C*A*V*E was the 21st episode of Season 7 of the M*A*S*H TV series, also the 168th overall series episode. The episode was written by Larry Balmagia and Ronny Graham, and directed by William Jurgensen. The episode originally aired on CBS-TV on February 5, 1979.
Synopsis[]
An emergency bug-out to a nearby cave becomes complicated when Hawkeye reveals that he suffers from claustrophobia.
Full episode summary[]
The camp suddenly finds itself caught in a crossfire between friendly and enemy artillery units, neither of whom are aware of the 4077th's presence. The mortar fire gets bad enough that Potter calls I Corps to try and get them to redirect the firing. The logistics officer, a Major Bartruff, informs them that they are engaging a Chinese battery two miles south of Uijeongbu (very close to the 4077th's position), but Bartruff claims the 4077th is twelve miles east, which Potter denies saying they were there three weeks ago before returning to where they are. Bartruff then has Potter give the proper code word from the Signal Operating Instruction book to verify that he is who he claims to be, but he then rejects the code word and claims that Potter has a superceded code book. In frustration, Potter is about to call General Imbrie, but the phone lines have just been knocked out.
With the camp in peril and cut off from outside communication, Potter calls an emergency meeting of the senior staff in the Mess Tent. Doing some checking, Potter found a cave less than a mile from camp that the NK used as an aid station; he deduces that if they take just the bare necessities they should make it through the night. Everyone is in favor of the plan except for Hawkeye, who just worked on a chest case that is not yet ready to move. But he is overruled by the rest of the staff, and so the camp packs up and heads for the cave.
Once there, Hawkeye refuses to go inside, and it dawns on Potter what's going on: Hawkeye suffers from claustrophobia, something he's never told anyone before. Potter understands but cautions Hawkeye to at least stay near the entrance, but a couple of close artillery bursts force Hawkeye to run inside, but his heart races, he sweats profusely, and he has to run back to the cave's entrance just to catch his breath. But soon a bigger problem manifests itself in the form of Private Lovett, his chest case, who is getting worse, and being stuck in a damp cave isn't helping; he needs to be opened back up, and there's only one place it can be done, so Hawkeye volunteers to go back to camp and operate on him there under the crossfire. Margaret, willing to face her own fear of loud noises, drives the jeep back with Hawkeye securing Lovett. Hawkeye initially tries to dissuade her, but she is adamant saying, "I'll be damned if I'll send someone else out there to face what terrifies me".
In the OR, it's Hawkeye's turn to comfort Margaret and keep her mind off all the loud explosions; as they operate, he passes the time with her by playing a game of 20 Questions, throwing in a joke or two along the way, which either doesn't help or Margaret doesn't get. Just as they're finishing up the surgery, the artillery barrage finally ends, and Hawkeye finally guesses Margaret's been thinking of Joan of Arc. When she asks how he knew, Hawkeye responds, "Who else would you be thinking of in the last five minutes?"
At daybreak, everyone else returns to camp and find Hawkeye and Margaret both sleeping heavily in Post Op next to Lovett, who is now out of danger; Potter declares that they've earned a rest and allows them to sleep. When Hawkeye and Margaret see that everyone else has returned, they try to get up to help, only to fall back onto their cots still exhausted.
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- Author Paulette Bourgeois credits this episode as being the inspiration for her series of children's books Franklin the turtle. One night she was watching a rerun of this episode when she heard Hawkeye talking about his claustrophobia. She recalls, "He said something like, 'Look, if I were a turtle, I'd be afraid to go into my shell.'" (What Hawkeye actually said was: "Can you imagine me as a turtle? Afraid to get into my own shell?") She started writing her first book "Franklin in the Dark" the next day.[1][2] She also says the name Franklin came out of the blue but later realized Hawkeye's full name is Benjamin Franklin Pierce.[3]
- Because of the acoustics of the cave, a running gag, "I heard that!," was used by both Potter and Charles.
- The cave ends up being set up with electric lights and electric space heaters. The one thing we don't see is a generator, without which neither can function (Hawkeye even says there's no generator when he bemoans not having what he needs to operate on Pvt. Lovett).
- Potter commits a few safety violations in relocating the 4077 to the cave. First, the bus (or at least one of them) is parked right by the entrance, despite a shell exploding near there not long after. In addition, lights are set up in the entrance to the cave, making for a potential easy target.
- This episode is the second time Margaret's phonophobia is hinted at, with the first being in Bug Out when she says "Why does the war have to be so noisy?", the first time it's directly mentioned, and the first time Hawkeye's claustrophobia is both hinted at and directly mentioned.
- Anomaly: Klinger tells Pvt. Lovett that he, Father Mulcahy, and Winchester have the same blood type. In a previous episode, Klinger says he's B positive. In a separate episode, Winchester says he's AB negative.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Mark L. Taylor as Private O'Malley (as Mark Taylor)
- Basil Hoffman as Major Bartruff
- Charles B. Jenkins as Private Lovett
- Enid Kent as Nurse Bigelow
- Jennifer Davis Westmore as Nurse
References[]
- ↑ Diane Turbide, "A Million Dollar Turtle," Maclean's, December 11, 1995, pp. 50-51. Archive URL
- ↑ Paulette Bourgeois - Children's Book Author or Archive URL
- ↑ "Paulette Bourgeois - Author," kidscanpress.com, accessed August 2, 2015, URL or Archived URL