On General Clayton's orders, a psychiatrist visits the 4077 to determine whether the medical staff have Jumped Off The Slippery Slope so badly that the camp needs to be broken and the members shipped to other units or whether they haven't. When the psychiatrist arrives, he gives Henry Blake a special instruction from the general not to inform the doctors and nurses of his visit. Knowing the hijinks that those under his command can get up to, Henry ignores this order and tells the others to be on their best behaviour. Hilarity Ensues...
Attention, Captain Hildebrand! Submit your report on the 4077 utilizing the following tropes:
- The Ace: Captain Hildebrand is very good at being an unseen observer.
- Anti-Villain: Captain Hildebrand.
- Big "NO!": Not the single word per se, but that is precisely what Klinger means in the following exchange.Henry: Klinger! I told you to get out of those clothes!
Klinger: Not until I'm discharged, sir! - Blatant Lies: Hawkeye, Trapper and Frank trying to snow Captain Hildebrand on how well they work together as a team. Hawkeye and Trapper, very believable, but either of them with Frank Burns, HA!Henry: The men are always complimenting each other's work.
Hawkeye: Yeah, we're thinking of going into practice together when we get home. Isn't that right, Trap?
Trapper: Yeah, we're gonna open our own clinic, the three of us.
Frank: That's right. The three of us "war buddies" would run the place.
Hawkeye: Frank would park the cars. - Bunny-Ears Lawyer: After watching the doctors in the OR, Hildebrand realizes the camp is full of them. They're nuts, but they've got good reason to be.Hildebrand: These impossible people are in an impossible place, doing impossible things! They're mad, quite mad, all of them! And the only thing I can think of that would be madder still would be splitting them up!
- Call-Back: Hawkeye and Trapper's final lines are the same ones from the pilot episode.
- "Follow the zany antics of our combat surgeons as they cut and stitch their way along the front lines, operating as bombs [chuckles] operating as bombs and bullets burst around them, snatching laughs and love between amputations and penicillin." This line, even including the chuckle, is the movie's description of itself, coming from a concluding P.A. announcement that breaks the fourth wall.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The 4077' personnel from Hildebrand's perspective, once the wounded arrive.
- Deadpan Snarker: Trapper's response to Frank telling him to watch his language in the O.R.Trapper: Look Frank, if you want to kick me out of this country club, I'll second your blackball.
- Captain Hildebrand often responds with this trope.
- Hawkeye and Trapper react this way to being woken up by reveille.Hawkeye: Hey! Somebody give the place a shove!
Trapper: What is that?
Hawkeye: I think this motel is surrounded by soldiers.
Frank: It's disgusting that you sleep in your underwear.
Hawkeye: Beats sleeping in yours.- That round of snarkery continues when Frank presses his luck.Hawkeye: Listen, Frank, we're all gonna make nice for Captain Hildebrand today, but don't push us.
Frank: Well, a shave wouldn't be a bad start. You both look more like bums than doctors.
Trapper: Actually, I was thinking of becoming a bum doctor, but the proctology class was full.
Frank: Ha ha ha.
- That round of snarkery continues when Frank presses his luck.
- Description Cut: General Clayton describes Major Houlihan as an angel of mercy. The scene cuts in mid-description to Margaret washing Frank's hair. Right after the cut, Clayton also describes Frank Burns, but in a far less stellar fashion.
- This is also done when Clayton talks about Hawkeye and Trapper, praising their medical professionalism but deriding their off-hour antics.Clayton: Major Burns billets with two other doctors, captains both. Pierce and McIntyre. Two exceptionally qualified surgeons, but in their off-hours, their antics can become quite... antic. Separately, they're a handful.[cuts to Frank reading his Bible]Frank: Who rewrote these commandments?[camera zooms in on a mischievous Trapper]
- This is also done when Clayton talks about Hawkeye and Trapper, praising their medical professionalism but deriding their off-hour antics.
- Didn't Think This Through: Frank and Margaret have been happily reporting Henry's shortcomings and are gleeful about the 4077 possibly being split up...until Henry points out this will likely split the two of them up as well.
- A Father to His Men: General Clayton notes the 4077's company devotion to Henry Blake as this.
- Heel–Face Turn: Hildebrand is prepared to recommend that the 4077 be disbanded because of how childish the staff can get in their off time. Then he gets to witness how professional they become when it's time to work.
- Hilarity Ensues: Captain Hildebrand observes the 4077 in their off-hours. The situations and his reactions to every one of them are the high selling points.
- I Am What I Am: Hildebrand references this as to why Henry's attempt to get the rest of the main cast to act 100% G.I. failed.
- I'll Take Two Beers Too: In his office, Henry offers a brandy to Hildebrand, who declines. Henry persists ("Gin? Scotch? Rye? Beer? I've got it all") before self-consciously telling the psychiatrist not to "get the idea that I drink" and gibbering about all the "pressure" he's under as CO. Then Radar enters with two brandies:Henry: Captain Hildebrand doesn't care for any.
