Charles has hired a new houseboy, Kwang, unaware that he is actually a North Korean spy. Meanwhile, several wounded soldiers all seem to be suffering from the same rash. Hawkeye wins a jeep in a poker game but gets a howitzer instead.
Attention, Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung! The degenerate American imperialists exhibit the following tropes:
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Kwang ultimately concludes that the camp's methods are so unorthodox that duplication would be impossible.
- Chummy Commies: Despite being a North Korean agent, Kwang comes up with an effective folk cure for the rash. You'd think he'd want to keep enemy soldiers out of action.
- Dramatic Irony: At the end, Potter says of Kwang, "we're lucky to have him on our side."
- Everyone Has Standards: Although Charles hires Kwang as a servant, he does not treat him like a slave (only noting that he pays his a little less because Kwang eats for free in the mess tent) and prevents Cimoli from having Kwang do any tasks on his behalf.
- Despite being a North Korean spy, Kwang volunteers a cure for the rash rather than let the soldier suffer even if they are his enemy.
- Mundane Luxury: The poor quality of the mess tent's food is repeatedly commented on, but Kwang only notes its abundance.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Kwang says that he is "playing a grinning lackey to a capitalist fool." At the end, the cast notices that his English seems to improve when he gets drunk but (being drunk themselves) apparently think little of it.
- Pity the Kidnapper: Defied. Kwang refuses to abduct Charles for questioning because he is "one big jerk."
- Screw the War, We're Partying:
- The army dermatologist they consult for the rash seems to spend more time golfing and dancing than treating patients.
- Also Kwang's opinion of the camp's off-hours antics, which he describes as decadent.
- In the end, Kwang proves to be Not So Above It All, joining the doctors for a "top-secret policy meeting"...in the Officers' Club.
- Shout-Out:
- In the opening scene, Charles is lipsyncing to "E Strano!" from La Traviata.
- During the poker game, B.J. calls Hawkeye "Gaylord".
- When Charles first sees the howitzer Hawkeye asks him, "You got any rice you want puffed?". This is a reference to the 1940s commercials for Quaker Puffed Rice cereal, which was billed as "the delicious cereals shot from guns".
- Hawkeye states that the smell of Kwang's rash treatment would offend B.O. Plenty, a character in Dick Tracy.
- Voiceover Letter: Kwang's letter to his superiors is conveyed in this manner. It's only through this voiceover that we, the audience, learn that he's a spy, as the other characters never find out. Without the voiceover, even the audience would likely never figure out that Kwang is a spy.
