| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% Editors: If you are adding a moment, please try to note which episode it came from and keep each section organized |
| 3 | %% in episode order. The Recap page contains the full episode list. |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | |
| 6 | !!'''''ATTENTION, ALL PERSONNEL, CAUTION: UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD!''''' |
| 7 | |
| 8 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_n481epoudy1s5rjvso1_raw.png]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Although ''M*A*S*H'' originally started off as a comedy, it sought to remind the viewers that WarIsHell and affected everybody involved in ways that people wouldn't dare think of. From the wounded and dying soldiers having to fight to the physical and mental strains placed on the people trying to save both soldiers and civilians to the problems created by the long distances between their loved ones, it is a shocking reminder of just how horribly people can be affected by the actions and decisions of those who will never have to look them in the eye. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | [[folder:Seasons 1–3]] |
| 15 | !!!'''Season 1''' |
| 16 | * The MoodWhiplash in "Yankee Doodle Doctor", as after a whole episode of Hawkeye snarking and mincing and acting like Groucho Marx, he has a sad TranquilFury speech that is eerily familiar to his later self (and Alan Alda’s view is that he didn’t change, just could hide better). |
| 17 | -->'''Hawkeye''': Three hours ago, this man was in a battle. Two hours ago, we operated on him. He's got a fifty-fifty chance. We win some, we lose some. That's what it's all about. No promises. No guaranteed survival. No saints in surgical garb. Our willingness, our experience, our technique are not enough. Guns and bombs and antipersonnel mines have more power to take life than we have to preserve it. Not a very happy ending for a movie, but then no war is a movie. |
| 18 | * Margaret sobbing in Frank’s arms at the end of "Bananas, Crackers and Nuts", after her near rape attempt. |
| 19 | * The letter written by the wife of the titular "Cowboy" wherein she pleads for his forgiveness for having been tempted to cheat on him, even though she ultimately didn't. Cowboy's SanitySlippage while waiting for said letter and the look of utter relief on his face, including some ManlyTears, also count. |
| 20 | * It’s five seconds, but especially in the context of Hawkeye’s trauma of NeverGotToSayGoodbye and Trapper’s repression, “Dear Dad” has Hawkeye have to go help a pinned down infantry corporal and he tells Trapper “in case I don’t see you… Merry Christmas”. Trapper reassures that just tell him when he comes back, but his face falls worried when Hawkeye goes. |
| 21 | * He’s using it to flirt with Edwina, but Hawkeye doing his SadClown thing and telling her he has a recurring dream that he’ll go home and his family will have left with no forwarding address, is tragic in hindsight. |
| 22 | * Henry's speech to Hawkeye in "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet". [[HarsherInHindsight It becomes infinitely harder to stomach when you learn of Henry's eventual fate...]] |
| 23 | -->'''Henry''': Pierce, is there anything I can do to help? |
| 24 | -->'''Hawkeye''': It's the first time I cried since I came to this crummy place. I don't understand that. |
| 25 | -->'''Henry''': Well, Gillis was your friend. I mean, it's only natural that you'd, uh, you know. |
| 26 | -->'''Hawkeye''': Henry, I know why I'm crying now. Tommy was my friend, and I watched him die, and I'm crying. I've watched guys die almost every day. Why didn't I ever cry for them? |
| 27 | -->'''Henry''': Because you're a doctor. |
| 28 | -->'''Hawkeye''': What the hell does that mean? |
| 29 | -->'''Henry''': I don't know. If I had the answer, I'd be at the Mayo Clinic. Does this place look like the Mayo Clinic? Look, all I know is what they taught me at command school: There are certain rules about a war. And {{rule number one}} is young men die. And rule number two is, doctors can't change rule number one. |
| 30 | ** Hawkeye’s tendency to blame himself for things that aren’t his fault at all comes out early when he’s angry at himself for crying over a friend dying and not for anyone else. Especially as from now on his crying will almost be a seasonal occurrence. |
| 31 | ** When Tommy dies, Hawkeye has no time to process because they’re so jammed with wounded. Henry has to order him to move to help Trapper, and Hawkeye wanders over in a daze and does a ThousandYardStare at Tommy’s body. |
| 32 | * As bratty as he’s being, Hawkeye’s spiral (the first of many) in "Sticky Wicket". Especially as there’s more mention of him coming to Korea with his brain already messed up. |
| 33 | * While the camera focuses on Hawkeye getting his heart ripped in half, Trapper has a SingleTear after hearing the ceasefire was cancelled. |
| 34 | * Especially heartbreaking in hindsight is Henry's storyline in "Showtime". It was pretty sad anyway, coupled with a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} when Radar gives him a Korean child to hold because he can't hold his own, but after "Abyssinia, Henry"? It's an effort just to keep it together. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | !!!'''Season 2''' |
| 37 | * Trapper’s depression over a patient being contaminated in "Radar’s Report" (and then dying), mixed in with NightmareFuel when he’s about to kill the POW. |
| 38 | * "Dr. Pierce and Dr. Hyde": |
| 39 | ** Hawkeye's so exhausted, he's telling chopper pilots not to go up anymore because they always bring mangled kids back down with them and he's so ridiculously vulnerable that you just want to hold him and say it will all be okay. |
| 40 | ** Late at night while it's raining, Hawkeye heads to Radar to send a telegram to President Truman (to find out who's responsible for the war). In particular, when he sings "I'll Be Home for Christmas", increasingly near tears... and Radar is just ''stunned''. |
| 41 | ** While they also serve as cute bi references, there’s something also sad about Hawkeye’s exhausted assumption that people caring for him = they just want to have sex with him. |
| 42 | ** The scene where Hawkeye tells Trapper there’s a war going on, and if he thought he could stop it just by going to sleep don’t you think he would try? Plus Trapper’s way of dealing is to check out when everything gets unbearable. |
| 43 | * Trapper, at the end of the "Kim" episode. A little boy who is believed to be a war orphan is treated at and taken care of by the camp. Trapper begins to bond with the boy and ultimately decides to adopt him. After a major scare where the boy wanders into a minefield and is brought out safely, the boy's mother arrives and is reunited with him, leaving Trapper heartbroken. And then there's Trapper's family. Back home, Louise and their two daughters are waiting happily to greet their adopted son and little brother. Now Trapper has to break the news to them, not in person, but by either mail or phone. Afterwards, he tries to outwardly shrug it off, saying that it was maybe for the best that Kim didn't come to the States with him. Hawkeye knows him all too well. |
| 44 | * "Officers Only" with no laugh track has a scene where Hawkeye softly genuinely asks Trapper if he wants to dance, and does a “that’s what I expected” kind of nod when Trapper says no. |
| 45 | * "Dear Dad... Three" sets the stage where any scene when they watch home movies sent to them by their families becomes one, especially that one clip where Blake's wife gets the little neighborhood kids to line up with a sign that says, "Miss you." (Hawkeye: "Henry, if you don't give the command to cry, I will.") |
| 46 | * Another one that's bad on its own but even worse in hindsight is Henry's call to his family in "Henry In Love", where he tells his son that he has to be the man of the house, just until he gets back from Korea. [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies Poor kid...]] |
| 47 | * In “Mail Call”, once Hawkeye realizes that Trapper is serious he goes into SarcasmFailure and looks like he’s going to cry. Knowing what’s going to happen in Welcome To Korea and more detail about his abandonment issues only adds another level of awful. And when he’s sure Trapper is distracted by laughing at Frank he anxiously takes Trapper’s bag away and locks it up. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | !!!'''Season 3''' |
| 50 | * "O.R." has an early one for Frank. He's talking with Trapper and mentions that during his childhood no one was allowed to talk at the table, not even hum, without getting a [[AbusiveParents punch in the throat]]. Trapper's stunned and says that's horrible. Frank then goes on to say that he thinks that's why he became a snitch, it was someone to talk to. He may be an unlikeable guy, but [[FreudianExcuse with a childhood like that, it's not surprising]] he ended up the way he was. |
| 51 | ** Hawkeye has a mini breakdown ({{foreshadowing}} his later ones) when his open heart massage patient dies, having to sit down and clearly crying, and telling Sidney that being a doctor is all he ever wanted to do but feeling worthless enough that he sometimes thinks he’d be more useful just being pretty and serving people. (A belief that keeps popping up for him throughout the show.) |
| 52 | ---> '''Hawkeye''': Damn....damn.....''damn''. I thought I got to him in time.\ |
| 53 | '''Trapper''': Hawk. He was gone once. You bought him four hours he never would have had.\ |
| 54 | '''Hawkeye''': I've read all the procedures. It's worked. Maybe I should have stayed with him in post-op.\ |
| 55 | '''Trapper''': We needed you here.\ |
| 56 | '''Sidney''': You wanna get back in the game? I'm not ready to solo yet.\ |
| 57 | '''Hawkeye''': [''returning to work''] I really thought I pulled it off.\ |
| 58 | '''Sidney''': Some patients insist on dying, Hawk. You knew that going in, but you had to be a doctor.\ |
| 59 | '''Hawkeye''': I never had any choice. It's all I ever cared about. It's all I ever wanted to do. I think I'd be more useful as a cocktail waitress.\ |
| 60 | '''Sidney''': You haven't got the legs for it.\ |
| 61 | '''Hawkeye''': [''sighs''] Let me finish this myself, will you, Sidney?\ |
| 62 | '''Sidney''': Good idea. Occupational therapy. |
| 63 | ** Henry telling Hawkeye that even though his arthritis is a ticket home, he doesn’t want to go because he’s a better doctor in Korea. |
| 64 | --->'''Hawkeye''': someday you’ll have to go back home and die in your bed in Bloomington. |
| 65 | ** The SadisticChoice Henry has to decide; between trying with a patient that would need eight hours to maybe make it, and letting him die but saving seven more kids with more chances. He admits to Hawkeye that he’s not good at stuff like this. |
