Recap / M*A*S*H S2 E6: Kim

An apparently parentless little Korean boy is brought into the O.R. as a wounded civilian. After patching him up, the MASHers all take a shine to him, Trapper most of all. When searches for the boy's family fail, which means he will be shipped off to the orphanage, Trapper endeavours to adopt the boy as his own son.

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Attention, all personnel! The following tropes are filed next to the maps of the minefield:

• Achievements in Ignorance: Trapper makes it all the way into the minefield using an army surplus map of a minefield in Berlin.
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: Henry believes this is the case when Hawkeye and Trapper volunteer to take care of the kid themselves.
  Henry: Boy, that is rich. You guys are barely housebroken yourselves.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Trapper exclaims that there is no way all of a kid's family could go missing. Radar chooses to remind him about something.
  Radar: What, in a war?
• Big Damn Heroes: Kim is still out in the centre of the minefield. Thanks to Henry's shoddy directions, Trapper can't make another move towards the kid without stepping on a mine himself. Then O'Brien comes to the rescue in his chopper.
• Big Eater: The Running Gag of Hawkeye and Trapper lampshading how much food Radar piles onto his plate makes a return.
  Hawkeye: How many in your party?
  Trapper: That's a pregnancy craving if I ever saw one.
  Hawkeye: Tell us, Radar. Which girl was it?
• Bilingual Bonus: "Kutchio nuguo" means "Stop and stay" in Korean.
• Bittersweet Ending: Trapper is all set to take Kim back home to the States, but Sister Theresa arrives with the boy's missing mother who is overjoyed at finding her son alive. Trapper sadly knows he has to let Kim go.
• Chekhov's Skill: Margaret starts to learn the Korean language in order to tell Kim bedtime stories. It becomes very helpful in the climax.
• Comically Missing the Point: Subverted. Henry knew exactly what he was doing that Hawkeye and Trapper find unbelievable; he's just pretending they're talking about something else.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Frank Burns accidentally drops a fragment he's trying to remove from a patient. Hawkeye and Trapper hit him with a response.
    Trapper: Try a magnet, Frank.
    Hawkeye: Or find a patient with bigger fragments.
  • Hawkeye and Trapper come across a sleeping Henry in the mess tent
    Hawkeye: Our fearless leader.
    Trapper: Asleep or comatose from the food?
    Hawkeye: Exhausted. 30 hours in O.R.
  • Hawkeye jokes to a passing Klinger in the mess tent by asking for the check.
    Klinger: Sorry. It's not my table.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Not exactly evil in Margaret's case, but she and Frank take issue with Hawkeye reading an adult romance novel (for the time) to an under-10s kid.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: It's not until Henry says it that anyone realises that what is supposedly the map of the minefield he's giving directions to Trapper from is actually a map of Berlin. The Oh, Crap! comes when Radar gives Hawkeye the correct map.
  Hawkeye: Trapper?
  Trapper: Yeah.
  Hawkeye:Don't make a move. Six inches in any direction and you'll get home sooner than any of us.
• Heel–Face Turn: Henry was all for sending Kim to an orphanage. Later on, after getting attached to the little boy, he does what he can to keep him at the unit.
• Mama Bear: Margaret becomes this when she sees Hawkeye and Trapper potentially being bad influences on Kim.
• Manchild: Frank Burns, when Margaret would rather spend time with Kim.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Hawkeye and a nurse he has a date with at the Swamp thought that Trapper was asleep through the whole thing. He wasn't.
  • When Kim wanders off from a picnic unseen, Frank is the first to locate him about as happy as can be . . . sitting in the middle of a nearby minefield.
    • The situation instantly changes into a Mass "Oh, Crap!" when Margaret screams in terror and Hawkeye and Trapper jump into action.
  • Henry and Radar are mystified as to why Hawkeye has suddenly barged into the office, looking for maps. Then he tells them Kim is out in the minefield.
    Henry: Holy cow!
    Radar: Minefield!
• Sequel Episode: Takes place right after "Dr Pierce and Dr Hyde", where Hawkeye had his breakdown and Trapper tried to reassure him, mostly through repression. Here, Trapper tries to be open, finally feeling like there's a reason for him to be in Korea. He closes down when he gets his heart broken.
• Ship Tease: Towards the end of Kim and Trapper's rescue, Margaret can be seen gripping Hawkeye's arm for reassurance.
• Shout-Out: Hawkeye tells Kim that Frank is the Bad Fairy and Margaret's the Wicked Witch.
  • When refuting Hawkeye's claim that he is a villain, Henry refers to the stereotype subgenre of silent film baddies.
    Henry: I am not a villain. I do not tie girls to buzz saws and I don't throw banana peels in front of the old folks' home.
• Silent Credits: Because of how sombre the last couple of scenes are, when the episode cuts to the closing credits, the theme music is held off from starting for about five seconds.
• Speak in Unison: In post-op, Henry asks what Hawkeye and Trapper are arguing about with Frank and Margaret this time. Both sides answer.
• Squee: Trapper heartwarmingly responds in this way when he gets a letter from his wife positively answering that they can adopt Kim.
• The Stool Pigeon: Radar informs Hawkeye and Trapper that Henry is trying to palm off the kid to the orphanage. It was the right thing to do in the circumstances, except Henry doesn't see it that way.
  Henry: Radar, I thought you were working for me.
• Take a Third Option: Kim cannot stay at the 4077 forever and Trapper and Hawkeye don't want him sent off to the orphanage. So Trapper decides to officially adopt the little boy.
  • During the minefield scene, Trapper can't move (as he's surrounded by mines) and no one else can come out to him due to the danger. Instead, a helicopter is sent in to lift them both to safety.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Trapper is repulsed when he comes looking for Kim while the kid is out on a picnic with Frank and Margaret and he finds the two majors making out.
• Would Hurt a Child: Played straight. The title character comes in as one of the wounded.
  • Subverted with Frank. For all his griping about Kim being in camp, he is horrified to see that the child has wandered into the minefield and does his best to help with the rescue.