Season 8, Episode 6: Period of Adjustment
Special Guest Stars: Molly G and Phoebe M
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In the scene with Potter and Mulcahy in the Mess tent there’s a goof where Potter says, “You wouldn’t lie to a Presbyterian, would you?”. Yet when Potter first arrived at the 4077, he identified as a Methodist.
Haematocrit: Blood is made up of two components – the liquid stuff (plasma) and the solid stuff (cells). Haematocrit is one of many measurements reported as part of a Full Blood Count (aka Complete Blood Count in US medicine). Haematocrit measures the proportion of the blood sample that is taken up by the blood cells (and by inference, how much of your blood is liquid.)
Why is it useful? If there’s too few blood cells, you could be anaemic & struggle to get enough oxygen around the body. Too many cells (for example in a condition called Polycythaemia) the blood would be too viscous and you would be at increased risk of blood clots, heart attack or stroke. Additionally an abnormal Haematocrit could indicate a problem with the way your body is manufacturing blood cells in your bone marrow.
Extra Credit: check out Lab tests online website (https://labtestsonline.org.uk/tests/pcv) – an always reliable resource to understand why certain blood tests are being taken and what the results mean.
Haven’t watched the episode yet but my guess is the patient’s blood pressure is low, one reason being blood loss. So it is smart to check a blood level.
If normal, you have to figure out other ways to increase blood pressure – one being meds to increase it like Levophed.
I suspect that Peg didn’t realize this was the first time Erin called someone Daddy. She probably heard Erin say Daddy before and I don’t think she would make the distinction BJ does between saying the word and saying it to Radar.
I’ve always been interested in Charles immediately tattling on BJ to Potter. Did he want Potter to know he wasn’t the one who hit Hawkeye?
“Soldier hat” reminds me of Hawkeye saying “doctor bag” in Operation Friendship.
So, so very much to unfurl in this one. Watching this episode again only reinforces my belief that the one character who came out of Korea with the worst case of PTSD had to have been BJ.
And I imagine that during his discussion with Peg, Radar extolled BJ’s virtues to no end, but probably also, without really thinking about it, quite likely revealed some of the more harrowing aspects of life at the 4077th, things that BJ had been filtering out of his letters home. So Peg now knows that things are a lot grimmer and often more dangerous than her husband lets on, which I hope better prepared her for helping him acclimate to civilian life when he returned home.
Oh, this was delightful, love deep dives and dedicated fans!
I started hanging out on tumblr fairly recently, and I was so surprised, actually, that so many people watch the show these “everyone is gay”-glasses on.
Love it, and even though it’s not my personal interpretation, I can totally see it. And it makes me think about what a gift MASH as a show truly is, that you can so easily watch it through whatever lense you want to, and it makes sense. Love that the writing doesn’t always tells us straight up what’s going on, we aren’t served easy answers, and also that the actors understand their characters on such a deep level. With just a glance, they can show us that “oh, yeah, there is so much more going on inside me right now than the words I’m speaking”.
I just think it’s such a stunning quality in a show. BJ and Hawkeye as a couple in love? I can see that. Them as best friends, closer than brothers? I can see that too. BJ simply being a selfish jerk? Yup, see it. BJ with a whole backstory of parental neglect? Makes total sense!
It’s just such a beautiful thing, especially today, when I feel plots and character motivations are so often over explained to us , and we in the audience are being treated like idiots. And honestly, a lot of people seem to look for very easy answers, so I guess it’s a sign of the times.
Gotta comment on the whole “BJ thinks he has it worse than anyone else’s”-storyline. It annoys the hell out of me, how dare you think your suffering is worse than everyone else’s, as my girl Margaret puts it in a later episode. But I also completely get it, and have done it myself, many times, had a big dramatic breakdown over how everything just sucks for me personally and absolutely no one else. And I haven’t even been in anything near BJ’s situation.
This is one of the things I also love about the show, we so often get where a character is coming from, but sadly – they go about it in the worst way possible. But it’s a huge part of what makes the characters feel so real.
