History Recap / MashS1E15Tuttle

-->'''Hawkeye''': ''(writing)'' 6'4... 195 pounds... auburn hair... hazel eyes...\\
'''Trapper''': ''(dreamily)'' Hawkeye... I think I'm in love.

-->'''Clayton:''' Well, I just got a letter from Sister Theresa.\\
'''Henry:''' Oh, I didn't know you had a sister!\\
'''Clayton:''' ''[put upon]'' She's a ''nun''.\\
'''Henry:''' Oh, you must be very proud, sir.

-->'''Hawkeye''': If anybody said, "Who knocked over the garbage?" I said, "Tuttle." "Who broke that window?" "Tuttle." "Who wet the bed?"
-->'''Trapper''': Tuttle.
-->'''Hawkeye''': He had no control at all.
-->'''Trapper''': So, when you got drafted...
-->'''Hawkeye''': He got drafted.
-->'''Trapper''': Just in case you wet your cot.
-->'''Hawkeye''': Precisely.

--->'''Radar''': Her name was Shirley.
--->''[Hawkeye and Trapper stare at him]''
--->'''Hawkeye''': Your imaginary friend was a girl?
--->'''Radar''': Mm-hmm.
--->'''Trapper''': What'd she look like?
--->'''Radar''': Like me. ''[beat]'' Only with tiny little breasts.
--->'''Hawkeye''': [[GetOut Out! OUT!]]

--> '''Henry''': Colonel Clayton, General Blake here, sir.
--> '''Gen. Clayton''': Steady, Henry.

-->'''Hawkeye''': Okay. Mother?\\

---> '''Henry''': Radar, you really understand all this army stuff?
---> '''Radar''': It helps not to be too bright, sir.

---> '''Henry''': Radar, there's something going on with Major Burns.
---> '''Radar''': Yes sir, with Major Houlihan. I know one guy who got pictures.

-->'''Hawkeye''': You should read ''my'' file.

** As the episode opens, Hawkeye and Trapper wonder aloud how much the supplies they are smuggling out are worth on the black market. However, we soon learn they're not selling them on the black market - they're donating them to Sister Theresa's orphanage.

** A variation. A paranoid Frank believes that the army is against him and has sent Captain Tuttle to replace him at MASH.

* ImaginaryFriend: The title character.

-->'''Hawkeye:''' Okay. Mother?\\
'''Trapper:''' Mm... yes!\\
'''Hawkeye:''' ''[writes]'' Father?\\
'''Trapper:''' One.

-->'''Hawkeye:''' ''(writing)'' 6'4... 195 pounds... auburn hair... hazel eyes...\\
'''Trapper:''' ''(dreamily)'' Hawkeye... I think I'm in love.

-->'''Hawkeye:''' You should read ''my'' file.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Radar during the scene where Hawkeye is filling in Tuttle's personnel file and handling the description.

The episode opens with Hawkeye and Trapper smuggling crates of medical supplies onto a truck driven by orphanage director Sister Theresa. Hawkeye tells her that she has Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle to thank for the donations, though he deflects her offer to have the orphans write him a letter of thanks - because, as he tells Trapper when Sister Theresa departs, Tuttle doesn't really exist. He was Hawkeye's imaginary childhood friend, used as a scapegoat in difficult situations, so when Hawkeye was drafted, so was Tuttle.

When Hawkeye and Trapper "discover" that Tuttle is owed fourteen months' back pay, Hawkeye, posing as Tuttle to a representative from the pay corps, asks that the money be donated to Sister Theresa's orphanage. Word works its way back to General Clayton, who tells Henry that he plans to recognise Tuttle's generosity at a commendation ceremony as a PR gesture.

Having well and truly painted himself into a corner, Hawkeye gets out the only way he knows how: by killing Tuttle. He claims that the good captain went into the field to perform surgery, only to jump out of a chopper without a parachute, and that he willed his death benefits to Sister Theresa's orphanage. His eulogy, in which he claims that there's a bit of Tuttle in all of them, and that collectively the 4077th "made up" Tuttle, is so moving that Margaret says she'll never forget him and Henry says he was the best OD they ever had.

