History NightmareFuel / Mash

Although ''M*A*S*H'' is partially a comedy, at its core it's a very dark one about a group of people trying to [[SanitySlippage retain their sanity]] in [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar an insane war]]. As such, it can get pretty damn intense at times.

** Father Mulcahy dozes off while listening to a confession (that, from his perspective, DeterioratesIntoGibberish) and dreams that he's Pope. He starts to deliver a sermon next to a giant crucifix (shown only from the knees down)... only for dripping blood to splatter on his Bible from the the crucifix, ''now showing the legs of a soldier''. The legs are twitching.

Although ''M*A*S*H'' is partially a comedy, it's a very dark one about a group of people trying to [[SanitySlippage retain their sanity]] in [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar an insane war]]. As such, it can get pretty damn intense at times.

** That same ep shows a hilarious yet frightening glimpse into how Frank sees and remembers things, including a shot where he pushes a soldier with a bandaged head and more in a wheelchair telling him to go back to the front. Mind you again, this is in his own mind.

* The episode "Dreams" has a very ''[[Franchise/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]''-y feel to it. The sole purpose of the entire episode seems to have been to invoke various forms of NightmareFuel both in universe and out. The only dream that's even remotely happy is Potter's (and even he joins the others in trying to not fall asleep again despite everyone being exhausted) and the other dreams range from implicitly tragic (such as B.J. dreaming of other men courting Peg while he is distracted by having to perform emergency surgery) to outright disturbing. The episode is frequently cited as being the most uncomfortable and/or distressing to watch ''of the entire series'' to the point where it's not uncommon to hear people say they experienced nightmares themselves after viewing it for the first time.

** Father Mulcahy dozes off while listening to a confession (that, from his perspective, DeterioratesIntoGibberish) and dreams that he's Pope. He starts to deliver a sermon next to a giant crucifix (shown only from the knees down)... only for dripping blood to splatter on his Bible from the the crucifix, ''now showing the legs of a soldier''.
*** The worst part? ''The legs are twitching.''

* The first portion of "Life Time" is this and a combination of NauseaFuel as Hawkeye spends the first several minutes with his unwashed, unprotected hand ''inside a man's chest'' to stop some bleeding until Margaret can find the clamp they need.

* What happens to Dr. Steve Newsom (Edward Herrmann) in "Heal Thyself". He's showing subtle signs of his true mental state from the beginning and the disclosure that he served at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pusan_Perimeter Pusan perimeter]] is another clue. The real nightmare fuel is what Pierce and Hunnicutt say at the end: Newsom's fate could be theirs, at any time. And for Hawkeye it is, in GFA.

-->'''Hawkeye''': I’d like to see anyone’s wife again.

* The episode "Dreams" has a very ''[[Franchise/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]''-y feel to it. As it includes dream scenes like Margaret in a [[BloodSplatteredWeddingDress bloody wedding dress]] (As you see in the page image) with her wedding bed covered in wounded soldiers, and Hawkeye losing his arms and screaming to the sound of helicopters, or Father Mulcahey's dream where he's Pope and starts to deliver a sermon next to a giant crucifix (shown only from the knees down)... only for dripping blood to splatter on his Bible from the the crucifix, ''now showing the legs of a soldier''.
** Really, the sole purpose of the entire episode seems to have been to invoke various forms of NightmareFuel both in universe and out. The only dream that's even remotely happy is Potter's (and even he joins the others in trying to not fall asleep again despite everyone being exhausted) and the other dreams range from implicitly tragic to outright disturbing. The episode is frequently cited as being the most uncomfortable and/or distressing to watch ''of the entire series'' to the point where it's not uncommon to hear people say they experienced nightmares themselves after viewing it for the first time.
** Charles' dream. He's a magician performing for the 4077 until a critically wounded patient wheels itself in. A visibly distressed Charles keeps performing magic tricks until the patient dies. And this patient makes some genuinely distressing choking-like sounds as he succumbs to his wounds.

** A LaughTrack is usually prevalent throughout a M*A*S*H episode. The complete absence of it in this one gives off the feeling of a really creepy atmosphere whenever the moments are not comedic.

* "Bless You Hawkeye" is commonly admitted by LGBT+ fans (even if it wasn’t meant that way, Hawkeye loved Billy so much that he couldn’t even bring himself to admit he hated him) and victims of abuse (Sidney’s comment about bedrooms being a battlefield, Billy laughing as he pushes baby Hawk into the water and says “you’re so clumsy, you’d be dead if it weren’t for me”) to be a rough episode to get through. What makes it worse is you can see easy setting up of it in previous episodes with Hawkeye not wanting to talk about a first love in “The Bus” and his dream in “Dreams” being helpless on a boat, and his TraumaInducedAmnesia repeats in “Goodbye Farewell And Amen”.

* The episode "Dreams" has a very ''[[Franchise/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]''-y feel to it. As it includes dream scenes like Margaret in a [[BloodSplatteredWeddingDress bloody wedding dress]] with her wedding bed covered in wounded soldiers, and Hawkeye losing his arms and screaming to the sound of helicopters, or Father Mulcahey's dream where he's Pope and starts to deliver a sermon next to a giant crucifix (shown only from the knees down)... only for dripping blood to splatter on his Bible from the the crucifix, ''now showing the legs of a soldier''.