46. George

February 16, 1974 (K-422)

Written by: John Regier and Gary Markowitz
Directed by: Gene Reynolds
Guest Stars: Richard Ely as Pvt George Weston, George Simmons as Simmons.
Semi-regulars: William Christopher as Father Mulcahy, Patricia Stevens as Nurse Stevens, Bobbie Mitchell as Nurse Mitchell.

Plot: A whole bunch of wounded arrive, and one brave soldier - Private Weston - has more than his share of combat injuries. He bears bruises that are the result of his fellow soldiers beating him for being a homosexual. Despite admiring him at first, when Burns learns this about him, he wants to write a letter to get him thrown out of the Army. He'll even go over Henry's head to do it. Weston just wants to get back to his unit as soon as possible. Hawkeye and Trapper want Weston to stay in, if that's what he wants. The boys get Burns to admit that he once cheated in medical school, and compare this to the incident in Weston's past that defines him as gay. Burns, beaten and blackmailed, reluctantly tears up the letter.

Glitches: This is less a glitch than it is a strangeness. The episode is called 'George'. The character Richard Ely plays is billed as 'George'. But in the episode, Pvt Weston's given name is never revealed.
Geez, Hawk, if you don't want Radar to watch your flirting, don't do it right outside his office!
While he's shaving out of his helmet, Burns has a lot more shaving cream on his face and towel in the longer shots than in the close-ups.
I'm not sure I understand Hawkeye and Trapper's subterfuge, pretending to argue for Burns. When it comes to stuff they did in the past, Trapper admits (ie, lies) that he bought answers for a medical exam, prompting Burns to recount when he did the same thing. Then Trapper says he's lying and the trick apparently works because they now know stuff about Burns that they can hold over him. But did they already know he'd cheated way back when? It seems a little rash to admit to cheating on a medical exam and hope that Burns once did as well. Even the hint about having suspect behaviour in the past doesn't hold up - he might just as readily admitted something stupid yet undamaging. But if they did know, why go to that elaborate plan to get it out of him? Why not just hold it over him right away? And if they knew, who told them? Burns obviously didn't. It wouldn't be on any file or anything, either, because then it would already have been reported.

BIMOL: Did Hot Lips hurt her throat? She turns up an awful lot and notably hardly says anything.

Great Lines: Hawkeye: 'Henry, if you keep being humane, you'll take all the fun out of the war.'
Weston dimisses praise for his 'bravery': 'It's no trick getting hurt in a war.'
Burns: 'I wish up were up there to help all you wonderful guys fight the pink stain.' Weston, confused: 'Sir?' Hot Lips: 'The Major means communism.' Burns: 'It makes me see red.'
Weston: 'Well, Doc, two guys have got beat up in my outfit. One colored...and one homosexual.' Hawkeye, to the completely white Weston: 'So you're a negro.'
Hawkeye: 'You're a surgeon.' Burns: 'I'm also an American!' Trapper: 'All right, you're an American surgeon.' Hawkeye: 'Go operate on the flag.'
Burns: 'That's what I heard from some very reliable gossip.'
Hawkeye: 'You guys are a pain! You go together like salt and peter.'

Continuity is for Wimps: Now the nurses are all billed as having the same surnames as their actors. Just...don't...understand... (This episode, George Simmons played Simmons, too. Someone was a bit lazy at 20th-Century Fox this week.)

Notes: Hawkeye is quoting when he says, 'On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.' He's quoting Mark Twain from just before he died.

Comments: Once again, I'm forced to agree with Frank Burns. Trapper singing that way in the OR really would have been annoying if you were trying to fix soldiers in the same room. In that same scene, though, a rare moment of true medical co-operation from Hawkeye and Burns.
Ah, gays in the military, forty years before 'Don't ask, don't tell'. Burns's homophobia that he whipped out in 43. The Chosen People, gets a full airing here. Hinting at it earlier, in fact, worked in that it meant this week it wasn't quite a case of 'Oh, of course Frank hates gay people because Frank's always the bad guy'. Trapper, Hawkeye and Henry are doing the right thing - none of them care whether Weston is gay or anything else. Hawkeye, quite rightly, is just confused that the guy wants to go back to combat! Things get a bit confused (especially towards the end) as the episode struggles between Weston being gay or just having had a single boy-on-boy incident in the past (and which of them means what). But then, it's often a hard call to make, and it's not like he's getting much interpersonal action anyway, out there getting shot and beaten all the time. A stand-up good-cause episode, made that much better when you realize it went out in 1974, long before Will ever met Grace.
So, what's with Hot Lips? She doesn't seem to comment on Weston at all other than 'that nice boy'. No doubt she just doesn't like to think about it either way, or was just hoping she'd never have to form an opinion. That makes sense, enough people (sadly) are like that in the twenty-first century, there's going to be plenty of it in the middle of the twentieth.
Ah, and who can resist Father Mulcahy in a football helmet?

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