The camp is inundated with both rain and casualties as a massive push produces busloads of wounded. Partway through the episode, the Chinese Army joins the fight and breaks through the front lines, potentially forcing the evacuation of the nurses. The story is interspersed with clips of vintage Fox Movietone newsreel footage.
Attention all personnel! Incoming tropes:
- Armchair Military: Frank is eager for China to join the war so the U.S. can "obliterate them all". Lampshaded by Col. Potter:Potter: Be sure not to sew up any contaminated wounds.Frank: Is the colonel suggesting my work is careless?Potter: Not at all. I just know how hard it is to operate and be Secretary of State at the same time.
- Artistic License – History: The Movietone News clip showing President Harry Truman giving a commencement address in Wyoming starts with an establishing title card about him going on a 16-state whistle-stop tour. However, Truman's whistle-stop tour took place during the 1948 election campaign, two years before the Korean War started.
- Audience Surrogate: Klinger serves as this when he watches Hawkeye and B.J. remove white phosphorous fragments from a soldier's leg injury, the pair explaining the procedure as they go.
- The Blind Leading the Blind: Invoked by Frank when he sees Radar and Klinger attempting to put out the laundry-bin fire.Frank: The blind leading the blind.B.J.: Nice thought for a hospital, Frank.
- Blind Without 'Em: After breaking his glasses, the words 'jeep batteries' reads as 'jeep butter' to Radar.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As incompetent as Frank is usually shown to be, he's the first to rush over to B.J.'s table to assist when an overhead lightbulb pops after getting wet from the leaking OR roof and drops broken glass into the patient.
- Chekhov's Gun: The sergeant's cigarette.
- Continuity Drift: One of the most notable examples in the series. The beginning of the season was set in September 1952, but this episode refers to both the Chinese spring offensive and the recall of General MacArthur in April 1951.
- Deadpan Snarker: Hawkeye's response to the P.A. announcement that entry of the Chinese Army means "an entirely new war":Hawkeye: That's for those of you who were tired of the old one.
- Foreshadowing:
- In a meta example, one of the Movietone News clips shows the French Army in combat with Communists in Vietnam... a prelude to another U.S. war that ended less than a year before this episode aired.
- In-universe, we actually see the sergeant dangle his cigarette over one of the laundry hampers shortly before it catches fire.
- From Bad to Worse: A massive influx of wounded, a torrential rainstorm, the announcement that the Chinese have entered the war, the staff running out of surgical gloves, a fire in the pre-op ward, landmines exploding right outside the OR...
- Insane Troll Logic:Frank: I, for one, am glad the Chinese have finally gotten into the show. We'll obliterate them all!B.J.: All six hundred million, Frank?Frank: Well, most of 'em don't want to be Reds anyway.B.J.: Then why kill 'em?Frank: Well, they can't have it both ways.
- Ironic Juxtaposition: The difficulties faced by the 4077 are contrasted with the newsreel footage, most of which depicts lighthearted activities back in the States.
- Oh, Crap!: The expressions on the main characters when the announcement about China joining the war on the Communist side say it all.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Hawkeye, whose disdain for military protocol is legendary, pulling rank on the sergeant refusing to put out his cigarette shows just how dumb it is to smoke in an operating room.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Frank is uncharacteristically subdued upon seeing the laundry bin on fire, reacting with almost amused disinterest instead of his usual histrionics.
- Releasing from the Promise: A soldier recovering in post-op confesses to Father Mulcahy that, after being wounded in the field and feeling certain that he was going to die, he'd "made a promise to God":Soldier: I said, "Dear God, you get me out of this, and I'll become a priest."Mulcahy: And He got you out of it.Soldier: And I don't wanna be a priest. You think He'll understand?Mulcahy: (chuckling) If everyone who promised to take the vow in a moment of stress made good, there'd be so many of us around it'd look like the priesthood had had a population explosion. (Beat) ...Er, let me put that another way: He'll understand.
- Retirony: Father Mulcahy finds a deceased soldier who was gong on leave to Tokyo the next day.
- Rule of Symbolism: Footage of the latest round of triage is interspersed with newsreel footage of a ballroom dancing competition. Also the episode title itself, which could refer to either the rain or the wounded.
- Shout-Out:
- While taking a break in the kitchen with Hawkeye and Father Mulcahy, B.J. quotes the opening couplet of Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton's 19th-century poem Bingen on the Rhine: "A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers / There was lack of women's nursing, there was dearth of women's tears."Hawkeye: You know a lot of poetry.B.J.: I went to school on a scholarship from Burma-Shave.
- Hawkeye spends the same kitchen scene constructing an elaborate sandwich which B.J. finally moves to bisect with a cleaver:B.J.: Look out, Dagwood.note
- When asked by the sergeant where the hospital is, Klinger sarcastically replies that it's "two doors down, in the beautiful white building with the statue of Lionel Barrymore in front". This references the 1940s Dr. Kildare films, in which Barrymore played Dr. Gillespie.
- Hawkeye puts his own spin on the song "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life", working the South Korean president's name into the lyrics:Hawkeye: "Ah, sweet Syngman Rhee of life, at last I found you!"
- While taking a break in the kitchen with Hawkeye and Father Mulcahy, B.J. quotes the opening couplet of Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton's 19th-century poem Bingen on the Rhine: "A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers / There was lack of women's nursing, there was dearth of women's tears."
- That's an Order!: A visiting sergeant takes issue with Hawkeye's order to put his cigarette out in the ether-filled pre-op.Sergeant: Hey, I'm a sergeant, fella!Hawkeye: And I'm a captain, fella! Which means if we blow up I'll fly higher than you. So put it out!
- Too Dumb to Live: The visiting sergeant refuses to put his cigarette out when Hawkeye warns him there's explosive ether in the room, attempting to pull rank.
- Wham Line: As the doctors and nurses are busy dealing with a rush of wounded, the P.A. suddenly announces China's entry into the war:P.A.: Attention, all personnel. According to Supreme Headquarters, the Army of the People's Republic of China has hit and ruptured the entire United Nations line. The Chinese have attacked with 33 divisions. That's, uh, 300,000 men, folks. According to Headquarters, we now face an entirely new war.
