A rumor spreads through camp that an evacuation is imminent - just as Hawkeye has a spinal patient come in. Sure enough, the rumors are confirmed while the operation is underway, forcing Hawkeye, Margaret, and Radar to stay behind after the rest of the camp evacuates - and after the front moves behind them and leaves them in enemy territory.
The series' second hour-long episode, later syndicated as two half-hour episodes.
Attention all personnel! The following tropes must bug out immediately!
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Accidental Innuendo: When negotiating with the prostitutes for the schoolhouse, Potter misinterprets their interest in Klinger's dresses for an acceptance of B.J.'s offer of a case of Vienna sausage, commenting that they love sausages. - Bad to the Last Drop: Said almost word for word by Hawkeye to describe the camp's coffee, only swapping bad with vile.
- Bait-and-Switch: Potter decides to finally put his foot down about the rumors of the bug-out, and right as he's about to say it, Radar hands him a note that says they are bugging out.Col. Potter: At ease! You people... (The phone rings in the distance.)Radar: I'll get the phone. (Hurries away.)Col. Potter: Get the phone, Radar. (Radar leaves to go the main building.)You people have been panicking over a rumor which says... that the 4077th is bugging out. That is Grade-A, 100% Bull-Cookies! You service people should know by now that SCUTTLEBUTT is as common as cooties in your skivvies! (Becomes respectful.) My apologies to those among us of the feminine gland, and to our resident celibate, Father Mulcahy.Father Mulcahy: Thank you, sir.Col. Potter: My pleasure. (Resuming and recollecting.) Now, you take World War II: My unit got the word that Nazis, dressed as Eskimos, had overrun Seattle. Incredible as it seems, half my unit believed it, and began hoarding canned salmon. Now then, I have spoken personally to General Hamilton at Headquarters. I've known Bink Hamilton for going on 30 years. I am the godfather of his grandson, Sherman Potter Hamilton! Fifteen years old and can name 24 of the 48 states! Already has an appointment to West Point. The general has assured me, there is nothing to worry about. MASH 4077 is definitely... (gets handed a note by Radar) ...bugging out in three hours! (Beat.) BUG OUT!
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Hawkeye and B.J. watching the new latrine being dug.
- Brick Joke: The episode starts out with Hawkeye and B.J. watching a latrine being dug. Then during the evacuation, Frank stumbles, and falls into it. At the end of the episode, when the corpsmen have resumed digging:B.J.: They're goin' awful deep.Hawkeye: Well, they have to. It's polluted. Remember? Frank fell into it.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Embarrassing is debatable, but General Hamilton's nickname is "Binky", a fact known both to Col. Potter and the prostitutes at the brothel in the 4077th's new location.
- Enemy to All Living Things: The only pet Frank has ever had was a canary that never sang and bit him.
- False Reassurance: When told by Colonel Potter to tell the cook to get back to work, Radar is scared the cook will punch him in the arm. Colonel Potter advises him to wear his heavy sweater to lessen the impact.
- Finagle's Law: Hawkeye comes up with his own version: "If the worst can happen, it will. Pierce's theory of medicine."
- Foreshadowing:
- Margaret's question of "Why does the war have to be so noisy?" foreshadows her confession of fear of loud noises in "C*A*V*E".
- Klinger declares to Frank at one point that he will never give up his collection of dresses for anything.
- Friend to All Living Things: Radar refuses to leave his animals behind when the camp has to evacuate.
- Funny Background Event: While Potter is humming Valencia (while playing it with his armpit), Mulcahey pulls the chain on his shower... and breaks the switch, leaving him standing there dry and confused.
- Go Through Me: Klinger, when he realizes Frank will not allow him to take his dresses along with him.Klinger: I will never give up the Klinger Collection.
- Gossip Evolution: The rumor of a bug-out evolves from a practice evacuation to evacuation ahead of a massive enemy push. Atypical for this trope, the rumor gets more accurate as it evolves.
- Played straight with the before-episode rumour that the Rockettes were going to be touring Korea. Instead they got a soldier who played "Valencia" on his armpit.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Klinger agrees to trade his dresses to the prostitutes occupying the camp's new site in exchange for them agreeing to leave.Col. Potter: Corporal Klinger, that's the finest act of bravery I've ever witnessed.
