Charles returns from a medical seminar in Tokyo with a massive hangover and next to no memory of what happened – even after a surprise visitor arrives. He arrives back to a camp facing the first wave of a familiar disease – but the Army's policy for treatment could be as lethal as the disease itself.
Attention, all personnel! Major Winchester has no memory of the following tropes:
- Accidental Marriage: Charles worries that he and Donna had this while he was sloshed in Tokyo, but it turns out their ceremony was officiated by the hotel bartender; all of them being shitfaced also invalidated the legal requirement of being of sound mind when signing.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy:
- Naturally, Charles getting so blasted that he gets permanently banned from a hotel and also apparently got married.
- Back in his college days, Charles went skinny-dipping in the Charles River in the middle of the night, on the drunken assumption that having shared names, it must naturally belong to him.
- Call-Back: Korean hemorrhagic fever makes a return appearance after Season 4's "Soldier of the Month".
- Embarrassing Nickname: Never call Charles "Chuck".
- Morton's Fork: Turns out the Army actually listened to Hawkeye and B.J.'s realization that giving sufferers fluids will cause internal drowning, but in typical Army style, changed their policy to no fluids, which can be just as lethal, by denying the patient badly needed electrolytes.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Hawkeye comes up with a possible middle ground treatment, but it involves going against Army regulations, which could put them in a bind if he dies (even if it's from the illness itself rather than the treatment).Potter: Let's run this by one more time. If we try this idea and it fails, that boy could die and we'd be criminally liable. On the other hand, if we don't do anything, we know he's gonna die. And we've got two other boys in there who are gonna be in the same shape any time now. (beat) I say we have no choice. Go ahead.
- Something Only They Would Say: Charles realizes that Donna isn't having a case of mistaken identity when she says that the pickup line he used on her was "Come with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove."
- Take a Third Option: Hawkeye discovers that the typical treatment for electrolyte loss from Korean hemorrhagic fever has been increasing the concentration of the saline given to patients. Rather than do that or follow the Army's instructions to do nothing, he suggests using a lower-concentration solution that matches the normal blood concentration of electrolytes (also known as isotonic saline or normal saline). It works.
- Truth in Television: Hawkeye's brainstorm on how to treat the fever patients displays the value of metanalysis, essentially researching how others conduct scientific research (meta-analysis). The journal article he read pointed out that all prior attempts at developing a hydration treatment for hemorrhagic fever focused on increasing the saline concentration (Hawkeye incredulously notes the higher-salinity formulas contain more salt than he puts on his popcorn), with low concentration an unexplored area. This provides the needed inspiration.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: The premise of the episode; Charles returns from Tokyo with a horrific hangover and no memory of the night before, only to receive a surprise visit from a woman he doesn't remember claiming to be "Mrs. Chuck Winchester."
