A strong windstorm blows down from Manchuria, putting the war on hold but also threatening the camp - and blocking Charles' R&R plans.
Attention, all personnel! The wind storm has left the following tropes scattered around the compound:
- Badass Boast: When Charles is telling Klinger about his childhood:Charles: I was always a curious child. By the age of seven I was already dissecting frogs.
Klinger: Oh, lots of boys did that.
Charles: But I was able to put them back together. - Call-Back: In post-op after the storm, Hawkeye is wearing the cardigan his (retconned out) sister knitted for him in season 2's "Mail Call". Plus he brings back his early season Groucho Marx glasses to entertain a Korean child.
- Captain Obvious:[Greek soldier starts gasping]
Klinger: Oh, he sounds pretty bad.
Charles: Thank you, Klinger, that's very perceptive. - Description Cut:Hawkeye: Well, look, it could be worse. We could be stuck in Tokyo like Charles. Right now that poor guy's probably lying in a steaming geisha bath.
[cut to Charles and Klinger lost and stranded] - From Dress to Dressing: To treat the Greek soldiers, Charles has to use the silk shirts that he had been packing for his trip to Tokyo:Charles: All right, Klinger, I'm gonna close my eyes now. I want you to [recoils] rip those shirts into bandage strips.
- I Want My Mommy!: When they get lost during the windstorm Klinger utters this.
- MacGyvering: Charles is able to re-inflate a collapsed lung using a pump, catheter tube, pocket knife, and tape all while telling himself it would never work but doesn't complain when he proves himself wrong.Klinger: You did it, Major!
Charles: More important than that, Klinger, I did it here. - My God, What Have I Done?: Margaret is guilt-stricken when Nurse Bigelow is injured after the camp water tower blows over - while Bigelow was helping others secure it on Margaret's orders after Margaret had yelled at her earlier.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: A reference to the song "They Call the Wind Maria" from Paint Your Wagon.
- Tempting Fate: Even with the wind storm, Hawkeye tells B.J. that it would be a quiet shift for them. Hawkeye is barely done talking before the wind knocks over the camp's water tower and injures several with incoming wounded arriving before they finish.note
- This Is Gonna Suck: As soon as Winchester says he's going to make an incision, Klinger covers the Greek soldier's eyes to prevent him from seeing what's about to happen.
- Worst Aid: Winchester's field expedient care of the Greek soldiers would fit into this category if not for the fact that it worked. Specifically, relocating a dislocated shoulder should not be done the way he does it due to the danger of further damage to the joint and his treatment of the pneumothorax was improvised using inappropriate equipment (which he comments on).
- You Can't Miss It: An M.P. gives complicated directions for reaching Seoul, which results in Klinger and Charles getting lost.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Klinger's reaction to finding out that he, Charles, and the Greek soldiers had been stranded only 200 yards away from the 4077th.Klinger: We almost froze to death in our own backyard!
