Recap / M*A*S*H S4 E1: Welcome to Korea

Introducing B.J. Hunnicutt.

Returning from R&R in Tokyo, Hawkeye is stunned to hear when he gets back that Trapper John has received his discharge and left camp without saying goodbye to or leaving a letter for him. Taking Radar with him, he rushes to Kimpo Airport to see Trapper one final time before it's too late. Meanhwile, the 4077th prepares for the arrival of a new surgeon: Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt.

The show's first hour-long episode, although it's shown in two parts in syndication.

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Attention, all personnel! Please give a big M*A*S*H welcome to the following tropes:

• Adrenaline Makeover: B.J. provides a male example. Fresh from the States, he arrives in Korea looking like he just might be the respectable officer Frank and Margaret are hoping for. Instead, B.J.'s dress uniform is gradually trashed as he goes through a series of adventures that bond him with Hawkeye.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Hawkeye and B.J. enter the camp in this state after their first adventure together.
• Artistic License – Military: Played for comedy. Hawk and B.J. disguise Radar with a fictional rank, Corporal-Captain, so he can accompany them into the Kimpo Officers' Club. Actually, a corporal would be permitted to enter the O Club as the guest of an officer (or two, in this case), although between Hawkeye's militant anti-militarism and B.J. being freshly commissioned, they might not have known that. (The colonel who stares Radar down is probably angered by his improper rank insignia rather than his presence in the club.)
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Frank takes issue with Klinger's earrings.
  Frank: What are those earrings doing there in your ears?
  Klinger: Just hanging there, sir.
• Behind Every Great Man: Frank may be in charge on paper, but Margaret is actually in charge. They struggle to even keep up the pretense that he's actually making the decisions.
• Big Damn Heroes: When a farmgirl is wounded by an exploding landmine, Radar rushes into the field to save her and her sister, oblivious to the likelihood that if there's one landmine in the area, there are bound to be more.
• Bilingual Bonus: "Jungji" is Korean for "stop". Also, "usan" is "umbrella".
• Break the Cutie: B.J. had no delusions about war, but seeing up close what a mortar shell could do to a human being makes him throw up.
• Bridal Carry: Radar carries the Korean girl he rescues in this fashion.
• Brutally Honest: Hawkeye tells B.J. that the worst thing about the shelling and its aftermath is that he'll get used to it.
• Comically Missing the Point: At assembly, Frank reprimands Klinger for daring to wear a hat decorated with flowers while in uniform. Klinger's proud response?
  Klinger: It's spring, sir!
• Continuity Nod: Hawkeye again refers to the fact his grandfather used to sell whiskey and hors-d'oeuvres to American Indians. He also mentions in the same scene the famous source of his nickname.
• Covered in Mud: B.J. ends up slipping into a puddle while running to Hawkeye to help a soldier wounded in the shellfire barrage.
• Covert Pervert: It turns out that Hawkeye has previously let Radar develop the nurses' chest x-rays.
• Curse Cut Short: Hawkeye, enraged and frustrated with a callous farmer who has ordered his two daughters to examine a field for landmines, asks Radar the Korean word for "something" when a landmine explodes offscreen.
• Department of Redundancy Department: When Radar recounts Trapper's reaction to being ordered home, he says Trapper "ran naked through the mess tent with no clothes on."
• Deadpan Snarker: Frank Burns is delivered quite a few of these from others throughout the episode.
  • The first one comes, surprisingly, from Father Mulcahy when he politely argues with Frank about the length of time the camp took to form assembly and the major accuses him of having a slow watch, to which Mulcahy takes offence.
    Father Mulcahy: Major Burns?
    Frank: Yes, Father.
    Father Mulcahy: I have us two seconds quicker than yesterday.
    Frank: Your watch must be off.
    Father Mulcahy: Hardly likely. It was given to me by my bishop.
  • The second is not so surprising as a hungover Hawkeye returns to camp from leave and makes a mockery of Frank through this trope.
  • Klinger gets the third when Frank is ordering him to clean up the Swamp.
    Frank: What are those earrings doing in your ears?
    Klinger: Just hanging there, sir.
    Frank: Well, take 'em off.
    Klinger: Yes sir.
    Frank: You, uh, got anything crazy on under your clothes?
    Klinger: Nothing crazier than you got under yours, sir.
• Death of a Child: B.J. discovers the true age of one of the soldiers he, Hawkeye and Radar had just been conversing with has been killed in the barrage of shellfire. Could be an aversion if the line was a remark on how youthful the soldier looked.
  B.J.: He's twelve years old.
