A Korean woman, Chim Sa, comes to the 4077th with a written request from her American husband Corporal Walter Jacobsen for a Bris ceremony to be performed for their infant son Sang Min. She runs into difficulties trying to get her message across: Frank Burns ignores her, Margaret tries to help but Frank pulls her away, and Hawkeye and Trapper also struggle with finding out what she needs until she produces her husband's request letter. From there, they, Radar and Father Mulcahy work together to arrange the ceremony, getting instructions via Morse code from a rabbi on a Navy ship.
During this, both Henry Blake and Father Mulcahy are given what they perceive to be distressing news from home. Henry's wife Lorraine has suddenly for unknown reasons given her husband permission to horse around while the father is shocked to know that his sister Kathy, a nun, wants to leave the order to start a family and asks for his approval.
Attention, all hands. Attention. We are seeking the help of a mohel who is familiar with the following tropes:
- Artistic License – Military:
- The Stock Footage of the carrier Essex is in fact of the Yorktown, and is from at least the late 1960s, assuming the twin-rotor helicopters shown are of the CH-46 "Chinook" variety.
- When searching for a Jewish chaplain, Father Mulcahy suggests checking the Navy and Marines, both of which use the Navy's Chaplain Corps. The Father might not have been aware of this, however.
- Artistic License – Religion: The bris ceremony uses phrasing from the King James Bible rather than a Jewish translation. It is also greatly reduced from a traditional ceremony, no variations of which involve putting a drop of wine in the baby's mouth.
- Badass Preacher: Captain Epstein, apparently. He's a paratrooper rabbi who water-skis in his off time.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Unless "The Parrot" is a nickname, it's hard to picture Renee, Loretta, and the parrot in "What Yvonne Saw" as anything but this. Played for Laughs, of course.
- By-the-Book Cop: Frank and Margaret prove to be antagonists again by stating that since a circumcision is considered as elective surgery and against regulations, then it should not be done.
- Character Development: Father Mulcahy is left stunned by the revelation that his sister Kathy wishes to leave the order to start a family, leaving him unsure if he can bless her decision with his approval. At the end of the episode, after witnessing how much Chim Sa adores her son, he feels that he can.
- Continuity Nod:
- Henry gets more adult movies from the Tabasco Film Company.
- Captain Epstein is a rabbi who serves as a paratrooper. Could this be the same paratrooper rabbi Hawkeye mentions in "Five O'Clock Charlie"?
- Dance Party Ending: Everyone dances at the party held in the mess tent for Sang Min's bris.
- Death Glare: Hawkeye and Trapper both give one to the offscreen character who either kicked or tossed a football between the two of them and into the Swamp.
- Hidden Depths: In the beginning of the episode, Margaret is concerned about Chim Sa when she is asking her and Frank for help. Frank, not so much.
- Margaret's case is later subverted when she helps Frank to report Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar and Father Mulcahy are going against military regulations by holding the ceremony.
- During the ceremony, Frank harasses Hawkeye and Trapper while they perform the circumcision, but is respectfully silent (and even chimes in with the group "Amen") when Mulcahy is speaking.
- Hypocrite: Henry worries about his wife not being faithful to him while he has not been faithful to her.
- Insane Troll Logic: Frank and Margaret's theory that Chim Sa is using a fake dependent card to get her baby circumcised as part of a "racket". Lampshaded by Hawkeye:Hawkeye: Right. She gets rich taking her baby around to hospitals getting him circumcised.
- Literary Allusion Title: To the book/play/film of the same name.
- Manly Tears: Henry tries to stop himself from crying over his wife's possible infidelity. He fails miserably when he finds out Lorraine went on a date to the movies with an orthodontist.
- Mythology Gag: Trapper mentions a guy named Captain Forrest who's "been gone for two years". Could that be Duke Forrest?
- Oh, Crap!: Radar loses contact with the USS Essex where the rabbi is stationed, which brings a temporary standstill to the Bris ceremony - until Chim Sa delivers the final blessing herself, having picked up some Hebrew from her husband.
- One Scene, Two Monologues: Father Mulcahy and Henry are both talking to each other about their letters - Mulcahy's sister thinks she might want to leave the order to start a family, Henry's suspicious his wife is being unfaithful. There's no indication either one is paying attention to what exactly the other is saying.
- Riding into the Sunset: Hawkeye and Trapper do this on a white horse Hawkeye borrowed to practice for when they get their Shetland pony.
- Self-Deprecation: When Trapper asks Hawkeye what a United States president would be doing under a haystack, Hawk responds with "What am I doing in South Korea without a paddle?"
- Shout-Out: "Hello, Mr. Benny."
- Status Quo Is God: Despite Father Mulcahy's sister pondering leaving the order to have children of her own, later episodes have her remaining a nun.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: Father Mulcahy's first choice to help with the Bris ceremony is Captain Epstein, a rabbi with another outfit, though he's apparently a bit "meshugah" (crazy).
