Period of Adjustment is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H, also the 179th overall series episode. Directed by Charles S. Dubin, the episode, written by Jim Mulligan and John Rappaport, originally aired on October 22, 1979 and was repeated May 19, 1980.
Synopsis[]
Klinger is still struggling with his new job as company clerk, and is catching heat for not being as efficient as Radar. Meanwhile, B.J. becomes depressed, after receiving a discouraging letter from Peg, about her and Erin's meeting Radar.
Full episode summary[]
In the immediate aftermath of Radar's leaving the 4077th, things are not going well, especially for Klinger, who still cannot get the hang of his new duties as company clerk; he is getting backlash from Margaret over failing to requisition more nurses, and from Charles as he dropped one of his letters. Moreover, the office is buried in unfinished paperwork, and Colonel Potter has to fend off calls from I-Corps about late or missing morning reports; Potter's own frustration with Klinger reaches the point where he considers that perhaps the job is too much for him saying, "We can't all be Radars", which doesn't help Klinger's morale.
Klinger then delivers mail to the Swamp, where B.J. gets a letter from Peg describing when she and Erin met Radar in San Francisco on his way home from Korea. Wearing his uniform, little Erin ran up to Radar and exclaimed, "Hi, Daddy!"; Peg writes that she found it to be funny, but B.J. is not laughing. During an OR session, Hawkeye tries to get B.J. to tell everyone about the meeting between Peg, Erin, and Radar, but he doesn't want to talk about it. Later in the Mess Tent, he sides with Klinger in being fed up with everyone still talking about how great Radar was. Father Mulcahy takes a neutral stance, advising the others to ease up on Klinger, while still admitting that Radar meant a lot to the 4077th.
That evening, when Charles relieves Hawkeye in Post-Op, he warns him that B.J. is in the Swamp and hitting the booze harder than normal, but Hawkeye only shrugs it off until he reaches the Swamp, where a drunken B.J. is still brooding over the letter; he implies that being away from his daughter is worse than what Hawkeye is going through being away from his dad, arguing that his daughter has grown and developed a lot in his absence, while Hawkeye's dad, who's in his early 60's, probably hasn't changed all that much. Hawkeye sternly reminds B.J. he's been stuck at the 4077th even longer and that "nobody wants out of here more than I do". When Hawkeye firmly asserts that B.J. is wasting his time with the alcohol saying, "it may get you drunk, but it won't get you home", a triggered B.J. smashes the still with a chair, punches Hawkeye in the face, and storms out.
Later, Potter and Margaret are looking for Klinger who has been missing since dinner, and stop by the Swamp only to find the still in a shambles and Charles tending to Hawkeye's shiner. When Hawkeye informs them that he doesn't know where B.J. went, they decide to pair up and look for both of them, with Margaret and Charles checking the Officers Club and one end of the camp; Potter and Hawkeye are about to search the other end of the camp before Hawkeye is called away to tend to a patient, so Potter searches alone.
Charles and Margaret go to Rosie's to ask about B.J. and Klinger; Rosie kicked them out earlier after they nearly stuck three Marines while throwing darts (and then peanuts and pretzels) at a drawing of Radar they pinned to the dartboard. When asked if she knows where they went, Rosie replies she neither knows nor cares.
During his search, Potter looks in the Mess Tent and finds Father Mulcahy, who tells Potter a story about a previous company clerk who was much worse than Klinger; Mulcahy relates how the young man drove everyone crazy with frequent questions and his inability to do anything right. Some actually thought the clerk was sent by the enemy to sabotage the unit. Mulcahy then goes on to tell about how Potter's predecessor, Henry Blake, took said clerk under his wing and helped him to grow into the job, and he subsequently got better. When it dawns on Potter that Mulcahy is talking about Radar, Mulcahy points out that when Potter first came to the 4077th he got the "broken-in model", and suggests that Klinger should be given the same consideration that Blake gave Radar. Potter is certain that it won't be easy, but he gets the point.
Charles and Margaret meet back up with Potter and fill him in on what they have learned - that Klinger and B.J. are together on a drunken spree. After Charles excludes himself from the search, Potter and Margaret decide to go to the orderly room and call the MPs, but when they arrive, they hear whooping and find B.J. and Klinger in Potter's office, completely wasted and partaking of more booze that they filched after breaking into Potter's liquor cabinet. Potter sends Margaret to get Hawkeye while Potter talks to Klinger alone.
