9. Henry, Please Come Home

November 19, 1972 (J-302)

Written by: Laurence Marks
Directed by: William Wiard
Guest Stars: Bill Svanoe as the Aide. Jean Pleet as Nurse. Noel Toy as Mama San. Kasuko Sakuro as Cho-Cho.
Semi-regulars: Bob Gooden as Pvt Boone. William Christopher as Father Mulcahy. G. Wood as General Hammond. Linda Meiklejohn as Nurse Leslie. Odessa Cleveland as Nurse Ginger. Patrick Adiarte as Ho John. Timothy Brown as Spearchucker. John Orchard as Ugly John.

Plot: Due to the great success rate (90%) of the 4077th, Henry is transferred to administrative duty in Tokyo. Hawkeye and Trapper severely hate Burns, who is now in charge, and orchestrate an elaborate plan whereby they go to Tokyo and get notified that Radar is very sick (he's faking) to get Henry to return. Upon examining Radar with his imaginary synptoms, he decides to operate and perform an exploratory. Radar isn't exactly thrilled with the prospect, and the thought of having Radar operated on for a non-existant illness prompts the boys to confess. When he hears how much they want him, Henry decides to stay anyway. Burns is very cranky, but can't do anything about it.

Glitches: Henry's watch seems to be rather out-of-period.
Some of the outdoor scenes are not only poor quality, but are blurred as well.
Henry pronounces sake as 'sakky'.
With this episode, Radar begins receiving his regular shipment of comics from the future. Here he reads Captain Savage, which won't come out until the late 1960s!

AWOL: No sign of Hot Lips.

Great Lines: Hawkeye, farewelling Henry: 'We're gonna miss you, chief. Your fighting spirit, your little moods.' Trapper: 'Your cheerful smile.' Hawkeye: 'Your loyalty.' Henry: 'Oh, fiddle-faddle.' Hawkeye: 'Your gift for language...'
It's not a line, but the boys' reaction to Burns hinting that he wants a salute is hysterical.
Burns: 'You're not going to bed till this office is 100% ship-shape!' Radar: 'Aye-aye sir.'
Spearchucker, about Henry: 'He was one of us!' Trapper: 'You'd insult a man behind his back?'

Continuity is for Wimps: Mulcahy isn't wearing his glasses. Probably doesn't want to faint from the sight of blood.
Admittedly, this is early in the series and the characters aren't so experienced yet, but later on we see that there's simply no way Hawkeye would begrudge a friend a transfer out of Korea. He certainly wouldn't trick them into coming back!
When Henry leaves later in the series, Burns is only in command for a short time before Colonel Potter turns up. I guess this episode was too early in the war for HQ to know how bad Burns is.

They All Look the Same to Me: Noel Toy and Kasuko Sakuro make their debuts here. I don't think either of them turn up again, though. Time will tell.

Notes: Henry receives a Special Citation of Merit (4th class) for the record the camp has set.
It appears reasonably sure from this episode that the crest Ugly John is wearing on the side of his hat is an Australian Army emblem. It's good I got that much sorted out, because it's impossible to tell where he's from by his accent. It sometimes sounds Australian, sometimes New Zealand, sometimes English and sometimes South African. Too confusing.
Radar is reading Captain Savage comics in the hospital. From the 1960s, but we won't hold that against him.

Comments: This is sweet - seeing Henry actually standing up to Burns is great. It's also nice to see a reference to Henry being the reason the 4077th has such a good efficiency rating, rather than Hawkeye being lord muck-muck all the time. A good light storyline with some great dialogue. A nice period shot of the Ginza in Tokyo, as well.

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