M*A*S*H, season 7

(The worst season of M*A*S*H, and second-worst isn't even on the radar [ahem]. Why? In a word [or two] - Larry Balmagia. After a couple season 6 writing credits, he was promoted to story editor. Again and again, the plotlines feel embarrassingly average.)
FOUR STAR
-Inga
Just as some flawless episodes don't achieve four stars, flawed ones occasionally do. Iconic memorableness will do that. A visiting Swedish surgeon (Mariette Hartley - the James Garner Polaroid commercials) unabashedly shows greater skill than all the surgeons in camp, and Hawkeye must face his chauvinism (on top of striking out with her romantically). This episode needed to be, to inject into the zeitgeist the awareness that horrific chauvinism is ingrained in our society...but this too shall pass. For purists who hold that M*A*S*H should have started and ended with the movie, this episode is exhibit A in why they're dead wrong. The fact that they pulled off the most albatross-laden "message" show they ever attempted, with such grace, is little short of stunning. Mariette is at once delicate and iron. Alan nails it, as always.
NOTEWORTHY
-Peace on Us ***
The camp is in foul spirits as peace talks go nowhere, and when Hawkeye finds that the number of points leading to discharge has been upped, he steals a jeep and bluffs his way into the peace conference, where he rants and pleads for the war to end. At camp, they greet him with a party where everything is red instead of green (including the hair of the major sent to scold him, Kevin Hagen of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE).
-Our Finest Hour ***
I cannot tell you how hard it is to not give this four stars (but the kneejerk reaction to any clip show is just barrrrrely too strong). With new footage, courtesy of bona fide Korean correspondent Clete Roberts returning for another B&W newsreel interview episode. Intercut are scenes from the first six seasons. The selection they trot out is so absolutely perfect, you'll never be able to mock clip shows again. Well, okay, you will.
-The Billfold Syndrome ***
Charles declares he'll never talk to anyone in camp again, and Sydney visits to try to help a medic who can't remember who he is. With BJ and Hawkeye providing sound effects, Sydney hypnotizes the boy. Allan Arbus, the man can do no wrong.
-They Call the Wind Korea ***
Seamless. A Manchurian wind batters the camp, while Charles and Klinger get stuck tending wounded Greeks in an overturned truck all night. M*A*S*H's good is better than just about anyone else's great.
-Point of View ***
A thoroughly excellent, essential episode in the history of television's greatest half hour. Seen entirely through the perspective of a soldier who's been wounded in the throat. A brilliant idea brilliantly executed, it gives us an entirely different perspective on characters we know like the back of our hand.
-An Eye for a Tooth **
Crystallizes everything that made season 7 so bad. A tale of practical joke one-upmanship, with Winchester playing both sides against each other, until he finally gets his comeuppance. Fine, but...one joke ends with Hawkeye and BJ having to get from the showers to the Swamp naked. We can perhaps buy that BJ might cover himself frantically, but Hawkeye? We're past failing to live up to the movie, we're now failing to live up to ourselves. Season 1 had Hawkeye strolling across the compound naked to make a point. Also, witness the ascendancy of Margaret's Tammi Faye Baker look.
-Hot Lips is Back in Town ***
The A plot, with Margaret's divorce being finalized, comes off a little obligatory. But the B story, wherein Radar falls for a new nurse (the heart-warming Peggy Lee Brennan), and tries to win her. One of Radar's finest moments.
-Ain't Love Grand ***
Oh so close to sweet greatness. Max and Charles fall in love with women who are all wrong for them. Very realistic stuff for a while, and for both of them worthy of a place on any "best-of" list. Max is ultimately more tragic, leaving dresses behind and wanting to create a life with a woman he's known for three days. Winchester poignantly tries to play Henry Higgins with a prostitute (Sylvia Chang) who wants no part of it. Four-starness is foiled by a poorly-resolved C plot in which BJ's concern for a patient who has moved on is just too unrealistically excitable, given the meat-grinder life they lead.
-The Party ***
What a flawless M*A*S*H moment in time. A depressed BJ tries to arrange a stateside party for everyone's relatives. It looks like it won't happen, but finally does. Superlative character work all round, probably the most perfectly balanced seven-character effort of the series. I went with three stars because there was no X factor to make this one unforgettable.