Season 8, Episode 14: Stars and Stripes
Special Guests: Marie K
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Great episode. Marie is such a pleasure to listen to. I particularly enjoyed her story about drinking from the bottle. It reminded me of grandmother who always wanted to get pizza delivered after seeing it in an America sitcom. It was quite a rigmarole to do so at the time but we did eventually do it. She wasn’t overly impressed by the pizza itself but was pleased to have been able to do it, my grandmother would have been in her 70s at the time so it’s not just young people who are inspired in such a way.
Thank you so much, Andrea! I’m happy you liked my drinking from the bottle-story!
Love that your grandmother got herself a pizza. 🙂
This wasn’t the first episode of MASH that I saw, but it was one of the first and I was impressed by how Margaret told Scully off. Love Hawkeye and Margaret’s ending scene! Also love BJ and Charles getting a plotline together.
I think the writers probly thought “let’s have Margret date against type than thought “eh its still just dating”
Marie, you’re truly a joy to listen to, snd I always enjoy your written comments as well. I agree with Rob about the wonderful story you told about the bottle. Your insights about Margaret are always enlightening. I never met Loretta Swit, but she liked a couple of my social media posts, which made me very happy. This was a strong episode for Margaret. I liked the friendship bond we see between her and Hawkeye in the final scene.
Thank you, Mike, I really appreciate it! 🙂
Being in academia, deciding who is the first author can be a tricky business. Often, the lead investigator (usually the professor who has a research group), is listed first followed by the grad and undergrad students who worked on it. Other time, the professor will put themselves last, highlighting the students who actually did the work. Like Rob mentioned in the episode, some will put all the name alphabetically to keep things even. I’m still in the process of publishing papers, but I intend to put my students first and myself last. While I did do some of the work in the lab, they did the lion’s share and should get credit for it.
It’s a bit different in this situation because BJ and Charles are essentially equals, but with a host of other subordinates involved, as Potter rightfully points out. It would be impossible to list everything from all the nurses, corpsman and even the participants at Walter Reed. It would be appropriate for BJ and Charles to be the only authors. I would go with alphabetical order, but that’s hard with just two authors.
Once again, it was wonder to listen to Marie. I would listen to her read the dictionary.
Thank you so much! If you’re ever in Sweden, just let me know, I would be happy to read you the dictionary live! 🙂
As a fellow W, I agree with Marie that Winchester should go first. Seriously, it could be argued that Charles being an older and more experienced surgeon would qualify him for top billing.
I liked seeing how Charles was delighted to hear the patient was doing better. It was a nice touch him saying he had been wondering about him.
I think Frank deserved more than 3% but at least he was ahead of Donald.
Any episode that gives a shoutout to departed characters is on my favorites list.
Great episode Marie K and Robert! I try to save my MASH Cast episodes for long road trips, but there are so few trips, I have to digest them on my short commute and lunch breaks.
“Stars and Stripes” illustrates a long held opinion I’ve had that MASH could have worked as an hourlong show. Not for the entire run of the series, but certainly in the later seasons. The scene with Margaret and Scully at the end has always seemed rushed to me. I realize the writers are under a gun and they have to wrap things up tidily in 22 or 23 minutes. I also realize there are no hourlong sitcoms. Maybe The Orville? I just would have liked to see a slower burn to the denouement. All that said, I particularly loved Loretta Swit’s acting in that scene. It literally probes the dimensions of Major Houlihan in a way the early seasons did not. I wish I had met Loretta Swit before she died, because I would have told her this: Someone else may have created Margaret, but you OWN her.
Great episoed, Marie K and Rob! Marie, it’s wonderful knowing that this amazing thing we share an affinity for is so beloved across the ocean. Thank you for sharing your love of MASH!
“Stars and Stripes” is a good illustration of why I think MASH might have been able to make it as an hourlong program. The last scene with Margaret and Scully just seems rushed, and I feel that way every time I watch the episode. I think it takes less than five minutes to go from genuine affection to confrontation. I realize it’s a 22- or 23-minute sitcom, and the writers had to come up with a tidy ending. That being said, I think this is delightfully revelatory of Margaret’s character, even behind the “costume” (and that was an astute observation…I never viewed the use of “costume” as intentional, but now I can’t see it any other way). I really wish I had been able to meet Loretta Swit, because I’d have told her this: Someone else may have created Margaret, but you own her “from the navel out in every direction.” I’m so happy she was able to bless us with her gift.
As for the other plot, I don’t have much to add to your own observations, other than to say that it’s nice to see that BJ has an ego as a surgeon. I don’t think he trots that personality trait out very often. It puts him on the same level as Hawkeye and Charles, who both have high opinions (and rightly so) of their own respective surgical skills.
Thanks to you both!
Thank you so much! And yeah – Loretta truly did own Margaret, and turned her into so much more than what was on paper. Such a gift to us, and for generations to come!
So, I thought “maybe I shouldn’t comment on my own episode,” but then I was also worried I might explode if I didn’t, and I don’t wanna take any risks.
Thank you so much for having me, Rob, I had a blast! What a privilege to get to deep dive into a favorite episode and analyze it down to particles.
So happy I got to tell my drinking from the bottle-story too, it’s so special to me.
Love the commentary and I loved how MarieK connected so many dots to other episodes and the attention to detail like Scully’s uniform showing the remnants of his sergeant stripes. I too hope she’s back for more episodes but not “No Sweat” because I want to do that one!
However, I think you guys were too hard on Sgt./Private Scully. Shown from the prism of 1951 he fits right in to the time. The things he said and the ideas he espoused are archaic and gross today but back 75 years ago were probably spot on. Kudos to the writers for treating Scully the way he should have been back then and not how folks thought in the late 1970s. I read a lot of detective novels from the period and yeah that’s how men talked about women getting all dolled up and such.
Thank you, I’m so happy you liked it!
I’ll try and keep away from “No Sweat.”
Another great episode! I love that the conversation was so natural.
One topic discussed was Margaret and her relationships. There was Frank, the various Generals that were referred to, briefly Hawkeye, Donald, and then Skully. Humans desire some form of relationship, be it friendship or something more like a partner. It’s natural for Margaret to desire someone to love. Too bad none of them were up to the task of being with a strong woman.
When he first appeared, Skully was a good option. He stood out from the masculine stereotypes of the 1950s when the show was set, and the 1970s when the show first aired. As seen in this episode of MASH, Skully sadly turned into the man-of-the-house stereotype. He saw Margaret as a soft body to serve him, rather than the human being that was there, wanting to be with him.
Loretta Swit fought hard to transform Margaret into a strong character that stood out from being Frank’s clone. I think it’s safe to assume that Loretta would have spoken up and had producers and writers drop the love interest story lines.
Thank you, I’m happy you liked it!
Yeah, I’ll forever be grateful to Loretta for how much she fought for Margaret, turning her into something more than being all about the men.
Great podcast – Marie is such a delight! The percentage game with Margaret’s minimum requirements for a man is an interesting discussion indeed. I for one think that her percentage for Frank is far too low. Even as evolved as she is at this point, Frank was not that long ago. And let’s not forget, for all his flaws, he is a lipless wonder! Also, with all respect to BJ shippers, I don’t see any chemistry between Margaret and him. Sure she flirted with him once when he tended bar but he’s the opposite of the bad boy she clearly wants. She did carry a torch for Trapper – he knew how to make 196 degrees, and he was really built, that son of a gun.
Thank you, Stan, I’m really happy you enjoyed the episode!