Season 8, Episode 5: Goodbye Radar Part 2
Special Guest Star: Ly Riordan
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With Radar now home, we are now left with only three characters (Hawkeye, Margaret, and Mulcahy) with a connection to both the book and the original movie.
not klinger?
Klinger was a creation of the TV show. He wasn’t in the original movie.
Such a great discussion. I’m so jealous that the MASHblr community is out there to give this series a fresh perspective and sincerely positive about it. It’s so great to put them on the show, and it’s a joy to hear you talk with them, Rob.
Having lived thru these episodes being aired live, it was truly remarkable how much the network played it up and made it “an event.” Before this, I can’t recall any TV show doing a push like this, and boy, it worked. This was a not-to-miss program, and probably was successful enough that the networks knew to follow this model as much as they could afterwards. Especially in the scarcity world of if you don’t see it, you might not catch it again, reruns and syndication notwithstanding.
You and Ly covered the story so well, I have nothing to add on that part. Just to say that experiencing it again, I had equal parts nostalgia and genuine feelings of the bittersweet story. I remembered the main beats, of course. But the subtler moments and the emotions that I experienced when watching it before came roaring back, with all new ones since I haven’t rewatched it in years, and the situation hits differently when you’re in your fifties rather than your teens. It’s just amazing television.
Excellent job, and until next week, that is all.
Great discussion. I was just thinking about how Gary Burghoff was playing an 18-year-old well into his 30s. Here’s what puts it into perspective for me personally: Burghoff was born the year before my dad was born; my dad was nearly 25 when I was born; and I was almost 11 when Radar’s last episode aired!
When Radar has his quick farewells to everyone on the compound, it made me think of the final episode when they all say goodbye to each other. This episode is like a precursor of that as we enter the final era or configuration of the show with the seven-remaining regular cast members.
The last few minutes of this episode are bittersweet. We see Radar going into the mess tent, and we imagine what might have been if the farewell party had taken place. Radar didn’t get to say his goodbyes the way he would have wanted to, especially to Hawkeye, who was like a big brother. But the silent farewell and salute are more poignant than anything they could have verbalized.
It also occurred to me that, as much as everyone wishes Radar well, his life after going home might not be as great as people imagine. At the 4077th, he was appreciated as the person who basically kept the whole camp running. This was demonstrated by how they all cheered and celebrated him when he returned from R&R in the previous episode. Of course, it’s good that he’s going home, but who knows if he will ever be as highly valued again as he was at the 4077th.
I remember seeing his AfterMASH episodes and the failed pilot episode when it aired 40+ years ago. I agree the pilot in which he was a cop was unfortunately not very good. I also agree that AfterMASH was underrated. I wish it was available in some form. I mean, the almost-forgotten Friends spinoff Joey was recently released on YouTube, so why not AfterMASH?
Great episode and wonderful review. This one is bittersweet for sure. Radar gets to say goodbye … but does he? The war gets in the way, as it has so much on the show. I imagine Margaret had a long goodbye speech to give about how much Radar had helped her over the years but with wounded there she had to boil it down to the essence of ‘you’re all right kid’. Sad.
Which made me think of your ‘goodbye episode’ talk Rob. I can think of so many others they could have done.
‘The True Goodbye’ = think of this episode without the wounded. We get a party in the mess tent, maybe a clip show as each character says a lengthy goodbye and a ‘fave moment’
‘The Angry Goodbye’ = two characters grow to despise each other so much the camp has to transfer one somewhere else for the sanity of the staff. Unlikely on MASH
“The Judicial Goodbye” = one of the characters crosses the line and does something against military law except this time there isn’t the ‘you’re too damn good a surgeon for me to prosecute’. They are brought before the court and thrown in jail
“The OR Goodbye” – one of the characters gets wounded in some way (either by shelling or something) and needs emergency surgery but the wounds are too grievous, the other clinicians can’t save them and they die on the table
Of those, I think the most likely to happen on the show might be Judicial. Hawkeye has crossed the line so many times …
Anyways, great podcast and loved revisiting this episode.
These comments are for parts 1 and 2.
Several commenters have stated that the exit of Radar began a slow decline in the quality and watch-ability of the program. While I confess that I have a hard time finding episodes in seasons 9 through 11 worth watching, I don’t think the problem was with one single character but was instead due to the departure of Ken Levine and David Isaacs.
Levine/Isaacs (and Larry Gelbart) wrote some of the best episodes of the entire series. Their names either credited as writers or as script consultants usually meant that a quality episode was coming your way. That is why the Goodbye Radar duet is SO disappointing. It contains some of the clumsiest writing and directing I ever saw in a season 1 to 8 episode.