| 66 | ** The melancholy ending, as the OR gets cleaned and Hawkeye is fast asleep on the gurney, with an equally exhausted Trapper pulling him out. |
| 67 | --->'''PA announcer''': Nobody’s succeeding us. At all. |
| 68 | * In “Check Up”, like he does with B.J. later on, Hawkeye is initially happy for Trapper getting to go home, but when it starts feeling more real, he tearfully thanks Trapper for looking after him and making it bearable. |
| 69 | ** Not exactly good with emotion anyway, Trapper sounds like he’s going to cry when he admits he’s staying, and looks right in Hawkeye’s direction when he starts to say he’s “staying here with… with…”, but ends it jokily insulting the camp instead. |
| 70 | * "There Is Nothing Like a Nurse": |
| 71 | ** Captain Spaulding's song "And I Wonder" is about the absence of the evacuated nurses and wondering if they miss the men of the camp or not. The whole scene, the singing, the actors' quiet subtle performances, it all silently screams of pure melancholy and loneliness. It's so bad for the men, especially when they have to operate without the nurses, that when they return, Hawkeye gives Margaret a REAL salute. It's hard to see with everyone running around in that scene, but watch closely, it happens. |
| 72 | ** Even ''Frank's'' home movie is a tearjerker. The movie is that of his wedding to Louise and it's sad at just how pathetic it looks: there are hardly any guests (and a lot of empty chairs), Frank's boutonniere won't stay in place, he gets a fly strip ''stuck to his face'' while cutting the cake, nobody besides him looks happy (and even his smiles seem forced due to how much fail is going into the wedding), and, to top it off, his wife (who wears the sourest expression of anyone in the film) emasculates him by refusing to let him drive the honeymoon car. You may not feel sorry for Frank often, but when you do, you see just how bad his life really is. |
| 73 | * In “Adam’s Ribs”, Hawkeye just blurting out that he was raped by an airline stewardess. It’s so casual for him, calling it a “favour” to her that he kept quiet during the encounter, and does a “them’s the breaks” shrug after. |
| 74 | * “Mad Dogs And Servicemen” has a soldier suffering from trauma, and Sidney’s not around so Hawkeye has to play the bad guy (and is too CloseToHome to precarious mental health), but it’s Trapper who gets Travis to open up about watching his friends be killed by tanks and feeling like a coward because he was too afraid to do anything. |
| 75 | * Trapper’s letter to his seven year old daughter in “Bulletin Board”. She complained that he doesn’t tell her much of what’s going on (which of course isn’t suitable to tell a child) and all he can do is say he’s trying to make the best of it. Then he yanks the record off the player and gives a haunted ThousandYardStare. |
| 76 | ** The MoodWhiplash of everyone cackling and having fun in the mud pit, and Radar stands up silently, and everyone knows before he even says it. Even worse is that Henry was right in his HeroicBSOD, that everyone would have fun at the party and the war would kick them in the stomachs. |
| 77 | * “The Consultant” is an early episode of the show’s “visiting doctor thought to be TheAce is actually struggling” trope, and Hawkeye is heartbroken to see Borelli too drunk to do surgery. But he’s also an angrily glib brat about it, and Borelli tells him to not mistake his explanation for an apology, calls out Hawkeye’s own alcoholism, and hopes he can do better on his third war. It only takes him three more seasons to fall even harder than Borelli did. |
| 78 | * Henry’s guilt over sending Klinger, Margaret and Hawkeye to the front in “Aid Station”. The only choices he made back home are to do with his cat and bowling ball, and as incompetent a commanding officer as he is, it’s clear he doesn’t want to be army and making hard decisions that might result in deaths is taking a toll on him. |
| 79 | * "Abyssinia Henry" ends with one of the most famous tearjerker lines from the show: "I have a message... Lieutenant Colonel... Henry Blake's plane... was shot down... over the Sea of Japan. It spun in... there were no survivors." |
| 80 | ** The scene starts with Radar coming into the operating room while the surgeons and nurses are all working, an ''absolutely poleaxed'' expression on his face when he comes into the room. Hawkeye initially mistakes it for TearsOfJoy and asks Radar if someone else was going to be sent home as well. Then the moment that broke and continues to break the millions of hearts of television viewers across the globe happens as Radar makes the dreaded announcement and then leaves the room to cope with his misery on his own. |
| 81 | ** Then there are the heartbreaking reactions of everyone else in the [=OR=] as the tragic news hits home. Frank has stopped working and is in complete shock. Margaret breaks down in tears. Father Mulcahy looks as though he's about to fall over, holding his hand to his chest. Hawkeye and Trapper continue working, but in teary-eyed solemn quiet. |
| 82 | ** Right after that is a [[ReallyDeadMontage beautiful, heartbreaking montage]] that shows moments of the wonderful man fans have enjoyed watching week after week, whether it was as a bumbling idiot, a caring individual, or a BigDamnHero who chooses not to let rules and protocol get in the way of saving someone else's life. In the end, Henry Blake is proven to be someone, no matter what he did, that could make us laugh and put smiles on all our faces. And now, from this point forward in the show, will never be able to do so again, even from afar. |
| 83 | ---> ''MASH 4077 bids Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake a reluctant and affectionate farewell'' |
| 84 | ** In the end credits, the final frame is a close-up of Radar (looking like he's about to cry) giving Henry Blake a final salute before he leaves. |
| 85 | ** Particularly shocking as he was [[{{Retirony}} on his way home]] - and more so again when you remember that his son was born while he was in Korea and they never got to see one another. |
| 86 | ** Henry's goodbye hug to Radar: "You behave yourself, or I'm gonna come back here and kick your butt." As a viewer, you're still drying your eyes from that when the final O.R. scene begins. Made all the better when you know that Radar saluting Henry was ad-libbed by Creator/GaryBurghoff, whereas Henry embracing Radar was ad-libbed by Creator/McLeanStevenson (who later said of that moment, "You can't write emotion"). |
| 87 | ** While Gelbart and Reynolds defended the decision to ultimately kill Blake, the manner in which it was done deeply upset the cast, especially Stevenson, who was just off stage when his character's death was announced without his prior knowledge. It not only ruined the season's wrap party, but permanently fractured Stevenson's relationship with Gelbart and Reynolds. After Stevenson's death in 1996, they said that they regretted how it was done, and that it was nothing personal, saying "We wish we could say that 'We didn't mean it, Mac.'" |
| 88 | ** Anything involving Henry and his family back home is almost unbearable to watch once you've learned the character's ultimate fate. In his last episode, he's in the middle of discussing homecoming plans with his wife when the phone connection is prematurely cut off, a scene that in retrospect is one of the show's saddest moments in its own right. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Seasons 4–7]] |
| 92 | !!!'''Season 4''' |
| 93 | * In "Welcome to Korea", B.J. gets his first experience with combat medicine, as he, Hawkeye, and Radar meet a platoon just before it takes heavy shelling. Hawkeye turns a soldier face-up to examine him: |
| 94 | -->'''B.J.''': ''[horrified]'' He's twelve years old! |
| 95 | -->'''Hawkeye''': ''[turns soldier back over]'' He'll never make thirteen. |
| 96 | ** Just a few minutes after that, they come across another soldier who, as Hawkeye says, “has had it”. B.J., not actually having seen the gore (we don’t see it either) wants to at least try, but sees and then immediately crawls to throw up. |
| 97 | ** Hawkeye finding out that Trapper left while he was on R&R, and after racing to the airport to say goodbye, finds out he missed him by ten minutes. He looks so heartbroken, and dismisses B.J. right out at first. It’s also the end of his and Trapper’s friendship entirely, as Trapper never writes and Hawkeye stays angry (mostly at himself for apparently not being worth it) until the finale. |
| 98 | ** While commending the 4077th's medical service record to B.J. at the Kimpo Officers Club, Hawkeye reminisces that he missed out on meeting two very good individuals. |
| 99 | ---> '''Hawkeye''': You missed two of the greatest guys in the world though. Henry Blake was our CO. Henry was okay from the navel out in every direction.\ |
| 100 | '''Radar''': He sure was.\ |
| 101 | ''[Hawkeye and Radar clasp arms in memory of their beloved friend]''\ |
| 102 | '''Hawkeye''': ''[continues]'' Henry never made it home. And I just missed Trapper John, the guy you're replacing by ten minutes. Ten minutes! |
| 103 | * In "The Late Captain Pierce", after Hawkeye realizes that his dad has been informed of his "death" and there's a communications blackout so he can't contact him to say it was a paperwork error, he has a breakdown and gives up on everything, going so far as to find a morgue bus and try to desert as a corpse. B.J. tracks him down to convince him to come back, and as they talk the sound of approaching choppers suddenly comes up. |
| 104 | -->'''Hawkeye:''' Wounded. |
| 105 | -->'''B.J.:''' Klinger says a lot. |
| 106 | -->'''Hawkeye:''' I don't care. I really don't. They'll keep coming whether I'm here or not. Trapper went home; they're still coming. Henry got killed and they're still coming. Wherever they come from... they'll never run out. |
| 107 | ** It’s also the second half of what “Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde” set up, that Hawkeye tries so hard to save everyone, stop anything bad from happening, fighting death since he came here (and lost the two people who looked after him) that he’s brokenly exhausted and might as well join it. |
| 108 | ** Much like his first reaction in “Mail Call” when Trapper is leaving is to assume it’s his fault, Hawkeye assumes his dad not calling him is because he’s done something wrong. When he nostalgically muses about Crabapple Cove and Klinger (exhausted) falls asleep, he self deprecates that no wonder his dad doesn’t want to speak to him. |
| 109 | ** This episode also hammers the point home how ''every other time a character is on the phone with a loved one back home'' is one when Hawkeye finally gets to tell his dad that yes, he is still alive, and his dad breaks down in tears of joy. Most of the conversation comes across as a very real chat about nothing in particular, and it's still one of the most amazing bits of television ever. |
