106. Hawkeye Get Your Gun

November 30, 1976 (U-813)

Written by: Jay Folb; story by Gene Reynolds and Jay Folb.
Directed by: William Jurgensen
Guest Stars: Mako, as Major Choi. Richard Doyle, as MP. Thomas Botosan, as Sergeant. Carmine Scelza, as GI. Jae Woo Lee, as Korean Guard.
Semi-regulars: Jeff Maxwell as Igor. Phyllis Katz, as Nurse Able

Plot: There is a mess of casualties at the 4077th. Burns is trying to mollycoddle Potter by calling him old. Klinger tries to pretend to have been elected king of the gypsies (can you get elected king?) to get out of the army. A Korean aid station is in need of a pair of surgeons, and Hawkeye and Potter have to go and help out. Potter makes Hawkeye carry a gun to the aid station, against his will. They head into enemy territory amidst shelling to the hospital. After a gruelling day of surgery, the pair head back. On the way, they get rather drunk and then come under fire, whereupon their jeep is destroyed. Potter orders Hawkeye to fire his gun, which he does with a marked lack of enthusiasm, and a similar lack of aim. After being rescued by a company of GIs, the pair sway drunkenly off into the brush and make it back to the camp.

AWOL: Radar is apparently on R&R. Father Mulcahy is absent too.

BIMOL: BJ is rather underused this episode.

Great Lines: Potter: 'Fire that weapon!' Hawkeye: 'Very well. You're fired.'

The Klinger Collection: A lovely red tartan skirt with matching red sweater and a green scarf. He then dresses up as Zoltan, king of the gypsies, which is a tasteful number involving olive satin pants, a yellow satin shirt and matching cap, an embroidered black vest, and a red satin cummerbund.

Continuity is for Wimps: And it is!

They All Look the Same to Me: Another one for Mako. Extraordinarily enough, Jae Woo Lee hasn't appeared before, and never appears again.

Je ne parle Korean...do I? Hawkeye knows how to say 'goodbye', but not 'scissors'.

Comments: Rather than being a 'horrors of war' episode, this one is actually incredibly funny. Klinger's gypsy act is a nice way to break up the story, and Burns is proving that he really is a twerp. It's interesting to note that the Korean guard is much more formal about his duties than the US MPs.

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