SPOILER WARNING: THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR MULTIPLE EPISODES OF M*A*S*H. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. SILLY MORTAL!
This episode just reaired on Hallmark Channel. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid, and I must say, it has held up to the test of time astonishingly well.
The episode is quite simple. A soldier from San Antonio, Private Rich, gets shrapnel in his throat and goes to the 4077th for a tracheostomy -- strictly speaking the term tracheotomy is an emergency procedure to keep the airway clear whereas a tracheostomy is the creation of a breathing hole for a longer period of time, and yes the difference will become more relevant further on in this review. Rich has a bad night, whereby the crew discovers a previously undiagnosed fracture in his larynx. Private Rich has a 2nd emergency surgery, begins his recovery, and the episode ends with him going on to Kinpo for a flight stateside. While all this is happening, the staff of the 4077th simply do what they are known for doing: they bicker, they act silly, Klinger wears dresses, and Colonel Potter has a moving marriage- drama which Radar resolves.
The brilliance of this episode lies not in the story itself, but how it was told: from the POV of the soldier in question, literally. For much of the episode, the camera is at bed-level. The episode breaks the traditional "180-rule" more than once. The segues are hazy, with fadeouts that come too soon or too late. There is no exposition of what the soldier is experiencing -- we find out by being told by the hospital staff after it has happened. The center-frame of all scenes is the midpoint of the soldier's visual field. We don't know what is happening, why there is a complication, etc.
In other words, we experience what Private Rich experiences, in real-time.
I for one find this episode to be one of the singly most claustrophobic episodes of any television series I have ever seen, and I rank it up there with Father Mulchay's field tracheotomy (see, I told you that the difference between the two would be relevant!) where he uses a pen-cap to save a soldier's life. I rank it up there with the series finale which, for sheer historic importance, is in the top-10. I rank it up there with Movies Tonight, which I believe is a vastly overlooked bit of musical genius ("I don't want no more of Army life, gee ma I wanna go home."). And of course, the single most powerful bit of television ever filmed: Abyssinia, Henry.
Enough said.
This episode just reaired on Hallmark Channel. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid, and I must say, it has held up to the test of time astonishingly well.
The episode is quite simple. A soldier from San Antonio, Private Rich, gets shrapnel in his throat and goes to the 4077th for a tracheostomy -- strictly speaking the term tracheotomy is an emergency procedure to keep the airway clear whereas a tracheostomy is the creation of a breathing hole for a longer period of time, and yes the difference will become more relevant further on in this review. Rich has a bad night, whereby the crew discovers a previously undiagnosed fracture in his larynx. Private Rich has a 2nd emergency surgery, begins his recovery, and the episode ends with him going on to Kinpo for a flight stateside. While all this is happening, the staff of the 4077th simply do what they are known for doing: they bicker, they act silly, Klinger wears dresses, and Colonel Potter has a moving marriage- drama which Radar resolves.
The brilliance of this episode lies not in the story itself, but how it was told: from the POV of the soldier in question, literally. For much of the episode, the camera is at bed-level. The episode breaks the traditional "180-rule" more than once. The segues are hazy, with fadeouts that come too soon or too late. There is no exposition of what the soldier is experiencing -- we find out by being told by the hospital staff after it has happened. The center-frame of all scenes is the midpoint of the soldier's visual field. We don't know what is happening, why there is a complication, etc.
In other words, we experience what Private Rich experiences, in real-time.
I for one find this episode to be one of the singly most claustrophobic episodes of any television series I have ever seen, and I rank it up there with Father Mulchay's field tracheotomy (see, I told you that the difference between the two would be relevant!) where he uses a pen-cap to save a soldier's life. I rank it up there with the series finale which, for sheer historic importance, is in the top-10. I rank it up there with Movies Tonight, which I believe is a vastly overlooked bit of musical genius ("I don't want no more of Army life, gee ma I wanna go home."). And of course, the single most powerful bit of television ever filmed: Abyssinia, Henry.
Enough said.