White Gold is the 23rd episode of Season 3 of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H, also the 71st overall episode. Written by Larry Gelbart and Simon Munter and directed by Hy Averback, it originally aired on March 11, 1975.
Synopsis[]
Colonel Flagg blows into camp trying to obtain penicillin to barter for information.
Plot summary[]
The Army's supplies of penicillin are low, and thefts are high. For its medicinal value in treating infections, and because it gets top dollar on the black market, the drug has earned the nickname "white gold." A trio of soldiers dressed in spy gear is caught breaking into the 4077th's emergency ration. One is captured, who refuses to talk, and offers only a dog tag with the name of Perkins as identification. Radar traces the tag and learns it belonged to another soldier killed in action.
Lieutenant Colonel Flagg learns of the break-in and comes to the camp to investigate. Left alone to question the injured soldier (who suffered a cracked rib during his capture), Flagg tells him "Get lost!", basically ordering him to escape, which he gladly does. Trashing the tent and injuring himself, Flagg insists there was a struggle and promises to connect the incident to his latest case: studying penicillin turning up on the black market. (Flagg knows this to be happening — because he's been supplying the medicine to informants.)
Later, Klinger discovers someone searching through the supplies again and alerts Hawkeye and Trapper. The three of them rush the intruder, who turns out to be Flagg. He says he needs penicillin to barter for information, which he reasons will ultimately lead to fewer battles and fewer casualties. He insists he isn't leaving the camp without it.
Recaptured, the soldier (whose name is disclosed as Johnson) explains to the M*A*S*Hers who he really is: an Army medic with the 415th Infantry Regiment, who has been stealing small amounts of the drug to immediately treat soldiers on the front lines. Henry offers to share any surplus penicillin the camp has in the future — on the condition that Johnson and his buddies ask them for it.
Hawkeye and Trapper run into Flagg in the mess tent. As Trapper warns Flagg about the dangers of the breakfast offerings, Hawkeye slips some pills into his coffee. Later, we see Flagg on an operating table, with Hawkeye and a nurse standing over him in surgical whites while Trapper does the anesthesia — the pills gave Flagg symptoms of appendicitis, and they plan on removing his appendix to keep him from making off with their penicillin.
In a final scene usually cut from syndicated airings, Flagg is in Post Op recovering from his surgery. As Hawkeye and Trapper approach, he confronts them about their chicanery with the coffee and demands to know where the penicillin is. They assure him it's safely hidden, as well as being to distributed to various rumps around Post Op — and Flagg's is next.
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- Margaret has the same blue dressing gown with the red trim she wore in "Chief Surgeon Who?" Later on, when she visits Flagg, Hawkeye, and Trapper in Pre Op (where Flagg is getting his head bandaged again), she wears a pink robe.
- Frank is seen smoking a pipe in this episode, the only episode in which he is seen with one.
- The moral standards for the show were much more lax in the earlier seasons compared to later ones, as evidenced by this episode, where the false appendicitis was played for laughs and the surgery seemingly justified (Henry even seems to encourage it). In a future episode, "Preventative Medicine", Hawkeye uses the same technique to incapacitate an inept colonel whose rash actions on the battlefield get too many soldiers unnecessarily wounded or killed. Instead of going along with the plan as Trapper did, however, B.J. Hunnicutt vehemently condemns Hawkeye's actions and takes no part in it, and even Hawkeye shows no great satisfaction after the fact.
- With the exception of a stock shot of a helicopter landing, this episode is shot entirely in the studio.
- Stafford Repp may look familiar to fans of the Batman TV show as Chief O'Hara. This was his last TV role and was first broadcast four months after his death.
- Trapper refers to Flagg's previous visit by reminding the Colonel how he broke his own arm ("A Smattering of Intelligence"). Hawkeye then mentions that Flagg rigged a Jeep to run himself over. If this did happen during his visit, it didn't happen onscreen.
- In the final scene, Flagg is in Post Op awaiting an injection of the penicillin he tried to pilfer. He is seen practically lying on his stomach, which would be quite painful right after abdominal surgery.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Edward Winter as Col. Flagg
- Jamie Farr as Klinger
- Hilly Hicks as Corporal Perkins/Johnson
- William Christopher as Father Mulcahy
- Stafford Repp as Sergeant Clay
- Danil Torppe as Morris
- Michael A. Salcido as Rodriguez
Uncredited:
- Jeff Maxwell as Igor (as an extra)