Season 6, Episode 21: Temporary Duty
Special Guest Stars: Scott Lawrence and Clinton Robison
Air Date: February 13, 1978
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David Ogden Stiers guest starred on Fraiser in 2003. He played the character Dr. Leland Barton.
I really like Temporary Duty, it has a great balance between comedy and some real character development. As much as I enjoy Hawkeye as a character, it is nice to not have him around for once, for the other characters to get some focus. BJ and Charles together is some nice dynamics, and I enjoy the two of them growing closer thanks to their new, annoying tent mate.
But Margaret’s storyline is by far the most interesting one, so much about her is explained in this episode. In Lorraine, we see how Margaret used to be, before Major Houlihan took over, and she felt that she needed to protect herself with walls made of ice and iron.
It’s so interesting how uncomfortable she is in the mess tent, when Lorraine is talking about hiding notes in their bras. Margaret has worked so hard to gain respect in camp, for people to see her as the professional that she is, so I completely understand why she does not want her colleagues to think of her as anything but that.
I love every glimpse we get about Margaret’s past, that she was always the daughter of Howitzer Al with everything that meant, but also this rebellious spirit. A party girl thrown into an incredibly dangerous and frightening situation where – again – she had to protect herself. She is not cold and hard for the sake of being cold and hard, she is terrified of what will happen to the women she is in charge of otherwise. And also of what will happen to the patients if the nurses aren’t on top of their game, if she allows them to slack off. What will happen to her if she allows people to get close, if she gives her heart away and doesn’t protect herself.
Her line about how Donald is only a toy soldier she plays with sometimes just gets me every time. That is what her whole marriage is, isn’t it? Just pretend. She and Donald don’t have a real life together, their whole relationship is built of weekends here and there (They could have had ten whole days if Donald hadn’t been such a show off at the Olympics! 🙂 ), in hotel rooms and restaurants in cities they don’t live in. They don’t have a everyday life together, no cups of coffee at the kitchen table on slow, rainy Sunday mornings. No sitting together on the couch after a long day at work, no mutual friends, no barbecues in the backyard. They don’t even know each other in the “real world”. For Margaret, I think Donald is more of a symbol of what her life could potentially be one day, maybe the feelings she has for him is more a longing to belong than anything else.
I’m thinking that maybe she feels like admitting to having friends weakens her. “I’m a Major, I work hard, I don’t need friends”. And yet we know how much she longs to belong, to be part of a group. She has the whole denial-routine down, as BJ points out to Hawkeye in Comrades in Arms, and she forgets that Lorraine can see past that, she knows the big, soft heart that hides underneath the Major-persona, the true essence of Margaret. In not too long she will refer to the people at the 4077 as her family, so deep down, I think she knows she has friends who cares for her and that she cares deeply about too, it’s just hard for her to admit and to take that first step to showing the people around her that she cares too.
Love the scene where she asks BJ and Charles to have coffee with her, how her whole body language is so tense and unsure, it’s an unusual sight. Beautiful acting by Loretta Swit!
Thank you for this episode, it was very enjoyable, as always! 🙂
The BJ and Charles relationship was only lightly touched, and in later seasons, we’ll get more of these two interacting.
I liked that cowboy character, he was fun to watch. This episode proves that M.A.S.H. could’ve had less Hawkeye in the show and it would’ve been fine.
#TeamBJ&Charles!
I’m so grateful that the decision was made to take Hawkeye out of this episode, which allowed it room to breath and really focus on Margaret, as well as let Charles have some much-appreciated character development. That final scene where Charles so gleefully hugs Hawkeye and tells him he missed him is a gem!
When Margaret tells Lorraine that she doesn’t have any friends at the 4077th, I didn’t take that to mean she didn’t have friendly acquaintances, like Hawkeye and BJ, but rather there was no one who could be a friend the way Lorraine is…someone with whom Margaret can let her hair down, get silly, and share secrets. And she’s right, really. Margaret is the only female senior staff officer in the camp, and none of the male officers could fill that role, nor could Margaret open herself up that way to any of her nurses. I think this would have been a golden opportunity to add actress Marcia Rodd to the cast and have Lorraine there to serve as Margaret’s BJ, so to speak. It would also have been fun to see Charles continued efforts to woo her.
And honestly, watching this episode, I think M*A*S*H* at this stage could have survived without Alan Alda. It would have been a huge adjustment, but Mike Farrell as an actor has proven he can command the spotlight when needed, so he could have stepped into that central role. Charles was really coming into his own as well now, and Margaret was transitioning into a truly multi-faceted character. They’d have needed a new surgeon, of course; maybe it was time to finally call Spearchucker up from the 4077th’s overnight shift (where in my head canon he and Ugly John still work).