Here are some examples although this is definitely not a complete list
WRITING CRINGES –
• Radar’s malaprops – Mixing up one word for another sometimes is endearing. Look at comedian Norm Crosby or fictional character Archie Bunker. But using phrases such as “bear we have to cross” or “up a tree without a paddle” are not cute – they border on stupid
• (I hate to use the word again but) Cringe worthy dialogue. When Hawkeye says to Radar “Your time has come” or when Potter says in his speech “You’ve earned your wings. Now you’ve gotta fly” I shake my head and say that no one would ever talk like that. It takes you away from enjoying the program to making you realize you’re watching actors reading lines.,
• And, oh my word, your finger hurts, Hawkeye. Must you tell us in every scene?
DIRECTING CRINGES
• When Radar returns he is immediately enveloped by the majority of the camp cheering him as if they were being visited by Marilyn Monroe. I can see the docs and Klinger doing this, but the whole camp? Kind of over the top directing decision.
• And while we’re talking about the outdoors, the triage scene at the end is almost laughable. In order for each star to say goodbye to Radar an offscreen voice has to call star 1 away so that star 2 can have his time. The call away for BJ is the worst. The voice says “Cap’t Honeycutt, over here” and the camera immediately pulls back to show no one in the compound. Did they think BJ didn’t know how to get to pre-op?
• As Radar is explaining to Potter that he is going to go, there is a cut to Harry Morgan who squints his face and animatedly nods his head. What is the purpose of this? It’s a nearly comical insert.
• When Radar says goodbye to his animals and says that the cook won’t get them, the cut on the last word (Cook) is so sharp that it sounds like Co
I could go on and on. In case you can’t tell this is one of my bottom five episodes if you exclude seasons 9 through 11.
BTW Two MASH lines that have entered my vocabulary – “It’s not much but it’s really nothing” and “Ready – Sit”.
Thank you for your coverage of these episodes. I always enjoy watching these but I never liked how grumpy Radar was. It was such a departure from his usual attitude. After listening to your podcast I have a few comments:
1) I never thought that Hawkeye’s salute was sarcastic. I always felt that it was very genuine and he smiled because he knew that Radar would appreciate it. To me, it was very similar to when he and BJ saluted Col. Potter in the finale.
2) I am very surprised you didn’t mention that Major Freedman predicted that Radar would leave his teddy bear behind in the episode War of Nerves. Radar asked “Yeah, but what happens when I go back home?” and Sydney responded “My guess is you probably won’t need him anymore.”
3) I liked how Klinger got the generator and until I saw the DVD, I never knew about the conversation with the clerk. Forgetting hoe Klinger managed to get the generator on the jeep by himself (I’m guessing he had to have help), I’m always amazed that he managed to get it past Van Kirk so easily.
Thank you again for all your episodes and I look forward to your comments on Period of Adjustment and how unfair everyone was to Kinger.
Terrific show, as always. Just remember, as Radar heads home to his mother: it’s actually just Radar in a dress and wig. Which could lead to some really grim stories on the O’Reilly farm.
This was so enjoyable, thanks for a wonderful conversation! I always love getting new perspectives on episodes I’m not that fond of, and you two really brought that, so thank you!
Good Bye Radar Part 2 always makes me think of In Love and War. That probably sounds weird, but for me – both those episodes have this “telenovela” kind of quality to them, so many big emotions crammed into a very limited number of minutes, and it ends up feeling pompous more than emotional. I feel like I’m being told very clearly how I’m supposed to feel, and I like to figure those things out for myself.
There are some things I really like, though – the teddy bear on the bed is a beautiful way of ending the episode, and Radar’s storyline.
The theme we se so many times of people wanting something they can’t have – whether it’s going on a hot date in Tokyo, eating ribs, or having a proper send off party.
And also the theme of when people do get what they want, it’s sort of this dark version of it. It’s like the Monkey’s Paw – Radar probably wished he could go home many times, and when he gets to do it, it’s because of a tragic reason.
He really is losing something by leaving. In camp, he was important. He knew how to get things, he had an important position, and he was part of the “cool crowd”, hanging out with Hawkeye and Trapper, and then BJ. Now, he’s going back to being a farm boy, head of the family all of the sudden, just basically going back to being a poor nobody. That is really interesting.
But there is something about this episode that feels so clunky, it’s both in the writing and the editing. The scenes don’t really get a chance to breathe, there are too many quick cuts to the next one, and that hurts the flow of the whole episode. That is a problem I have with several episodes, actually, I would often like for scenes to just linger a second o two longer, so we in the audience can take a breath. But there’s so often a quick cut, because there’s so much that must fit into the few minutes of runtime.
