Plot: In a two-part episode, Hawkeye and Margaret are sent to the 8063rd to demonstrate arterial transplant techniques. They get lost, lose their jeep, get caught in military fire, and are forced to take shelter. During the night, a bombardment drives them into each other's arms. The next day, reactions set in.
The big question in this episode, of course, is "Did they or didn't they?" According to Margaret, they didn't--unless Hawkeye took advantage of her while she was drunk. It does seem strange, however, the way she did a complete about-face in her feelings towards him, if only for a day. It's no wonder that Hawkeye thought that SOMETHING must have happened.
Yeah, but Margaret was always good at being in denial, so maybe something did happen.
I think Margaret was just being defensive when she said that. There's any number of little details to confirm that something did indeed happen.
I agree.
Something happened, that's undeniable.
Oh heck yeah something happened. I mean, when interviewed, the actors referred to the "affair" b/t Hawk and Margaret in Comrades in Arms. Anyway, they used a kiss/groping session to segue into an implied intimate encounter for the rest of the series (eg. with Hawk and a nurse or Trapper and a nurse or whatever), so if they did the same with Hawk and Margaret, one can safely ass-u-me that they did something comparable in Comrades in Arms. Just MHO.
If its undeniable, then why did Margaret deny it?
She didn't want others to suspect that, well, you know ;)
Quite possibly out of spite or hurt or humiliation because she came on so strongly to Hawkeye and he rebuffed her. I mean, I wouldn't be too eager to acknowledge that I slept with somebody who acted that way afterward. But if we go with the thought that they didn't b/c we didn't *see* it happen, then we have to say that Frank and Margaret never had sex b/c we didn't see it, and Hawkeye remained pure as the driven snow while he was in Korea, and gee, while we're at it, Louise McIntyre, Lorraine Blake, and Peg Hunnicut didn't have a thing to worry about, b/c we never saw their husbands actually have sex with anybody. They *just* kissed.
Notice that, if they did do anything, they carefully got dressed again afterwards. Must have been worried that they'd have to leave in a hurry.
I can understand Hawkeye's reaction. It must have been disconcerting to have the militant Margaret suddenly all soft and agreeable. Must have done wonders for his ego. "Spend the night with Hawkeye, and you'll be a new woman!"
His ego didn't need any help. :)
I must say, this is the most interesting episode to discuss!
I just saw part one of this wonderful episode today. I caught something in it, too. The way she looks at him...it was like an oh-wow-I'm-living-my-dream and if-this-isn't-heaven-what-is? look.
On another topic, I noticed a production mistake in part 2 the other day.
Hawkeye and Margaret return to the 4077th via jeep and are greeted by the entire camp. Father Mulcahy can be seen in the crowd walking into the mess tent, and he is not wearing his glasses. Hawk and Margaret are ushered into the mess tent, and when Mulcahy steps in, his glasses magically appear on his face!
I can't remember if this line was cut for syndication or not: When Hawkeye visits Margaret in her tent, he seems to be pushing for her to forgive Donald and says "I'm sure the letter he wrote for you was just as nice." This completely disregards the fact that Donald had no business writing mushy letters to anyone but his wife.
I wonder if Margaret did send Donald the letter for "Hank"? (Personally, I preferred "Lance".)
It was convenient that the 8063rd had a patient needing an arterial graft just in time for the demonstration. Did they have this patient hanging around at the time they put in their request for a demo? And if so, would his leg have survived waiting through the bug-out and the time it took to locate Hawkeye and Margaret?
I found it rather odd that the four North Koreans who confiscated the jeep were still so close to where Hawkeye and Margaret were. After all, they were riding, while Hawkeye and Margaret were walking.
The line "I'm sure the letter he wrote for you was just as nice" is still in the episode. What is cut is Hawkeye (I think it was) saying he and Margaret "sustained" each other. Potter later refers to the line when he says, "Hell hath no fury like a woman sustained."
It's amazing that Margaret and Hawkeye were never discovered by the North Koreans. Margaret was yelling loudly enough, they'd've had to be deaf not know they were nearby.
BTW, these episodes contain contain some nice continuity. In part one, Margaret reminds Hawkeye that she was the one to assist him on the arterial graft that Dr. Borelli taught. ("The Consultant", I believe was the episode.)
In part two, during the demonstration, Margaret mentions that the bleeding is stopped by an artieral clamp developed at the 4077th. ("Patent 4077")
Which brings up these questions: Why show the 8063rd a surgical procedure that involves an instrument they may not have? Have those clamps been more widely manufactured?
Whatever is bothering Charles, he didn't get rid of it with his shower. Watch David Ogden Stiers, the whole time Potter is looking for a "volunteer" to go to the 8063rd, Stiers keeps scratching himself. He's not faking it either. He's visibly uncomfortable.
