A grateful local farmer who the 4077th helped out repays the favor by donating a day's production of eggs to the camp. Meanwhile, a young Private named Nick Gillis wanders into the camp and immediately attracts the attention of B.J. and Hawkeye. Taking Gillis back to the Swamp, the surgeons discover that Gillis had received a message congratulating him on the recent birth of his child even though it's impossible for the baby to be his since he's been in Korea 15 months. After receiving the news Gillis went AWOL and is determined to get back to the states. The surgeons tell invite Gillis to accompany them to see Father Mulcahy in the morning to find out what his options are. An exhausted Gillis passes out on the free cot.
The next morning the surgeons, Gillis, and a few other people are at Mulchay's ecumenical service when Lt. Spears and a couple MPs arrive to haul Gillis back in front of his CO for going AWOL. Gillis then asks Mulchay for sanctuary inside the mess tent as it was being used as a worship space. Mulchay, feeling that his obligations as a clergyman are more important than the military's concerns and grants Gillis sanctuary until the Command Chaplain can rule on the case.
Attention, all personnel! This is a holy mess of tropes:
- All for Nothing: All the uproar over the eggs ends up meaning nothing, as they get inadvertently tossed on the ground when Hawkeye and BJ take cover from rifle fire.
- All-Loving Hero: Father Mulcahy shows himself to be one of these when he fights for Gillis, then fights him when he grabs a rifle, talks him down (and scolds him for using his faith as an excuse), takes away his gun, then hugs the crying soldier. Later on he admits that he feels no anger towards the soldier, and is relieved when he hears that Gillis is seeing Sidney Freeman, as it means "he'll be treated as a patient, not a prisoner".
- Badass Preacher: Father Mulchay takes this up to 11 in this episode. First he stands up to his own commanding officer, and a Lieutenant itching to haul Gillis back to his CO by granting Gillis sanctuary. When the Command Chaplain rules against Gillis Mulchay is still willing to fight for Gillis but at this point Lt. Spears orders Gillis to be removed. Gillis grabs his rifle and tries to fire it at Spears, but Mulchay grabs the rifle and redirects it upwards. Gillis then points the rifle at Mulchay's chest, but Mulchay is having none of it and rips the rifle out of Gillis's hands, throwing it across the room.Father Francis Mulchay: How dare you! You seek refuge in this house of the Lord when it serves your purpose. Then when it's no longer convenient, you desecrate it by pointing a deadly weapon at another human being. Private, a faith of convenience is a hollow faith.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The tag reveals that instead of being returned to his unit, Gillis was instead sent to see Dr. Sidney Freeman, implying that Gillis was going to get the mental health treatment he obviously needed.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Because of their steady diet of canned foods, the entire camp almost loses it at the thought of having real eggs for breakfast rather than powdered.
- Mulchay is served an omelette that is seasoned with everyone's fixings and says that it's not bad...only to be told that the eggs are powdered (the real eggs having been lost when the table they were on was knocked over).
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- Once again, Hawkeye and BJ do this to help out a soldier (getting Gillis to agree to talk to Mulcahy instead of hauling him to Colonel Potter).
- Mulchay decided to grant Gillis sanctuary even though he was on questionable legal grounds, even if the Command Chaplain ruled in their favor.
