Hawkeye and B.J. arrange for a nurse confined to quarters to spend the night with her husband, a soldier visiting while on leave. In the process, they force Margaret to confront her relationship with her nurses.
Attention, all personnel! Major Houlihan has the following tropes to report regarding the nursing staff:
- Brick Joke: The nurses make fudge in their tent and are interrupted by Houlihan. The first time she goes straight into her "by the book" self. The second time, at the end of the episode, she relents when they offer her some.
- Character Development: By the end of the episode Margaret begins to see her nurses as friends rather than subordinates.
- Complexity Addiction: Despite the established presence of a VIP tent (which is presumably currently empty), Hawkeye and B.J. decide to quarantine Baker's husband in Margaret's tent, resulting in both Margaret and Potter becoming suspicious as to their motives and requiring Margaret to bunk with the nurses... which then forces the nurses to come up with a scheme that will allow Baker (who is supposed to be confined to her own quarters) to sneak out to be with her husband.
- Despair Event Horizon: In-Universe, one of the nurses feels she's crossed this and can no longer feel anything at all after declaring she's no longer affected by seeing people die. When she sheds tears of happiness upon seeing a baby born a few days later, she realizes she hasn't crossed it after all.
- The Golden Rule: Margaret and the nurses realize this. If they want better treatment from the other, they also need to give it.
- Heel–Face Turn: Margaret (largely) stops being an antagonistic character after this episode.
- The Neidermeyer: Margaret relies on discipline and antagonism to the point that it nearly fractures her relationship with the nurses. The only thing stopping her from going full Neidermeyer is the realization that spilling the beans about Hawkeye and B.J.'s scheme would lead to half the medical staff being arrested while the OR is standing room only.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Margaret to her nurses and vice-versa.
- Zany Scheme: Hawkeye and B.J. arranging for Lt. Baker's husband to be "quarantined" to allow him to spend a night with her.
