Tuesday, May 1, 2012

M*A*S*H, season 8

FOUR STAR
-Good-Bye Radar
After a feature film and 152 episodes, Gary Burghoff calls down the curtain. If you're tempted to second-guess his choice, this towering two-parter should silence you. It deftly avoids predictability and maudlinity, to stand with the series' best. Radar's Uncle Ed dies, and he is given a discharge. He can't decide whether to stay or leave. Finally and fittingly, his goodbye party is cancelled by incoming wounded. Peering through the O.R. window, he receives a goodbye salute from Hawkeye. After surgery, the swamprats return home to find Radar's teddy bear left behind.
-Period of Adjustment
Klinger struggles mightily with his new duties as company clerk. B.J. finds out that his daughter Erin called Radar "daddy" at the San Franciso airport. They go on a drinking binge, brought together by mutual Radar-resentment. B.J. destroys the still and punches Hawkeye out. B.J.'s agony, and reconciliation with a helmeted Hawkeye, are unforgettable.
-The Yalu Brick Road
A rollicking good time, as Hawkeye and BJ are lost near the front. They surrender to a North Korean soldier (the irrepressible Soon-Tek Oh!), who surrenders right back. They find a motorcycle, which BJ resuscitates. Back at camp, everyone is down with salmonella except Father Mulcahy. The first of four episodes written by Mike Farrell. Soon-Tek's adorable performance is one of the top-ten M*A*S*H guest turns of all time.
-Life Time
Unforgettable. Most of the episode passes with a ticking clock superimposed on the screen, counting down the minutes until a soldier will be permanently paralyzed, as the surgeons scramble to graft a piece of artery from a dying soldier into him. One slightly mawkish moment involving Kevin Brophy (star of LUCAN!) doesn't drag this brilliance down.
-Dreams
During a marathon OR session, everyone grabs quick naps and has disturbing dreams. Ensemble nirvana. They aimed big and found iconic touches, with images so subtly disturbing that they might filter into the viewer's dreams...Margaret in a bloody wedding dress, BJ dancing with his wife Peg (the first of two memorable appearances by Catherine Bergstrom), Winchester performing parlor tricks trying to save a life, Hawkeye losing two arms to an unforgiving professor, Klinger in Toledo watching himself on an army operating table...not top-ten worthy, but one hell of an effort. Maybe she just had an off-day, but on one of the few occasions they gave Nurse Kellye (uber-supporting actor Kellye Nakahara, the only non-regular to appear on the M*A*S*H IMDB title page, with 166 episodes, 11 more than Radar) an actual scene, she comes up with a, shall we say, unfortunate performance.
NOTEWORTHY
-Too Many Cooks ***
Dragged down by a Potter B plot that doesn't have legs, this story about a wounded, bumbling soldier (Ed Begley Jr.!!) who is a brilliant but misassigned cook, is a scrumptious delight. Klinger acts as his maitre'd and personal agent, until Ed asks to cook for his front-line unit. There's also a tiny scene of Radar in Tokyo supposedly partying, but actually alone in his hotel room. It's poignant and sweet, knowing Gary's episodes are almost gone. The Balmagia era is over...whew.
-Are You Now, Margaret? **
Unexpectedly hard-hitting and relevant compared to season 7. M*A*S*H takes on McCarthyism, when Maragaret is asked by a congressional aide to "name names" from her college days. She faces the loss of her career. The resolve feels recycled, but a wonderful attempt.
-Guerrilla My Dreams **
The irrepressible Mako (CONAN THE BARBARIAN) stars as a South Korean ready to torture and kill a North Korean when she recovers from surgery. M*A*S*H at its most unrealistic, soap-boxy worst.
-Mr. & Mrs. Who? ***
Absolutely seamless, resolutely non-cliched, and utterly charming. Charles gets monumentally drunk in Tokyo, and his new wife (the delightful Claudette Nevins) arrives in camp soon after. Stiers gets to show humanity, not just pomposity.
-Dear Uncle Abdul ***
Perhaps unique in M*A*S*H history for the greatest number of sub-plots juggled without any discernible weak link. Klinger writes to his uncle, Charles goes pheasant hunting, Margaret shoots her foot locker, Hawkeye and BJ bicker over who is a better joke-teller (that's all you do...BIRD imitations?), a mildly-retarded soldier (Richard Lineback, NATURAL BORN KILLERS) is looked after by his buddies, and in a moment that's more poignant than you remember, Mulcahy writes a Korean war song.
-Captains Outrageous **
A middling episode juiced up by the presence of John Orchard, he of ten episodes as Ugly John during the Henry/Trapper era. This time he's an Aussie blowhard named Muldoon.
-Stars and Stripes **
Joshua Bryant played Margaret's fourth love interest of the series, Jack Scully, in three episodes. The character was well-conceived and well-executed, but never became more perhaps because none of those episodes were four-star.
-Yessir, That's Our Baby ***
An example of a fine episode that (ironically) would have been laughed out of the studio exec's office had it been offered as a series pilot. It's just not funny. It almost gets away with it by tackling a very serious issue (unwanted mixed-race children of american G.I.s) with very good writing and acting...but it bites off a bit more than it can chew. Making it a two-parter might have saved it. A fine appearance by William Bogert (WARGAMES, CHAPELLE'S SHOW).
-Bottle Fatigue ***
Hawkeye drives everyone insane when he goes on the wagon. The B plot, about Winchester's attempt to stop his sister from marrying an italian, deserves a spot on a Winchester top-ten list...its only weakness is a turnaround that seems too easy. Look for a fine little performance by Shelley Long (CHEERS, THE MONEY PIT), as a date who alienates Hawkeye by tossing back a few.
-Heal Thyself ***
With a bickering Winchester and Potter quarantined with the mumps, a replacement surgeon (Edward Herrmann - THE LOST BOYS, RICHIE RICH) suffers a nervous breakdown. Wonderful.
-Old Soldiers ***
Iconic, four-star moments. The last of Potter's WWI cavalry buddies dies, leaving him morose and withdrawn, as a group of orphans pass through. The scene with Potter and a child eating fudge and listening to old french records, and the scene of Potter in his old uniform sharing decades-old brandy with his new friends, are Harry Morgan's finest M*A*S*H moments this side of "horse hockey".
-Morale Victory ***
The A plot, wherein BJ and Hawkeye deliver a beach party courtesy of Klinger's crabs, is serviceable. The B plot, wherein Charles tries to comfort a classical pianist soldier (James Stephens) who has lost dexterity in one of his hands, is towering...and even more amazing when you realize that Stephens didn't fully deliver the goods. May we propose the question, of how much credit goes to Mr. Stiers for the fact that M*A*S*H lasted six seasons beyond Frank Burns?
-Lend a Hand **
Alan wrote and directed this Alda family reunion, with Robert returning as the overbearing Dr. Borelli, and brother Antony playing a medic. Nice try.
-War Co-Respondent ***
The first episode Mike Farrell wrote and directed. BJ and a correspondent (Susan St. James, KATE & ALLIE) fall for each other. Poignant chemistry and nuanced acting almost overcome this mawkish, wretch-inducing love note to self-sacrificial monogamy.

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