Plot: In a two-part episode, Frank wigs out following Margaret's marriage, so Col. Potter sends him to Tokyo for some R & R. Frank wreaks havoc there, and in the meantime, the 4077th is swamped with casualties, so Major Charles Emmerson Winchester III is sent from Tokyo for temporary duty. Frank is caught, examined, promoted, and sent to a VA hospital in Indiana, while Winchester is put on permanent duty at the 4077th.
My mistake. Frank was in Seoul, not Tokyo.
Plot B: Klinger finds a "lawyer" who offers to represent him, claiming that after two years in dresses, Klinger IS a Section 8.
Saw this one this morning, and something occurred to me at the end. Charles came to the 4077th expecting to remain for 48 hours. He was armed with a smallish suitcase. Just as he's preparing to leave, he is informed that he has been assigned there permanently. Just how much time passes from this point to the end of the episode? When Hawkeye and B.J. return to the swamp, Charles is listening to Mozart on his record player, and Hawkeye notes that they now have a new record player. Just when did he get it? I would think that it would take some little time to arrange for all of Charles' possessions to be gathered up and sent to him.
Colonel Baldwin probably had Winchester's things already packed and ready to go. (He owed Winchester a large sum of money!)
Can't help wondering how Margaret reacted to Frank going Section 8. We're never really shown.
Interesting that B.J. says that Burns' departure narrows the enemy down to North Korea. Margaret is apparently on her way to becoming one of the "good guys".
One of Charles' great lines, after Hawkeye finds the snake (that was originally in Charles' bed):
"Please. Mozart."
Yes! Definitely. I love that line.
Hey! You can see the barber's sign in this ep. It's behind Radar when he sees Margaret return from her honeymoon. Well, maybe they misplaced the barber, but they at least found the sign. (It appears the barber shop is next to the Mess Tent.)
Baldwin looks quite a bit younger in this episode than he will in his next appearance, "No Laughing Matter".
Klinger states he's been wearing dresses for "two years last April." The Korean War started June 25th, 1950. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure someone will) I think that places this episode in the year 1953. I could be wrong, though. But it sounds to me that Klinger is saying he started wearing dresses in April of '51.
Hawkeye, of course, is the 4077th's Chief Surgeon. It's a rarity that Colonel Potter overrides one of Pierce's decision. In this episode he does by saying Charles should handle the bowel resection. As it turns out, Potter has to go back on that choice. He ends up telling B.J. to take over for Winchester because the Major is taking too long.
"One of Charles' great lines, after Hawkeye finds the snake (that was originally in Charles' bed):
'Please. Mozart.'" - D.K. Henderson
What makes that so great is that it ever so subtly lets the audience know that Charles will not be Frank Burns, version 2. Winchester will repeatedly prove able to hold his own in the practical joke wars that will regularly erupt on M*A*S*H.
Great line:
Patient: I'm an atheist.
BJ: Really?
Patient: Swear to G-d!
Got around to watching this one uncut. The cigar scene with Radar and Col. Potter is extended slightly, and includes (after cutting to another scene) Radar shakily emerging from behind a hut or something, after apparently being sick. He cannot understand why Potter would smoke such things, especially as Potter admits that he got sick after his first cigar (at the age of nine). Radar hears choppers, coming from the wrong direction to be Burns returning from R & R, so they know it must be wounded. He asks Potter if he can throw his cigar away. Potter, after asking Radar if he has a cold (no) stashes it back in his pocket.
Prior to Radar's...er...indisposition, B.J. and Hawkeye go in to breakfast. B.J. is pleased to see that there are still sausages for a change (because Frank Burns is not there, apparently), and Hawkeye is offered a glass of scrambled eggs. They join Father Mulcahy, and we learn that Hawkeye and B.J. were responsible for sending Frank out on R & R. (He kept whimpering at night.) Father Mulcahy mentions that he has a suspicion that Frank and Margaret were closer than they should be. Hawkeye leans over and confides that they had known each other in the "biblical" sense. (B.J.: "Both testaments!")
The scenes in O.R. are extended a little, and a bit of Klinger's interaction with his "lawyer". B.J. has a couple discussions with his patient who does not want to go back to the front, and Father Mulcahy eventually talks with him. Oddly, after confessing that he does not want to kill any more, this sub-plot simply fades out, with no real resolution. Of course, how can you resolve a situation like that?
While Radar was searching for Charles to inform him that he was not leaving, they extended the scene in the officers' club. Charles didn't care for the booze he had been served, and Igor mentioned that he could get the "private stock" for a nickel more, and Charles decided to be extravagant. Igor found this rather surprising. The real oddity in this scene, for me, was that Igor didn't sound like Igor for some reason. He sounded more like Sgt. Zale. ???
