"M*A*S*H" Change of Command (1975)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Gene Reynolds

Writers:

James Fritzell (writer)
Everett Greenbaum (writer)

TV Series:

"M*A*S*H" (1972)

Original Air Date:

19 September 1975 (Season 4, Episode 2)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Plot:

Col. Sherman T. Potter assumes command of the 4077th.

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Colonel | Doctor | Korean War | Captain

Cast

Alan Alda	...	Capt. Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce
Mike Farrell	...	Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt
Harry Morgan	...	Col. Sherman T. Potter
Loretta Swit	...	Maj. Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan
Larry Linville	...	Maj. Frank Marion 'Ferret Face' Burns
Gary Burghoff	...	Cpl. Walter Eugene 'Radar' O'Reilly
Jamie Farr	...	Cpl. Maxwell 'Max' Q. Klinger
William Christopher	...	Lt. Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Trivia:

Per the title, a change in command is handing over the official duties of the ranking officer from one commander to another.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Col. Potter arrived at MASH he said he was fifteen (lied about his age to enlist in WWI) in 1917, which would make him born around 1902. He told Dr. Freedman that he was 62 in one scene set in or around 1951, hence born in 1889.

Quotes:

Col. Potter: [first day in camp; reviewing officer files] Major Margaret Houlihan.
Margaret: Sir!
Col. Potter: Ten years, spotless record.
Margaret: Thank you, sir!
Col. Potter: Major Frank Burns.
Margaret: Just friends, sir.

Part 2 of Welcome to Korea

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

So when Part 1 ended last week the trio was stuck in Kimpo with no wheels so now the finish to Welcome to Korea Part 2. So with no transport to get them back to the 4077th Hawkeye decides it's time to visit the officers club, with just one setback: Radar wasn't an officer, being a mere corporal. So Hawkeye borrows some of BJ's captain's bars and gives him a field promotion to Corporal-Captain! When they emerge, they find a jeep belonging to Major-General Cornell Dickering was waiting; it didn't matter that it wasn't theirs, to Hawkeye a jeep was a jeep, so they commandeer it to get back to the 4077th. On the way back, they encounter a farming family using their daughters to check for land mines to protect their cows. A land mine explodes, injuring one daughter, and Radar braves the field to pick her up and bring her to their jeep. Having taken her to the hospital, they continue on their way to the 4077th and blow a tire. A group of locals walks by, and then suddenly disappears. Hawk, BJ and Radar barely change the tire and evacuate as a barrage of gunfire erupts. Presumably out of danger, they meet up with a group of G.I's, only to have shells rain immediately down upon them, and B.J. gets his first taste of war when they have to treat the wounded soldiers. As BJ tries to help the injured men, the physical gruesomeness of one dead soldier makes him physically sick. After a detour to Rosie's bar, they become so rip roaring drunk that only Radar is able to drive them back to the 4077th. Back at camp, B.J falls out of the jeep, landing at Frank's feet with a drunken "What say ya, Ferret Face?" indicating that he, like Hawk and his predecessor, Trapper John, won't fulfill Maj. Burns and Houlihan's wishes. Furthermore, Frank gets picked up by the M.P.s for stealing the General's jeep when he shows lousy timing in using it. As the show ends the read of the cast members who are station at 4077 and conclude with the introduction of Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman Potter.