Set roughly two weeks after Radar's departure, and tensions are high for Klinger as he tries to settle in as Company Clerk. Potter is not being very supportive, and neither is I-Corps. Potter goes as far as to suggest Klinger admit the job is too much for him as "We can't all be Radar". Margaret is mad because Klinger didn't process a personnel requisition she wanted for new nurses, and Charles becomes annoyed when he discovers a letter of his Klinger dropped on the ground. Mulcahy, Hawkeye and B.J. are the only people in camp who are semi-supportive, and the latter two deal with this in their usual joking manner, as they joke "The Postman Always Sneers Twice" which doesn't help much.
Things get even worse when B.J. reads a letter from Peg detailing her meeting with Radar, during which Erin confused him with her 'Daddy' at first, which he initially seems to shrug off. During an OR session, Hawkeye, not realizing B.J. is in the middle of a B.S.O.D., mentions the letter. When he responds to the questions with "He saw my family for a few hours," this tips Hawkeye off that something is not right, but he still doesn't know what it is, and continues with the joking. B.J. continues to act unusually serious.
During dinner, Margaret snaps at Klinger for not filing her requisition and says he'll be appreciated at an empty table, while Charles calls him 'crude and unrefined,' and says the only thing he has done well is make him realize how lucky they were to have Radar. B.J. flips out and says he's sick of hearing the name. When Mulcahy reminds him of how much Radar meant to them, B.J. says that Radar's gone and everyone should move on, then storms out of the Mess Tent.
In Post-OP, Hawkeye is monitoring a soldier called Anderson when Charles comes to relieve him. As Hawkeye is leaving, Charles tells him that B.J. has been drinking. Hawkeye shrugs it off, having seen B.J. drink before, but Charles again warns him that something is not right. Still unbelieving, Hawkeye leaves Post-OP and heads back to the Swamp, where B.J. is drunk and continuing to pound gin from the still.
Hawkeye, trying to suss out what's upsetting B.J., points out that B.J. was completely stoic and serious in the OR, which sets him over the edge, saying some of their patients will go home just like Radar did. He then lets slip that Peg's letter is what has been bothering him. He says that he misses his family, and Hawkeye responds that everyone does; it's the same for all of them. B.J. says that it's not the same, that two years being away from your 60-something father is different than being away from your baby daughter, who was neither walking nor talking when B.J. left, but is now. Hawkeye says he knows how B.J. feels, but B.J. points out that he doesn't because he doesn't have a daughter.
This sets Hawkeye off, and he says that he has been stuck in Korea longer than B.J. has. He then says that drinking is not going to solve any problems; it's not going to send him home. B.J. then completely blows up. He throws his martini glass to the ground, then grabs a chair and shatters the Still, saying he's not going to waste any more time. When Hawkeye grabs him to try and make him stop, B.J. throws the chair on the ground and hits Hawkeye below the eye, knocking him back onto his cot. B.J. then storms out, leaving a stunned Hawkeye alone in the Swamp with the totaled still.
Potter and Margaret come into the Swamp and find Hawkeye, Charles, and the broken still, the former with a bruise under his eye. Hawkeye reveals that Peg's letter is what caused B.J. to flip out, and that he has no idea where he went. Potter reveals that Klinger has been missing since dinner. Charles and Margaret team up to look for Klinger and B.J., while Potter does the same and Hawkeye tends to Anderson, who is going into shock.
Margaret and Charles head to Rosie's, where she says that a VERY drunk B.J. and Klinger came by after the Officer's Club closed. The two had made a Dartboard of Hate with Radar's face, nearly hitting a couple Marines who were in the bar. When Rosie confiscated their darts, they started throwing pretzels and peanuts at Radar's face, causing her to kick them out. We cut to the two breaking into Potter's liquor cabinet, literally. B.J. tries to put the key into the lock and accidentally shatters the glass. The two are oblivious, and continue their drinking.
In the Mess Tent, Mulcahy tells Potter about a clerk they had back before he arrived; someone who was much worse than Klinger. He says the clerk drove everyone crazy with questions and mess-ups; some thought the enemy had sent him in, to sabotage them. Potter asks what happened, and Mulcahy tells him, that with a guiding hand from the previous C.O., Lt. Col. Henry Blake, the clerk eventually grew into the job, and Potter realizes he's talking about Radar. He then adds that, when Potter arrived, Radar was broken-in, so Potter never saw the chaos of the first few months. Mulcahy advises Potter that Klinger deserves the same consideration, when Margaret and Charles enter. They report that B.J. and Klinger are together, and Charles says a war with the Marines is likely to occur.
Margaret suggests calling in the MP's, so she and Potter head back to Klinger's office, where they heard the drunken laughter of Klinger and B.J. next door. They enter Potter's office, where Klinger is half-asleep in a chair and B.J. is sitting on Potter's saddle, a cowboy hat on his head. Potter informs them that they practically turned the unit upside-down looking for the two, and Klinger realizes he's in trouble. He and Potter go into his office, Margaret goes to find Hawkeye, and B.J. collapses onto the ground.
