History WMG / MASH

** The implication was that Flagg ''assumed'' the young man was a spy and shot him without verification, with added implication that he was, in fact, a civilian. This would seem to be born out in a later episode when Winchester tricked Flagg, and the MPs suggest that is not Flagg's first wild goose chase.

[[WMG:Radar is a [[Franchise/XMen Mutant]].]]

*** I always figured Klinger's family was Lebanese Orthodox, which refers to God as "Allah" due to the Arabic language.

There is a scene in the first series of M*A*S*H where, while Hawkeye is complaining about the food, he tells a joke: "Did you hear how one MASH unit halves their casualty rate? They shot the chef."
Now, in Fawlty towers, there is a running gag on how Mr. Fawlty was in the Korean War and how he "killed four men". One time Sybil tells a customer "he was in the catering corps, he used to poison them." and Mr. Fawlty often complains of painful shrapnel in his leg...

* It's possible that the entire camp is an [[Website/SCPFoundation SCP object]], and the researchers are sending in D-class personnel as wounded to test how long the 4077th can handle the stress. The experiment ran for 12 years that we know of (and may still be running today)

Now, in Fawlty towers, there is a running gag on how Mr. Fawlty was in the Korean War and how he "killed four men". One time Sybel tells a customer "he was in the catering corps, he used to poison them." and Mr. Fawlty often complains of painful shrapnel in his leg...

[[WMG: Sergeant Zale was ReassignedToAntarctica.]]
Given that Zale disappears right after his attempt at repairing the generator led to its breaking down permanently, and given that neither Potter nor incoming company clerk Klinger had much love for him, it's not unreasonable that they got him reassigned to anywhere they could.

*** Henry's death is what triggered the breakdown. That's when the promiscuous practical joker began to be replaced by a darker personality It's also when more serious characters replaced the sillier ones and Radar started to become childlike. Trapper was too much like the old Hawkeye, so he created BJ. Barely competent draftee Henry is replaced by regular army Potter. Frank was a reminder of his practical joker phase, so he creates more of an equal in Charles. Margaret mellows and becomes a friend.

* Alternately, it's not the 70s at all: it's actually a test being done in the future, far enough ahead that they don't actually know the difference between '70s culture and '50s culture. They were (will be) using different sets of clones with the same sets of memories, and the same "title" for each character- Hawkeye for the happy-go-lucky manic-not-depressive surgeon, Trapper for his PutOnABus partner and BJ for his replacement, Burns for the belligerent thinks-he-knows-it-all, Houlihan for the snarky love interest. Two of the same O'Reilly series clones (Radar) happened to be used for the groups of the movie and the television series.

** Even more likely to keep Frank from killing the people around him. His tendency to pull the trigger while aiming at random people has been expounded above, and he even managed to shoot BJ one time.

** Or when he performs unnecessary appendectomy on Colonel Flagg and the colonel in "Preventative Medicine". In the latter, BJ calls him out for it, but this doesn't stop him.
** Hawkeye removing the appendix (both times that he did it) was his attempt at invoking the Zeroth Law, meaning he sought to do the least damage to the least number. He was able to rationalize breaking his Oath by reasoning that he was saving that many more lives. The rationalization was blown up in his face shortly thereafter when BJ informs him of incoming wounded.

* When a wounded female guerrilla is treated at the camp, a South Korean officer known for torturing prisoners (played by {{Creator/Mako}}!) comes to the camp to take her when she is ready to travel, Hawkeye refuses to believe she could possibly be a guerrilla, even after she tries to kill a wounded US soldier (albeit found by the staff collapsed by his bed, with the unit of blood smashed on the floor) and when the officer spells it out that her life meant more to Hawkeye than it is to her, he still refuses to believe him, even attempting to evacuate her, disobeying orders from both Potter and I-Corps that he was not to interfere, yet he identified a group of Koreans as guerrillas in ''Welcome to Korea'' when they vanished into the woods and started firing on him, BJ and Radar.

His plane home crashes just like Henry Blake's did. Hawkeye and Henry leave the 4077 in surprisingly similar fashions. Both take the time to say goodbye to everyone, get a salute of respect from their comrades, kiss Margaret with surprising passion and then board a helicopter. Also note how certain BJ is that they will never see each other again.

* Shortly after her meeting with Donald, Margaret took some long-overdue time off and found herself driving through Maine. She decided to look up Hawkeye in Crabapple Cove, where he now had a small but successful town practice. Hawkeye was pleased with the chance to show Margaret his hometown, and the two of them became closer than either of them had suspected; away from the war and the Army, they both realized how much they have in common, and Margaret came to fall in love with both Crabapple Cove and with the town doctor. Six months later, Hawkeye and Margaret were married in a small ceremony presided over by Father Mulcahey. Trapper John, BJ and Radar were Hawkeye's groomsmen while Nurses Baker and Kelly, and BJ's wife Peg were Margaret's bridesmaids.

[[WMG: Potter will eventually feel like he's experiencing an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'']]

Just like ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' and ''Series/AshesToAshes'' provide purgatory for Coppers, so the 4077th gives a place for those army doctors and corpsmen who have seen too much to work out their issues and move on. That is why it is a mishmash of 50s-70s stuff.

How did Hawkeye find out? Talking only to Frank over the phone while Frank was still at the psychiatric hospital. It's entirely possible Frank was completely delusional about his career path going forward and lied either willingly or as part of the delusion.

He was secretly evaluating Pierce for recruitment in the 1950s SuicideSquad.