And there’s the writing too. Again – it feels a bit telenovela. Like Hawkeye’s line of how he need to be drunk to say goodbye so he can cry and forget at the same time, it doesn’t sound really natural.
I don’t mind the goodbyes out in the compound, but they also feel so very staged, like everyone gets their little moment in perfect rhythm, it feels more like a choreography than the actual flow of the scene.
And as I commented last week – the fact that Radar is so annoyed and angry all the time, just really waters down his reaction to his uncles death.
If we had seen him get angry after the news of this huge loss, that would have made so much sense, and it would have felt like a very natural reaction.
His whole life had turned upside down, and on top of that – he just had to say goodbye to a truly swell girl that liked him back. The path he thought he was walking took a completely different turn in the blink of an eye, and a big reaction to that would have been much more impactful.
Now it’s just more of the angry, middle aged dude we’we seen for several episodes already.
Also, because I’m me, I gotta comment on the way Margaret reacts to Radar leaving. I really dislike that they had her give Radar a kiss so they could get one last Hot Lips-reference in. When Henry left, he kissed her, and here she kisses Radar, and it just makes me tired. Can we have her do something else, like actually have some lines instead?
I completely agree that Margaret treated Radar horribly on many occasions. She was a superior officer, she should have known better.
But it’s also really interesting to think about who he was to her, because he was kind of a creep, to be honest. He had a peephole into her tent, and into the nurse’s showers, creating yet another sense of threat, really, in a sítuation that was threatening already, especially for a woman.
He kept reading people’s private mail, and he was a part of that whole horrible set up that got her sexually assaulted inBananas, Crackers and Nuts.
Yes, he was young, but those things are just completely wrong at any age, and I really don’t like how all of that was constantly played for laughs, just more of the “wacky dudes do wacky tings”-type of situations.
And also – like you talk about – Radar was part of the group that went against everything Margaret had been taught to respect. Radar was unmilitary, couldn’t even remember to call her ma’am, and he also idolized the worst offender of them all – Hawkeye Pierce the Horrible.
There wasn’t supposed to be a zoo in camp, her father would never have allowed that, and therefore she could not either. (With that said – in my mind, Margaret absolutely snuck by there every now and then, though, to feed the animals some carrots and tell them they were indeed very good boys and girls. That’s Margaret for you, saying one thing because she’s her father’s daughter, but doing something else because her heart is big and soft, even though she has ordered it not to be.
And speaking of the animals, this is actually why I’m not that fond of Radar as a character – he keeps them in such tiny cages, it just hurts ny heart. They can’t even turn around in there. There’s an earlier episode where a racoon (I think it is anyway) is literally trying to dig it’s way out, and it just makes me so sad. That is a very selfish little zoo you have there, Radar, those animals must be miserable.
So yeah, I really like elements of this episode, but I also have a lot of issues with it.
Liked the entire podcast episode about it, though, so thanks again! 🙂
“But it’s also really interesting to think about who he was to her, because he was kind of a creep, to be honest. He had a peephole into her tent, and into the nurse’s showers, creating yet another sense of threat, really, in a sítuation that was threatening already, especially for a woman.
He kept reading people’s private mail, and he was a part of that whole horrible set up that got her sexually assaulted inBananas, Crackers and Nuts.”
That’s a good point.
Great episode!
I couldn’t help listening and reminiscing on Radar’s many major moments over the years, from “Ahhh, Bach” to being the first nude tushy on TV. Just an iconic performance as an iconic character.
I can see why Burghoff was ready to leave. You can only play a young character for so long, and the fact that his salute at the end of the episode didn’t reach his hairline shows that maybe it was the right time to go.
It was never strange or my to me that Radar wanted to stay. Yes he missed his family and farm, but at the 4077, he had friends and a purpose. Radar arguably had a better life at the 4077. He was the only one who never complained about the food. He ate better in Korea. While he often struggled to express himself around women, he would often get himself a date. Back home, it’s him and his mother. Not to mention, farming is extremely difficult work! He had it soooooooo much easier running things at the 4077. Everyone else had lives they were trying to get back to. Radar had a life he was trying to get away from. Especially without the reunions he had hoped to have with Henry Blake.
A lot is made of Burghoff not wanting to play a kid but Radar only aged two years so it’s not like the Sweathogs being in Kotter’s class forever.
Charles calling him Walter was appropriate because that’s how Radar introduced himself. I think other than Jesus, nobody else ever called him that.
Glad he got a nice send off. The last shot we saw of him was the back of his head, which is very fitting.