Season 6, Episode 16: Patent 4077
Special Guest Star: Andrea Gaul
Air Date: January 10, 1978
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I really like these kind of MASH-episodes, where there is no guest star the plot centers around, it’s just the main cast. And Patent 4077 is a pretty neat little episode, I really enjoy it.
My favorite part is Margaret’s storyline (big shock, I know! 🙂 )! The ring obviously becomes something more than just a ring, it becomes a symbol for her whole marriage. A marriage that isn’t going great. And Margaret probably blames herself for that. In an upcoming episode, she tells Hawkeye “It’s all my fault. Look at the place I chose to have a marriage” (Or something like that), and I feel that goes for this episode too – she blames herself for the marriage falling apart. But here comes Klinger, he threw away the ring – the very symbol for her marriage – and now he’s to blame! And blaming someone else isn’t very noble and honorabel , but it’s a very human thing to do.
I really do dislike how she takes her frustrations out on her nurses, but I also kind of have to agree with her a little bit when it comes to the inventory… Thermometers aren’t the most important thing in a field hospital, I’m sure, but it does seem pretty important that inventory is correct…
It’s also quite sad how she immediately jumps to the conclusion that the whole ring-thing is a big joke, that her default setting is still that people are out to hurt her, to make fun of her. But also, it wasn’t that long ago that BJ and Hawkeye put Donald in a cast the night before their wedding, so yeah – I can see why she would jump to that conclusion, even though they are sort of friends now. Ish. 🙂
I really love both Jamie Farr and Loretta Swit in the scene in her tent. I love every time we see a serious Klinger, and I love how Farr plays it so calm and quiet. And I love how Margaret tears up, Loretta Swit is so good at showing us how important everything is to Margaret. She isn’t just being mean for the sake of being mean, she is truly hurting. And I like to think Margaret apologized to Klinger, that it just takes place off camera. 🙂
And agreed – that is one horrible shade of nail polish! I would think Margaret would go more for pink, or red. But also – in a place where everything is green and drab, I can see how it would make her happy to pull off her boots after a long shift and see her toes being all bright and happy 🙂
And also – Margaret must have amazing eyesight! That is a very long inscription on a small ring, so for her to tell that the “n” is missing without a magnifying glass? Good for your eyes, Margaret! 🙂
Charles’s lunch makes me sad, three hard boiled eggs without anything on them? Sad! 🙂
As always, I enjoyed listening to this conversation, thank you for another great episode!
The Klinger/ Margaret friendship is the most underrated in the whole series.
I think what I like most about this episode is that it more or less marks the start of when the producers really began to realize that Klinger could deliver more than just wackiness and one-liners. Jamie Farr is a very, very good actor who can bring out a poignancy in his performance that I think is only matched by Harry Morgan (which is probably why Klinger and Potter have so many memorable scenes together in the back half of the series. It’s in the latter seasons that Klinger, more than Radar ever was, truly becomes the Colonel’s “son” at the 4077). Max Klinger really accelerates his growth toward being a fully-developed character with this episode.
So why is it halfway through the war they suddenly need a better clamp?
Interesting I just saw the episode where the football player lost his leg and now they have an episode where they need the clamp to save a guy’s leg.
I like episodes where the second tier characters have a big part. Zale was trying to help, he just had no idea what he was doing with a surgical clamp. I guess Haymer got more to do this season with Jeff Maxwell on “hiatus”. I liked him better than Rizzo, wish he had stuck around for the duration.
BJ definitely had a different reaction than Trapper if offered a nurses for clamp trade.
I get it’s a TV show, but it’s a bit of a stretch to believe she didn’t recognize it wasn’t her ring until she saw the inscription. Maybe Donald got it from the same merchant.
I always liked the merchants who wandered through. Nice comic relief. Klinger almost losing the ring in the dishes was another funny trope.
Enjoyed your guest. We once had a stray Manx cat that hung around our house for a few weeks once. We named him Stubby.
Good point about Jeff. I have missed him and look forward to his return. Stubby is a great name for a Manx cat, the Manx term for them is stubbin so it’s definitely appropriate.
