M*A*S*HGoodbye, Farewell, and Amen.
The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable.
WriterRichard Hooker
Pilot
Sep 17, 1972
At the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H) unit in Korea, two army doctors by the names of Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre receive some exciting news in the mail. Their Korean house boy, Ho-John got accepted into Hawkeye's old college. Hawkeye and Trapper decide to hold a party filled with music, dancing, and alcohol to raise money for Ho-John's plane trip to the U.S. They achieve this by raffling off a weekend pass with a nurse, Lieutenant Dish for R&R in Tokyo.
To Market, to Market
Sep 24, 1972
"To Market, to Market" is the second episode of M*A*S*H. It was first aired on September 24, 1972 and repeated on April 29, 1973. Like many other M*A*S*H episodes, this one parodies army bureaucracy. Thieves hold up a truck load of medical supplies for the 4077, thus rendering them in desperate need of Hydrocortisone. In retaliation, Hawkeye and Trapper meet with a notorious black marketer, hoping to get some replacements. When they realize they have nothing reasonable to trade with him, they go to drastic measures to get what they need.
Requiem for a Lightweight
Oct 1, 1972
Trapper and Hawkeye seek to keep a new nurse from being transferred by Hot Lips, and they vie for her affection. Henry Blake, challenged by another commander to a boxing tournament, makes Trapper fight a big, intimidating soldier in exchange for keeping the nurse at the 4077th. Hawkeye and Ugly John employ the use of a glove soaked with ether to insure Trapper's victory, which impresses the nurse. Margaret and Frank's attempts to unfix the match collapses, as they are flattened by the unconscious boxer!
Chief Surgeon Who?
Oct 8, 1972
Frank Burns complains about Hawkeye Pierce's disrespect...and Henry appoints Hawkeye chief surgeon, to Burns's shock. The rest of the 4077th "coronates" Hawk while Frank and Hot Lips complain to General Barker. The General's visit provides him with a view of life at the 4077th M*A*S*H unit: camp hijinks, a poker game, and a surgery session. This shows him M*A*S*H has fun but gets the job done.
The Moose
Oct 15, 1972
Sergeant Baker arrives at the camp with his Moose. Hawkeye decides to find a way of getting her away from Baker. He tries ordering him to release her, tries buying her, and then resorts to cheating at cards. He releases her but she won't go, so he tries to teach her how to be independent.
Yankee Doodle Doctor
Oct 22, 1972
The 4077th is designated as the setting for the making of an army film on Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units. Hawkeye is chosen as the star while Margaret and Frank compose a screenplay. The Eye Of The Hawk objects to the piece of propaganda that filmmaker Lt. Bricker is producing and, having exposed the original film, reshoots a new one his way, starring himself as Groucho Marx-ish Yankee Doodle Doctor, and poking fun at glorifying doctors while concluding with a rather serious speech about the hell of war.
Bananas, Crackers and Nuts
Nov 5, 1972
When Henry goes for some R&R, Hawkeye pretends to crack up so that Frank will let him and Trapper go on some R&R.
Cowboy
Nov 12, 1972
John Hodges, a chopper pilot referred to as The Cowboy because of his gun holster belt and cowboy hat, has been hit in the shoulder, and arrives at the 4077th. He is expecting a letter--he's worried his wife Jean at home is leaving him for another man ("She's probably off with some rodeo rider; she's a sucker for a 10-gallon hat!"). He wants to go home, but Henry refuses, stating Cowboy's wound isn't serious enough to merit a stateside ticket. Bad luck then follows Henry Blake like the seat of his pants: he gets shot at while golfing, his tent gets flattened by a driverless jeep, and the latrine explodes while he's inside. The Cowboy offers to fly Henry to Seoul and then threatens to shove him out! The letter finally arives for Cowboy, assuring he is loved. Hawkeye and Trapper uses the radio to convince The Cowboy to spare Henry's life and come down, at which they succeed.
Henry Please Come Home
Nov 19, 1972
Henry receives a citation for the camp achieving the best efficiency rating, and then General Hammond reassigns him to Tokyo. Frank then changes the camp to be more military, and he confiscates Hawkeye's and Trapper's still. They use forged passes to go to Tokyo to convince Henry to come back and end up pretending Radar is sick.
I Hate a Mystery
Nov 26, 1972
A rash of thefts breaks out in the camp. Missing pieces include Frank's silver picture frame, Margaret's hair brush, and Trapper's watch. The camp is searched and everything is found in Hawkeye's locker. Everyone thinks he did it. Hawkeye manages to announce to the camp that the items will be dusted for prints to identify the real thief, and catches Ho-Jon. He needed money to bring his family from the North, and to bribe border guards.
