Dear Ma was the 89th episode of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H, and also the 17th episode of the fourth season of the series. Written by Everett Greenbaum and Jim Fritzell, and directed by Gene Reynolds, it first aired on December 23, 1975.
Synopsis[]
Radar's letter home recounts the latest round of foot inspections, and how Colonel Potter's wife's premonition of bad luck comes to fruition. This is another episode in the by now familiar "letter home" narrative format.
Full episode summary[]
Radar writes a letter home to his mother, telling her about the recent goings-on at the 4077th.
Radar has been helping Hawkeye in giving the camp a monthly foot inspection, which goes smoothly except for Margaret, who can't stand Hawkeye's joking around.
Meanwhile, B.J. buys an expensive watch on the cheap from a former patient, claiming he needed the money for an operation for his wife. Hawkeye has to break the news to B.J. he's been scammed, showing him that there are no works inside it. B.J. is infuriated - "And I operated on that guy's chest!" Hawkeye finds the whole thing funny, having heard of this scam before.
Another day, Radar came across a North Korean soldier who wandered into the Mess Tent to get some food. At first he doesn't realize the guy is North Korean, but it dawns on him just as the soldier runs out of the tent with a tray full of food. He bumps into Frank chasing him, spilling food on Frank's shirt. Frank is not amused. Later when a South Korean General inspects the Mess tent, Burns attacks him, thinking he's North Korean; the General nearly breaks Frank's wrist.
Hawkeye, still doing the inspections, tells Frank it's his turn, but Frank is hostile and refuses. Hawkeye lets it go for the moment. Later, he and Radar visit Klinger for his inspection, while the Section 8 candidate narrates a letter he's writing to then-President-elect Eisenhower. Then they call on Father Mulcahy, who tells them about how his sister (the nun) bit him on the toe when they were children.
That same night, Col. Potter gets shot in the butt by a sniper while he and Margaret were coming back from giving a monthly medical clinic to a local village. Hawkeye and B.J. remove the shrapnel while Potter watches - he insists on a local anesthetic, watching the action with a mirror. The Colonel has to pretend he's fine while on the phone with his wife during the operation - she called earlier, having a premonition that something bad has happened to her husband.
Wounded arrive, and one of them is the soldier that scammed B.J. Laying on the table, he gulps in fear when B.J. promises he'll have him "running as well as that watch" he sold him.
At the end of the night, Hawkeye and B.J. lie in wait for Frank. They grab him, and pull his shoes off, to reveal...painted toenails?
Frank is ashamed, and B.J. asks if that isn't Margaret's color. Frank fesses up and asks it not be mentioned in the report. Hawkeye agrees, writing that Frank suffers from some discoloration of the toenails "due to combat action with a hostile manicurist."
Radar ends his letter to his mother, telling her how much he misses her.
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- Another episode in the "letter home" narrative format. This time, it's Radar's turn.
- Radar's math is off. With 200 people in camp, there would be 2,000 toes to inspect - not 20,000.
- Gwen Farrell is credited as "Nurse Able", but - unless she's in the deep background in a crowd scene - she is not evident anywhere in the aired version.
- Lynne Marie Stewart (as Nurse Fox) is the nurse who immediately gets up just as Radar sits down in the mess tent.
- Hawkeye's line to Radar "Come along, Robin" is a reference to DC Comic's Batman.
- Hawkeye's line to Radar "Lead on, MacDuff" is an often misquoted reference from Shakespeare's Macbeth. It should be "Lay on, MacDuff."
- Klinger remarks on Matthew Ridgeway as commanding general in Korea. He held that post from April 1951-May 1952; yet B.J. came to Korea September 1952.
- Hawkeye tells Radar that the law requires a third party present when a male doctor examines a female patient when Hawkeye is examining Margaret's feet. However, back in Season 3 ("Check-Up"), he gives Margaret a complete physical alone with her in her tent.
- Klinger is writing a letter to then-President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower as if he is already in office (referring to past letters he wrote to then-President Truman). President Eisenhower took office January 20, 1953. The election that put him in office took place November 4, 1952, so this episode could have taken place any time between those two dates.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- William Christopher as Father Mulcahy
- John Fujioka as Colonel Kim
- Redmond Gleeson as Sergeant Callan
- Rollin Moriyama as General Park
- Byron Chung as North Korean Soldier
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Nurse Fox (as Lynn Marie Stewart)
- Gwen Farrell as Nurse Able
Uncredited appearances:
- Todd Susman as the P.A. announcer
- Kellye Nakahara (in the mess tent)
- Dennis Troy (in the mess tent)
- Jeff Maxwell (playing football)
- Roy Goldman (in the compound; he also salutes Hawkeye for no particular reason)