** After Captain Tuttle "dies", he is promptly replaced by Major Murdock

Hawkeye and Trapper create the identity of a make-believe man, once Hawkeye's childhood imaginary friend, to get supplies from the 4077 over to the orphanage. Unfortunately, Tuttle's name shows up on some official paperwork and Henry starts thinking Tuttle's real. And when he does, so does Major Burns and Major Houlihan, and so do a few others, and a few others after them, and, oh you get the point. But as the story of Captain Tuttle continues, how long will it be before it gets too out of hand?

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Hawkeye's translation Berlin Polytechnic as "Berlinisches Polytechnikum" qualifies, not being a precise translation but sounding impressive enough to convince Frank and Margaret.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle]]

---> '''Henry''': Colonel Clayton, General Blake here, sir.
---> '''Gen. Clayton''': Steady, Henry.

** Just when Hawkeye seems to have the whole affair about Tuttle resolved, Henry tells him to deliver the [[spoiler: eulogy]]

* {{Tearjerker}}: Hawkeye's eulogy for Tuttle gets both Margaret and Henry misty-eyed.

* TheAce: Captain Tuttle.

* AlwaysOnDuty: Frank Burns is the only person to volunteer for Officer of the Day. Tired of it, Henry insists that Captain Tuttle take it instead.

* MrFanservice: Hawkeye wrote Tuttle's physical description to be this for Margaret.

* RuleOfEscalatingThreat: All the business with Captain Tuttle eventually gets too out of hand.

* CreditsGag: Captain Tuttle is credited as himself.

-->'''Hawkeye:''' You should read ''my'' file.

* KillAndReplace: A variation. A paranoid Frank believes that the army is against him and has sent Captain Tuttle to replace him at MASH.

* {{Malaproper}}:
** Hawkeye not translating Berlin Polytechnic into German correctly. (Whether he meant to or just wanted it to "sound" German is debatable.)
** A nervous Henry gets his and Crandall Clayton's ranks mixed up when the general calls.

* Tearjerker: Hawkeye's eulogy for Tuttle gets both Margaret and Henry misty-eyed.

** Hawkeye not translating Berlin Polytechnic into German correctly.

* NoodleIncident: Hawkeye and Trapper glued Frank's bible together and drew fangs on his picture of Senator [=McCarthy=].

-->'''Hawkeye:''' You should see ''my'' file.

* RoleReprisal: Herb Voland as General Clayton.

---> '''Frank''': Oh, for Pete's sake, Margaret. You're practically drooling.

* ImaginaryFriend: The titular character.

---> '''Frank''': Henry Blake? That launderette?
* {{Malaproper}}: Hawkeye not translating Berlin Polytechnic into German correctly.

* OhCrap: Hawkeye and Trapper when Henry wants to see Tuttle in his office.

---> '''Hawkeye''': Anybody coming in to tell me about more wounded is sucking around for a lobotomy!

* RunningGag: Radar continues to tell Henry how to sign the paperwork.

* [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood You Should Write Fiction]]: Trapper thinks this as Hawkeye is writing up Tuttle's personnel file.

!!The story of Captain Tuttle was made up with the following tropes:

* HereWeGoAgain: At the end, Trapper's imaginary friend comes into the camp.
* HilariousInHindsight: And [[HarsherInHindsight a little harsh as well]]. Margaret tells Frank that noone can take his place in her heart. Excuse me, I think Colonel Penobscott's at the door.

* NoodleIncident: Hawkeye and Trapper glued Frank's bible together and drew fangs on his picture of Senator McCarthy.

* [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood You Should Write Fiction]]: Trapper thinks this as Hawkeye is writing up Tuttle's personnel file.