| 110 | * Poor Radar in “Dear Mildred” is still missing Henry Blake (Aunt Hawkeye sweetly pats his shoulder and says he knows), not able to be comfortable with the more military Potter until he gets him Sophie. |
| 111 | * "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler", in which the eponymous Captain Chandler has fallen into a trauma-induced belief that he is Jesus Christ. Especially this little scene: |
| 112 | -->'''[[TheShrink Sidney Freedman]]:''' Tell me, does God answer all prayers? |
| 113 | -->'''Chandler:''' Yes. ''[through tears]'' Sometimes the answer is "No." |
| 114 | ** Some of what Sidney says to the surgical staff later on about him is almost as bad. We find out that Chandler flew ''fifty-seven'' bombing missions, and he finally couldn't take the knowledge of how much death he was causing anymore. |
| 115 | --->'''Sidney''': Finally something inside this kid from Idaho said, "Enough! You're Christ! You're not a killer! The next bomb you drop, you drop on yourself!" |
| 116 | ** It's subtle, but think about Sidney's conclusion: "I think with a lot of the right kind of help we'll be able to turn him back into Arnold Chandler. We'll ''never'' be able to turn him back into a fighting tool, and it's my professional advice that we don't try." This implies that while they can get him somewhat back to normal, they won't be able to restore him to his original state -- a man who could fly fifty-seven bombing missions before his mind broke under the guilt. |
| 117 | * It’s a few seconds, but in “Of Moose and Men”, Margaret tries to be a ComfortingComforter to a sleeping exhausted Hawkeye, who jumps at the touch before covering with a joke about wanting to sleep with her. She seems to understand. |
| 118 | * When Frank is sick in “Soldier of the Month”, he admits that his mom used to smack him a lot, and that his only friend was the janitor at school who showed him PoorMansPorn. Of course he ruins sympathy by being horrible to Margaret later. |
| 119 | * "Mail Call... Again" - Radar sobbing after seeing his mother mouth "I love you" on a silent home movie sent to him, then tearfully mouths back, "Mommy". Immediately after, Potter gets a call that his granddaughter is born, and the joy is short lived when they get cut off after a minute. |
| 120 | * It’s looked into in more depth later on, but in “The Price of Tomato Juice”, despite how much he sleeps around, entertains people and is “the heart of the 4077”, Hawkeye still feels alone. |
| 121 | * In “Hawkeye”, while the entire episode is him weaponising his mania to try and stay awake (and an implication that his parents fought as well as didn’t want to talk to each other), what starts off as a monologue about the thumb ends up with Hawkeye thinking it’s only an illusion that he’s loved. |
| 122 | * Another for Radar, in "Some 38th Parallels": After he alerts B.J. that one patient's IV drip has fallen out, B.J. credits Radar for saving the guy's life. Radar begins to feel the satisfaction of saving someone's life and even begins to befriend and bond with the man, but he ends up dying of his injuries anyway. Radar's still in complete and utter shock up through the end of TheTag. This conversation outside the O.R. sums up whole the situation: |
| 123 | -->'''Radar:''' Gee, I hope I don't cry. |
| 124 | -->'''B.J.:''' It's no sin, Radar. |
| 125 | -->'''Radar:''' When was the last time you felt like crying, sir? |
| 126 | -->'''B.J.:''' What time is it? |
| 127 | * In “The More I See You”, Hawkeye admits that his co-dependent relationship with Carlye “busted up”, and only reveals that he was the one left (without a goodbye) after B.J. assumes he broke up with her. |
| 128 | ** Hawkeye finding out that Carlye is leaving him again. She says it’s not going to be like last time and that she would have told him, but he doesn’t seem to believe her. |
| 129 | ** While Carlye is sympathetic and likable, when Hawkeye is telling her how much he hated her for leaving him with no goodbye, she gets defensive, telling him he “had no right to feel that way because he let it happen”, calling to mind just how many people (including mains in the show) blame Hawkeye for his own pain. No wonder he keeps trying to justify people hurting him. |
| 130 | * In “Deluge”, and in stark contrast to having a HeroicBSOD over the death of a friend only a few episodes ago, Radar can go from hopeful “take good care of him, he’s from Iowa” to just fed up and dealing when B.J. says there’s nothing they can do. |
| 131 | ** The image of Hawkeye and B.J. at the end, just completely exhausted and doing {{thousand yard stare}}s. |
| 132 | * In “The Interview”, Hawkeye’s BlatantLies that he’s StoppedCaring, as he says caringly. We know and he knows, from episodes before and episodes after, that in no way does he get anaesthetised enough to not bleed for everybody who’s bleeding (this is a man who turned crying for his dead best friend into beating himself up about not crying for every other death), and he’s already in a hole he can’t get out of. |
| 133 | ** B.J. foreshadowing his main character arc in an improvised line, saying how he used to get sickened by all the bloodshed, and now he barely feels anything but anger. |
| 134 | ** Based on real stories, a clearly emotional Father Mulcahy details how, in surgery on a cold day, the doctors will warm themselves over the open wounds of their patients, then asks how anyone could look at that and not feel changed. |
| 135 | ** Radar sounding close to tears when he talks about how he's friends with the South Koreans, but the 4077 staff barely have enough for themselves sometimes, and he wishes the people back home could be told about having to look the kids in the face and having to tell them they can’t help. |
| 136 | |
| 137 | |
| 138 | !!!'''Season 5''' |
| 139 | * For a general thread through season five, Margaret’s desperation to believe that Donald loves her and is right for her, no matter how many red flags are visible to everyone else from day one. |
| 140 | * Hell, even Frank Burns has a moment. It happens near the end of "Margaret's Engagement" where he loses his mind and everyone (except Margaret) is giving him a break. But then Radar gets Frank's mother on the phone: |
| 141 | -->'''Frank''': Well, nobody likes me here, you know? As usual. I don't want to talk about it. Well, you see I had this friend, and this friend just, um, pretended to like me. You know, the way Dad used to? |
| 142 | ** The real kicker? There is no indication that she tries to correct him on this, meaning that even his mother acknowledges that Frank's father only pretended to like him. |
| 143 | * In “Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind”, showing how cruel it is to blind a man with abandonment issues, Hawkeye is terrified of being left alone in the dark, and not being able to keep his nickname. He begs B.J. to come visit him a few hundred times. |
| 144 | * Sidney gets one himself in "Dear Sigmund". Every other time that Sidney is onscreen, he's either working hard and helping someone piece their psyche back together or taking some time off to play poker with the staff of the [=4077th=], and constantly maintains dry, sardonic composure. But when he tells Hawkeye and B.J. about how amongst a torrent of [=GIs=] who had cracked under the pressure, one particular soldier that he thought he'd saved who was hearing voices pushing him towards suicide "listened to the voices," it feels like a punch in the gut to find out that this man was just as vulnerable as the staff of the 4077th. |
| 145 | ** Also from "Dear Sigmund" is the bombardier seeing the end results of his handiwork in the form of a little girl in the OR. He has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and breaks down before asking Hawkeye if he showed that to him on purpose. [[CruelToBeKind He did]]. |
| 146 | ** Potter is raging because a klutzy driver named O’Donnell turned the ambulance too fast, and injured more patients, so he demands the guy to report to his office. Radar has to tell Potter he died. |
| 147 | *** It's also implied that the driver and Radar were friends, and Radar has to be the one to write the death notification. |
| 148 | * Margaret’s breakdown in “The Nurses”, showing again how much her StockholmSyndrome for the army has ruined her life, and how much deep down she desperately wants anyone to be kind to her. |
| 149 | ** Nurse Gaynor gets drunk to deal with the fact that she feels nothing, even for the burn victims who are wrapped in bandages. Turns into happy tears when a breach is born healthy, and cries because “it’s just life!” in a place full of death. |
| 150 | * It’s ostensibly a joke, but in “The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan” Hawkeye sounds sad when he asks Flagg he lost his virginity twenty years ago (he’s at best meant to be 31), not being able to find it again, and as shown later on in “Lil”, he was genuinely having sex at this point. For extra points, on his early trauma timeline, his mom had just died without him getting to say goodbye. |
| 151 | * Being another "Hawkeye has a breakdown" episode, "Hawk's Nightmare". Especially when he {{security cling}}s to Radar's teddy bear like a scared child. |
| 152 | ** Hawkeye calling his friends because he’s having nightmares of them dying horribly (and he has reason to fear, considering Tommy) and they don’t seem interested, both acting like Hawkeye being weird and having nightmares isn’t a new thing to them, and {{foreshadowing}} Billy not loving Hawkeye like vice versa. |
| 153 | ** Hawkeye admitting to B.J. that he’s just not afraid of the war, he’s afraid of his brain constantly attacking him from the inside. He also admits to Sidney his deeper fear: that people will realise he’s genuinely crazy. |
| 154 | ** The episode starts off with the surgeons operating on wounded soldiers, and Hawkeye already sounds like he’s going to cry when he rants that they’re babies. |
| 155 | ** Hawkeye talking nostalgically about Crabapple Cove, especially how he’s wistful about a stream that ran behind the house, not knowing yet that his claustrophobia comes from nearly being drowned. |
| 156 | ** Potter hearing Hawkeye screaming with a look of quiet despair, knowing full well how this will end, having likely seen it all before. |
| 157 | * In “The Most Unforgettable Characters”, Radar’s speech about B.J. and Hawkeye’s fighting makes him feel sick, and how other guys will say they’re friends but they’re not really. It looks like Hawkeye wasn’t the only one who felt betrayed by Trapper’s lack of goodbye (he was Radar’s honorary uncle to Hawkeye’s aunt). |
| 158 | * In “Hanky Panky”, miserable from cheating on his wife and going to tell her all about it, later B.J. doesn’t follow Hawkeye’s advice to only punish himself and not Peg, as while he does hate himself, he drags Hawkeye along for the ride, and automatically assumes Peg will cheat on him because he did the same. |
