History Recap / MashS5E7DearSigmund

* CruelToBeKind: Hawkeye meets a shot-down pilot with a cavalier approach to the war, having an off-base home with his wife in Japan and seeing the war as something that only lasts a few minutes a day. Hawkeye has him help bring a patient into the OR, where Col. Potter is operating on an eight year-old girl who was wounded when her village was bombed.

* AngerBornOfWorry: After an ambulance crashes just outside the compound, Colonel Potter furiously orders for O’Donnell, the driver responsible, to go to his office to be reprimanded after his speeding antics have put himself and the patients in danger again. Radar tells him it’s too late for that as O’Donnell died instantly in the crash. Potter turns away, fighting back tears.

After difficulties with a patient, Sidney seeks refuge at the 4077th, writing a letter to Sigmund Freud about how the camp is able to stay sane in the middle of carnage.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Hawkeye and B.J. come across Sidney’s letter to Sigmund and they get worried about his state of mind.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Margaret confides to Sidney her fiancee Donald had a celebration without her, and with another woman. This won't be the last time Margaret and Donald's relationship is shown to be less than it seems.

* ADiseaseByAnyOtherName: More references to Hawkeye being bipolar, with Sidney calling his personality "split: two for one" and "depression turned sideways is Hawkeye".

* OrphanedPunchline: When the episode is EditedForSyndication. While treating patients after an ambulance rolls over, Klinger speaks to Margaret in a foreign language. This is a CallBack to an earlier scene (typically cut out) in which Klinger pretends to have been hit by a chopper blade and only speaks in Arabic.

-->'''Mulcahy:''' Oh, I had the most extraordinary dream. I was a cardinal in Rome, and the pope had a bad cold.
-->'''Hawkeye:''' What do you suppose that means, Sidney? You're the skull jockey.
-->'''Sidney:''' Well, Freud said every dream is a wish.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Sidney is narrating about the unknown prankster, the camera cuts to Col. Potter becoming the victim of the classic "black eyes from binoculars" prank and Radar busting out laughing upon seeing the results.

* OrphanedPunchline: When the episode EditedForSyndication. While treating patients after an ambulance rolls over, Klinger speaks to Margaret in a foreign language. This is a CallBack to an earlier scene (typically cut out) in which Klinger pretends to have been hit by a chopper blade and only speaks in Arabic.

* OrphanedPunchline: When the episode is cut for syndication. While treating patients after an ambulance rolls over, Klinger speaks to Margaret in a foreign language. This is a CallBack to an earlier scene (typically cut out) in which Klinger pretends to have been hit by a chopper blade and only speaks in Arabic.

** Sidney himself when he joins in on the prank to get Frank to dive into a foxhole full of water by shouting "Air raid!"

* AllPsychiatryIsFreudian: A given considering who Sidney's writing to. Also mentioned in-episode:

After one of his patients commits suicide, Sidney seeks refuge at the 4077th, writing a letter to Sigmund Freud about how the camp is able to stay sane in the middle of carnage.

!!Attention, all hands! Dr. Freedman has noted the following tropes in his letter. Given who he's writing it to, though, they'll all tie back to sex in some way:

* HeroicBSOD: The 4077 staff note that Sidney must be in the middle of one of these when they point out he came for the Poker game and stayed for two weeks.