I can’t help but to think about when BJ eventually goes home, and Peg meets this brand new version of the man she once knew. I think the man she said goodbye to would have laughed at Erin calling someone else “dad, or that Peg got hit on by some dude, and suddenly there’s this angry, bitter person walking around the house, sleeping in the spot where her husband used to sleep. Fascinating, and heartbreaking.
All of them being so annoyed at poor Klinger is really bad of course, give the guy a break, but I also completely get it. Potter had a special relationship with Radar, and his grieving the loss of a friend/almost son, and he takes it out poorly on the replacement. It’s a loss coming out sideways, if you will. I get it.
Margaret’s and Charles’s reactions are completely expected, of course, and for her – she clings to control and order like it’s a security blanket, and Klinger is everything but, so it’s an easy way for her to take out frustrations.
Loved the BJ Dad-theory! Give me a character with a complicated relationship with his parents, and I’m there! The thought of him not just falling apart over Peg and Erin, but also over the perfect relationship Hawkeye has with his father is heartbreaking.
Since I’m me, it makes me think of other characters with a complicated relationships to their fathers. I’m thinking of Images, where Margaret is so hard on that nurse, Rightfully so, I might add, but in the nurse, Margaret sees everything she doesn’t have, can’t allow herself to be, bacause her father would never have allowed her to. There’s this grief in her because of it, and BJ is missing the opportunity to be a great dad to his kid, and I completely see the grief in him over that too.
To see how his bad relationship with his parents effects how he interacts with the people around him, and what becomes obsessions of his, even, is fascinating.
More on Margaret, of course – I’m obsessed with how she touches people, look at how she touches Hawkeye in the Swamp. Whether it’s a patient or a love interest or a friend, she always does it in a kind of slow, thoughtful way, that I find beautiful. It’s one of the many reasons I’m so fascinated with Loretta Swit’s acting, there are just so many tiny details like this, that shows us that she always knows exactly where Margaret is coming from and where she’s going. Loretta always does everything with a purpose, and with what serves her character in mind.
This is such an interesting episode of MASH, and I love BJ’s journey, in this episode and over all, but I also have to say this – there are some amazing drunk-scenes on the show, truly, and the scene with BJ and KlInger in Potter’s office is not one of them. 🙂
Thanks for a great episode, I had the best time listening!
To hop on a point made earlier, my guess is Peg has been showing Erin pictures of BJ (in uniform) and telling her ‘this is your daddy’. Erin has probably pointed to BJ pics and said ‘daddy’ a million times.
So Erin seeing someone in uniform and getting confused sounds more like normal baby stuff than such a big thing. This is where communication by Peg might be helpful if she knew BJs worries. ‘Erin always points to your picture and says Daddy. Radar was the first person she has seen live in uniform and said Daddy but I told her ‘no that’s Daddy’s friend’.
I feel we get a ‘BJ gets very sad about what Peg/Erin/Family is doing without him’ every season moving forward.
This was my favorite episode of MASHcast. Love the fan theories. Molly G and Phoebe M were terrific guests!
What an outstanding episode of the podcast! Molly and Phoebe were delightful, and I do wonder if the time difference made everyone a little extra tired and loopy, kinda like Beej and Klinger. Loved every minute of this discussion.
I have one lingering thought about BJ’s comment on Trapper, and apologies if this was said and I missed it. This is also knowing that BJ’s drunk and his emotions are overriding his logic, but also letting him say things he doesn’t believe yet can’t help feel. There may be a part of him that thinks “I wouldn’t be here if Trap wasn’t sent home.” Not just that Trap got sent home, but Beej wouldn’t be in Korea at all if not for that. Of course that makes no sense, and there’s no logistical way that’s how it worked. But. He was assigned to Trapper’s job. So he could have that errant thought, and in dark moments, blames Trap for his being stuck here away from Peg and Erin. And hey, it’s also a meta situation, because that’s exactly how Farrell got this role. Maybe this is an obvious take, but it was forefront on my mind during the Beej thearpy session in the show. 🙂 Again, loved it!
