28. For the Good of the Outfit

October 6, 1973 (K-404)

Written by: Jerry Mayer
Directed by: Jackie Cooper
Guest Stars: Frank Aletter as Major Stoner.
Semi-regulars: Herb Voland as General Clayton, Gwen Farrell as Nurse Butler, Odessa Cleveland as Nurse Ginger, Lesley Evans as Nurse Mason.

Plot: The boys work out that the latest stock of South Korean patients come from a village bombed by US artillery, and decide that the Army should own up to the act. The Inspector-General's Office sends Major Stoner to investigate. The boys give him medical profiles, X-rays and shell fragments from the patients, all indicating that they came from American artillery. Stoner thinks the verdict should be fairly simple and leaves. The next thing the boys hear, the Army prints a story in Star & Stripes saying it was enemy artillery that bombed the village, which prompts Hawkeye into further action - in this case, writing to his dad and asking him to have a word with a senator. He ends up having a shouting match with Henry when he finds out the letter never made it. Henry tells him the village is being rebuilt better than ever, but Hawkeye insists on admission of guilt. General Clayton comes and tells the boys not to rock the boat, besides he now has all the evidence, as they gave it to Stoner who has been reassigned to Honolulu. Just as he is smugly telling them that there's nothing they can prove so they may as well leave it alone before they suffer consequences, the overzealous Burns and Hot Lips burst in with way more evidence. The General knows he can't compete with this much evidence and capitulates.

Glitches: There is a jump of position when everyone's scrambling on the ground after Burns' shrapnel collection.
Hot Lips does her Grimlock impression when she barges into Radar's office: 'Where Colonel Blake?'
Will the soft ice-cream stand in Tai-Don really be the first in East Asia?
When Colonel Blake is washing golf balls, his office has a toy helicopter hanging from the ceiling, which is extremely cute. However it's gone by the time he and Hawkeye are yelling at each other. And then it's back when the General shows up!
The pronunciation of the name of the village seems to fluctuate between 'Kai-Don', 'Tai-Don', 'Tai-Dong' and 'Kai-Dong'.

Great Lines: When Burns demands quiet, Trapper asks, 'Will somebody please turn the war down for Frank?'
Hawkeye tries to get Henry to look at a map: 'You mind looking at Korea?' Henry: 'Every single morning.'
Radar, knowing about the Army's potential reaction to being told they screwed up, tells the boys, 'You're the first officers I saw who would stick by their principles no matter what... except for that colonel who reported the PX kickback.' Hawkeye: 'What colonel?' Radar: 'You know... Private Johnson?'
The PA: 'Attention all personnel. Due to circumstances beyond our control, lunch will be served today.'
Burns, commenting on the state of the Swamp: 'Pigpen! Brothel!' Hawkeye: 'Here, sir!' Trapper: 'Yo!'
Radar: 'There's someone important here to see you.' Henry: 'How do you know?' Radar: 'He has a briefcase.'
Stoner informs Henry that the form came from 'Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce,' at which point Radar has to surreptitiously remind Henry, 'Hawkeye.' Stoner: 'Captain John McIntyre.' Radar: 'Trapper...'
Henry: 'Pierce, don't start that threatening talk...I'm warning you!'
When Henry confines Hawkeye to camp, he denies that he's under arrest: 'You're restricted.' Hawkeye: 'That means I'm under arrest!' Henry: 'Not at all. You're only restricted up to the point where you're, uh...uh...where you're, um...you're under arrest.'
Henry: 'Oh, Pierce, I don't think you should say "manure" to the General.'

Continuity is for Wimps: When Hawkeye slams the clipboard onto the desk, it knocks Henry's Japanese doll. He says that he 'just got her'. Well, maybe at least two episodes does count as 'just got', we'll let you decide.

Notes: The 4077th is eight kilometres north of Tai-Don.
Henry still occasionally wakes up and wonders what his wife has done with the bedroom.
Radar is from Iowa.
For those of you who jumped up when you heard it, Hawkeye says that it 'takes a long time to fillet a patient' - to cut them up!
The boys refer to ether in Burns's aftershave, which may be a reference to Episode 14. Love Story in season one, where they drug him with his own cologne.
General Clayton's usual drink is sherry and ginger ale; el-YUCK!
The date on Hawk's dad's letter is May 24 1951.

Comments: This is an episode with a great plot, lots of fantastic dialogue, and, unlike later seasons' entries into telling us how unfair war can be, our heroes actually come out on top. The final sequence, as Burns and Hot Lips burst in, and Clayton realises he can't take on four officers worth of evidence, is beautiful. Nice to see them playing ball for a change. And it's an early indication of how the two majors' characters end up diverging - she's a straight up and down by the book army officer, whereas he's just a prat.
What we can also see here is that even though the series is set during the Korean War (in whichever order), for many at the time it was really about the Vietnam War. (Robert Altman certainly thought that about the film, anyway - but then, he thought a lot of things.) It's not a direct parallel, but the bombing of Tai-Don and the Army's subsequent legitimising/denial of it may have been inspired by events surrounding actions by US troops in Vietnam: most infamously, the My Lai incident of 1968, where many innocents and civilians were deliberately killed (although with different reasoning to this episode) by American soldiers. As such, another piece of sharp commentary by the program.

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