A brutal Cold Snap has the 4077th desperate to find warmth, but all the heaters are being used to keep the patients warm. Meanwhile, Hawkeye's got a patient with a persistent case of hypothermia, Klinger has his hearing damaged by an exploding landmine, and Charles lords his new polar suit over the rest of the camp.
Attention, all personnel! As our midday temperatures reach puberty levels, keep an eye out for the following tropes:
- Comically Missing the Point:Col. Potter: I haven't seen precision like that since Radio City Music Hall. Boy, those Rockettes
. Ever see the Rockettes, Radar?Radar: Just on the 4th of July, sir. - Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The hypothermia patient is in such dire condition, Hawkeye considers immersing him in warm water to get his temperature up, but Potter is reluctant to try it as the thermal shock of immersion could send him into cardiac arest, killing him outright. After trying other methods (warm water enemas and lavages, heating a blood transfusion) unsuccessfully, they have to go all-in with the bath. The patient does end up going into arrest, but CPR manages to bring him back.
- Four Lines, All Waiting: As stated above, the cold weather, Hawkeye's patient, Klinger's deafness, and Charles' antics with his suit and Margaret's gloves.
- Heroic Willpower: Charles attributes his lack of discomfort in the cold weather to this, but is happy to don the winter suit his parents send him as soon as it arrives.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Charles is dismayed when he sees the Swamp's stove is gone, but assumes Margaret's gloves will protect his surgeon's hands from the cold—only to have them tear the minute he puts them on.
- Shell-Shock Silence: Klinger spends most of the episode in this state after a landmine explodes while he's on guard duty.
- Shout-Out: Col. Potter proves to be an avid fan of Sonja Henie, and at movie night most of the rest of the cast express admiration for her agility.
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Squick: Radar has this reaction when he and Fr. Mulcahy go to retrieve a coffin from the supply room to use as a makeshift bathtub for the hypothermia patient. It feels heavy when they lift it, making him think there's a corpse in there, but it turns out to just be snow boots that had been shipped in it due to a Supply SNAFU. - Titled After the Song: After the eponymous Frank Loesser tune from Neptune's Daughter.
- Waxing Lyrical: Overjoyed that his hearing has returned, Klinger breaks into the old standard "I Hear Music."
