Here’s an interesting, wikipedia-fueled tidbit… this episode is “often considered to be the worst episode” of “M*A*S*H” by cast and crew… which is rather interesting, since it’s excellent. It’s a goofy, well-paced episode, keeping the wackiness factor down for the majority (the goofy episodes have wackiness at some point, they have to) and then going all out with it at the end.
Maybe it’s because Larry Linville and Frank get so much to do this episode. Frank’s had other big episodes, but this one is a little different. Frank’s fed up (he treated Ginger, who’s gone–unfortunately–like crap and Hawkeye and Trapper went after him) and so he asks for a transfer and gets one. Thanks to Hawkeye and Trap, Hot Lips ends up going with him. Instead of the usual Frank or even the unusual Frank, this episode features a non-4077th Frank for a few moments and it gives Linville a chance to do something new.
It also has a great Radar with teddy bear moment and some fine joke-telling from Alda.
It’s not one of the best episodes, sure, but it’s a funny half hour.
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1 response so far ↓
1 Marionette // Mar 31, 2008 at 5:59 am
I liked that this episode shows Hawkeye and Trapper going too far. They are in fact jerks a lot of the time, but their often quite nasty pranks are usually justified.
The problem is that although they are initially given reasonable motivation (Frank’s being unfair to Ginger), their response in no way helps Ginger, and as Frank demonstrates, is simply an excuse for them to do what they had been doing all along anyway.
And I’m not sure that tricking Frank into staying actually makes amends for anything; especially when they only do it because they are being punished. Their twinge of conscience doesn’t actually motivate them to do anything to make it right, only to play another trick.
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