Germ Warfare
Dec 10, 1972
Hawkeye moves a wounded North Korean soldier into The Swamp, rather than let him be shipped out before he's stable. During the night he and Trapper play Dracula, and siphon off a pint of Frank's blood. The soldier then contracts hepatitis, so they have to test Frank without him knowing, and have to keep him away from Margaret and the patients.
Dear Dad
Dec 17, 1972
Hawkeye writes home, describing Christmas in Korea: Radar ships a jeep home, a piece at a time; Henry gives the monthly lecture on sex, with the aid of figure A and figure B; Trapper helps deliver a calf; Klinger and Frank get into a fight, but Father Mulcahy smoothes things over; Hawkeye and Trapper sabotage Margaret's tent; Hawkeye flies to the front line dressed as Santa, to help a wounded soldier.
Edwina
Dec 24, 1972
The nurses go to extremes lengths to find a date for Nurse Eddie - they won't go out with anyone until Eddie gets a date. The men draw straws, and Hawkeye is the big loser, especially after Eddie nearly kills him in a scene resembling teenage "mating" rituals.
Love Story
Jan 7, 1973
Radar gets a Dear John recording from home. Hawkeye and Trapper try to set him up with a date, but fail. Radar is taken by a new nurse at the camp and she is into poetry and music, so they coach him. Margaret wants to stop the relationship, so Hawkeye and Trapper get between her and Frank until she relents. Radar's "Ahhhh, Bach!" and "That's highly significant," quotes win him the girl.
Tuttle
Jan 14, 1973
Hawkeye creates a fake doctor, Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle, to give supplies to the local orphans. Henry wants Tuttle to be officer of the day, so Hawkeye creates a fake personnel file, and all his back pay is given to the orphanage. When General Clayton wants to reward his generosity, Hawkeye is forced to invent a story about Tuttle jumping from a chopper without his parachute! Of course, Trapper's new friend, Captain Murdoch, obtained the fake dog tags and parachute...!
The Ringbanger
Jan 21, 1973
Hawkeye and Trapper operate on a famous Colonel - after discovering that he is particularly ruthless about sacrificing his men, they come up with a scheme to get him sent back to the states with a little unwitting help from Frank, Margaret, and a drunk Henry.
Sometimes You Hear the Bullet
Jan 28, 1973
Frank throws his back out whilst spending the evening with Margaret, and ends up in traction. He promptly applies for the Purple Heart, having been 'technically' wounded at a frontline unit. Tommy Gillis, an old friend of Hawkeye's, is writing a book about the war, and pays him a visit. Later, Tommy is brought into the camp, seriously wounded, and Hawkeye can't save him. A 15-year-old kid is in the hospital to have his appendix out. He joined up to be a hero back home, but Hawkeye has him sent home, giving him Frank's purple heart.
Dear Dad...Again
Feb 4, 1973
Once again, Hawkeye writes home to his father, telling him of the latest gossip: the camp gets a new surgeon, who turns out to be a fake; Hawkeye bets he can walk into the mess tent naked for lunch, and no one will notice; Radar cheats on his final exam from the High School diploma company; Margaret rejects Franks advances and he gets drunk late into the night; the camp have a no talent night.
The Longjohn Flap
Feb 17, 1973
The camp suffers from the severe cold, except for Hawkeye who has received some long john's from his father. They get passed around from person to person, as a gift, a gambling stake, a trade, a bribe, stolen, given up to Father Mulcahy, who gives them to Henry, who returns them to Hawkeye as thanks for taking out his appendix.
The Army-Navy Game
Feb 25, 1973
The camp tunes into the Army/Navy football game, only to be shelled and have an unexploded bomb land in the middle of the compound. They ring around trying to identify the bomb, and the camp prepares for the worst. Hawkeye and Trapper are left the task of following instructions to disarm the bomb, which turns out to be full of propaganda leaflets from the CIA.
Sticky Wicket
Mar 4, 1973
Hawkeye and Frank argue over Frank's surgical ability. Hawkeye performs a difficult operation and the patient does not recover, as he should. Hawkeye begins to doubt his ability and moves out of The Swamp. He decides to open up his patients again, and discovers a nick in the colon that even Frank admits anyone could have missed.
Major Fred C. Dobbs
Mar 11, 1973
As usual Frank's normal drone of verbal abuse upsets Ginger, so Hawkeye puts his arm in a cast while he is asleep. Frank puts in for a transfer, and after a broadcast goes out of Frank telling Margaret he's leaving, she decides to leave as well. As a result, Col. Blake puts both Hawk and Trap on double post-op duty until he finds replacements for Majs. Burns and Houlihan. Unwilling to lose their two favorite patsies, and to be worn to a frazzle from doing 2 shifts in O/R, Hawkeye and Trapper hatch a scheme to prevent Frank and Hot Lips from leaving. That night, Hawkeye and Trapper pretend they have found gold, letting Frank overhear them. Frank then withdraws his request when he thinks he's found gold himself, although the joke is on him when he finds, amongst other things, a gilded jeep!
