Attention, all hands: Marilyn Monroe's visit will be accompanied by the following tropes:
Be All My Sins Remembered: Everyone thinks of BJ as a hero for making an ultimately futile attempt to save a wounded soldier's life, to the point where the chopper pilot puts him in for the Bronze Star. All BJ can think of the incident is that he failed to save the soldier's life and was forced to cut the lifeline they were using to desperately pull the soldier to safety when the chopper came under sniper fire. He reacts poorly to being awarded the medal, and gives it away to another wounded soldier who was comatose for most of the episode.
B.J.: [Bitterly, to Hawkeye] "We sit around here in our Hawaiian shirts and red suspenders thumbing our noses at the Army, drinking home-brewed gin and flouting authority at every turn, and feeling oh-so-superior to those military fools who kill each other, and oh-so-self-righteous when we clean up after them. Well, good luck to you, pal. I hope you can keep it up. The minute I cut that rope, that made me a soldier."
Bittersweet Ending: Mostly bitter for B.J. who is unable to learn the fate of the wounded soldier he was forced to abandon and continues to be haunted by his failure to save him. The one bright spot is that Corporal Sonneborn who spent much of the episode comatose is able to make a miraculous recovery and B.J. gives him his Bronze Star.
Corporal Sonneborn: "Hey, Captain? Why did I get this? What did I do?"
B.J.: "Uh, let's just say it's, uh... a little something we give you for getting out with your butt in one piece."
Continuity Nod: Charles' ignorance of baseball, despite being a Boston native, makes sense considering his voiced disdain for the Red Sox in "Rally 'Round The Flagg, Boys" four seasons earlier.
Enemy Mine: A mild version — usually Hawkeye and Winchester are at odds with each other. Here, the two join forces to epically prank the entirety of the 4077th into thinking Marilyn Monroe is visiting.
Epic Fail: Hawkeye tries to pass himself off as Ted Williams note Marilyn's husband at the time to a Hollywood switchboard operator, but he knows nothing of Williams' career (including basics like which position he plays). He tries leaning on Charles, who as a Boston native is able to help with the city's geography, but somehow knows even less about Williams' career than Hawkeye does. In the end, the operator hangs up on them.
Meaningful Name: The title once again has a double meaning in referring to Marilyn Monroe, the Blonde Bombshell, and the apt description of the impact B.J.'s decision makes on him.
Mood Whiplash: The back-and-forth between B.J.'s searing guilt and Hawkeye and Charles' farcical attempts to arrange for a visit from Marilyn Monroe is rather breathtaking.
Uncertain Doom: Realistic for both the audience and B.J., who eventually have to accept the worse, when the wounded soldier's fate remains unknown whether he got rescued, died by either the sniper or his own wound or got captured where he either dies or eventually gets rescued.