| 159 | * “Ping Pong” has B.J. offhandedly tell a patient that Hawkeye isn’t okay, but you can trust him, and Hawkeye looks unbearably hurt for a moment. |
| 160 | * Hawkeye doesn’t have the reaction you think he might when Potter calls him a good person in “Hepatitis”, instead looking like he’s going to cry. |
| 161 | * In “The General’s Practitioner”, Potter clearly remembers “Hawk’s Nightmare”, and protects Hawkeye in a CruelToBeKind way, saying Hawkeye is liable to crack up and that makes him a good man to stay away from. |
| 162 | ** Radar getting invested in the baby he’s essentially adopted, only to be heartbroken when Mulligan comes back, getting handed his teddy bear as a reminder that he’s back to being treated like a kid. |
| 163 | * “End Run” stars a football player who thinks all that he is is his leg, and doesn’t want to live now that it’s amputated. He of course blames Hawkeye, who as usual, stews in self loathing. |
| 164 | -->'''Hawkeye''': I think I’m having an identity crisis. I know I’m Dr Pierce, but I want to be God. |
| 165 | * In “Post-Op”, a soldier and Margaret have a conversation where he gets so close to realising that the other man is just as human as he is (same age and confusion), but she still in MoralMyopia development tells him he did a good job by killing the guy when they shot at each other at the same time, and he’s tentatively convinced. |
| 166 | * "Margaret's Marriage": |
| 167 | ** Another Frank moment comes in his very last episode, when they're all getting drunk at the Bachelor Party: "Stop laughing without me!" He just sounds so pitiful and desperate that you can't help but feel bad for the poor, ferret-faced man. |
| 168 | ** His scene at the end of the episode. After Margaret flies off for her honeymoon, he just stands there alone on the chopper pad and quietly says goodbye to her. The only moment in which he was afforded any dignity on the show. |
| 169 | --->'''Frank''': Goodbye, Margaret... |
| 170 | ** Margaret’s wedding being interrupted by choppers, and as cool as she is doing it, having to operate in her wedding dress. It’s an apt metaphor for her marriage failing. |
| 171 | |
| 172 | !!!'''Season 6''' |
| 173 | * Frank's off-screen mental breakdown during "Fade In, Fade Out". He continued to get worse after Margaret got married and Potter sent him away for some R&R in the city. [[DrowningMySorrows He gets himself plastered beyond the limit of his senses]] and accosts several women, including a brigadier general's wife, because they all look like Margaret. Frank is then taken to a hospital to sober up, where he continues to fall apart and do outlandish things until the army is finally convinced he ''needs'' to go home and slaps a Section 8 on him- '''genuinely''' obtaining which Klinger has desperately been trying to nail through faking insanity. Fortunately, the last we hear of Frank is a very nice [[ThrowTheDogABone silver lining.]] Someone felt sorry for him and he managed to land a ''promotion'' into Lieutenant Colonel, meaning he now bears the actual rank of a commanding officer and is on par with Henry, something he wanted all along. And after his unit whooped and hollered about his departure, he called them up one last time to rub it into their faces! |
| 174 | ** For all his egotistical bullshit at the beginning, Winchester gets one early on, fearing that he won’t be able to adjust to meatball surgery. |
| 175 | ** Margaret’s marriage is on the rocks even from the honeymoon, as she finds out that just talking to a General who is hot for her will get Donald jealous, and she’s “oh poor baby”s him instead of standing up for herself. |
| 176 | * In “Fallen Idol”, Hawkeye instantly crumbles the moment he sees Radar wounded, and for the first time in the series, the show’s chief surgeon is completely useless in pre-op and just gets in the way. |
| 177 | ** Hawkeye proceeds to drown himself in booze and self loathing, which sets off the whole mess: leaving a patient to go puke, being completely defeated in Potter’s office, lashing out at Radar (and he’s not wrong, everyone sees him as TheHeart except when he needs help), hating himself even more, getting told off by Radar. He also learns the wrong lesson, instead of not drowning his sorrows and lashing out, he thinks he shouldn’t have even tried to have boundaries. |
| 178 | * From "War of Nerves," Sidney shows up wounded, having been doing a follow-up on the front lines with a hysterical paralysis case who he had sent back to the front (and was also wounded). The wounded man seems calm around the other doctors, but is utterly ''furious'' with Sidney, holding him responsible for sending him back to the front and getting him seriously wounded (sending such cases back is essential to their treatment, so they don't spend the rest of their lives paralyzed for real). As the man's loaded into an ambulance and evacuated, Sidney admits that the man hating him might actually help him move past the trauma, but he can't be sure. He talks about it later with Father Mulcahy, who winds up playing therapist to Sidney. |
| 179 | -->'''Sidney:''' When Pierce and Hunnicutt lose one, he's out of his misery. When I lose one, I've lost a mind. |
| 180 | -->'''Mulcahy:''' When I lose one, I've lost a soul. I guess it all depends on your point of view. |
| 181 | * Margaret crying about the puppy she bonded with in “Images”. As she rants to Hawkeye, she has to deal with people dying all around her, and on top of her new marriage failing, it’s TheLastStraw for her. |
| 182 | * "In Love And War": |
| 183 | ** Even before Kyung Soon’s mother dies, the relationship is doomed (she knows this full well, Hawkeye is in denial), Hawkeye not realising he’s on the same side of people who have made her life so hard, and really thinking he can be a SadClown distraction making jokes about bombed houses. |
| 184 | ** Margaret learns that Donald is cheating on her, having a breakdown in the showers and ending mournfully accepting that she’ll just take him back. |
| 185 | ** Kyung Soon’s mother gets worse while Hawkeye is in surgery, and by the time he can get to the house, she’s gone. What makes it more awful is that Hawkeye still doesn’t understand Kyung Soon’s position, wearing his uniform to the procession and more sad she has to sell her things to survive than about what she’s going through. Even she gets sick of it, telling him that she’s being practical and she thought he liked that about her. |
| 186 | ** Hawkeye despairing that they’ll exchange a few letters and never hear from each other again, Trapper not leaving him anything obviously still fresh in his mind. |
| 187 | * The main plot of "The Grim Reaper" involves tension (and eventually a physical confrontation) between Hawkeye and a colonel from headquarters that specializes in predicting casualty rates who takes a little too much enjoyment in his work. When the man turns up as a casualty, he and Hawkeye finally have a reasonable discussion where the man lampshades Hawkeye's tendency to joke under pressure. It winds up showing just how ragged the war is running both of them. |
| 188 | -->'''Hawkeye''': I just spent the last forty-eight hours digging pieces of Hill 403 out of kids whose biggest worry a week ago was how to cover a hickey. Joking about it is the only way of opening my mouth without screaming.\ |
| 189 | '''Col. Bloodworth''': I know. I spent the last forty-eight hours watching you.\ |
| 190 | '''Hawkeye''': [[WarIsHell Wasn't pretty, was it.]]\ |
| 191 | '''Col. Bloodworth''': No, it wasn't. That hill back there, and that screaming - now, I'm used to screaming, but ''not from me.'' And on the ambulance bus, the kid next to me died. I heard the rattle. Thought I was next. I'll never forget.\ |
| 192 | '''Hawkeye''': [[ShellShockedVeteran None of us will.]] |
| 193 | * Margaret acts out in “Comrades in Arms”, but she’s just got more proof that Donald is routinely cheating on her, and she tries so hard to pretend that she’s in love with Hawkeye because he’s nice and there. |
| 194 | * In “The Smell of Music”, between the slapstick EscalatingWar of Winchester and Hawkeye/B.J., is a B plot about a soldier whose rifle backfired in his own face and Potter trying to stop him from trying to commit suicide. Eventually reverse psychology happens, Potter helping him commit suicide as he’s screwed up everything else, and the guy finally wants to live. |
| 195 | * In "Mail Call Three", Hawkeye tells Radar that after his mom died, two years later his dad started dating a nice woman that Hawkeye couldn’t accept. His dad didn’t date again, and Hawkeye still blames himself, despite how he was a child and his dad is a grown man. A reminder that Hawkeye’s damaging GuiltComplex was there long before Korea. |
| 196 | * In “Potter’s Retirement”, the betrayal and disappointment in Potter’s voice when he learns that people in his own camp are voicing complaints about him. And as a result, he lashes out at everyone, calling Hawk and Beej teenagers, Margaret a snitch and yelling at Radar. |
| 197 | * While self-inflicted, it’s hard not to feel sorry for Winchester in “Dr Winchester and Mr Hyde” when he has a panic attack from the drugs. Helped on by Hawkeye referencing his own breakdown in “Dr Pierce and Mr Hyde”. |
| 198 | |
| 199 | !!!'''Season 7''' |
| 200 | * In "Peace on Us", there is a scene with Margaret and Hawkeye, where she's found out that Donald's run out on her and Hawkeye is pissed because they've changed the point system again. He asks her what she's going to do and she angrily says she'll get a divorce. But then it starts to sink in and she says it a second time while starting to cry. |
| 201 | ** Then when Hawkeye tries to comfort her: |
| 202 | --->'''Margaret''': It's my fault. Look at the place I picked to have a marriage. |
| 203 | ** Doubled when Hawkeye immediately drops his rant when she starts crying, decides he's had enough, and charges all the way to the peace talks to try and get them to end the war. |
| 204 | * "Our Finest Hour" has a particularly sad bit for a clip show. At one point, the interviewer asks the group what they'll remember from Korea. While everyone else has some things, like Houlihan remembering the nurses, Mulcahey remembering the orphans, Radar's memory is [[Recap/MashS3E24AbyssiniaHenry the day Henry left, with everything that it includes.]] |
| 205 | * "The Billfold Syndrome" - A soldier came to the 4077th with absolutely no memory of who he was or where he was at all, not even his name. Under hypnosis, it was revealed that he lost it because his younger brother had been killed in action and he felt responsible because he promised his mother he'd look out for him. The hypnosis scene is an all-time weeper. "Oh, Stevie...no, No..." |