Margaret says she going with Pierce because assisted Hawkeye when Doctor Borelli taught Pierce the transplant procedure. Potter says he's sending Hawkeye because Pierce has done the operation "dozens of times". It sounds like Margaret has gone throught the procedure once. Is there a nurse who has assisted Dr. Pierce more than once - at least? Moreover, I wonder why Margaret insists on going. The letter from Donald hadn't arrived yet.
Why is Margaret surprised that Hawkeye is mechanically inept? We, the audience, learned that fact in the ep, "The Bus". Surely Margaret would've heard the details by now.
In the episode "C*A*V*E", we learn Margaret hates loud noises. This episode may give the earliest indication of that fear.
Apparently the 4077th knows when they'll be receiving wounded. Potter, while waiting for the phone to ring, tells B.J. and Father Mulcahy, "We're gonna miss 'em in OR tomorrow."
I found a scene that's usually cut. Potter, B.J, Charles, and Father Mulcahy were discussing the situation, and someone commented that enemies Hawkeye and Margaret must be having a horrible time together. Father Mulcahy suggested, in such a situation, perhaps they would draw together. (This is where the "sustaining" idea came in.) Father Mulchay, of course, meant it in a purely friendly fashion, but the other three promptly began discussing the notion, using Mulcahy's very words, but loading them with sexual innuendo. Mulcahy looked very uncomfortable by the end of the scene!
It's rather odd that, when B.J. got back from the helicopter reconnaisance, he told Potter that he thought he saw Margaret. He did not say a word about seeing her when he was in the helicopter.
Another interesting point: just before Hawkeye goes to beard Margaret in her den, he's talking the matter over with B.J. B.J. makes a comment about Margaret's ability to "deny" things. Hawkeye went to her tent, and Margaret promptly denied that anything untoward happened.
This actually was a two-part ep. It was not broken up for syndication.
As Potter and B.J. bring the fancy cling peaches to the jeep for Pierce and Margaret to trade for penicillin, a soldier can be seen opening the door to Pre-Op in the background. The camera zooms in and suddenly the door is shut. Also, the soldier raking the ground (or sweeping it -whichever he's doing) changes position. At first, he's near the door to the office. Then in the zoom-in, he's by Pre-Op.
According to the sign, the 8063's motto is "We Never Close". The 4077's "Best Care Anywhere."
I believe one of the syndication cuts involve Klinger, dressed as a maid, dusting Colonel Potter's office. Charles walks in to try to talk the Colonel into giving him a transfer. However, Potter is out of his office at the moment. Klinger tells Charles that the two of them have a lot in common. They both want out of the 4077. Charles discourages any such talk. Then the phone rings. It's Colonel Roberts whom Potter has been trying to get a hold of to see about finding Pierce and Houlihan. As he leaves to get Potter, Klinger lets slip that Roberts could get him sent home. Charles then picks up the phone to try to talk to Roberts about getting a transfer back to Tokyo. Roberts, however, thinks Winchester is Klinger. Charles, insulted by that, hangs up the phone. When B.J. and Potter learn what happened, and that Charles did not get any info about Hawkeye and Margaret, they are, predictably, angry with the Major.
How safe was it for Hawkeye and Margaret to have a candle lit in the hut they were in? Wouldn't that let whoever was firing those shells know someone was in the hut, and quite possibly convince them to attack it?
This is the seventh episode this season in which Radar does not appear. I'm beginning to think the Corporal went AWOL.
"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."
Part II:
Hawkeye's not kidding. On the morning after - whatever they did - he tells Margaret she looks great. Indeed, considering that it's been a day and a half, and what all they went through that night, the shelling and all, her hair and face look incredibly clean. Her hair, at the very least she look a mess.
B.J. goes to talk to chopper pilot, Doug Aylesworth about looking for Pierce and Houlihan. In that scene, Aylesworth holds his coffee cup higher just before saying, "We're not?" In the following shot, the cup is lower. Also the position of B.J.'s hands do not seem to match. Further, in the same scene, from one angle a bowl can be seen. The bowl seems to vanish when the camera angle changes.
With the way Margaret was yelling, how could the North Korean soldier not know she and Pierce were in the hut?
The flashlight Hawkeye is using to read the map in the rain seems to vanish in the close-up shot of him and Margaret. Also during that scene, the strands of hair on Hawk's forehead changes from shot to shot.
While demonstrating the arterial leg graft, Margaret mentions a clamp specially developed at the 4077th. That was clamp was created in the episode, "Patent 4077". Problem is, going by airdates, that episode occured after this one.
"Gentlemen, please. Mozart."