  Hawkeye: [sadly] He'll never make thirteen.
  • This is a Shout-Out to The Roaring '20s, in which Humphrey Bogart plays a cold-hearted World War I soldier. After his buddy spares a German opponent because he's just fifteen, Bogie shoots the kid and says "He won't be sixteen." Seconds later, word comes that the Armistice has been signed and the war is over.
• Didn't Think This Through: Frank tries to institute an order that on Movie Night, everyone present will stand at attention when he arrives and when he leaves. Father Mulcahy points out a large hole in that proposal.
  Father Mulcahy: Suppose you leave in the middle of the picture?
  Frank: Uh, well, uh... we're working on that. We'll let you know by the end of the week.
• Don't Ask, Just Run: Hawkeye, B.J. and Radar are fixing a flat tire along a country road among a smattering of locals. Lost in conversation, they suddenly look up and realize everyone else on the road has suddenly disappeared. B.J. is puzzled, but Hawkeye and Radar instantly realize an enemy ambush is imminent.
• The Door Slams You: En route to assembly in the opening scenes, Frank and Radar march across the compound to Major Houlihan's tent. An oblivious Margaret opens the door after Radar knocks, hitting him on the way out.
• Downer Ending: The first part. Despite doing everything possible to make it to the Air Base in time, Hawkeye is unable to say goodbye to Trapper, arriving at Kimpo a mere 10 minutes after the flight left.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Frank criticizes the camp forming assembly taking two seconds longer than it did the previous day.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Because of the massive hangover he is trying to get rid of by soaking himself in the shower, Hawkeye is completely ignorant of the urgency in the news Radar is trying to give to him. It takes Radar to spell it out bluntly to get the point across.
  Radar: I just wanted you to know we couldn't reach ya. We really tried.
  Hawkeye: What'd you need me for? You have Frank Burns and trusty Trapper John, champion of the oppressed and molester of registered nurses.
  Radar: He's gone, Hawkeye. He got his orders. He's been shipped stateside.
  Hawkeye: What?
  Radar: Trapper's gone. He got his orders.
  Hawkeye: Trapper went home?
  Radar: Uh, well he's on his way.
  Hawkeye: What the hell are you talking about? How? When?
  Radar: Well, he found out about three days ago.
  Hawkeye: Why didn't you call me?!
  Radar: I SAID WE TRIED!
• Drives Like Crazy: Hawkeye, trying to make it to Kimpo Air Base in time to see Trapper off. Also Radar, apparently all the time.
  Hawkeye: Move over, Radar.
  Radar: Why?
  Hawkeye: Because you drive like I spit.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After everything involving the shelling, Hawkeye takes B.J. to Rosie's. They proceed to get good and drunk.
• Due to the Dead: Hawkeye recaps for B.J. how Henry died in the previous episode. He and Radar speak warmly of the late Colonel and as one of the greatest guys you could ever meet.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the tag to the episode, the 4077th's PA Announcer breaks the fourth wall and introduces the newly-restructured main cast of the show, revealing at the end of it a surprise sneak preview of the following episode where another new main character would be introduced.
  PA Announcer: And reporting for duty as new commanding officer, at 1600 hours, 19 September 1952: Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman Potter, Regular Army. [Beat] God help us all.
• Epigraph: As the episode opens, the audience is given the following two quotes:
  "I will go to Korea" —General Dwight D. Eisenhower
  "A terrible place" —General Raymond W. Bliss
• Establishing Character Moment: Most of the episode counts as one for B.J. as he calmly drops jokes, plays off Hawkeye, and treats a wounded man with compassion.
• Expy Coexistence: While preparing to radio for assistance after the mortar attack, Radar mentions the "8-0-Double Nickel". The 8055th MASH was the real-life unit where Richard Hooker, author of the novel the movie and show were based on, served in Korea.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Hawkeye and B.J. are casual with each other right off the bat, but by the time they get to the 4077th they're friends because of everything they go through.
• First Day from Hell: B.J.'s first day in Korea is pretty rough. He's an accessory to a general's jeep getting stolen, is attacked by guerrillas while changing a flat tire, gets caught in a mortar attack, and has to watch a girl be wounded by a landmine and taken to a crude field hospital. And this is all just on the trip from the airport to the 4077th. No wonder the last stop they make before finally getting to the camp is a bar.
  Hawkeye: Don't forget this is your first day of school. The worst part is you'll get used used to all of this.
• First-Name Basis: Hawkeye and B.J. are on this within a minute of meeting each other.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When B.J. loses his hat during the jeep ride, Hawkeye remarks "Your cookies will be next!" Which is exactly what happens when B.J. gets his first taste of field medicine.
