Plot: A North Korean surgeon is passed off as South Korean by Hawkeye and B.J. so that his skills may be put to use, but the deception does not last long.
There seems to be two scene cuts to this one. Just before the episode cuts to the O.R. early on, there seems to be something missing. You hear the tail end of laughter as it cuts to the O.R. Also Margeret's and Frank's conversation with Colonel Potter in his tent, seems trubcated.
I love Radar's reaction when the North Koreans flatter Burns. Good thing Frank couldn't see him.
Weren't the check points informed about the North Koreans and Burns? Potter gave the orders to notify them.
So Paik's ability to i.d. the North Koreans marked him as a North Korean. Why? Can't South Koreans also identify a North Korean?
Paik's exit on the jeep is similar to the actor's exit in "Foreign Affairs".
This ep marks the second time this season that Abbott & Costello (Lou Costello anyway) is mentioned.
Frank sure does an about face regarding Albert Sweitzer. Earlier in the show, Burns makes some disparaging remarks about him. However, when the North Korean are buttering Frank up, Burns compares himself to Sweitzer.
I think Margaret's telling a fib when she denies that she's ever been to the Pink Pagoda. I know Hawkeye and B.J. are lying about Paik's watch. They said the watch was freely given by him. Later dialogue in this ep indicates otherwise.
In talking about Paik's ability to ID the North Koreans, why does Paik feel the need to tell Radar and Klinger about the North Koreans anyway? Telling them when his whole advise was to do what they were already doing just made more trouble. (If he felt he needed to tell someone, it would surely make more sense to tell a couple of corprals anyway.
The big question of 2002 :o)
Frank goes past the checkpoint with the North Koreans only to be thrown out of the Jeep... The next time we see him is when he is walking back to the 4077.
When he walked past the checkpoint, wouldn't the guards have a lot of questions about his role in such a treasonous act as helping the enemy steal supplies and then escape? (for the record, I realize that he was tricked, but since he had just insulted the guards when he went through the checkpoint, they might at least want to question him for the grief he gave them)
For all we know, Steve, he was grilled thoroughly at the check point.
Saw the uncut version of this. After Frank and the North Koreans pass the checkpoint, Frank is going on and on about how he is going to tell the Korean hospital personnel about his childhood, and tedious other details. It's hard to believe that they didn't just shoot him.
At the end, Frank is boasting about how he knocked the North Koreans out, and got away. Col. Potter deflates him by asking why he didn't bring back the jeep, loaded with medicine. Frank lamely says that he left it for them out of humanitarian concerns, which surely qualifies as one of the most ridiculous lies he's ever told.
While Margaret and Frank are scrubbing for surgery, Frank says something that might give us a little background on the beginning of his relationship with Major Houlihan. Frank warns Margaret that Donald Penobscott might already be married and isn't telling her. He then says, "Remember how our relationship started?" The looks on the Majors faces suggest that Frank apparently didn't tell Margaret he was a married man when they first started seeing each other.
I'm not sure, but in the scene where B.J. and Hawkeye talk to Radar in the Mess Tent about making Paik a surgeon at the 4077th, the table seems to be different in each shot. In the shots focusing only on Radar, the table top is dull. In the shot showing all three characters, it has a sheen to it. Also, I'd think that B.J.'s coffee cup should be visible in the shots focusing on O'Reilly. Instead, in those shots, Radar seems to have a lot of space around him.
Isn't it possible (likely) that Paik's advice to give the North Koreans the supplies they want could be construed as aiding and abetting the enemy or some other war crime? I'm sure the Army would take a dim view of the fact that he advised Radar and Klinger to not tell Colonel Potter about the North Koreans.
One of the North Koreans tells Frank that their "hospital" is close by. Is Kumgang (the alleged location of the North Koreans' hospital) really close to Ouijongbu (the location of the 4077th)?
One of the North Koreans, btw, was played by Robert Ito, famous for his role as Sam on Quincy, M.E.
"Mule fritters!"
An interesting bit of trivia for us comic book fan: One of the North Koreans who use Frank to get supplies and to get past a checkpoint is comics writer Larry Hama, who penned several issues of Marvel's G.I. Joe in the '80s.
"Mule fritters!"
Several? He wrote almost every issue of GI Joe, plus all of the filecards on the back of the toys (with the exception of the card for Crystal Ball, which Hasbro let Stephen King's son write for some reason).
He also wrote Wolverine and Generation X for a while.
Guess that shows how much a fan of G.I. Joe I was. (Never read an issue.) The only thing I knew is that Hama was a writer of it. How many issues he wrote, I had no idea.
I remember that he did write Wolverine. He also wrote some issues of The Avengers, Conan, Nth Man, some stories that appeared in Bizarre Adventures. I was never really that impressed with what little I read of his work.
"Mule fritters!"