- Hypocrite: Despite not allowing others to bring along non-military equipment, Frank brings his own personal crap.
- I Choose to Stay: Margaret and Radar stay behind with Hawkeye.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Margaret is afraid that this could happen to her if she's captured by the enemy. As much as he tries to not show it, making a lot of jokes, Hawkeye's terrified as well. Like he was in "Rainbow Bridge".
- Nothing Is Scarier: The constant shelling from the North Koreans? Scary. The shelling stopping? THAT IS when you should get worried, especially if there are ground troops approaching.
- The Oldest Profession: The new site of the 4077th is an abandoned schoolhouse... that just happens to be filled with prostitutes.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When Radar alerts Hawkeye and Margaret that the bug-out is for real as they are performing a laminectomy on a patient, they freeze, realising they cannot stop or halt the procedure in time to leave with the others.
- While organising the bug-out, Frank and Colonel Potter momentarily stop upon hearing shellfire in the distance and it's getting closer.Frank: Golly. The enemy really is coming.Colonel Potter: They ain't playing mah-jong. Get with it, Burns.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: B.J. and Potter explaining to Frank who the women in the building are:B.J.: The oldest profession.Frank: A bakery?Potter: Tarts!Frank: Tarts! Peach? Raspberry?B.J.: Frank, it's a brothel.
- Running Gag: This episode marks the second time Klinger's wardrobe was liquidated, the first being Season 3's "Aid Station".
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Klinger agrees to let the prostitutes have his dresses in exchange for the building housing their brothel...and the camp returns to its original site the very next day.
- Shoddy Knockoff Product:
- Klinger's cigars, "Cuban cigars made in Newark by Puerto Ricans". They smell so bad that at one point Potter mistakes their odor for the stench of the latrine.
- Anything Cho Man Chin is selling, from fake boar's tusks to watches that run backwards.
- Shout-Out: To "Home Thoughts From Abroad
", by Robert Browning.- As well as to the comic strip Gasoline Alley when Potter calls Frank "Skeezix".
- Status Quo Is God: Of course, they return to their usual campsite by the end of the episode. And while Klinger loses his dress collection, he has more in subsequent episodes anyway.
- Surgeons Can Do Autopsies If They Want: Lampshaded.Hawkeye: Can we get a neurosurgeon from the 8063rd?Potter: No chance.Hawkeye: He needs a laminectomy.Potter: You've just changed specialties.Hawkeye: You always give me the cuties.Potter: Well, I sure as hell ain't gonna give this one to Alice.note
- Take a Third Option: Frank refuses to let Klinger's dresses, Radar's menagerie, or Hawkeye and B.J.'s still be evacuated on army trucks. None of them agree to leave them behind. The solution? Have the local bicycle cab driver haul them behind the convoy.
- Theme Music Power-Up: As the MASHers rejoin Hawkeye, Margaret and Radar with the announcement the enemy’s been pushed back, they all head back into the hospital’s original site. A rousing musical theme begins to start with a slow and steady beginning as the first people reenter, continuing to rise as more come on in and the preparations to rebuild get underway. And when it reaches its height, you know just one thing. The 4077th is being restored.
- Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: A wounded, delirious soldier mistakes Frank for "Alice," presumably his sweetheart back home.Hawkeye: Oh, give him a break, Alice, you're the first woman he's seen in months.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After telling Klinger off for spreading rumours about a bug-out, to which Klinger responds with a smart retort, Frank begrudgingly commends him for it.Frank: Tittle-tattle will lose the battle.Klinger: A slip of the lip can sink a ship.Frank: [to Margaret] He's brighter than I thought.
- Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: As the front advances, it moves past Hawkeye, Margaret, and Radar, who have stayed behind to look after the spinal patient who can't be moved.
- Tree Cover: When they think the North Koreans are approaching, Hawkeye, Margaret, and Radar try to hide behind flagpoles and empty tent frames.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: While Potter searches for a new location, Frank oversees the bug-out and refuses to take any "non-military" equipment, namely Radar's animals, Klinger's dresses, or the Swamp's still. He also refuses to have them take the tent stakes — after Potter specifically said to take them because they would be needed later.
- Wham Line:Hawkeye: Where's the front?Captain Stevens: You're standing on it.
- You No Take Candle: Cho Man Chin talks this way. He gets Potter doing it.