Ceasefire
Mar 18, 1973
General Clayton calls to say that a ceasefire is to be declared. The camp celebrates, Klinger gives away his dresses and locals start to take pieces of the camp. But Trapper does not believe it. Hawkeye claims he is married to avoid promises he made to several nurses. The party to celebrate the cease-fire, which never really took place, is interrupted by incoming wounded.
Showtime
Mar 25, 1973
Captain Kaplan is to be shipped home, but becomes paranoid that something will happen to him before he leaves. He takes the wheel of the jeep to drive to Kimpo himself, but crashes and ends up in plaster. Henry's wife is in labor and gives birth while he has Radar calling the hospital every 5 mins.An entertainer, Jackie Flash, visits the camp to entertain the troops.
Peter89Spencer
@Peter89Spencer
Before Cheers, M*A*S*H was a long running sitcom that spanned a decade (ironically, was much longer than the war itself). There were hilarious moments, and there were serious, heart wrenching moments. We said goodbye to Henry Blake and hello to Sherman Potter, goodbye to Trapper and hello to BJ, and goodbye (and good riddance) to Frank Burns and hello to Charles Winchester. And we had a definite goodbye to Radar. But there will always be iconic moments from drinking spirits in "the swamp" to Klinger in dresses! M*A*S*H was a truly fantastic and brilliant sitcom. Glad I got the whole series on boxset DVD!
drystyx
@drystyx
This Korean War medical team unit is really two shows. So, it's rated in two parts. MASH is sort of four different shows. I've read the book. I've seen the movie, and I've seen the two different formats of the TV show. The book was much like the first show, where Major Burns is a total scapegoat. There's no way to believe that Hawkeye is a god and Burns is responsible for every terrible thing that ever happened. That's the book and the Larry Linville portion of the series. Linville himself knew this was a career ending role, and that the character of Burns was ridiculous. It did make for funny moments, but the same funny moments that Nazis endorsed when they made Jews their scapegoats. The first part of MASH is simply an instruction manual for choosing a scapegoat. When people watch something like this, they aren't concerned with "reality". They're being taught a more. The more being taught isn't to blame the creepy guy for creepy things that he does. That's because no one really knows that much about anyone else. What is being taught, and the writers and directors of all books and TV shows and movies know this, is the surface view. What is being taught in MASH before Stiers is to just pick a scapegoat. That's all. That's the message. So, even though the slapstick humor is funny, I give the first era of the TV show a 1/10. It's teaching discrimination and hate without a cause. During the first portion, the surgical army unit doctors do perform in a realistic setting, so to speak, and that makes it worse, because it can't be laughed away when they teach people to be modern day Nazis looking for the modern day Jew. Totally worse. It's also very dated, because it doesn't take into account the date. Being "dated" is misunderstood by "fan boys". It doesn't mean what they think. They think it means people from 1952 who act like characters from 1953 are dated. They think a character from 1952 should know about eight track tapes, DVDs, Donald Trump, etc. Being "dated" actually means that someone from 1952 does know about eight track tapes, DVDs, and Donald Trump. That's "dated". That's the problem with MASH. The "liberal" from 1952 would be more like Trapper John. He would be the very far left. Hawkeye would be shot as a traitor, no matter how good of a doctor he claimed he was. Which is another thing. The MASH book and the Linville era of MASH is like listening to Sinbad tell Hindbad of his voyages. You know he's lying. There's no credibility of character. Now, the later MASH sees the writers realizing what they've done. Stiers as Winchester is the most credible character of the entire series. This is what a doctor in 1952 would be. Also Honeycutt and Potter. The characters became much more credible, though the humor became drier. The later part of the series was 9/10. There were still some bits of contrived propaganda, but it was much subtler. The character of Nurse Hot Lips was worse than that of Burns. She was a worse monster than he was. She had no allegiance at all, and couldn't be trusted. She tried to make underlings nervous in a war zone where being nervous could kill or cripple you, and that cannot be an accident from a major. I kept hoping she would be fragged. There is no way you could trust that monster to be on your side. The character of Father Mulcahy was also out of touch with the era. He was the epitome of "dated", being a 1990 liberal preacher in 1942. As far as credibility goes, he was as bad as Burns. It was later in the series when the four non coms got more notice. There was always Radar and Klinger, but they were extreme polar opposites. The Rizzo and Igor were added, and they were a bit extreme, even for 1942. Still, they gave more of a balance. Especially Igor, although his character should have been written better, since he was the "moderate" enlisted man. As a moderate, for instance, he shouldn't have been from the New York-New Jersey area. That was too contrived to please that area. The "scapegoat" era was so corrupt that it took the rating down for this more than just 1 and 9 equals 10 for an average of 5. Thus, it gets a 4/10 rating.