Potter starts off saying that, while Klinger is no Radar, Radar is also not Klinger. He then goes on to say that Henry Blake was well liked when he was the C.O., to which Klinger agrees. So when Potter first took over, after Henry's passing, no one was exactly thrilled with him, but that didn't mean Potter was better or worse than Henry, just different, and everyone eventually gave him a chance to get settled into the job. Potter then apologizes that he hasn't been doing the same for Klinger. He tells Klinger to just DO the job, and if he needs help making it HIS job, he could just ask Potter for help. With this, Potter declares that Radar's office is closed, and Klinger's is open. The two exchange a salute, and Klinger promptly passes out, just as Hawkeye, helmet in hand, walks in. Potter directs him to his office, and Hawkeye silently places his helmet on his head before entering.
B.J. is half asleep on the floor, Potter's hat covering his eyes and face. When he sees Hawkeye wearing his "soldier hat" he busts out laughing, saying that he is unarmed and practically unconscious. He then calms down and apologizes to Hawkeye for hitting him. Hawkeye forgives him and sits down next to him, telling him not to worry about it. B.J. sighs and says that it was "the first time my little girl ever called anybody Daddy... and it wasn't me," and promptly breaks down in tears. He can see Radar arriving in San Francisco, Peg smiling, giving Erin the present, getting the hug he should have gotten.
He says he should be happy Radar's home, but he's not. He's so jealous that Radar's home and he isn't that he almost hates him. He then adds that he feels the same way about Trapper even though the two never met, and that the man who built the (now-trashed) still with Hawkeye is home as well. Hawkeye tells him that one day he, and everyone else, will go home. B.J. says that he's been gone a lifetime... Erin's lifetime, and that even if he goes home tomorrow, he'll never get that time back, before again breaking down in tears, as Hawkeye wraps an arm around him to comfort him.
Some days later, Klinger has gathered all the parts that were needed to fix the still. He, Hawkeye and B.J. are just finishing up fixing it, and because of Klinger's abilities in gathering the parts, he gets the first belt, which, naturally, tastes like lighter fluid. B.J. tells Hawkeye he has mud in his eye, which Hawkeye says is better than knuckles any day.
Attention, all personnel! Be on the lookout for the missing Cpt. Hunnicutt and Cpl. Klinger, as well as the following tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Hawkeye enters the tent wearing a hard helmet (after BJ had laid him out with a punch), BJ howls in laughter.
- Continuity Nod: Radar, Henry, and Trapper are all mentioned in the course of the episode.
- Dartboard of Hate: During B.J. and Klinger's bender at Rosie's, they drew a crude caricature of Radar's face on a napkin, pinned it to the bar's dartboard and started playing "Vaccinate Radar". Margaret calls it sick when she hears about it.
- Drowning My Sorrows: BJ and Klinger go on quite the drunken rampage, to barkeeper Rosie's extreme displeasure.
- Friendship Moment: Hawkeye consoling B.J. during his distress.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Potter acknowledges how he more than anyone at the camp should've been more understanding of Klinger struggling to replace a beloved colleague.Potter: Folks around here were pretty fond of Henry Blake when he ran this fort, weren't they?
Klinger: Well, sure, the Colonel was a top notch kind of a guy!
Potter: I don't mind telling you my first few days in his shadow were a mite uneasy. No one was jumping for joy over me. I was no Henry Blake. Never tried to be. That didn't make me any better or worse, just different. The point is, the folks here gave me the time to get comfortable and make this job Sherman Potter's. I guess I forgot that when you took over for Radar. - Informed Ability: We learn from Father Mulcahy that Radar was every bit as incompetent a company clerk as Klinger when he first arrived, and that Colonel Blake helped him learn the ropes. From what we saw of Henry's style of command, he must have really relaxed after Radar came into his own.
- Literary Allusion Title: After the 1960 Tennessee Williams play of the same name.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Potter compares Klinger's situation of having to replace Radar to his own situation when he arrived, as he was brought in to replace the equally-beloved Henry Blake.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Mulcahy notes how Henry took the time to help Radar grow into the job (basically breaking him in). Klinger also remarks the late Colonel is still considered a great guy among the ranks for his disposition.
- Potter when talking to Klinger about the difficulty of replacing someone, how one deserves time to grow into a new job, and how he'll always be around to help out.
- The Resenter: B.J. can't be happy for Radar going home and being among family because it just makes him think how he's stuck in Korea away from his. He says he even hates Trapper for this reason, despite having never met him.
- Was Too Hard on Him: Potter realizes that he couldn't expect Klinger to automatically be as good at the new job as Radar was.