| 206 | ** Looking at Hawkeye, B.J., and Sidney at that moment when they find out what happened to the medic, you see a moment where they all look at each other in horror. You can tell that they briefly wonder whether making this poor kid remember was the right thing to do. |
| 207 | * "Dear Sis", the season 7 ChristmasEpisode (and Father Mulcahy's "Letter Episode"). From the SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming|Moments}} ending (and then the truck with the wounded comes in...) from when Winchester saw his childhood winter hat to when everyone is singing "Dona Nobis Pacem", along with moments earlier in the episode of Margaret barely keeping it together in the scene at the colonel's office and Mulcahy crying because he feels so guilty at punching the jackass soldier... one of the show's most emotional episodes. |
| 208 | * "B.J. Papa San" has B.J. so invested in a Korean family, and is constantly helping them so he can have a replacement for Peg and Erin, but they flee the village to escape shelling, and he feels like he's lost both families thanks to the Army. |
| 209 | * "The Price" features the camp laundry man Cho Pak feeling sad as he had been a colonel in the Korean Army years before. Sophie turns up missing but Pak returns with her, wearing his old dress uniform. His daughter explains to Potter he wanted a last minute of dignity. Potter is so moved he allows Pak to keep Sophie. Pak responds with a salute to Potter. The daughter returns Sophie the next day after Pak's death. |
| 210 | * "Preventive Medicine" is one of the darker episodes of the show, with B.J. and Hawkeye having a screaming fight over whether or not to perform a medically unnecessary operation to get a reckless colonel off the line. Hawkeye does it, compromising his morals as a surgeon, and then it turns out to be all for nothing. It shows how far the war has driven them that Hawkeye - a man who refused to shoot at the enemy even in his own self-defense - was willing to do that when B.J. warns him that he'll hate himself for the rest of his life if he goes through with it. |
| 211 | -->'''Hawkeye''': I hate me, and I hate you, and I hate this whole life here! And if I can keep that maniac off the line with a simple appendectomy, ''I'll be able to hate myself with a clear conscience!'' |
| 212 | ** And the end of the episode shows that ultimately, Hawkeye accomplished ''nothing.'' The war goes on. |
| 213 | --->'''B.J.:''' You just treated a symptom...the disease still rolls on. |
| 214 | |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | [[folder:Seasons 8–11]] |
| 218 | !!!'''Season 8''' |
| 219 | * Radar's departure at the end of "Good-Bye, Radar", as he has to say his rushed and confused farewells to the others when a load of wounded comes pouring in just as they're planning to get his going-away party underway. In particular, the scene where Hawkeye -- who has to go to the O.R. before being able to say anything -- glances up while operating, sees Radar peering through the window, shoots him an agonized look, and then fires a heartfelt salute. |
| 220 | ** Earlier in the episode, Radar is packing away his personal effects when he comes upon a familiar item: |
| 221 | ---> '''Radar''': ''[to Klinger]'' It's my very own personal-type thermometer. Colonel Blake gave it to me just before he... ''[falls silent]'' |
| 222 | ** Radar [[PassingTheTorch giving Klinger his clipboard]]. |
| 223 | --->'''Klinger''': ''[choking up]'' That did it. I'll make you proud of me. |
| 224 | ** Col. Potter choking back tears as he says goodbye. |
| 225 | --->'''Potter:''' Not exactly how I wanted to say goodbye, Radar.\ |
| 226 | '''Radar:''' Me neither, sir.\ |
| 227 | '''Potter:''' ''[voice audibly breaking]'' Godspeed, son. ''[They embrace, while the camera focuses on Potter's utterly heartbroken expression]'' |
| 228 | *** Interestingly, Potter's facial expressions and body language in that scene almost perfectly mirror Radar's own reactions when saying goodbye to Col. Blake five seasons earlier, making the scene both a Tear Jerker and a beautifully subtle ContinuityNod. |
| 229 | ** In TheTag, Hawkeye, B.J. and Potter return to the Swamp and find Radar's beloved teddy bear lying on Hawkeye's cot -- indicating that Radar has [[ComingOfAge left not only the 4077th, but his childhood behind forever]]. And to reflect the mood, the snippet of the theme tune that accompanies the usual freeze-frame ending is not cheery and upbeat, but very sad and forlorn. |
| 230 | --->'''Hawkeye:''' ''[quietly]'' [[TitleDrop Goodbye, Radar.]] |
| 231 | * In "Period of Adjustment", watching B.J. completely come apart knowing that the first man his little girl called "Daddy" wasn't him. His anguished, sobbing breakdown while talking to Hawkeye hits hard: |
| 232 | -->'''B.J.''': Radar's home, Hawk. I should be glad for him. But I'm ''not''! I'm so torn up with envy, I almost ''hate'' him! And I feel the same way about Trapper, and I never even ''met'' him! But he built that still with you, and he... and he's home, too!\ |
| 233 | '''Hawkeye:''' You'll go home. One day we'll ''all'' go home.\ |
| 234 | '''B.J.''': I've been gone so long, Hawkeye. A lifetime. ''Erin's'' lifetime! Even if I go home tomorrow, I'll never--''never''--get that back! |
| 235 | ** While B.J. instantly apologises for hitting his best friend, and clearly didn’t mean to hurt Hawkeye; as a larger picture, Hawk with a fresh black eye, cradling the crying guy who hit him, sums up his LoveMartyr attitude so well, feeling like he should be the punching bag for people who love him and also comfort them at the same time. |
| 236 | * The entire situation in "Life Time." The surgeons have 20 minutes to replace a soldier's damaged aorta before he either dies or becomes paralyzed due to loss of circulation to his spinal cord. Another one on his deathbed can provide it if he passes away on time. The two moments that embody the trope the most are when the buddy of the dying soldier begs to be with him in his final moments and the despair on Hawkeye's face after the procedure and finding out they were 3 1/2 minutes over[[note]]Thankfully, inducing hypothermia by placing the wounded soldier in an ice bath gave them the extra time they needed[[/note]]. |
| 237 | ** Mulcahy's prayer in that episode is of note, as you can see the pain in his face for what he must ask: |
| 238 | -->'''Mulcahy:''' Dear Lord, I've never asked you this before and I don't know what you'll think of me for asking it...but if you're going to take him anyway, ''please'' take him ''quickly'' so we can save the other one... |
| 239 | * The MoodWhiplash at the end of the heavily-comedic "Dear Uncle Abdul," wherein Father Mulcahy had been trying to write a war ditty. The final piece ends up being a sobering reminder that WarIsHell and there is no reason to glorify it in any way. The episode concludes with Hawkeye acknowledging it with a quiet, "Amen..." |
| 240 | * The ending to the episode "Yessir, That's Our Baby". A Korean-American infant girl is abandoned at the camp. The unit quickly adores her but learns as well that because she is of mixed race there is nothing but a grim future ahead of her in Korea. So they attempt to find a new safe placement for the child in the U.S. but for all their effort everything falls through and they must leave the baby at a monastery, a place that will give her a safe but narrow future. Hawkeye's final comment to the baby is a tear bringer. |
| 241 | -->'''Hawkeye''': You brought a little light to a dark and dismal place. And you’ll never know what you meant to a group of tired people stuck in a very strange time. Be happy. |
| 242 | ** The note left with the baby, halting English written in a hand that Charles and Hawkeye have to work together to decipher, is worth a few tissues too. In full: "This is my baby. She is good baby. Strong. Beautiful. Father American GI. Gone now. Baby American too. Please, doctors, care for her. I cannot, but I love her." |
| 243 | ** The note is even sadder when you realize that the mother had probably hoped that the 4077 staff would be in position to get the child placement in the U.S. so that she wouldn't have to be left at a monastery, and after you've seen all the effort the characters went through to try and spare her that very fate. |
| 244 | ** Subtly sad is that of all the 4077 staff, Father Mulcahy is the one unmoved by her plight, because he's already seen it [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_children dozens of times]] -- and also what ''happens'' to mixed race children if they don't find refuge.[[note]]They're often murdered or castrated, and ostracized regardless.[[/note]] |
| 245 | * The main plot of "Heal Thyself", in which a front-line doctor replacing the incapacitated Potter and Winchester breaks down due to all the wounded. [[https://www.mash4077tv.com/images/misc/spotlight/186_heal_thyself.jpg Just the helpless look he gives Dr. Pierce and that soft, unassuming voice]]: "The blood won't come off..." It gets worse when B.J. mentions that Newsome (the surgeon in question) was "as strong as any of us," easily engaging in the off-the-cuff humor that Pierce and Hunnicutt always shared -- especially under duress. Then Pierce points out that that's what scares him: the fact that any of them could easily end up in that same spot once they hit their breaking point... |
| 246 | * "[[Recap/MashS8E18OldSoldiers Old Soldiers]]" was designed to flush out tear ducts, and it does the job well. It's very hard to listen to a tough old man crying and not join in. Perhaps the most striking thing is the sight of ''Winchester'' moved to tears. |
| 247 | -->'''Potter''': Here's to you, boys. To Ryan, who died in W.W.I, the war to end all wars. To Gianelli, who died in the war after that. To Stein, the joker of the crowd. And to Gresky, my best friend who just passed away in Tokyo. You were the friends of my youth. My comrades through thick and thin and everything in between. I drink to your memories. I loved you fellows... one and all. |
| 248 | * "Dreams" has a lot of NightmareFuel, but Winchester's dream starts off with him confidently pulling tricks dressed as a magician. Then the patient starts choking, and all Winchester can do is impotent magic with an anguished look on his face while the man dies. |
| 249 | ** B.J.'s dream starts off as [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Heartwarming]] as he dances with his wife Peg, until he is pulled away from his dance to operate on a patient. A disappointed-looking Peg backs away into the other room while B.J. continues to operate. Given moments in previous episodes, the dream likely represents how B.J. fears that [[WhenYouComingHomeDad his job is pulling him further and further away from Peg and Erin.]] |
| 250 | ** Potter's dream is the only truly happy one. He recalls a moment from his childhood, seeing a younger version of himself riding a horse and getting called to dinner by his mother. The sad part is when Klinger has to abruptly wake him up to deal with a crisis. Potter understands, but he admits it would've been nice to have his mother's blueberry muffins again after so long. |
