Season 8, Episode 4: Goodbye Radar Part 1
Special Guest Star: Lily!
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I’ve been looking forward to listening to your discussion of this episode for some time. For me, this is the period when MASH begins its slow decline. It was still the best-written series on television, but it lingered too long.
Burghoff was now in his mid-30s and much too old for his character. The other actors were also rapidly aging beyond any credibility of being on the front lines.
Radar’s departure & Klinger wearing regulation Army fatigues signal a final break from the series’ early & more anarchic seasons. I’m a firm believer in the phrase “timing is everything” & like most successful TV programs, MASH should have quit while it was ahead.
This is not to say that there aren’t a number of very fine episodes ahead, but the final seasons are (for me) bittersweet.
Other sitcoms that ran much too long:
Cheers
Murphy Brown
Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
Frasier
Three’s Company
Golden Girls
Modern Family
Arrested Development
good lord how late was his CCD CLASS? i was always done by 5!
GREAT episode with a wonderful fellow comrade in mashblr!! LOVED what Lily said about younger people watching mash because first of all its really really good! i have had that EXACT discussion with so many people, including mash fans from my parents’ generation who were bewildered to learn i’d gotten into it. like, do you not remember how good it was? you were there! it happened to you! such a good point. Lovely discussion about the episode too!! glad such a dedicated radar fan got the chance to tackle it hahaha.
If anyone reading this hasn’t checked out Lily’s ‘dear mash 1975’ project yet i STRONGLY urge you to do so, it’s genuinely one of the most wonderful things on the internet and i look forward to the day it’s turned into a big coffee table book or something.
>>> dearmash1975project.substack.com <<<
Great discussion. I agree the set of the airport seems like it must be from a movie. I remember when I first saw this episode and thinking it felt like Radar was in a different place than the usual environment we see on the show.
I like the post-Radar years, but I think the show lost a certain quality without Radar. He was the innocent young man through whose eyes we could experience what was happening, even if we wanted to be Hawkeye or BJ. But this episode and Part 2 do a nice job of wrapping up Radar’s story. Between him meeting a woman he might have a chance with when he goes home, to what he leaves behind in the next episode, as referenced much later in the penultimate episode of the series, we see Radar is growing up.
Oh, this was wonderful, loved hearing from Lily! That dramatic dad-backstory was amazing, thank you for sharing.
And what a delightful project with the letters, that sounds fascinating.
Speaking of liking the Season 1 the least – with you on that one Rob, there are very few episodes I enjoy – but I will say that one of the things I do like about it, is Radar.
I think early season Radar is so much more interesting than the one who almost faints when hearing about a calf being born. Okay, farm boy, calm down.
The way he just evolved backwards is so strange to me. I get that they wanted this young, naive character to balance out all the more mature, experienced ones, but they chose to make him so young and so naive in such strange ways. His innocence when it comes to all the horrors surrounding what he sees every day, and how that changes him, is very interesting, but that isn’t explored nearly enough, in my opinion.
And now that we say goodbye to him, it’s strange to say goodbye to an angry, middle aged man all of a sudden. I get that Gary Burghoff was tired, wanted out, but it’s a shame that we never got to say goodbye to the sweet character he did play for so long. It’s like Radar had a growth spurt of about 15 years in 15 minutes of screen time.
I can imagine it would be frustrating for him too, seeing how Margaret, for example, grew and evolved as a character. There was constant movement forward for her, but Radar was just moving backwards.
Also – Radar doesn’t really have any peaks and valleys during his final episodes on the show. He’s away, he comes back, he’s annoyed and that’s it. We don’t really get to go on a journey with him for his final appearances, and it’s a shame.
I would have liked for him to meet Patty in an earlier episode, so we could have seen him deal with that – finally having met someone he’s really into and vice versa, and having to let go of her after just a few hours. He would have a new perspective on love and what he wanted his life to be like after Korea, and there would have been some fun stuff to explore there, that didn’t only revolve around anger. A way for him to grow a little.
With that said – I do think the airport-scene is great! Wonderful casting for Patty, and their little budding romance is sweet. I may also have written Patty into one of my fics, set some years after Korea. They are married, have twin girls and a goat named Thumbelina. 🙂
It is amusing to me how Hawkeye is the most unstoic person ever. He will whine and complain, and take the opportunity to turn it into a little performance. I’m not sayin it didn’t hurt getting his finger caught, but it’s a side of him as a character that is just interesting to me. Love that Margaret knows this too, and calls him Doctor Martyr, only to turn concerned for real. Love their dynamics.
Reminds me of Comrades in Arms, when he’s like “Ahhh, my leg! My leg!” milking that situation too. Well, I guess it took his mind of thought of immediate death, if he’s in pain, he’s alive.
I like to watch MASH with my mom when I go to visit her. She’s a sweet elderly lady, and it’s always so much fun to see which scenes gets the biggest reactions out of her.
And one of the scenes that has made her the most angry (speaking of anger), is the “Radar gets pushed out of the jeep”-scene, she was very upset about that.
“But he was there first!”
“Yeah, I know, mom.”
“But they can’t leave him alone out there, he’s just a little guy!”
“Yeah, I know, mom.”
One of the scenes that makes her laugh the most is in next season, so I’ll get back to that, I’m sure the suspension is killing everyone! 😀
Yes, Radar is a bit of a pill in this episode … so far from ‘I’m partial to the fugue’ little guy we all love. I can imagine becoming sick of playing a kid. But I think Anson Williams was 40 and still playing high school student Potsie … nice work if you can get it.
I love hearing when MASH lines enter family lexicons – so many in my family!
But I have to protest. ‘The Fury’ is a fine movie. But it is clearly #3 on ‘head exploding’ movies … far behind Scanners and Deadly Friend. I will die on this hill.
Rob and Lily! – Great episode! Lily was a charming and insightful guest. I could listen to her stories about her father’s childhood “tragedies” all day. He reminds me of a sitcom character from the 80s. Delightful!
This has always been a favorite episode of mine because I love that we get to see a glimmer of Radar’s happily ever after. Radar now as a Jeep and a girlfriend waiting for him at home.
Great show, Rob and Lily! All I can think about is her dad panicking in school the next day, “Wait, what? It wasn’t a chicken? Who wasn’t a chicken?! What did I miss?!”
This is where I get shunned by the MASH community, but I was never a big fan of Radar. He was fine, but his gosh golly wore thin as the seasons went by. I feel Winchester nailed it when he once referred to Radar’s eternal adolescence.
So this surprisingly made me laugh. Right after Hawkeye gets his finger caught, he’s fussing and hurting and Margaret says “I’m sorry, Dr Martyr!” Between Loretta’s delivery and just that nickname, it just killed me. I don’t know what that says about my mood lately, but that was great!