  • The MP they run into on the way back to camp says there's been infiltrators on the road. Hawkeye, B.J., and Radar come under fire from a group of infiltrators not long after.
• Forgot About His Powers: For a split second, Radar forgets that he can speak Korean when Hawkeye demands him to tell the farmer not to bring the family ox with them.
• Freudian Slip: After Frank forgets himself and snaps at Father Mulcahy.
  Margaret: Frank!
  Frank: Oh. Sorry, Father. Sorry, Mother... Margaret.
• Friendship Moment: As B.J. struggles with what happened to the soldier, Hawkeye comforts him.
• Funny Background Event: While cleaning up the Swamp for B.J.'s arrival, Klinger hides one of Hawkeye's nudist magazines under his shirt after Frank tells him to throw it out.
• Got Volunteered: B.J. expresses himself being drafted to serve in Korea in this regard.
  B.J.: Two months ago, I'm in residency in Sausalito. Little house in Mill Valley, Peggy's eight months pregnant. And they draft me. Five weeks' training at Fort Sam Houston. Bunch of doctors stumbling around in the dark, totally lost. Some idiot shooting live ammo over your heads.
  Hawkeye: American Plan.
  B.J.: Then one night, Peggy and I are at the Top of the Mark – her first night out since having the baby. We go home. Our babysitter, Norma-Jean, says there's a message. [Beat] The message: in two days, report to Travis to ship out. Next thing I know, here I am.
• Hero Stole My Jeep: After having their own jeep stolen at the airport, Hawkeye, B.J. and Radar steal another one that belongs to a general. When Frank is found by military personnel to be in possession of that jeep at the end of the episode, they arrest him.
• Historical In-Joke: Discussed between Frank and Margaret when Frank laments about the antics Hawkeye could have gotten up to in Tokyo.
  Frank: Oh, Margaret. Whatever happened to good old meat-and-potatoes Christianity?
  Margaret: Whatever happened to Aimee McPherson?^note A powerful Pentecostal evangelist, faith healer and founder of the Foursquare Church, the first religious radio station (KFSG) and the first megachurch, Angelus Temple.
  Frank: The poor soul went up in her plane and was never heard from again.^note Frank is not altogether wrong. McPherson actually disappeared in 1926, but turned up a month later in Agua Prieta, Mexico, saying she was kidnapped and escaped. Rumors she'd really had an affair were never proved.
  Margaret: Frank, that was Amelia Earhart.
  Frank: Oh, yeah.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't: Toyed with. Radar doesn't seem to realize that he ran into a minefield and carried an injured woman out until Hawkeye tells him.
  Radar: I ran into a minefield? Boy, that was brave...
• Hustling the Mark: Jokingly hinted at during the getting-to-know-you conversation at the Kimpo O Club:
  Hawkeye: You play poker, doctor?
  B.J.: I'm not very good.
  Hawkeye: [grinning broadly] Neither am I.
• Hypocritical Humor: Frank questions what happened to Christianity, all while talking to his mistress.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Obviously attended by the snipers, as per usual for this show.
• I'm Not Here to Make Friends: After Frank rousts Radar out of his cot at the beginning.
  Frank: You're supposed to wake me, you know. I'm your commanding officer. I'm not supposed to wake you.
  Radar: Oh, that's very kind of you, sir.
  Frank: [irritatedly] I'm not interested in kindness.
  Radar: I've heard that, sir.
• Implied Death Threat: Hawkeye gives one to Radar after he comes back to the 4077th from leave, tired, hungover and not in the mood to hear Radar going at the bugle.
  Hawkeye: Just one note, Radar, and I'll show you a new way to play that thing.
• Indy Ploy: How Hawkeye deals with a suspicious general who doesn't approve of Radar being in the officer's club; he pins his own captain's bars on Radar and quickly makes up a story that the army is testing a new rank: "Corporal-Captain." B.J. is duly impressed.
  Hawkeye: [to a suspicious colonel] We're here making a survey. Want to see if everybody likes it. We're asking everybody in Seoul.
  B.J.: Coleman Hawkins, right?^note A brilliant Stealth Pun, referencing Hawkins' signature tune "Body and Soul".
• Is It Always Like This?: Asked by B.J. Hawkeye replies, "It's the only war in town."
• It's All About Me: When Frank Burns states to Father Mulcahy that he's finding the lack of discipline and respect in the unit to be disgraceful, the father reminds him that the personnel are all young people under a great deal of stress. Frank can only think about the stress command has on him in response.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Frank has Margaret forcibly remove the hat Klinger is wearing to assembly from him. Klinger keeps a Stiff Upper Lip.