I think the only thing I would have changed about this episode is that I’d have moved the bit about adding Boston to the sign post to the button scene, to symbolically show that Charles now appreciates being at the 4077th (as opposed to someplace even worse), thanks to Roy. Hawkeye and Bigelow could have pulled up in the jeep, and that’s when Charles could have welcomed him like the big, sloppy St. Bernard he truly is at heart. 😉
Great episode of Goober Cast, I mean MASH Cast! This episode is a fun change of pace. It’s sort of the mirror image of Season Four’s Hawkeye in which only Hawkeye appears and none of the other cast. I do think the show could have survived without Alan Alda given the strength of the remaining cast, but I’m glad he never left. It’s sort of like how Cheers could have gone on without Ted Danson but I’m glad they didn’t.
By the way, as far as how many years The Andy Griffith Shoe was on the air, it lasted eight seasons from 1960-1968, and then the spinoff or sequel series Mayberry RFD was on for three seasons from 1968-1971. So the two series combined were on for 11 years, the same length as MASH and Cheers. I would love it if Chris Franklin ever does an Andy Griffith/Mayberry Cast!
I’m more than willing to join in if Chris ever does decide to start up a Mayberry podcast. This is either a gift or a threat, depending on how my guest spots are perceived.
Great episode and great guests, who in my head are now known as Caff and Decaff (that’s a veiled plug for your podcast, Clinton).
Dupree’s enjoyment of the food is probably just due to getting something different. Chow halls get into a rotation of the same meals, and even if it’s good, people get tired of it.
Most medals are easily replaceable, as long as they didn’t melt down a Silver Star or anything else really cool.
I agree with the others here that Margaret’s statement about not having friends in the camp was more about her personal policy and camp demographics than it was her relationships. This episode does a good job of showing how hard it was to be military and female back then (not that it’s super easy now, you understand).
I think Duke is with Spearchucker and Ugly John on The Other Shift, which is the MASH equivalent of the Dark Side of the Moon. The PA announcer bunks with them.
Dupree is a bit much for me. I loved most of what he said — especially to Charles — but he’s so forward and presumptuous with people that I think in real life he’d get punched in the mouth occasionally. Of course, maybe he does, because he seems like he’d laugh it off.
My best friend back in Alabama uses cornpone expressions sometimes. I’ve probably shared my favorites on this network before, but I’m about to do so again.
Me: Are you hungry, Calvin?
Calvin: Hungry? I ain’t ate since a third grade picnic!
“It’s so hot, I was plowin’ in the field with the mules, the corn started poppin’, the mules thought it was snow and froze to death!”
I read an interview with George Lindsey. He said he never met Alda the whole time he was on the set. So maybe Alda did have some other commitment that caused the creation of this episode.
I’ve lived most of my life in Alabama. (Lindsey’s home state). A woman my wife went to high school with married a very well known musician in a well known band. The ceremony was private but the reception was public and we were invited. I happened to see Lindsey there. I got close to him but didn’t speak to or approach him. But let’s just say I think he had been out with Otis Campbell.
The idea of MASH 8063 sounds interesting. We’d have Roy as chief surgeon and Margaret’s friend as head nurse. I wonder how Potter’s friend the CO handles them.
I always thought it was strange they were always shorthanded but suddenly they can transfer in a new surgeon that easily.
I wonder if Potter took an initial liking to Dupree because he saw something of himself in the visiting surgeon. I can easily imagine a young, WWI-era Sherman Potter with his cavalry buddies getting drunk and riding around on their horses with no pants on. Another untold story from the Young Sherman Potter Chronicles.
Was this a pilot for a possible spin off? Felt that way.
So can MASH carry on without Hawkeye? Maybe, but it would be such a different show, even compared to the other cast replacements we’ve seen, that it would either be MASH 2.0, or peter out as its biggest hook would be gone. However, I think the novelty of episodes with no or reduced Hawkeye are great to give other characters the spotlight. There’s no shortage of episodes with the focus on Hawk, so yes, I’d like to have had more like this one.
As colorful as Dupree was, I really like Lorraine’s part in the episode more. She brought out the amorous side of Charles with his flirting. I’d say he’s “smitten” with her. Immediately attracted and wanting to learn about her. It was fun to see.
But the Lorraine-Margaret story was meaty dramatic stuff. We should have seen it coming when the first thing Margaret does is yell at her for messing up her work, before seeing who it is. That throwaway moment foreshadows the problems to come. Very sneaky, those MASH writers.