| 251 | * Winchester gets quite a few of these, most likely put in to help differentiate his character from that of Frank Burns, the guy he replaced. Among the most memorable is the plot in "Morale Victory" in which he convinces the concert pianist that his piano skill is not gone just because one of his hands is immobile. One of his best lines ever comes in the coda: "Each of us must dance to his own tune." |
| 252 | --> '''Charles:''' I can play the notes, but I cannot ''make the music''. |
| 253 | |
| 254 | !!!'''Season 9''' |
| 255 | * Hawkeye crying after failing to save the soldier in “The Best of Enemies”. He essentially curls in on himself and waits to be shot, with the strong implication that [[DrivenToSuicide he thinks he deserves it]]. There's also no indication that he told the others about his traumatic experience, and Charles/B.J. think he just had a wild time in Tokyo. |
| 256 | ** The North Korean soldier not going through with his threat of executing Hawkeye, instead sending him away while he starts to bury his comrade. And Hawkeye starting to leave, pausing... then walking back, so they can bury the fallen soldier together. |
| 257 | * In "Letters", Hawkeye has a teacher friend send letters from her fourth-grade class. Several of these generate {{Tearjerker}} moments. |
| 258 | ** Margaret's letter comes from a kid who got to know the staff of a hospital he had to stay at (tonsillectomy). He asks the letter's recipient if they ever really get to know the patients as well. Margaret has a flashback to a patient who was in really good spirits and talking about things back home. She finds out that the soldier's liver is gone. This is on top of knowing the man has a severed spine and lying to him about why he has no feeling in his legs. After Hawkeye and B.J. tell her he probably only has a matter of hours left, Margaret returns to the soldier's bedside and continues to talk with him as if nothing's happening; the knife is further twisted for both Margaret and the audience when the soldier talks about his girlfriend, whom he plans to marry as soon as he is discharged. Margaret's final words seals just how much it affected her. |
| 259 | ** Charles manages to garner a little sympathy for himself. His patronizing remarks and pompous attitude to the whole idea comes to an end with one letter from a girl who sent along a bright red maple leaf. Being from New England himself, Charles is so moved by the gesture (although he tries to hide it from the other Swamp Rats) that he sets aside his tape recorder, picks up his pen, and begins writing a very heartfelt response. |
| 260 | --->'''Charles:''' ''[dreamily, holding the leaf]'' Autumn in New England... ''Dear Virginia: It is with indescribable joy that I accept your gift. It is indeed testimony to the beauty that exists in all creation, but perhaps nowhere more than in a young girl's heart.'' |
| 261 | ** Hawkeye spends the entire episode struggling with how to respond to one little boy who angrily declared he hates all doctors because his brother was killed in the line of duty after initially being wounded, treated, and returned to the lines. It isn't until he saves the life of a little girl caught in mortar fire and hearing the missionary who brought her in pray to God to thank Him for the presence of someone who can help her that he realizes what needs to be said. |
| 262 | --->'''Hawkeye:''' Dear Ronnie, it's not a good idea to let the love you have for your brother turn into hate. Hate makes war, and war is what killed him. I understand how you feel. Sometimes I hate myself for being here. But sometimes in the midst of all this insanity, the smallest thing can make my being here seem worthwhile. Maybe the best answer I have for you is that you look for good wherever you can find it. |
| 263 | * Margaret thinking her father is disappointed with her in "Father's Day", and cries that she's been disappointing him her whole life. |
| 264 | * An unshot (but script available) season nine episode called “Peace Is Hell” has Margaret crying (after spending the time being a DrillSergeantNasty) that as awful as the war experience has been, it’s all she has while the others get to go home and she’s so bad at endings. |
| 265 | * "Death Takes a Holiday" - The Christmas episode where Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret are desperately trying to save a mortally wounded soldier all day Christmas day, then just trying to keep him alive long enough so that he won't die on Christmas, and not break down. The man finally dies about an hour before midnight, but the doctors turn the clock forward so the time of death will be 12:01, December 26, so that for the man's children, Christmas won't have to be the day their daddy died. It's beyond heartbreaking, especially when one thinks of all the men and women who ''did'' die on Christmas, whether in Vietnam, Korea, or any other war, and how painful that loss would be for their families. The scene with the doctors and Margaret silently looking at the pictures of the soldier's children and the letter from his wife just rips your heart out and stomps on it. |
| 266 | ** Contrast B.J. and Hawkeye with Hawkeye and Trapper in "Ceasefire," as B.J. is the one with determined hope, and Hawkeye has taken Trapper’s place of being well on the way of giving up. |
| 267 | ** There's a subplot to this episode, as well, in which Charles secretly tries to continue a family tradition of donating candy to a local orphanage anonymously. He finds out, later, that the head of the orphanage has sold the candy on the black market. When he confronts the man, however, he learns the truth: he sold it in order to have money to buy basic food for the children. The look on Winchester's face when he realizes this is absolutely heartbreaking. |
| 268 | * "A War for All Seasons" - Compare Col. Potter's speech when he welcomes 1951 to when he welcomes 1952. The words are the same, but any and all optimism is gone and the prospect of having to endure another full year in Korea has broken his spirit. |
| 269 | ** Even worse when you consider that the Korean War wouldn't end until 1953. |
| 270 | * In "Depressing News," the unit gets a massive shipment of tongue depressors. |
| 271 | ** When B.J. laughs it off as a simple snafu, Hawkeye's awareness of the larger implications behind it (and his disgust and weariness with the same) come bubbling out: |
| 272 | --->'''Hawkeye:''' Snafu, phooey. We wouldn't have this supply if they didn't think there would be a demand. Tongue depressors, doctors, soldiers... we're all the same. ''[grabs a depressor]'' Trapper John goes. No problem, there's plenty more where he came from. ''[tosses it and grabs another]'' B.J. Hunnicutt. Same size, same shape. ''[grabs two more]'' Frank Burns out, Winchester in. Only a hair's difference. ''[grabs another]'' Henry Blake... ''[snaps it in two]'' Rest in peace, Henry. Incoming, Sherman Potter. My God. Hasn't this elimination tournament gone on long enough? Do they have to stock up so that it can last another five years? |
| 273 | ** After laughing at seeing the tongue depressors for the first time, B.J. jokes that they have enough to last five years. He and Hawkeye then ''immediately'' stop laughing and realize the horror of it.[[note]]Not that the Army would ever send them enough of any supply that it would last years, so they're reading a bit too much into it.[[/note]] |
| 274 | ** B.J.’s reaction to Hawkeye calling him “same size same shape” as Trapper. Hawkeye’s just depressed-venting and InnocentlyInsensitive, but B.J. looks crushed for a second. |
| 275 | * The ending of "Oh, How We Danced," with Margaret and B.J. dancing and everyone looks happy. Everyone except Hawkeye, who has the most hangdog LongingLook Alan Alda could muster and looks away after he and B.J make eye contact. |
| 276 | * From episode 17 of season 9, "Bless You, Hawkeye", watching Hawkeye as [[TheShrink Sidney Freedman]] (who can somehow cause more {{Tear Jerker}}s than any other character) digs into his childhood and brings out the realization that Hawkeye's best friend pushed him off a boat when he was seven. Hawkeye falls apart fairly regularly, but seeing him wail and cry in the bed is heartrending. Later, Hawkeye is amazed that in the middle of a war, it was something that happened when he was a very young boy that broke him. |
| 277 | -->'''Hawkeye:''' Here we are in the middle of all this shooting, and I get laid up because of something that happened to me when I was seven.\ |
| 278 | '''Sidney:''' Oh sure, it's the little battlefields, a pond, the bedrooms, the school yard, that leave the biggest scars. |
| 279 | ** Hawkeye's almost desperate, wide-eyed "and he was fooling around..." auto defence of Billy when he starts to realise what happened. |
| 280 | ** The fact that Billy told Hawkeye after pulling him back out of the water, that it was his fault for being clumsy and he’d be dead if it weren’t for Billy. Baby Hawkeye ''thanked'' him, and still has a GuiltComplex twenty years on. |
| 281 | ** Even after realizing what Billy did, Hawkeye still pleads with Sidney that he ''loved'' him. Plus the fact that Sidney includes “bedrooms” in his little list of what can leave the biggest scars (and it’s examples that Hawkeye can supposedly identify with) truly does not help. |
| 282 | ** Twelve year Billy took six year old Hawkeye to read dirty magazines (The Police Gazette was apparently famous for showing half naked men wrestling and female strippers) in a garage in the dark. Even if the - intention - wasn’t grooming, Hawkeye says it was how he first knew about sex, and coupled with all the uncomfortable jokes about his dismal puberty, it has upsetting implications. |
| 283 | * Father Mulcahy's sermon in "Blood Brothers", comparing the selflessness of Creator/PatrickSwayze's character in the face of learning he has a terminal disease to Mulcahy's own selfish desires in wanting everything to be perfect in the hopes of gaining acknowledgement from a visiting cardinal. By the end of the sermon he's using "I" instead of "he" to identify himself in the sermon and on the verge of tears. |
| 284 | ** And then Cardinal Reardon gets up, hugs Mulcahy and gives him a pat on the back, and tells him that he's "a tough act to follow". |
| 285 | ** [[HarsherInHindsight Now even more painful considering what happened to the real Patrick Swayze...]] |
| 286 | * The update on how Radar is doing in "The Foresight Saga" shows how things have only gotten worse since he left when he writes to the camp after arriving home to talk about how successful he is at the farm - only for a phone call to Iowa to reveal that the crops are failing and he has to take a second job in the general store. The camp arranges for a young Korean farmer to join him as hired help, but it's of little use. By the time of the pilot for the unsuccessful AfterShow ''W*A*L*T*E*R'', [[FromBadToWorse the farm has been sold off, Radar's mom is living with his aunt, his wife left him on their honeymoon, and he's contemplating suicide]] before his cousin gets him a job at the St. Louis Police Department. |