    Klinger: Don't forget to water the flowers.
  • Frank refuses to allow Hawkeye to leave the camp to say goodbye to Trapper at Kimpo Airport.
    Hawkeye: Frank, I lived with the guy for over a year. He's my best friend.
    Frank: You're exaggerating his importance.
• Land Mine Goes "Click!": Subverted. There's no indication the mine is about to go off (or that it's even there) until it explodes.
• Large Ham: Hawkeye
• Lesser of Two Evils: Even when reminded of an embarrassing prank that Trapper pulled on him, Frank says he still prefers the guy to Hawkeye.
• Manchild: Frank suggests he could forge an autograph from MacArthur on his picture of the famous general. Margaret of course vocally takes offence, which Frank complains to.
  Frank: Oh gee, Margaret. Ever since I've been commanding officer, you don't let me do anything.
• Meaningful Background Event: More foreground, but while getting the Swamp ready for B.J.'s arrival, Frank throws away Trapper's straw hat and kimono.
• Missed Him by That Much: Hawkeye misses Trapper's plane by ten minutes.
  • The unseen sniper puts a hole in the jeep seat mere inches from B.J..
• Mood Whiplash: This two-part episode is certainly guilty of some of these moments but the worst has got to be where Hawkeye, B.J. and Radar meet with a troop of soldiers on the drive back to the 4077th and ask if any of them are from the three's respective home states. Then, without warning, mortar shells start to fall, turning what was previously a friendly, heartwarming moment in a mostly comedic episode into one of the bloodiest and most war graphic scenes ever featured in the entire series.
• Morality Chain: Hawkeye quips that Trapper kept him from outright killing Frank.
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Hawkeye tries to yell an insult in Korean at a farmer who's using his daughters to check a field for land mines, only for Radar to inform him that he just called the guy an umbrella. He tries to get the correct word from Radar, only to be interrupted when a mine goes off.
• Naïve Newcomer: B.J. doesn't know what he's in for in Korea, though he learns quickly.
• Narrative Profanity Filter: When Radar, bugle in hand, walks in on a tired and hungover Hawkeye as the latter is showering (fully-clothed):
  Hawkeye: Just one note, Radar, and I'll show you a new way to play that thing.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Hawkeye is affected that his best friend left without even leaving a note.
• Nice to the Waiter: Hawkeye makes a point of paying his rickshaw driver double his fee.
• Non-Nude Bathing: Engaged in by Hawkeye and later Radar.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Apparently, Radar tried to get Hawkeye on the phone to inform him about Trapper's imminent departure for a period of twenty-four hours when Hawkeye was on R&R and unable to answer. Before he's told why they were trying to call him, he explains he was "at an unlisted geisha".
  • Radar tells Hawkeye that, after learning of his discharge, Trapper "got drunk for two days, and then ran naked through the mess tent with no clothes on".
  • When Frank says that he wishes Hawkeye had left and Trapper had stayed, Margaret reminds him of "the time Mclntyre sedated [him] and shaved every bit of hair off [his] body".
  • Radar refuses at first to let Hawkeye accompany him on the drive to Kimpo Airport because Frank will find out and put him through something embarrassing and crazy, going on to mention a couple of the things Frank has already done.
    Radar: He's crazy. He's always feeling my toothbrush to see if it's wet. Wakes me up at night and inspects me in my shorts.
• Nothing Is Scarier: We don't actually see the wounds on the soldier that make B.J. sick.
• Obsessively Organized: Radar keeps his bugle in the filing cabinet under 'B'. Frank wonders if he does that for his clipboard as well.
  Frank: Your clipboard's under 'C', of course.
  Radar: No, 'K'.
  Frank: I'd like to know what you're doing in this man's army.
  Radar: Me too, sir.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Radar has one at the beginning where he's asleep dreaming of life back at his childhood farm and then he's woken up by Frank Burns who sternly reminds him that, as the company clerk it is Radar's duty to wake his commanding officer every morning.
    Radar: Oh! Korea!
  • Radar screams loudly when the "Corporal Captain" subterfuge is nearly discovered by a passing general.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: The only patients in post-op are, "a nurse who was bitten on her nameplate by Sergeant Niles and Sergeant Niles with a broken jaw." Gee, what could the story there be?
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The one thing Frank Burns has against the United Nations is that "it's full of foreigners".
  Frank: Of course, it's what did in your League of Nations.
• Pre-Approved Sermon: Frank tries to get Father Mulcahy to deliver a sermon on the theme of, "strength through obedience."
