This is a dark episode, and one I wouldn't recommend as an introductory episode to someone keen to understand the M*A*S*H phenomenon. It's hard to see where a laugh track could plausibly fit in the dramatic and heart-breaking scenes between Hawkeye and Radar. In this episode Radar is no longer a boy. He tries to be a man on a mission in Seoul.
5 Reviews
Hawkeye and Radar
coreycitn6311 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Fallen Idol was one of the best episodes cause it deals with the close relationship between Hawkeye and Radar. Radar always sees Hawkeye as superhuman and could never fails in his eyes. Hawkeye encourages Radar to go off to Seoul and lose his virginity but on the way Radar gets shot and sent to the 4077 for surgery. Hawkeye operates on Radar then is wrecked with soul crushing guilt. Hawkeye attempts to overcome his guilt by getting so drunk he got sick and could not complete an operation and Winchester had to step in while Hawkeye throws up. Radar finds out about this and he is crushed to see his hero fails. When Hawkeye and Radar meets Radar expresses his disappointment and Hawkeye responds with anger and tells Radar to grow up and he is not here for his hero worship. Although it was awful it was a necessary thing to do cause Radar now sees Hawkeye as human. A fantastic touch at the end where Radar gets a Purple Heart and Hawkeye salutes him.
Excellent.
PWNYCNY20 July 2008
This is one of the best episodes of this series, which for a series that ran for eleven years is saying a lot. Powerful acting coupled with an excellent script makes this episode worthy of special mention. Although a comedy, MASH covers many themes that portray various aspects of the human condition, here the theme being hero worship and what happens when your hero fails and you are forced to confront the reality of the situation, that your hero has imperfections and could even let you down. Oh how smug one can get when they believe that they can rely on someone else to help them out until the time comes when help is needed and the "hero" fails. Okay, it's not comedy, but in this case it's better than comedy because it's dramatic, compelling and real.
Hawkeye Brought to His Knees for a While
Hitchcoc27 March 2015
This is certainly one of the better episodes of MASH. As I have mentioned in other reviews, Hawkeye's behavior is sometimes a little venomous. He is usually the one delivering the shots with little regard for the consequences. He manages to treat the nurses like chattel and maintain a superior presence in nearly every situation. It was a real master stroke to allow him to make an ass of himself. Radar wants to have some male experiences while in the Army. While B.J. is advising him to just wait, Hawkeye insists that he head for the read light district in Seoul. While on the trip he comes under mortar fire and is brought back to the MASH unit in pretty bad shape. Hawkeye feels incredible guilt and, after treating the diminutive company clerk, goes out and get smashed. So much that the next day he struggles to operate and has to leave the OR to throw up. When Radar confronts him with how disappointed he is, Hawkeye lays into him, telling him what a naive little boy he is. What transpires after that is both comedic and very touching. It's what made this series so good at times.
One of the Worst of the Series
michaelfscotto26 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The show started its steady demise at the loss of McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers. One of the worst results of the changes was the demise of Hawkeye's character. He went from the best chest-cutter in Southeast Asia to the worst surgeon at the 4077. Along the way, he had to be "put in his place" by various characters.
Radar's character started as an enigma. He was sometimes a sneaky, shrewd manipulator and other times a naive child. It was handled delicately early on in the series, always keeping us guessing, but decayed into a predictable pattern until his exit in Season 8.
In this episode Radar is used to knock Hawkeye down a few more notches. So,early in Season 6 Pierce is overtaken by Charles as the best surgeon (if that hadn't already happened with BJ's character) and brought to his knees by a teenager from IA.
In terms of a series "goof," this is not the first time Hawkeye practiced surgery with a hangover (as did other surgeons). So, the writers took something that we understood was part of life in a MASH and turned into some sort of horrifyingly unique act on Hawkeye's part. In an early episode, Henry suggests he take a patient because Hawkeye had had a couple of drinks. Rather common stuff.
The emotion-filled scene of Hawkeye chastising Radar for his childish hero-worship almost makes me feel sorry for Pierce. He tried to explain that he is human and Radar will have none of it. I'm somewhat glad Hawkeye gave it to him. Radar is a bit of a jerk in this scene. It's a tough scene to stomach, only surpassed in its nausea-creating attempt at profundity by the "now we're equals" scene that followed.
Radar's character started as an enigma. He was sometimes a sneaky, shrewd manipulator and other times a naive child. It was handled delicately early on in the series, always keeping us guessing, but decayed into a predictable pattern until his exit in Season 8.
In this episode Radar is used to knock Hawkeye down a few more notches. So,early in Season 6 Pierce is overtaken by Charles as the best surgeon (if that hadn't already happened with BJ's character) and brought to his knees by a teenager from IA.
In terms of a series "goof," this is not the first time Hawkeye practiced surgery with a hangover (as did other surgeons). So, the writers took something that we understood was part of life in a MASH and turned into some sort of horrifyingly unique act on Hawkeye's part. In an early episode, Henry suggests he take a patient because Hawkeye had had a couple of drinks. Rather common stuff.
The emotion-filled scene of Hawkeye chastising Radar for his childish hero-worship almost makes me feel sorry for Pierce. He tried to explain that he is human and Radar will have none of it. I'm somewhat glad Hawkeye gave it to him. Radar is a bit of a jerk in this scene. It's a tough scene to stomach, only surpassed in its nausea-creating attempt at profundity by the "now we're equals" scene that followed.
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