They Call the Wind Korea was the eighth episode of Season 7 of M*A*S*H, also the 155th overall series episode. The episode, which was written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, was directed by Charles S. Dubin. The episode originally aired on CBS-TV on October 30, 1978.
Synopsis[]
The 4077th battens down their hatches in anticipation of a strong wind storm heading their way, while Charles is adamant about getting to Seoul for some R&R.
Full episode summary[]
A Manchurian storm with heavy winds and freezing temps is about to hit the 4077th. Potter has Radar make the necessary adjustments to brace for the storm. Charles comes into Potter's office demanding to know where his chopper is to take him to Seoul for his first vacation since transferring to the 4077th; Potter surmises that with the impending storm all flights are grounded, but then has Radar sign out a Jeep for him. Charles attempts to have Klinger get everything ready and drive him to Seoul. Klinger, citing the storm's arrival, refuses, and no amount of money from Charles will change his mind, but when Potter generously offers to let Klinger stay in Seoul overnight if he takes Charles out of his hair, Klinger changes his mind.
Radar is securing his animals, and B.J. is outside the Swamp tying down the tent while Hawkeye is inside laying on his cot, more relaxed as he knows the storm means no incoming wounded. Nurse Bigelow pays a quick visit to Hawkeye to remind him about their date that night, but just as soon as Bigelow steps back outside, Margaret, already in high gear getting everything else secured, screams at her to get back to work.
On the way to Seoul, Klinger and Charles get stopped at a checkpoint, and one of the MPs tells them that a convoy is using the main road, delaying all traffic by at least three hours. Again, Charles is devastated, but the MP gives them an alternate route. The directions are very complicated, but Charles is in too much of a hurry to have them written down and, repeatedly shouting "Gotta make time! Gotta make time!", orders Klinger to take the alternate route. Naturally, it takes little time for the two of them to get hopelessly lost, and they soon come across an overturned troop truck; when Klinger hears some wailing from nearby, Charles reluctantly allows him to check it out, and he finds several injured Greek soldiers inside and nearby. Having to rely on his own knowledge, and using only what few supplies are in his doctor bag, Charles performs emergency treatments on the soldiers and orders Klinger to tear up his custom-made silk shirts for bandages. Charles is able to stabilize the soldiers, and to his own surprise successfully used a cardiac needle to reinflate a soldier's collapsed lung.
Back in camp, Hawkeye and B.J. are tending to the few patients left in Post Op when they hear the water tower crash to the ground, and people are hurt, including Nurse Bigelow, whom Margaret had ordered to help secure the tower. Hawkeye and B.J. tend to the injured, and as they finish, Hawkeye tries to comfort Margaret, who is kicking herself for ordering Bigelow and the other nurses on the tower for detail. But then Potter comes in with another group of injured: a chopper pilot and a spotter who were out looking for a Greek troop truck - presumably the same one that Klinger and Charles found. They go back into the OR for more surgery, where they deal with a brief power failure and two more casualties: a villager trapped in his house when it collapsed around him, and a young boy who chased his frightened livestock into a mine field.
The next day dawns, and with the storm passed, Charles sends Klinger off to the west and over a nearby ridge to find help. Klinger reluctantly walks off, but he only gets a few yards away when his eyes come to rest on.. (wait for it...) the 4077th. In disbelief, Klinger realizes that they were going around in circles and that they were only 200 yards away from camp; in Klinger's words, they nearly froze to death in their own back yard.
They bring the soldiers to camp, and Charles fills Potter in on what happened during the night, conveniently excluding the fact that they were very close by until Klinger brought it up. Potter offers that Charles can try again to go to Seoul as he still has two days left of his R&R, but Charles only strides wearily toward the Swamp to catch up on some sleep, paraphrasing John Howard Payne's famous quote:
"Be it ever so crumbled, there is no place like home."
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- There's a great moment with Potter and Radar as they prepare the 4077th for the storm. Radar is ahead of Potter at every turn, except for once. Potter is delighted and yells "A-ha! Gotcha! I was gonna say, 'nail down the windows in Post Op'!" Radar is frustrated, but Potter is delighted.
- In the previous episode, "None Like It Hot", the camp was in the middle of a heat wave. This rapid change of climate is partly explained by the fact that the broadcast sequence of the episodes in Season 7 is very different from the production sequence. "They Call the Wind Korea" was actually produced earlier on, 3 episodes before. However, the weather experienced by the MASH was very much a matter of whimsical choice exercised by the screenwriters. Ken Levine, who wrote many of the Season 7 episodes, commented on his blog that, on some occasions, the cast got very picky about the lines they were given, so the screenwriters accommodated their concerns but made a change of their own: they changed the weather to make it a "cold show". So the cast all had to wear their warm parkas around fires in the middle of the blazing sun in the outdoor set. After that, they didn't get any further complaints.[1]
- After the storm, when Hawkeye visits Post-Op to visit Nurse Bigelow, he's wearing the sweater his sister made for him back in Season 2 ("Mail Call"). This sister stopped being mentioned after Season 4, and Hawkeye was retconned to be an only child.
- For some strange reason, Charles's face is dirty when he and Klinger make it back to camp at the end of the episode. Right up until his previous scene- which only took place earlier that same day - he was clean as a whistle.
Recurring cast/Guest stars[]
- Enid Kent as Nurse Bigelow
- Paul Cavonis as Sergeant Cutrifiotis
- Tom Dever as M.P.
- Randy Stumpf as Greek Soldier
Gallery[]