Thanks so much for allowing me to have this special episode as my mashcast debut, it’s such a fantastic episode and gave us so much to discuss nearly all focused on my absolute favourite mash topic: BJ and his twisted little rat maze brain. You and Molly (who i will mention again is a total genius) were so great to chat to and laugh with and i really cant thank yall enough!!!! And i didnt even get through my 7k+ words of notes!!!
Like how did i not mention the fact that BJs experience of Time Itself is on a level of scifi weirdness akin to the black hole distortion from that movie interstellar. Seriously, its like the post-war future where a man in a uniform that is decidedly Not BJ is already at home with his wife and daughter is already happening while hes trapped behind the metaphorical space bookshelf completely helpless to stop it. These are themes and ideas fully intended and purposely infused throughout television broadcast dramedy MASH.
Genuinely so stoked that this podcast exists and that it’s hosted by someone so willing to hear out our crackpottery. Thanks again for the brilliant discussion and heres to more in the future!!!
What an absolutely wonderful episode. The depth of analysis brought by your amazing guests was so compelling. I love the BJ Dad Theory. And the metaphor of the still as Hawkeye an BJ’s (and Trapper before him) baby (symbol of their love for each other) was brilliant! This episode is proof of the brilliance of MASH that it can be analyzed in new ways across generations.
Really great podcast discussion, guests, and comments! This is one of my favorite episodes as well. I agree the argument between Hawkeye and BJ is set up nicely so that the viewer can see both sides. It’s true that being away from an infant or toddler is not the same as being away from a parent because of how much a young child changes in a short time and the critical stages of early development. At the same time, I think Hawkeye was trying, albeit a bit clumsily, to empathize with BJ to let him know they were all going through difficulties in being away from their families. I have to say I see it more from Hawkeye’s perspective, even though I usually find BJ to be a bit more sympathetic than Hawkeye. And if this was real life, I’m not sure I could so easily get over the fact that a friend punched me in the face, no matter how drunk or upset they were. But I know it’s a TV show with a sense of heightened reality.
I watched the show on both Hulu and Amazon (I bought the eighth season on Amazon when they took it off Hulu but then after I bought it on Amazon they put it back on Hulu!), and Gary Burghoff’s name is definitely in the opening credits. That is a bit of a mystery. I almost wondered if it was because of that drawing showing an image that depicts Gary Burghoff as well as his picture in Potter’s office, but I don’t think that would require his name being in the credits, as opposed to merely paying him some small amount for the use of his image. Also, they talk about him all through the episode, but they also talk about Henry and Trapper, but we don’t see McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers in the credits! Or maybe when Burghoff agreed to come back for a few episodes of the eighth season, there was some agreement about the number of episodes that included his name in the opening credits. Also, unless I’m crazy, I could swear I’ve heard that Larry Linville’s name appears in some versions of the Season Six opener, even though he’s not in the actual episode. That’s sort of a mystery similar to this one.
This episode is kind of similar to the first two episodes of Season Four and the first episode of Season Six. There is no new character, but we’re seeing the adjustment to the departure of a major character, and a reconfiguration of how the existing characters relate to each other, with Klinger becoming company clerk.
I was so looking forward to this episode discussion. Your guests have always been awesome, but Molly and Phoebe (and you) went WAY beyond expectations. You all didn’t miss a thing, and the supposedly crackpot theories all make perfect sense to me. After rewatching the series over and over, BJ has emerged (for me) as the most complex character with the most interesting multi-season arc. The slow, deliberate dismantling of his humor as he’s held longer and longer against his will, missing his daughter grow up, seems clear from Sidney’s first observation in Dear Sigmund. You said long ago, Rob, that Hawkeye and BJ’s friendship was a game changing example of how two men can be friends and show genuine love for each other. I’d like to think I was affected by that wonderful example growing up, but I never gave it a second thought until you mentioned it. Cudos for an amazing discussion of a great episode. I cried while driving, dang it!