| 287 | ** It makes the events of "Goodbye, Radar" all the more tragic. In the end, [[AllForNothing Radar unceremoniously left his friends and job at the 4077 behind just to lose everything else he held dear.]] |
| 288 | * Charles's HeroicBSOD storyline in "The Life You Save", where he's desperate to know what it's like to die. All of it, damnit. Watching the usually supremely aloof Winchester shed a single tear while clutching the hand of a dying soldier and begging him, like a small child, to describe what he's feeling, all because he never got over his brother's death when he was a child was absolutely heartbreaking. Worse, because he never confides in any of the other staff members, far from being sympathetic, they just get angrier and angrier at his increasingly eccentric actions. The climactic scene also marks a Crowning Moment of Acting for David Ogden Stiers. |
| 289 | |
| 290 | !!!'''Season 10''' |
| 291 | * In "That's Show Biz", Hawkeye has to brush off the affections of an ingenue USO performer whose life he saved with an appendectomy. He doesn't use the standard ethical or moral excuse, but tells her that with all he's seen, he can't be innocent like her ever again and that he would drag her down. |
| 292 | * After B.J. shorts out the pinball machine in “Wheelers and Dealers”, Margaret (scared of loud noises) has to compose herself, regular LoveMartyr Hawkeye still grabs onto B.J.’s arm and B.J. himself processes both their reactions and looks ashamed for a moment. |
| 293 | * "Follies of the Living – Concerns of the Dead" is one long {{Tearjerker}}, which is from the perspective of a dead GI named Weston whose spirit lingers for a few hours, only seen by Klinger (because he's sick). The final kicker is during TheStinger, when Klinger asks what happened to Weston and is met with only befuddlement in response. There is also an AllAreEqualInDeath moment in which Weston, other American [=GIs=], North Korean soldiers, and civilians GoIntoTheLight together. |
| 294 | -->'''Dead GI''': Hey. Over here. Come on, it's this way. ''[points to an endless road which all the souls of those who died that day are walking down]''\ |
| 295 | '''Weston''': ''[plaintively]'' Where do we go?\ |
| 296 | '''Dead GI''': Down there. Come on. ''[they start walking down the road themselves]''\ |
| 297 | '''Weston''': What did you think it would be like?\ |
| 298 | '''Dead GI''': I didn't know.\ |
| 299 | '''Weston''': Where are we going?\ |
| 300 | '''Dead GI''': I don't know. |
| 301 | * "Pressure Points" has a visiting doctor flown in to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1exdpE_Ugro explain the newly invented phosphorus-tipped bullet]] and how to deal with the grotesque burning damage it leaves in the body. Pierce and Hunnicutt lay on the jokes, much to Houlihan's consternation, but to their surprise it's Potter who blows his top at them, but the end of his tirade lets on that there's more than just frustration at their wisecracking: |
| 302 | -->'''Potter''': Now you tell me this -- if people can invent new and better ways of killing each other, why can't someone invent a way to end this... ''stupid war?!'' |
| 303 | ** Potter himself is practically in tears at this point. The man is tired, angry, and at the end of his rope, and he just wants out. |
| 304 | ** The root cause of that outburst, and the rest of Potter's OOC behavior that episode, is that he and Hawkeye each had a patient who were near-identical in wounds and surgical complexity, and Hawkeye's patient pulled through with flying colors, but Potter's patient had to be operated on again due to some shrapnel he missed. This creates incredible angst, as he fears he's losing his touch and won't be able to practice surgery ever again. The story he tells Sidney of how he was inspired to go into medicine is also quite moving, as well. |
| 305 | ** It gets worse when you remember that for many of the others of the 4077th, this is the first time they've seen the horrors of war. For Potter, it's his third. And it just. Keeps. Getting. Worse. |
| 306 | * Hawkeye's phone call with his Dad at the end of "Sons and Bowlers". He's saying "I love you. I love you. I'll be home as soon as I can," with this really choked up, happy-tears voice. |
| 307 | ** In that episode, Hawkeye's dad was receiving a very delicate surgery that, if unsuccessful, could've been fatal, causing Hawkeye to fret about the possibility that his dad wouldn't live to see him return home. Of course, his father pulled through. |
| 308 | ** Hell, the series by this point has shown that any time Hawkeye's dad comes up for more than a few moments, you can tell just how badly Hawkeye misses him and how close the poor guy is to coming unglued. |
| 309 | ** Then there's Charles, who rarely opens up to anyone, admitting he envies how close Hawkeye is with his father. |
| 310 | --->'''Charles:''' When I see the warmth, the closeness, the fun of your relationship... My father’s a good man. He always wanted what was best for me. But where I have a ''father'', you have a ''dad''. |
| 311 | --->'''Hawkeye:''' Charles, you never told me anything like this before. |
| 312 | --->'''Charles:''' Actually, [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious Hawkeye]]... I’ve never told you ''anything'' before. |
| 313 | ** Hawkeye has running trauma with NeverGotToSayGoodbye throughout the series, but in this episode he talks about his mom was dying when he was ten, and his dad kept making him ever-fancier breakfasts: a bowl of cereal when she first became unwell, and bacon and eggs when she was hospitalized, but he kept downplaying the seriousness of her condition each time. By the time he was making French toast, she was gone. (This is also an implied tearjerker on Father Pierce’s side: his wife was dying and it’s only been a few years since his son nearly drowned, fair enough that he treats Hawkeye a little fragile.) |
| 314 | ** Almost every mention of Hawkeye’s mom has her trying to be protective of him, and besides the fact that his life seems to be one big TraumaCongaLine, this comes off as one final act to try and protect him from seeing her dying. |
| 315 | |
| 316 | !!!'''Season 11''' |
| 317 | * In "Hey, Look Me Over", Nurse Kellye, sitting up with a patient who is terminal, comforts him by indulging his belief that she is his girlfriend back home, and in his dying moments they plan a picnic date and talk about the plans they had for a life together. |
| 318 | * A private in the episode "Trick or Treatment" won't eat, and the story behind it can make you ache for the poor guy. After a hellish assault by Chinese troops against his unit, their commanding officer gets an early Thanksgiving dinner sent down, and the guy ate and went back for seconds...only for his friends, who stayed in their foxhole and were still eating, to get killed in an artillery burst. His sobbing as he talks about how surprised they all looked, and how he would have been dead too if he hadn't been such a pig, makes it hard to listen to, and is a drastic shift from the light-hearted ghost stories being told in the OR. |
| 319 | * "Foreign Affairs" - Winchester meets his soul mate, a woman he quickly, desperately loves, and at the end realizes that he can't bring himself to accept her because her values clash with his family's. And yet he ''still'' loves her... |
| 320 | * After hearing Millie had feelings for him in “Who Knew”, Hawkeye veers – as he often does – sharply into self loathing, essentially SlutShaming himself for having casual relationships and angry that he’s such a SadClown. |
| 321 | ** While it’s the point, the poor nurse that nobody thought of much still gets her eulogy hijacked for Hawkeye’s narcissistic self loathing. |
| 322 | * The B-Plot of "Bombshells" has B.J. being [[SadisticChoice being forced to leave a wounded soldier behind]] to presumably get killed by the enemy. He tries to track him down to no success, and the chopper pilot puts him in for a MedalOfDishonor thanks to his attempt to save the man. B.J. talks with disgust about how he and Hawkeye hold themselves above the Army because they have to clean up their mess. |
| 323 | -->'''B.J.''': I hope you can keep it up. The minute I cut that rope, they made me a soldier. |
| 324 | ** It's also cruel {{foreshadowing}} [[note]]GFA was written before s11[[/note]], as for five minutes in self loathing B.J. thinks Hawkeye can deal as long as he's making self righteous jokes, but in reality Hawkeye is melting down slowly (also why it was so easy for him to be driven crazy in "The Joker Is Wild") and will be in an asylum very soon. |
| 325 | * "Friends and Enemies" - Woody, an old dear friend of Colonel Potter, comes to the 4077th as part of the wounded and the soldiers with him complain to Hawkeye that he assumed authority over them to take a hill that their officially assigned commander told them to avoid. Potter needs a great deal of convincing, but he realizes that Woody seriously abused his authority as an ArmchairMilitary officer who had no business giving combat commands in the field and the soldier who paid the price for that incompetence has no confidence that the officer will be held to account. As such, Potter tries to tell Woody as diplomatically as possible that he will be reported to his superiors for that abuse of authority. To that Woody, showing himself a selfishly immature [[NeverMyFault jerk]] for being made to face consequences for his actions, storms off renouncing Potter as a friend despite Potter's pleas about old times. With that loss, Potter comforts himself with valuing the true blue friends he has, like Hawkeye. |
| 326 | -->'''Hawkeye''': ''[seeing Potter after fighting with Woody]'' You look like...\ |
| 327 | '''Potter''': A man who just lost his best friend? |
| 328 | ** When Hawkeye tries to tell Potter what’s been said about his friend, Potter lashes out and calls both him and the soldiers brats with chips on the soldiers. Hawkeye’s stunned and takes the attack quietly, before being told to leave. |
| 329 | * "Give and Take" features a wounded private who is literally in the next bed to the critically injured soldier that he shot because the man tried to steal his boots because his own feet were freezing. When the man dies, the private is visibly shaken, and at the end of the episode Potter tries to comfort him. |
| 330 | -->'''Pvt. Kurland''': My boots, all he wanted was my lousy boots... |
