Radar is impressed by one of the wounded with tattoos, and decides to get one of his own. Hawkeye and B.J. try to talk him out of it. A new nurse is having trouble adjusting to the 4077th, and Margaret has little patience for her. Meanwhile a stray dog shows up and Klinger goes against regulations to care for it.
Attention, all personnel! Please review the following tropes in a professional manner:
- Be Yourself: The doctors tell Radar he doesn't need a tattoo or big muscles in order to define who he is.
- Blowing a Raspberry: When Hawkeye and B.J. arguing with Winchester about MacArthur, Winchester wonders if just once, they could make an intelligent comment; naturally, they both blow a raspberry at him.
- The Chains of Commanding: Played for Laughs when Potter orders Radar to show his tattoo.Potter: Corporal - and for the time being, you are a corporal - as your commanding officer, it is my duty to inspect all parts of the camp.
Radar: Sir, do you mean to tell me that I'm gonna have to-?
Potter: Drop 'em. - Continuity Snarl: Radar ponders getting a tattoo, but in Season 3's "Check-Up", while giving Radar his physical, Col. Blake notices a tattoo of an anchor on his right bicep.
- Cooldown Hug: Hawkeye holds Margaret as she finally opens up enough to grieve for the dog in front of him.
- Distinction Without a Difference: After Radar finally shows Hawkeye, B.J., and Colonel Potter his tattoo (see Embarrassing Tattoo below):Hawkeye: He didn't want anything ostentatious.
Radar: I didn't want anything showy either. - Do Not Do This Cool Thing:
- Half the episode is the doctors repeatedly telling Radar why getting a tattoo is a bad idea. The message is pretty hamfisted, but the point the doctors seem to be trying to make is that Radar's risking his health by going to a local tattooist whose equipment may not be even vaguely clean because one man told him that tattoos make you more attractive to women.
- During The Tag, Col. Potter warns Radar about all of the difficult work and long time needed to become a bodybuilder and to maintain the build without letting the muscles atrophy. It's not a warning against exercise in general (as the very next episode has him working to get the camp into better shape), but to tell Radar to stop trying to create an artificial image of himself.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Winchester both defends MacArthur and flirts with Margaret, when later episodes would have him generally indifferent to the military and often argue with Margaret. This was likely a holdover from scripts written for Frank to still be there, as both of those things are more indicative of Frank than Charles.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Radar ends up getting a temporary tattoo of a teddy bear on his butt. Though he's more embarrassed about having to show it rather than what it is.
- Genre Deconstruction: Nurse Cooper transferred to the 4077 because of her skills as a nurse. However, she wasn't mentally prepared for the harsh conditions of the OR and needed more time to adjust than Margaret was willing to give.
- Gung Holier Than Thou: Winchester makes an uncharacteristic defence of General MacArthur.
- Irony: While Margaret has been berating Cooper for being so emotional in surgery, Cooper barely reacts to the news about the dog dying while Margaret collapses in tears upon finding out.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Margaret absolutely could have been a lot more kind about the whole thing, but she's not exactly wrong for being concerned about Nurse Cooper's tendency to fall apart in the O.R. and thus putting more strain on the rest of the nursing staff as well as potentially endangering the welfare of the patients, especially as it's implied that her running out on B.J. at the start isn't the first time this has happened and she does so while the patient is in a severely critical condition. Even B.J. and Col. Potter, while they ultimately agree that Cooper simply needs more time to adapt, both acknowledge that Margaret is technically absolutely right to be concerned.
- Kick the Dog: Margaret gets one after berating Nurse Cooper for the entire episode over not maintaining control of her emotions, only for her to find out that the dog she had befriended was killed in an accident and she could no longer maintain herself.
- Meaningful Name: The episode title applies to both Margaret and Radar. Margaret for denying her true self to keep up a stoic, emotionless image. Radar for thinking he only needs a physical image to define who he is.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Hawkeye and B.J. had almost conned Radar into giving up on the tattoo with help from a sergeant who claimed not to know them...then Klinger walks in and blows the whole thing by saying it's a good idea that they found the sergeant after all.
- Not So Stoic: Margaret is not only the only one visibly affected by the death of the dog, she's absolutely devastated, and barely holds it together until she gets back to her tent.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Col. Potter denies Margaret's request to transfer Nurse Cooper out of the unit because he's willing to give her more time to adjust than Margaret is. He even agrees that if she hasn't adjusted after a reasonable amount of time, then he will sign the transfer order and send her elsewhere.
- Take That!: Cooper fires one at Margaret:Cooper: That won't happen, Major.Margaret: Oh?Cooper: I won't give you the satisfaction. From now on, I'm going to be just as tough and unfeeling as you are.
