M*A*S*H

This was a show that my parents used to watch every night at 11:00pm 19years ago. While they were watching, they were also waiting for me- then a clump of cells inside my mother- to turn into a human being. They always spoke about the show nostalgically and I was always curious about it. There was mention of it in Perks of Being a Wallflower, too. Then, one night a few months ago, they caught a couple of episodes of it on air and were filled with excitement. The ingenious idea of renting the episodes on DVD season by season and revisiting this masterpiece of a sitcom sprung. And now, all these years later, with fully developed seeing and hearing organs, I could watch it with them and see what all the fuss was about.

It took me only a couple of episodes to really start loving this show. It’s full of witty, quick, non pretentious dialogue. Set during the Korean war, M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is about doctors of the 4077^th MASH unit in Korea and their lives as the war brings the place crumbling down around them. Having said that, it is a humorous and yet realistic depiction of their struggles there. The characters are delightful. Each one of them is well written with a story of his own, a mind of his own and problems of his own. The story and the characters work together like a well-oiled engine. It’s ironic how a show set in wartime with 20 wounded soldiers being operated on in every episode and guns going off in the background can make you sympathise and feel all that pain and at the same time make you laugh so hard that your sides ache.

Of a total of 11 seasons, I’ve watched all the episodes up to season 3 with my parents. Here’s a brief description of all the characters:

Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce: Supremely charismatic, witty, humorous, warm hearted man who has his head screwed on straight. The best surgeon they’ve got .  A guy who doesn’t seem to take anything to do with the army seriously and is just there to have a good time while he does his job. A guy who knows what’s morally right and wrong and who would go out of his way to help someone who really needs it. A guy who seems to have the right outlook of the war. Also, he is very smooth with the ladies.

John McIntyre “Trapper”: Another stud of the 4077^th and Hawkeye’s best friend. Generous human being with a big heart, great sense of humour and an enthusiastic laugh. Has great command over his work as a surgeon and is easy to talk to. Loveable guy who’s always up to mischief. Again, always does the right thing and ensures he has his fun time. 

Hawkeye and Trapper make one hell of an irresistible duo.

Henry Blake: The unassuming Commanding Officer of the 4077^th MASH. A softy, a scatterbrain. Lost without his personal assistant Radar O’Reilly. On some occasions, lost on account of his personal assistant Radar O’Reilly. Almost always seen in his fishing cap, he’s not one for staunch military discipline and is a surgeon before he’s an army man. His leadership is loved none the less by everyone under him.

Major Frank Burns: A complete contrast to Hawkeye and Trapper. A despicable disciplinarian who’s unfortunately next in line as commanding officer. Having nearly no sense of humour, he’s the butt of several jokes and pranks. Ambitious and stingy, he considers himself the only true patriot on the premises. He’s not the best surgeon around and is constantly teased in the operating room much to his annoyance. 

Major Margaret ‘Hotlips’ Houlihan: The head nurse of the 4077^th, she’s headstrong, confident and patriotic. She enjoys discipline and finds it hard to tolerate nonsense from Hawkeye and Trapper. She’s perhaps the most masculine of all at the MASH but she can be as vain as a little girl. Attractive with a good heart, she insists on following military rules but has a soft spot for doing what is right when she needs to. 

Also, Hotlips and Burns have a secret relationship that everyone knows about.

Corporal Radar O’Reilly: A short, enlisted 17 year old assistant to Henry. He’s an innocent and efficient little man with a bottomless stomach and a keen love for all animals. He’s attached to Henry like a son is to his father in the most subtle way possible. He’s the owner of two adorable dimples and is perhaps the most easily lovable character there is. 

Maxwell Klinger: An enlisted member of the 4077^th, he hates the army and the MASH and spends his days trying to be sent home under the army’s Section 8 law. He tries to secure his section 8 psychiatric discharge by dressing up as a woman and trying to prove that he is mad. All his efforts are in vain but he never gives up.

Father Mulcahy: Innocent and soft spoken, he isn’t taken very seriously around the place. He’s very understanding of everyone’s problems and is partial to no one. An absolute darling, he’s the most pleasant personality within the compound.

Now, I will come to the reason I began telling you all of this. It has to do with the last episode of the third season. It began with Radar rushing into the operation room with news of Henry’s discharge from the Army. He was going home! Throughout the episode I was hoping that something would make him stay back but there were no Bollywood twists to the story. Calls to home were made, packing was done, celebrations followed and finally with a parting gift of a tailor-made suit from Hawk, Trapper and Radar, goodbyes were said. After a formal salute off and some sweet but good humoured last goodbyes the next morning, he got into the helicopter that would fly him to Tokyo where he’d board his flight back home. As tears filled Radar’s eyes, I began to mist up too.

The next morning, Radar stumbled weakly into the operation room with news. News that Henry’s plane was shot down. News that there were no survivors. 

I couldn’t help but cry in utter disbelief. It was bad enough we wouldn’t see him anymore in the seasons to come. Why did they have to kill him off? Sure, they were trying to prove a point. A point that war is cruel. I didn’t realise until that moment how much I appreciated and related to Henry’s character. If one were to ask someone like Frank Burns, he’d enumerate many faults in Henry’s character and leadership like his haphazardness, his lack of punctuality, his laid back attitude to some military laws and how he doesn’t hesitate to have fun. But even Frank Burns would (reluctantly) admit that he was a sincere human being with a huge, generous heart. You couldn’t possibly dislike him. I can only guess that it must have been emotional shooting the last scenes of that episode knowing they wouldn’t be shooting with Henry again. 

I’m not ready to watch the next season without Henry just yet.