| 331 | * "Say No More" - The 4077 treats the son of a two-star general and Hawkeye has to deliver the bad news when he doesn't make it. The general tells a heartwarming story of the moments he was most proud of his boy while growing up and they share a toast. Immediately after, the general has to get back on the phone and, short of stopping the war - something beyond his power - do his damnedest to keep other fathers from losing their kids. Also the CallBack to "Bombshells", as like B.J. said, getting angry and fed up and self-righteous over generals is something clearly out of Hawkeye's efforts at this point, and he just looks exhausted the whole episode. |
| 332 | * The end of the penultimate episode, "As Time Goes By". Margaret is putting together a time capsule to commemorate the 4077's presence in Korea. After expressing resistance for the whole episode, B.J. and Hawkeye come through at the end. |
| 333 | -->'''Hawkeye''': ''[hands over a teddy bear]'' This belonged to Radar; he left it for me. Let it stand for all the soldiers who came over as boys, and left as men.\ |
| 334 | '''B.J.''': ''[hands over a fishing lure]'' Here, I fished with this a few times. Hawkeye told me it belonged to Colonel Blake. Let it stand for all the men who never came home. |
| 335 | * "[[GrandFinale Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen]]" - Forget a Kleenex, you're going to need an IV for the dehydration from crying. |
| 336 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYjy7uUn7fc One of the big ones]] is TheReveal of what got Hawkeye [[HeroicBSOD sent to the crazy house]] before the beginning of the final episode: that a Korean woman killed a chicken she was holding because Hawkeye was hissing at her to keep it quiet so they wouldn't be caught by nearby enemy soldiers. It is then revealed that it wasn't a chicken but a baby. Hawkeye replaced the baby with a chicken in his memory because he couldn't deal with the truth. |
| 337 | --->'''Hawkeye''': Oh my God! ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Oh my God]]''! I didn’t mean for her to kill it! I-I just wanted it to be quiet! [[WhamLine It was a baby!]] ''She smothered her own baby!'' ...[[PrecisionFStrike You son of a bitch]], why did you make me remember that? |
| 338 | *** According to the actors in one of the "making of" documentaries, this was TruthInTelevision many times over. Alan Alda said he had heard of this happening in two different wars, and the cast and crew had spoken to many people who had either witnessed such a thing or knew about it happening. |
| 339 | *** The contorted expression of anguish on Hawkeye's face as he cries "Oh my god, ''oh my God!''" is what makes it really hard to watch. |
| 340 | *** ''M*A*S*H'' gave the FCC the middle finger, not caring about using the word "bitch" in that context. |
| 341 | ** Even before the reveal, Hawkeye’s had every coping method of his beaten down and so instead of the funny flirty SadClown persona, he acts like a caged animal in the asylum and when his friends call (being very careful with him and treating him like he’s five years old, the thing he was afraid of happening in “Hawk’s Nightmare”), alienates all of them within minutes. Even after he’s back in camp, he’s still fast to make everyone uncomfortable. |
| 342 | ** A near-tearjerker is the look on Hawkeye's face when he gets back to the camp and finds out that B.J. left in the same way Trapper did - no note, no goodbye, and while he was gone. Thankfully B.J. comes back, but the look of devastation on Hawkeye's face... He also asks Margaret in the OR if it's the war or him that stinks, Trapper's non-goodbye seemingly still making him insecure that he's not lovable. |
| 343 | ** B.J. visiting the institution thinking this might be the last time they get to see each other, and tentatively asking if there's anything that should be said, knowing full well that in Hawkeye's state he can't say that he's leaving, but also knowing how much it's going to hurt when Hawkeye finds out the truth. |
| 344 | ** And speaking of Hawkeye and B.J., their conversation in the tent where Hawkeye acknowledges that they will probably never see each other again after the war. B.J. tries to mutter something about staying in touch or getting together, but he can't even look at his friend. Even if they do see each other again after the war, the relationship that they have with each other now will effectively be gone. |
| 345 | ** B.J. almost getting home. The plan was a plane to Guam, a boat to Hawaii, then another plane home, but while stuck on Guam waiting for something to get him moving, he gets the message that he has to go back to the 4077 instead of home to his family. |
| 346 | ** The entirety of Winchester's subplot in the episode counts. Charles literally stumbles across a group of Chinese soldiers--who are actually musicians--who want to surrender to him. They discover a common language in Mozart, and Winchester offers to teach them the entirety of the composer's famous Clarinet Quintet. After spending the whole episode bonding, the Chinese soldiers are taken away as part of a last-minute prisoner exchange; to thank Charles, they play as much of the Quintet as they can for him as their truck drives away. This alone is tearjerking, but then comes the worse news: the truck was attacked, and all of them died except for one...who also passed away en route to the 4077th, leaving Winchester to cry "Those men weren't soldiers...they were ''musicians!''" He returns to his tent and tries to listen to the Clarinet Quintet on his own record player, only to break down in absolute grief and shatter the LP.[[note]]For added significance, it was a ''red'' LP -- RCA De Luxe, or possibly Audiophile -- which were even then a prestige vinyl format.[[/note]] |
| 347 | ** While the finale was a heartbreaker, the moment where peace is declared is a moment of such pure joy. The look of relief on Winchester's face and the happiness afterwards is incredibly uplifting. |
| 348 | ** Pretty much ''anything'' after peace is declared, from everyone saying what they will do next to the final scene on the Chopper Pad counts, since it all makes up about the last half hour of the episode and gives you no time to calm down before another wave of tears starts. |
| 349 | *** It starts with everyone saying where and what they are going to next, and most of the stories are humorous (such as Rizzo planning on selling frog's legs to French restaurants or B.J. pretending that he was going to leave Peg on the spur of the moment). But then, Bigelow stands up and says that, between World War II and Korea, [[ShellShockedVeteran she's had enough of the army and just wants to go home]]. Charles then adds that music was always a comfort -- now it'll always be a ''reminder''. |
| 350 | *** Next is Klinger's wedding, and the goodbyes that follow that. As the wagon that is carrying Klinger and Soon-Li out of camp leaves, it drags everyone's attention to where the camp, the only home many of these people have known for the past three years, is being taken apart. Col. Potter and Klinger's farewell is semi-mirroring Col. Potter's farewell with Radar, seasons earlier. |
| 351 | *** A bus shows up for the nurses and corpsmen to leave. Just before everyone gets on the bus, Nurse Kelleye gets the idea to 'take her home sign home.' Cue everyone else running on and taking their respective destinations along with them. It's the last moment of the episode that doesn't warrant tears of sadness. |
| 352 | *** Everyone saying goodbye to Father Mulcahy, and he can't hear any of them. Potter even calls him Francis and he can't hear it. Gestures from B.J. are the only clues he has as to what is being said and how he should react. |
| 353 | *** Hawkeye and Hot Lips Houlihan sharing one last cathartic kiss before going their separate ways. |
| 354 | *** Charles saying "How I wish I could have thrown the axe" when the Swamp finally comes down. He tries to say his farewells in a civil manner, but you can tell he's utterly sick of the war and just wants to get out of there as fast as possible, and the fact that Rizzo presents him with a garbage truck that has gunk on the running boards as the last vehicle he's got and he sees it as an ironic and fitting sendoff instead of protesting is proof of that. |
| 355 | *** Potter saying goodbye to Hawkeye and B.J., as all three of them try not to tear up. On top of that, he can't take Sophie with him on the trip home, who was a gift from Radar, so she will be left to someone deserving in Korea, the orphanage, and he chooses to ride her out of camp in lieu of a CO's jeep or an actual vehicle so they also have time to part. |
| 356 | *** Heartwarming and tearjerking both, Hawkeye and B.J. send Potter off with a heartfelt salute, something they've never done before, which speaks to their enduring affection and respect for him. Potter tearfully returns the salute and sets off. |
| 357 | *** As Hawkeye's helicopter takes off, he sees B.J.'s final message to him, spelled out in white stones: "GOODBYE". Hawkeye looks on with an endearing smile at the fact B.J. finally said what needed to be said, leans back in his seat, and enjoys the ride home, as the main theme swells in a very tender and ballad-like final reprise on the last notes of the song, while [[BookEnds the last chopper of the series rides away from camp instead of to it.]] Then, the credits run at extended length, playing out the entirety of the ''[=M*A*S*H*=]'' theme from beginning to end. |
| 358 | ** Seeing the finale take place in the middle of autumn adds to the sad feeling, because the scenery looks so empty, barren and tired in general, and with the camp all packed up the reality of it all hits you- the story's coming to an end here and now, and the sense of finality is immense. It is time for everything to sleep, and winter is nigh. |
| 359 | ** The fact that most of them would never see each other again, ''ever'', is very sad even if the entire reason they were lumped together in the first place (most of them unwillingly) was because of a ''war''. It was especially hard even for people like Winchester to say a final goodbye and leave. Chances are, the majority of them lived out their lives and died without ever knowing what happened to the others, as the technology we have today for instantaneous contact wouldn't come until many decades later. |
| 360 | *** Other than the telephone and telegraph. Most likely, those who did stay in touch were using those plus letters and postcards. Given B.J.'s enthusiasm for the idea of reunion parties, he quite likely staged some. |
| 361 | *** It's a comforting thought. But even in this day and age, the internet is full of websites of former soldiers trying to find out what became of their friends. |
| 362 | *** On the other hand, some soldiers actively ''avoid'' seeing them, because of the PTSD they'd inspire. |
| 363 | [[/folder]] |
| 364 |
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FollowingContext Tearjerker / MASH
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