Margaret leaves the camp to help a Korean woman deliver a baby. Unfortunately, the only person she tells is Klinger, who goes to sleep without informing anyone else. Next morning, the rest of the camp is in a panic over Margaret's seeming disappearance. Colonel Flagg drops by and adds to the confusion.
Attention, all personnel! The following tropes have been recovered during the search for Major Houlihan:
- Deadpan Snarker: Colonel Potter after B.J. is injured.Frank: Sir, I think the Chinese have captured Major Houlihan.
Col. Potter: I see. So, naturally, you shot Captain Hunnicutt. - Department of Redundancy Department: Radar is intimidated by the prospect of having to search for Margaret in the women's showers:Radar: There might be naked female personnel showering in there with their clothes off!
- Foreshadowing: After Frank shoots B.J., Hawkeye and Potter discuss Frank's Sanity Slippage that will have him gone by the end of the season.
- Insane Troll Logic: As always with Col. Flagg. Parodied by Hawkeye and B.J. when Flagg accuses Frank of being responsible for Margaret's disappearance:Flagg: You were insanely jealous of her engagement. You were furious at being rejected. You were capable of murder!Hawkeye: That's right! So you hit her over the head with a blunt instrument.B.J.: A saxophone.Hawkeye: Then you hypnotized her and told her she was Johnny Ray.B.J.: Then you performed plastic surgery on her, made her look like Johnny.Hawkeye: The rest is obvious. You stuck her in a trunk, you mailed her to Las Vegas, and now she's doing two shows a night at The Sands.B.J.: Three on Saturdays.Flagg: There's only one flaw in that theory.Hawkeye: Only one?Flagg: They don't do three shows a night on Saturday at The Sands.Hawkeye: How do you know?Flagg: I was a showgirl for six weeks
- Earlier in the episode, Flagg walks in dressed in an Italian uniform with dark glasses and a fake mustache. Radar sees through the disguise immediately.
Flagg: Alright, what tipped you off?Radar: Well you don't look anything like you sir. And since you're a master of disguise I figured you were the only one who could look so much not like you, sir.Flagg: I'll buy that. For now.- The above example also counts for Flagg; he's wearing it to impersonate a Chinese double agent. When Potter points out that he doesn't look Chinese, Flagg counters that the double agent wouldn't look Chinese either if dressed like that.
- Insult Backfire: Hawkeye is horrified at the extreme measures Col. Flagg is proposing to find Margaret:Hawkeye: Why stop there? Why not just drop an atomic bomb?
Col. Flagg [smiling]: Hey... don't try and make friends with me. - Juggling Loaded Guns: Frank Burns once again provides a clear-cut example of how not to safely handle a gun. He ends up shooting B.J. in the leg.
- Noodle Implements: Flagg wants Radar to get a box of about a dozen scorpions - and if he can't find those, to get two snakes and a rat.
- And why does he want them? "It's personal. Gift for a friend."
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Both Radar and Col. Potter immediately see through Col. Flagg's disguise.
- Poor Communication Kills: Margaret tells only Klinger that she's leaving the camp to help deliver a baby. He soon finishes his guard duty shift and falls asleep without telling anyone else. When asked if he knows where Margaret is, he drowsily responds with, "She's having a baby."
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: B.J.'s reaction when he hears the lengths Col. Flagg is going to in order to find Margaret:B.J.: I've been sitting here quietly for a long time, and there's something I'd like to say now, Colonel... goodbye.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: See Insane Troll Logic, since Flagg actually thinks that it's plausible but for that one bit of inaccuracy.
- Waking Non Sequitur: Radar gives up on waking up Klinger when the latter mumbles, "Honey, let's get back in the front seat! Here come the cops!"
