M*A*S*HCast 150 – None Like It Hot

6 responses to “M*A*S*HCast 150 – None Like It Hot”

1. Fun episode. As you say, the weather around the camp swings wildly. Maybe COBRA is testing their weather control machine in the vicinity? This is almost a sort of reverse version of the long underwear episode from earlier times.

   I can remember ‘tonsillectomy’ being a frequent concern growing up, like quicksand. I think a lot of this was built off the Brady Bunch episode. In that episode, the pediatrician (to show Cindy how simple the exam is) looks at an asymptomatic Mrs. Brady’s throat and says ‘your tonsils have to come out too Mrs. Brady’. That guy had a yacht payment due.

   Tonsils do still get taken out. But there are more guidelines to get there than one exam. Frequent throat infections and interfering with sleep/feeding/swallowing, for example are indications. It has some risk – you are carving well-vascularized structures out of a rich vascular bed after all – so you can rebleed and even VERY PROFOUNDLY rebleed – trust me. So it isn’t done willy-nilly. As for pain, it can be painful but I think no more than other surgeries. But you do need to get the pain under control so the patient can drink and stay hydrated.

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   1. Oh man, the Weather Dominator? My childhood…

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2. I am very fond of the hot or cold episodes of MASH, there is just something about watching the characters having to deal with the elements too, in addition to everything else they have to face. And right now – I can relate to this episode in particular on a very personal level, because we’re having a heat wave. A horrible heat wave…
   Never in my lifetime has it been this hot in September. And the humidity, don’t even get me started on that! Everything is just dripping. Dripping! And the whole world smells of rotting fruit, because no one has the energy to tidy up their gardens, so all the apples and pears are just slowly rotting on the lawns. Yuck!
   This is northern Europe, we are people are born from ice and darkness, we live in houses built to keep heat in, where air conditioning is not a thing. We are melting!
   I can usually relate to Margaret a lot, but never have I related to her more than when she is standing in line for the tub, staring at Igor with murder in her eyes when he tells her Mickey says the time isn’t up yet. That is basically how I look a people all the time now. Long gone is my usual pleasant demeanor and soft gazes that said “Hello, fellow human, how can I help you?” Now, my eyes scream “Annoy me, and I will end you”.
   So, to summarize, everything sucks and I would do some morally very questionable things for some air conditioning right now. And also jump into someone else’s cold, dirty bathwater, I would not be above that either.

   Anyway, other than the fact that “None like it hot” speaks to my sweating, suffering soul right now, I think it’s a fun one! The dramatic episodes where the stakes are high are always my favorites, but it’s also nice to have this kind of episode as a palete cleanser. 🙂
   The whole thing with everyone wanting to get into a tub of cold water makes me think of those old treatments in mental hospitals, when they would put the patients in ice cold of super hot baths to cure them . It works with the theme for the episode, with the heat driving everyone insane. And not just the heat, the pressure they are all constantly under too.

   It’s interesting how Klinger just has to put on a little show in front of everyone, give it a little extra panache. This is a problem I have with Klinger as a character, actually, he keeps trying to find ways to get out, but there is always this level of performance to this attempts, which make them feel not very serious. It’s usually like “oh well, that didn’t work, what will I try tomorrow?” I of course get what they wanted to do with the character of Klinger, but I wish we would have seen more layers of him, where his longing to get out was treated more seriously, and all of his shenanigans as a defense mechanism was explored more.
   But here, in a lighthearted episode, his performance works well and it’s fun to watch.

   To end on a superficial note – Loretta Swit can rock a towel like no one else, she looks great. And maybe Margaret needs to calm her nerves with a plain piece of bread in the mess tent after Klinger got into the tub with her, and a talk with her good friend Igor. 🙂

   This was such a fun episode to listen too, it did cheer me up and made me forget about my own misery for a while.

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3. Two things that have (almost) nothing to do with the episode:

   1. My favorite flavor of Ice Cream is is Cookie Dough, which we have a family in-joke about. When we bought our house down here, it was from owners that were moving to Germany. They had a guinea pig, which was not allowed to be taken (the dog was fine) so we got him in the deal. His name was “Cookie Dough” so we now refer to that flavor of ice cream as “Rodent”. We get interesting looks in Publix when talking about it. (Chocolate-Peanut Butter is referred to as “Dog Death.) Yes, we’re a strange family.

   2. If you and Kelley ever decide to take in St. Augustine, let me know. That’s only about half an hour from me. 😀

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4. I’m guessing it was fairly easy to get ice cream from the Navy, if you had the right connection, because the U.S. Navy used to have ships in their fleets whose sole purpose was to make ice cream! Sailors dubbed them “Gedunk Ships”, and they were first deployed in World War II, to make life in combat a little more bearable for the sailors. As to how they kept it cold on the trip to the 4077th, maybe they used some kind of insulated vacuum package, like they would use to preserve organs for transplant? There would certainly be nothing unusual about an apparent medical parcel being rushed to a surgical unit, so it would probably get priority shipping.

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5. In the later seasons, there was so much more dramedy and straight drama, that these “fluff” episodes were a bigger piece of fresh air. Especially when so well done.

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