trapper and Kim out of the field, Kim is standing nowhere near a boulder. In fact, we get a good view of the whole mine field and there is no such boulder anywhere in it.