Amid a heavy inflow of wounded, Charles resorts to taking amphetamines to keep up. Meanwhile, after being on the receiving end of teasing by some wounded Marines, Radar puts up his mouse Daisy against their Sluggo in a maze race.
Attention, all personnel! While under the influence of drugs, Major Winchester did commit the following tropes:
- Beware the Nice Ones: Radar is viewed by both the MASHers and the audience alike as a sweet, unassuming man who is kind to practically everyone. Yet, he was brave enough to set up a contest against the Marines (which not only boosted their morale but made the Marines respect him), and completely let Charles have it when he learns that the doctor drugged Daisy to help her win the race.
- Compressed Vice: Charles descends into addiction and recovers from it all within the space of the episode, and it's never mentioned again.
- Continuity Nod: Hawkeye mentions his own bouts of insomnia and how badly that ended.
- Did Not Think This Through: Radar challenges the Marines out of nowhere, claiming that his pet mouse can beat their racing mouse, getting Hawkeye so hyped up he puts money on the race. They share a mutual Oh, Crap! moment when Radar admits he's never raced Daisy before.
- Drugs Are Bad: The episode hammers home what can happen when you get hooked on pills.
- Graceful Loser: When Daisy ends up winning the maze race, the Marines are like this towards Radar, though when B.J. and Hawkeye realize Daisy won because Charles fed her amphetamines, they decide to make sure the money gets returned so the Marines don't kill them.
- Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Charles thinks he has this, being so alert that he writes a 27-page medical research paper. Subverted in that, as Hawkeye puts it, it's "one long sentence".
- Interservice Rivalry: Takes the form of the mouse race between the Marines and the Army.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Radar gives one of these speeches to Charles when he finds out Charles was feeding amphetamines to Daisy.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Hawkeye is squeamish around mice.