Oh, and by the way, anyone who’s done the closing shift waiting tables will tell you, it’s a lot easier to sweep up if you put the chairs on the tables, regardless of how fancy the place is. 🙂
Just popping in to say how much I’m loving reading through all the comments. A big thank you to everyone who came and stayed for 2+ hours of the Let’s Psychoanalyze BJ Show! And to the members of the older generation who are getting a kick out of us younger fans bringing a new perspective to the text, the appreciation is totally mutual.
Definitely agree with the comments saying that upon rewatch BJ stand out as a way more complex character than he first appears, and that he’ll probably be the one who struggles the most with PTSD when he returns home. All credit to Mike Farrell’s performance and to the writers for taking what could have been a very bland character and for developing him in a way that pulls back the curtain on his inner turmoil just enough for the audience to realize there’s way more going on under the amiable, apple-pie family-man image. Speaking for the Beejhive mashblr contingent, it’s that apparent contradiction that makes it so interesting to take it a layer further and interpret BJ as a gay man trying his damndest to deny that part of himself because it doesn’t fit with the life he’s “supposed” to have.
(As opposed to Hawkeye, who embraces that part of himself while accepting that he’ll never be able to live “normally” as a result – taking their attitudes towards how the war has affected them as representative of how willing they are to accept their sexualities is a core theme of mashblr analysis. See also the opening scene in Dreams when BJ is fantasizing about going home and forgetting the war ever happened, only for Hawkeye to chimes in with “I don’t think we’ll ever get out of here. They tattooed our brains with this ugliness and we’ll never get it off.” Whoops there I go on a tangent again…)
Huge thank you as always to Rob for letting us come play in your sandbox! Looking forward to the rest of S8, some of the show’s best episodes are coming up soon!
My head canon has Trapper and BJ crossing paths at Kimpo. Whoever dropped BJ off had to take Trapper to his next stop. Trapper had signed out ten minutes before Hawkeye walked into the office and Radar was looking for BJ during that time. So they likely gave each other a passing nod at least.
Charles relieved Hawkeye in pistop. If he was on duty, how did he have time to go to the Swamp and treat Hawkeye’s black eye? And how did he even know to go there and why not just treat him at postop? And the wound didn’t really require a surgeon to treat. A nurse could put iodine on him.
I did like his raised finger in warning Hawkeye about how drunk he was.
I’m coming back to write comments I meant to some time back. I’ve been trapped behind the metaphorical space bookshelf with Beej and Astronaut McConnaughey.
1. Re: MarieKristina’s “suddenly there’s this angry, bitter person walking around the house, sleeping in the spot where her husband used to sleep.” That’s insightful. I think my wife, Mrs. Negentropy, would have words about that. I got better faster after every deployment, but the longest I was ever gone was thirteen months, and I wasn’t a trauma surgeon in combat. And some scars never heal. The trick becomes figuring out how to make them features, instead of bugs. She supported me through all of the transitions, and she’s pretty happy with where I am now. That means a lot.
2. As has been said, Molly and Phoebe are amazing. Their points about the information the deployed spouse and the home spouse share with one another are spot on. It is an art learned through trial and error. Mrs. N and I got really good at after multiple deployments, but the journey was not without hitches.
3. Gene Popa is also correct about the deployment buddy who meets the family and overshares. My interpreter on my second Afghanistan deployment got his special immigration visa about a year later and stayed with us for a time. He’s been on his own with his own family now for years, but we are all still family. Anyway, he wanted to brag on me to my wife and ended up sharing things I never would’ve mentioned. At least one of those times, I was making panicked hand gestures at him from behind my wife. He corrected himself and modified the story “in flight.” Never managed to fool my wife, though.
Hi Iron Guts!
Another great episode.
Just a comment.
Daily reports were ‘supposed’ to be filled out every day. That might or might not be picked up every day, but they were collated as often as possible.