Radar: Oh, then I won't bring his glass in.
Henry: [nervously, to Hildebrand] Heh, heh... great little kidder, that one. - I Need a Freaking Drink:
- After the above-mentioned I'll Take Two Beers Too incident, Hildebrand goes to leave Henry's office, and Henry downs Hildebrand's untouched drink as well.
- After seeing what the surgeons deal with on a constant basis in surgery, Hildebrand helps himself to the Swamp's still.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Frank refutes Hildebrand's insinuation that he's cracked and Hawkeye's mentioning of his incompetence in this manner.Frank: I resent that, Captain. I, for one, have not cracked because of the war.
Hawkeye: That's true, Captain.
Frank: Thank you, Pierce.
Hawkeye: Frank showed up here cracked, with a Bible in one hand and a pair of shorts that said "Hold Me" in the other. - Kill It with Fire: The enemy has just started using phosphorus explosives.
- Lampshade Hanging: Henry tells Hawkeye to lay off the wisecracks for just five minutes.
- Malaproper: Mixed with Fun with Acronyms. Henry has trouble referring to the V.I.P. tent.
- There is a moment where Henry cannot get Hawkeye's name right.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When Radar interrupts to announce more wounded, the snark, sarcasm, and attitudes all immediately drop as the surgeons spring into action.
- The Man Behind the Man: Lampshaded by General Clayton in regards to Henry and Radar's working relationship.Clayton: There are times , I must confess, when it seems Henry Blake is Corporal O'Reilly's clerk.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: There is a lot of that going on in this episode, but it all starts with Henry when he does not do a very good job of presenting himself as a capable leader.
- Not So Above It All: Despite having reported Henry's less-than-regulation style of command, Frank is seen emerging from the nurse's shower tent with an armful of clothes.
- Not What It Looks Like: Henry tries to cover up Klinger's choice of dresswear as normal.Henry: I can explain that.
Hildebrand: So can I.
Henry: It's not what it looks like.
Hildebrand: Well, what do you think it looks like?
Henry: I think it looks terrible.
Hildebrand: Well then, that's what it looks like.
Henry: Oh, there's nothing wrong with Klinger. He goes out with girls.
Hildebrand: He must be stealing their clothes. - Oh, Crap!: Henry, in the middle of his meeting with Hildebrand, gets an inter-office call from Radar telling him someone is asking permission to enter the office. Henry tells Radar to let the person in. Just after he hangs up, it hits him the person is Klinger.
- Overused Running Gag: Now, at the beginning of the second season, the "signing of papers" gag has become this.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After completing his examinations of their behaviours, Hildebrand delivers one of these to the main characters.Hildebrand: Childish! Not childlike, with its connotations of innocence and joyous abandon, but childish. You delight in petty bickering, summer camp capers and, in general, behave in a manner ill-befitting officers in the United States Army and members of the medical profession.
- The Reveal: Frank lets it slip that he was the one who reported the 4077 to General Clayton. Margaret tries to defend him. Henry gives the both of them a What the Hell, Hero? speech in return.Henry: Just let me remind you, Mrs. MacArthur, that if this unit gets split up, it might just happen we all get split up. Which means that you and Doctor Burns here will have to stop practicing medicine together, and whatever else it is you've been practicing.
- Running Gag: Henry strikes his head again...with the rim of a glass of brandy.
- Secret-Keeper: Subverted with Henry, as he wants to keep the 4077 intact.
- Shaped Like Itself: General Clayton describes Hawkeye and Trapper's off-hours antics as "...antic".
- Ship Tease: Hawkeye makes a playful claim that Radar is his and Margaret's son. Henry, being Radar's father figure in the unit, is quick to refute it.Margaret: THAT ONE SPIES ON EVERYBODY!
Hawkeye: Now dear, he is our son.
[Margaret's jaw drops]
Henry: He is not! - Stealth Insult:Trapper: Hey, Frank, I took a look at that kid whose bowel you resected this morning. That was some job.
Frank: Well, what was wrong with it?
Hawkeye: Not a thing! You ought to put your monogram on that scar, Frank. That was a thing of beauty.
Frank: [pleased chuckle] Well, I don't like to brag, but that is my specialty.
Hawkeye: Oh, I mean to tell you. One look and I could see your hand all over that gut. - Stereo Fibbing: After Hawkeye and Trapper are told that Hildebrand is in camp to "observe [their] surgical technique".Trapper: Oh, really? You got a specialty?
Henry / Hildebrand: Uh, gynecology. / I'm a nose and throat.
Hawkeye: Well, you were close, Henry. - Take That!: Hawkeye blames the world leaders, elected or not, for not preventing the war.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: When Hawkeye is woken up by Radar in the dead of night, he asks if it's about a patient.