Declaring that they should "clear the air", Potter sits Klinger down and makes the verbal observation that Klinger is no Radar, but then makes another comparison, in that Radar is no Klinger. Potter then recalls that his first days in command of the 4077th were not easy, as everyone had been fond of Henry, and were less than happy about Potter replacing him, adding that Potter was no better nor worse than Blake, just different. But the camp gave Potter the time to make the job his, and he apologetically admits that he forgot about that when Klinger replaced Radar. He tells Klinger that he needs the time to settle in to his new job, and offers his help should Klinger need it. He then declares Radar's office closed and Klinger's open, at which point Klinger salutes the Colonel and promptly passes out. Potter remarks that they'll open tomorrow.
Hawkeye arrives, puts on his helmet for protection, and cautiously enters Potter's office to talk to B.J., who apologizes for hitting "the best friend I ever had". B.J. then starts tearing up over the reality that he was not the first one that Erin called "Daddy". Hawkeye reassures B.J. that it could have been anyone in a uniform, which B.J. understands, although he knows that even if he goes home immediately, he will have missed out on Erin's infancy, which he will never get back. He then reveals that he's so jealous over Radar's going home that he almost hates him, adding that he even envies Trapper even though they've never met. B.J. collapses into sobs after Hawkeye quietly promises: "You'll go home...one day we'll all go home".
Epilogue[]
Some time later, and with Klinger's help, Hawkeye and B.J. rebuild the still in the Swamp. With the first yield from the refurbished contraption, they give Klinger "the honor of the first belt" in recognition of his resourcefulness and underhandedness in obtaining the needed parts. After Klinger takes a sip - and recoils from the taste, B.J. proposes a toast saying, "Here's mud in your eye," to which Hawkeye responds, "Beats knuckles any day."
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- When Potter, Hawkeye, Margaret, and Charles are about to go searching for B.J. and Klinger, they decide to split up, with Potter, indicating Hawkeye, saying "I'll take the great John L. with me", which is a reference to John L. Sullivan, a champion bare-knuckle fighter before the turn of the 20th century.
- During his discussion with Father Mulcahy about Klinger, Potter says, "You wouldn't lie to a Presbyterian, would you?". When Potter first arrived at the 4077th, he identified as Methodist, even asking Mulcahy if there were any other Methodists in camp; Mulcahy replied there were "two or three", to which Potter remarked, "Good. I hate to sing alone".
- The IMDb entries for this episode and for Gwen Farrell list her character as Nurse Able; however, as can be seen from the onscreen credits, she is simply billed as "nurse". She could be the nurse who comes into O.R. to say there's one more patient and he looks bad. She is not addressed by name, so until some confirmation can be found by looking at the script, there is no basis for concluding that her character here is named Able.
- Hawkeye instructs Baker to administer levophed. However, the drug is only introduced to the MASH and approved for use much later, in Season 10 "The Birthday Girls". In that episode, Margaret is responsible for instructing her nurses on how to use the drug properly.
- This is the second time Hawkeye has been assaulted by his drunken best friend because said friend was missing his family back home. In "Mail Call", Trapper John McIntyre also receives a letter from home that makes him so homesick he attempts to desert. When Hawkeye tries to stop him, Trapper knocks him down with his fully-packed duffel bag and tries to storm out of the tent. The situation is defused by the arrival of a recently humiliated Frank Burns, and Hawkeye stuffs Trapper's bag into his foot locker as the two friends laugh over Frank's latest failed scheme.
- In the opening scene, when they list who is starring in the TV show, the credits continue to show Gary Burghoff, despite his leaving the show in “Good-Bye Radar: Part 2”.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Eileen Saki as Rosie
- Jan Jorden as Nurse Baker
- Jeff Maxwell as Igor Straminsky
- Gwen Farrell as Nurse (might be the one who announces there is one more patient for the O.R. and he looks bad)
- Uncredited appearances:
- Jennifer Davis
- Laurie Bates - mess tent
- Kellye Nakahara - O.R.
- Roy Goldman - mess tent (helping Igor serve dinner)