I found a resolution to a problem that I had mentioned above, concerning Charles' luggage. There is a scene in the Swamp, after Charles has been made permanent, where Klinger and another man haul in a large trunk of Charles' stuff. Immediately prior to this, there had been a P.A. announcement that all personnel with body lice should report for spraying at a certain time, followed by those with dysentery and toe fungus. When Klinger arrived and Charles sneered at him, Klinger mentioned that he had a lice appointment, and Charles quickly backed off. (This scene also adds a bit with the Korean lady hired to clean Charles' part of the Swamp.)
They also added a bit more to the conversations with the Jewish doctor who had arrived all shot up and convinced that he was going to die. (Before operating on him, Hawkeye commented that he hoped that Father Mulcahy could pray from right to left.)
You know, that first scene contains one very obvious nit that I'm surprised no one mentioned before: This is allegedly Radar's first time to smoke a cigar. However, in the first season ep, "Chief Surgeon Who?", we see Radar in Henry's office smoking a stogie.
Hot Lips comes back from her honeymoon early. She steps into OR. When she does, Nurse Baker calls her "Major Houlihan." I dunno. I suppose it's because the marriage has happened so recently, but shouldn't they now being calling her "Major Penobscott"?
Klinger states he's been wearing dresses for "two years last April." - me
April 22nd to be precise.
You've gotta wonder why it didn't occur to Klinger to question why there would be a "lawyer", a lawyer from the Adjutant General Branch of the Army,at that, at the Front? I mean, "Captain" Schaefer, Klinger's "lawyer", was one of the wounded at the 4077th, which implies that he was on the front lines. That, or he was at the Battalion Aide Station that got hit. But still, why would a lawyer be that close to the Front?
Watch the white scarf Charles is wearing when he first arrives at camp. In most shots, the scarf is worn wide apart. However, in the close-up where Winchester says, "The wind is from the south" the scarf is pull tight in front.
I believe this is the ep where we learn what Radar's middle name is - Eugene.
Pierce, Hunnicutt and Potter are in the scrub room when Radar tells the officers they have a call from Frank. All four men leave through the scrub room door going outside. Why? Potter's office can be reached from the scrub room. There's no reason for them to step outside.
Potter tells Hawkeye, B.J. and Radar that Frank mistook General Kester and his wife for "Penobscott and Houlihan". Apparently, the Colonel hasn't gotten used to Margaret's new married name.
Charles is in the O-Club, drinking what he thinks will be his final drink at the Four-Oh-Seven-Seven. Potter enters the Club and tells Winchester that he's been assigned to the unit permanently. In one shot - the shot from behind Charles - the Major's drink is on the counter. However, in the next shot, from Potter's POV, the drink is in Charles' hand.
After Schaefer is outed as a Private, he rues the fact that there are couples in the States "living in sin". The position of his head is slightly different between the close-up and longshot.
Charles tries unsuccessfully to get Radar to call Tokyo to have the Major's transfer rescinded. Potter puts the kibosh on that. As Charles leaves, he makes a comment about sharing a "tent with two moronic cellmates". From what I could tell earlier in the ep, Charles was in the VIP tent. (The previous scenes in the Swamp give no indication of the Major's presence in the tent.) When did he get assigned to the Swamp?
Potter asks Pierce and Hunnicutt to hold off the pranks until Winchester gets settled in. Hawkeye then informs the Colonel that they put a snake in Charles' bed. Notice that Potter's position changes slightly just after that line.
"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."
The snake scene makes it clear that Charles will be an equal, rather than a pawn like Frank. His silent (and IMHO, proper) handling of the snake incident makes it clear that he will be a formidable "opponent" for Hawkeye and BJ.
The snake scene makes it clear that Charles will be an equal, rather than a pawn like Frank. His silent (and IMHO, proper) handling of the snake incident makes it clear that he will be a formidable "opponent" for Hawkeye and BJ. -ScottN on Thursday, March 10, 2005 - 11:13 pm
What makes that so great is that it ever so subtly lets the audience know that Charles will not be Frank Burns, version 2. Winchester will repeatedly prove able to hold his own in the practical joke wars that will regularly erupt on M*A*S*H. - me on March 19, 2002 - 11:01 pm
Great minds think alike, eh, Scott? Okay, so maybe mine's not so great? 
Gotta admit, though the timing of our posts - nearly two years apart - is rather eerie. 
"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."
Three years, Benn.
"Annoyed Grunt!" (I told you my mind wasn't that great. 
)
"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."