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Jamie Farr as Klinger.
• Put on a Bus: Trapper John McIntyre has already shipped out for home by the start of this story. Hawkeye just missed him.
• Random Events Plot: The second half of the episode (or the second part in syndication) becomes this after Hawkeye, B.J. and Radar encounter in succession a security checkpoint, a family of farmers risking their daughters' lives by investigating a field for landmines, an ambush from enemy guerrillas, and a barrage of shellfire before finally reaching the relative safety of the 4077.
• Reflexive Response: After being told by B.J. he's married, Hawkeye asks the newcomer if he brought his wife to Korea with him.
  B.J.: [smiling] Thought I'd come ahead and check it out.
• Running Gag: A short one at the start where Radar forgets he has to march behind Frank and then behind Margaret.
• Seamless Spontaneous Lie: Hawkeye manages to bypass a security checkpoint by having Radar pose as a contagiously ill patient.
  • Later, the lie seems to be on the verge of falling apart when they meet the same guard on the return journey. The guard is quick to recognise Radar, now apparently healthy and in the driver's seat, and to notice they are in a different Jeep. Before the lie fully unravels though, Radar suffers a "relapse" and causes the guard to panic and send them on their way.
• Shout-Out: When abdicating the driver's seat to Radar for the return trip to the 4077, Hawkeye tells the company clerk to follow the Yellow Brick Road.
• Shown Their Work: "Jungji" and "Usan" are respectively the actual Korean words for "Stop" and "Umbrella".^note Hawkeye should say gae-sae-kki (son of a bitch) or jot (dick).
• Skewed Priorities:
  • The MATS administrator at Kimpo Airport is more concerned with a missing shipment of pickles and pimientos for a general rather than managing the day-to-day running of the airport.
    Hawkeye: Who's in charge of this delicatessen?
  • The Korean farmer clearly values his ox and the viability of his land for farming than the lives of his two daughters, whom he has sent into a field to prod the ground for landmines.
    • Sadly Truth in Television for much of the Asian region for much of their history. Even today, sons are valued as only they can carry on the family name, while daughters are seen as something to get rid of at the earliest opportunity.
• Special Effect Failure: The wounded soldier that causes B.J. to vomit is lifted far too easily to be anything but a stuffed dummy.
• Status Quo Is God: Of a sort. Frank and Margaret are both pleased to have a new doctor they can "mold", but B.J.'s first comment upon meeting Frank is a thoroughly drunken, "What say you, Ferret Face?"
• Tempting Fate: Frank believes Captain Hunnicutt's arrival will be a welcome change from all the stuff he and Margaret have had to put up with from Hawkeye and Trapper. B.J. shows up filthy, drunk, and half out of uniform.
  B.J.: [crawls out of the back of the Jeep, staggers upright, and salutes] What say you, Ferret Face? [collapses onto Margaret as Hawkeye falls over laughing]
• This Is Gonna Suck: While the motley trio fixes the flat tire, a group of locals walk by quietly. Just as quickly, they're nowhere to be seen. Hawkeye and Radar immediately know something bad is about to happen, at which point a sniper fires multiple shots.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: With Frank in charge of the 4077, that goes without saying.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Hawkeye and Radar's nonchalant reaction to the barfight at Rosie's. Notably, Radar gets up out of his chair and walks out of the way just as the two fighters crash through his seat and the table they were drinking at.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: B.J. has one after he sees a horrifically wounded soldier.
• We Used to Be Friends: Played for laughs when Hawkeye resorts to using this to guilt-trip Radar to let him come along on the drive to the airport.
  Hawkeye: Radar.
  Radar: I can't.
  Hawkeye: (Beat) Who lets you develop the nurses' chest x-rays? Hm? Who stayed up with you the night your earthworm farm was wiped out?
  Radar: If anybody asks, I'm completely ignorant.
  Hawkeye: I'll swear to that in court.
• Wham Shot: As they are replacing a flat tyre for their Jeep, Hawkeye, Radar and B.J. wave hello to passing travellers walking along the road. When the Jeep is raised up for the replacement, Hawkeye takes a second look in their direction ... only to find the passersby have vanished.
  Hawkeye: Uh-oh, Andy.^note Larry Gelbart apparently confirmed this was a Andy Hardy reference. Gene Reynolds had played Jimmy McMahon in Love Finds Andy Hardy.
  Radar: [looks around and realises the danger] Holy smoke.
• You Owe Me: When talking his way into a ride to the airport, Hawkeye reminds Radar of previously letting him develop the nurses' chest x-rays and helping with the earthworm farm.

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