Plot: Radar wants a tattoo to make him feel more manly.

This also has a secondary plot about an incompetent nurse who keeps falling apart in OR.
I know because it's my least favorite story line of the entire series. I have it on good authority that no real nurse would tolerate that kind of behavior when it endangers the patients. Although the bit with Margaret crying over the dog is nicely done, the fact that she apologizes to the new nurse for being hard on her just galls me. She was right all along and the crying nurse should have been immediately transferred elsewhere. It also makes Margaret lose a hard edge, which I think she should have kept.

Totally agree!! That is so freaking unlikely. I know no OR nurse who would tolerate that garbage, in fact, no nurse at all. She lost her hard edge there, and I lost a little respect for her. The patient's life comes before somebody's feelings. I have finished a procedure for a student if she was doing it wrong, and it doesn't matter if the patient knows she was doing it wrong or not. Safety of the patient first, feelings second. Always. And I think it's dumb to make Margaret Houlihan, of all people, go against that.

On the first plot...

HAD HIM DRAW IT ON WITH INK?????

The whole end to the tattoo plot is strange. First, he is wanting the tattoo to get women and respect. On his rear end, he wouldn't get respect unless he showed it. Same thing about getting women. (I doubt anyone, including Radar, would find "let me drop my pants and show you my tattoo" to be a great pick-up line).

Also, having it in ink means that the respect and sex would need to happen that day. That doesn't seem to work.

I think, Steve, that Radar became so infatuated with the idea of getting a tat, that getting women became a rationalization. Just a guess.

Interesting subtlety: We know Hawkeye has a habit of sniffing his food before eating it. Normally someone comments on this habit. Watch the Mess Tent scene (the first one). Pierce forks a Vienna sausage, sniffs it and puts it back on his plate. No one says anything about it. It's not played up at all, as a matter of fact. A nice bit of characterization, if you ask me.

Once again Margaret shows a bit of hypocrisy. When she's blubbering about what's wrong with the camp, part of her complaint is that Pierce is constantly out of uniform. Yet Margaret is wearing her black turtle neck sweater - hardly regulations.

According to the information the Colonel provides in this ep, the year is 1951. He tells Magaret that he's been married to Mrs. Potter for 38 years. He later indicates that the year the Potters married was 1913. That'd place this ep in 1951. except, according to "Change of Command", Potter was assigned to the 4077th in 1952. Ooops!

Not necessarily a nit. If they were married in December 1913, and it's September 1952, it's still been 38 years.

True. Hadn't thought of that.

One of the cuts shows Margaret finding Klinger feeding the dog. She asks about it, and tells Klinger that he'll have to get rid of it--all the while smiling and petting the dog.

Great lines: Winchester: "Money, money, money."
Pierce: "Quiet. He's praying."

One of the cuts shows Margaret finding Klinger feeding the dog. She asks about it, and tells Klinger that he'll have to get rid of it--all the while smiling and petting the dog. - D.K. Henderson

During that scene, Margaret mentions that keeping animals is against regulations. Does that include Radar's menagerie and Sophie?

Once again, Margaret is referred to as "Major Houlihan". (I should mention that the Major did sign the transfer for Cooper as "Major Houlihan", so maybe this nit should be dropped after all.) She's also called "Hot Lips" for the first time in a long time.

There's a scene cut in which Charles sits with Margaret in the Mess Tent. Margaret starts getting paranoid that the people in the camp will think they have something going on. Shortly after this, Margaret invites Father Mulcahy to join the Majors. Then Hawkeye and B.J. joins them. This is where the scene starts in syndication.

Radar says he saw Corporal Hendrix's tattoos when Hendrix was being operated on? When was that? From what we see, Radar was not in the OR.

According to the information the Colonel provides in this ep, the year is 1951. He tells Magaret that he's been married to Mrs. Potter for 38 years. He later indicates that the year the Potters married was 1913. That'd place this ep in 1951. except, according to "Change of Command", Potter was assigned to the 4077th in 1952. Ooops! - me

Not necessarily a nit. If they were married in December 1913, and it's September 1952, it's still been 38 years. - ScottN

Necessarily a nit. Potter says it was "38 years come next April". That places the ep in 1950.

Hawkeye and B.J. are lucky there wasn't anyone else in Rosie's with a tat. Otherwise their attempt at convincing Radar not to get one would've been more of a failure.

As Margaret begins to cry over the dead puppy, two of the nurses are talking. One of them says, "See you later." The other then asks to borrow some nail polish. Asked what kind she wants she wants, she answers, "Peach." The first nurse responds that she thinks red would be better. Then there's silence indicating that the nurse(s) left the Mess Tent. But how? The way the camera is focused on Margaret you can see both exits to the Mess Tent. No one walks to either exits from where the two nurses were.

After Radar gets his tat, he's in his office and Hawkeye, B.J. and Colonel Potter are asking him about it. In the shots containing the four of them, B.J. stands almost directly behind Radar. In a couple of close-ups of Radar, you can't see B.J. Nor Potter for that matter. Yet one or the other of these officers should be visible behind the Corporal in the close-up.

Radar apparently sent for the barbells by mail. It came with an instruction sheet. We see Radar reading the sheet as his puts the weights on the barbell. You've gotta wonder why O'Reilly put so much weight on the bar? Surely the instructions would have recommended that one start with a light load then gradually add weights to the bar as your strength increases? As it is, Radar seems to have started with the maximum of weight and then gave up when he couldn't lift it.

"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."

Radar got a tattoo in an earlier episode while on a bender. I believe it was an anchor on his shoulder. I remember it because Potter asks him why he got a navy tattoo and Radar replies that it was cheaper than the army tattoo.