Great podcast episode and great comments by everyone this week. This episode is indeed fun for a mid-tier episode that is not well remembered. I agree with everyone that Klinger really shines here and that we get to see Jamie Farr show more of his acting skills. It’s fun seeing the relationship between Margaret and Klinger develop—especially from the vantage point of 2023 knowing that Loretta Swit and Jamie Farr have appeared together at conventions in recent years.
And they’ll be appearing at the Tampa Bay Comic Convention July 28th to 30th! Y’all come!
https://tampabaycomicconvention.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7uSkBhDGARIsAMCZNJsPG6m1GTI1BCUfd9wplhIp7-mH9CKcE1lM3jXnxylaQlJddajipVsaAmpbEALw_wcB
Great show, Rob and Andrea. Always nice to hear a British accent to class things up. Also, the Isle of Man sounds amazing. I’m scrolling Zillow for castles for rent. Think they have any 3 bedroom, 2 bath? Be nice to have a view, too.
A quick personal story regarding Klinger dumpster diving for Margaret’s lost ring: A few years ago, I was in Seattle with my family. We stayed at a nice hotel on the water and went sightseeing for the day. While gone, the cleaning staff came into our room and accidentally caught up my son’s Shawn the Sheep stuffy with the sheets. That night I noticed the stuffy was missing because at that age he wouldn’t go to sleep without it. When I say he wouldn’t go to sleep without it, that’s not an exaggeration. I went to the front desk, and they flagged down the cleaning crew right before they were leaving for the day. They took me to the laundry room, but no sheep. They said it may have been thrown out by mistake. There was only one option. I grabbed a hotel employee, borrowed a pair of rubber gloves, and we went out to the dumpster. He held the flashlight, and I hopped in. The first bag… no sheep. I grabbed another bag, felt around, then tore it open. There it was! I triumphantly held the dirty sheep aloft bathing in the moonlight like I had found the Arc of the Covenant and the Holy Grail at the same time. The hotel guy quietly said, “I can’t believe you found it.” I hopped out of the dumpster, looked him in the eye as I tried to think of something cool to say. “Where’s the closest bathroom?” was all I could muster.
Thank you very much. I hope your son appreciated your efforts to find Shawn the Sheep.
Hello Rob. I’ve always known KP and Kitchen Patrol. It’s basically when you’re washing dishes, preparing foods, and taking care of kitchen trash.
Yep! Great new guest (Andrea) and great MASHcast episode. I’m a terrible commenter lately, so I don’t know if I’ll get back quickly, but I wanted to say, KP duties are whatever the kitchen staff tell you they need done. At permanent bases, the military has automatic potato peelers now, but there’s always something to clean, you know?
Hi Captain! Happy to see your name here again, I was actually starting to worry… Take care!
I remember really liking this one. Both stories are very enjoyable in their own way. I really like episodes where characters come together to try to achieve something constructive like Hawkeye and BJ do with the clamp here. The Margaret story was interesting, as it shows that she still has reservations when it comes to Klinger, Hawkeye, and BJ. I do agree about the comparisons between her dressing down Klinger, and Hawkeye and BJ criticizing Zale, and how Klinger’s speech to Margaret could apply with Zale’s situation as well.
And now I’ll be thinking about how good that scene between Klinger and Zale could have been.
Is it just me, or does it feel like many people this episode are jerks to others for no good reason?
Margaret is mean to Klinger, but she left her ring wrapped in something that could look like garbage. Why not leave it in her tent if she was so worried?
Potter is mean on the phone to the engineers because they can’t just drop everything and make his needs a priority. From their point of view, with so little information, they wouldn’t even know if they could do it, or how long it would take. So of course they have other priorities they should focus on.
Hawkeye and BJ were mean to Zale, who was just trying to help. As far as we know, they gave him little actual instruction on what they needed.
Rob is mean to Chris…
Update – The scribble is mostly faded but you can still make out an 8. I couldn’t get a picture unfortunately though.