Here’s a strange one. Or not. It’s a concept episode. Or not. It starts like one, with a movie in a TV show, but then gets traditional real fast. The episode has a real halfway point, when guest star Ed Flanders disappears. It’s a more comedic episode–even Hawkeye’s closing address to the audience about the nature of a surgical unit in war… needs a rewrite. It’s effective, but it’s kind of cheap (especially given how affecting Alda’s speeches tend to be).
Until the twelve and a half minute mark, the episode’s kind of strange. Henry’s going regular military, for example, and the humor’s real broad. The set up scene with Flanders is kind of long, which might have something to do with it. Then, after the half-way point, the episode continues being strange–but intentionally this time, since it’s all a lead-in to the reveal of the movie in a TV show at the end–but it gets better. Hawkeye and Trapper take over, less story, more comedic acting from Rogers and Alda–Marcia Strassman shows up again as Margie and it’s scary how much the episode needs her.
The conclusion’s standard and expected, but not bad–the movie in the TV show is funny and they get a lot of the Marx Brothers schtick down great–which is nice, given the episode is nine parts comedy and one part earnestness.
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1 Marionette // Mar 21, 2008 at 2:42 am
It’s really starting to look like the Alan Alda Show to me here. Trapper is now Harpo to Hawkeye’s Groucho. MASH works so much better as an ensemble piece.
Again, I enjoyed it but I was a little irritated by Alda’s hogging centre stage.
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