Mail call brings a wide range of unsettling news for most: Peg tells B.J. that a neighbor made a pass at her, Radar's mom tells him she's started dating again, and Klinger gets a "Dear John" letter. Meanwhile, Hawkeye gets passionate love letters for another "Benjamin Pierce" by mistake.
Attention, all personnel! Mail call has brought the following tropes:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Laverne found another man while waiting for Klinger to return home. Subverted with Peg, who BJ worried was growing apart from him.
- Artistic License – History: The man Radar's mother is dating drives a Nash Metropolitan, a car that did not go on sale until after the Korean War ended.
- Band of Brothers: Despite their various troubles, the people of the 4077 are like family to one another. Klinger says as much in the final scene.
- The Comically Serious: Ben Pierce looks utterly perplexed at all of Hawkeye and BJ's jokes.
- Crying Wolf: Nobody believes Klinger when he tells them Laverne wants a divorce because of all his previous discharge scams.
- "Dear John" Letter: Klinger gets one of these from Laverne.
- December–December Romance: Radar's mother starts dating a similar-aged man back home. After chatting with Hawkeye about it, he suggests pairing her up with Hawkeye's father if it doesn't work out.
- Exact Words: Klinger asks for Potter to help him out (with his marriage). Potter helps him walk out of the office.
- Foil: The other Ben Pierce has a reputation for being everything Hawkeye is (a funny guy and a ladies' man) but it seems to be entirely undeserved since he doesn't go out of his way to court any of his admirers and doesn't seem to get any of Hawkeye's jokes.
- Hypocritical Humour: Charles mentions a debate in which he won a fountain pen, with the topic "Should the U.S. permit more liberal immigration?"Charles: I, of course, took the negative. My family has had trouble with immigrants since we came to America.
- Informed Ability: Both to the audience and the cast. "Ben Pierce" claims women go crazy for him because "I'm a very funny guy", but he tells no jokes in his one scene and doesn't get any of Hawkeye's.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: When the other Ben Pierce enters the Swamp looking for his namesake, Charles indicates Hawkeye by simply referring to him as "That."
- It's All About Me: Winchester, more than usual. News that a sorghum crop has been wiped out by bad weather thrills him because he's invested in another source (like all instances of Winchester holding the Jerkass Ball in his earlier appearances, this is likely a leftover scene initially written for Frank) and Klinger's public announcement of his being dumped only concerns him because the film projector has broken.
- Nobody Thinks It Will Work: Donald's mother does not approve of Margaret, always writing to her by her maiden name, recommending divorce laywers to Donald, and blackballing Margaret's membership to the Daughters of the American Revolution.
- Not So Above It All: Winchester is enraptured by, of all things, a Ritz Brothers movie.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Margaret's mother-in-law; see above.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Nobody takes Klinger seriously until he angrily rips off his dress. He admits that his cross-dressing (which he always treated as Serious Business) is a ploy to get sent home, but says that his wife leaving him isn't.
- Parent with New Paramour: Hawkeye tells Radar about his own widowed father, who brought a new woman home after Hawkeye's mother died, asking for his approval. Hawkeye did not give it, and his father ended it and stayed single.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Klinger slowly stops crossdressing after this episode. Jamie Farr realized his kids were getting old enough to watch the show and didn't want them to be embarrassed that their father wore dresses on TV.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Not only did Laverne ask for a divorce, she also took Klinger's allotment cheque and found another man after building up a nice nest egg.
