Season 8, Episode 18: Old Soldiers
Special Guest Andrea Gaul
This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK:
- Visit the Fire & Water WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com
- The Fire & Water Podcast Network on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/fwpodcasts.bsky.social
- Rob Kelly Creative on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/robkellycreative.bsky.social
- Like our Fire & Water FACEBOOK page – https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork
- Support The Fire & Water Podcast Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts
- Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts
- E-MAIL: fwpodcasts@gmail.com
That is all!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Before I forget. I just wanted to credit the artist who designed the Crabapple Cove postcard as Queenamloth.
Great discussion around this episode. It hit a little harder than it normally has in the past. I have a group of buddies I have known since high school, friends I chat with nearly daily and have an annual weekend with. Last year, the first of us passed after a battle with cancer. So hearing Potter talk about this loss hit home.
I think I’d probably say Gene Tierney as my go-to glam girl from this time period… no surprise there.
does anybody buy that Potter likes Winchester? I buy that he likes Kliger
Hello. I agree that while Potter respects Winchesters surgical techniques, he doesn’t like Winchester. Winchester is the one person in this group who would NOT have been invited.
Hats off to Col. Potter, if he can still fit into his World War One uniform whilst toasting his fallen comrades! That military exercise regime clearly works wonders for the waistline!
Hearing from Andrea was great!
Old Soldiers is such a gem of an episode, and I really like how the plotlines compliment each other. The high energy of the kids combined with the slow melancholy of Potter. The scene in his office with the little boy is just beautiful. The little kid munching of candy, Potter’s sad eyes, and the slow song is just a perfect illustration of the past and the future.
I always like when the kids show up, because of the other character’s reactions to them. It’s like everyone can let their guard down a bit, and get this small respite of hope and life. I love that Charles interacts with that little boy in such a sweet way. It goes so well with his concerns from last episode, where he is afraid he won’t be able to have kids. Maybe there is a genuine longing in him to become a dad, and not just something he needs to do because of expectations from his family.
In my head, Charles gets married fairly quickly after Korea, and has a daughter that he loves unconditionally and that becomes the center of his world. His child can talk as much as she likes at the dinner table, and he loves every minute of it.
Really love that Margaret is so fond of kids too. I think Margaret herself was quite unhappy with being a child. She wanted to grow up quickly, so she could prove to her father how capable she was. She wanted a cool crew cut, like the soldiers had, and hated when grown ups would tug at her pigtails and call her cute. Then, of course, I think that when she became a teenager and started to notice that men looked at her differently, she found that to be a way of getting the affirmation she missed from her father, so she grew up much too quickly. And now, she sees all of these Korean kids growing up under horrible circumstances, so I love that she gives them every chance to just be kids and goof around.
It’s also such a nice detail that it’s the thought of eating horses that causes Potter to lose his temper. It echoes Margaret’s journey in Images, where it’s the death of the small dog that makes her fall apart. Also – the way Potter talks about his friends reminds me of Margaret’s speech in Are you now, Margaret, where she reminisce about her friends from her past.
Potter and Margaret has such a special relationship, and it’s so sweet how much they resemble each other. In Potter’s tent where he toasts to his new friends, to love and friendship, he looks at Margaret when he says love, and it’s just perfect.
And Rob – I hope you never have to downsize, but if you ever need a new home for the Margaret action figure, I think she needs to come to Sweden. Margaret does have a thing for a Swede in a later episode, so it’s just the most logical thing to do. ☺️ I will put her on my bookshelf, next to my book of Loretta’s artwork, and I will salute her every day.
I love your observations about Charles and Margaret, especially the prediction about post-Korea Charles back in Boston and his interaction with a daughter. What you wrote about letting her talk as much as she wants at the table AND loving every minute of it really got me because of what we know of Charles’ upbringing. In your headcanon “AfterMASH: Boston,” do you think he’d let her call him “Dad”? Do you think he’d insist on it??
And Margaret with those kiddos was a joyous sight to see. As I listened to Rob and Andrea, I had my own little post-Korea headcanon idea about Margaret. She never remarried; never had kids. Retired from the Army as a full colonel, and then moved to a town on the east coast, helping an old family friend (who was also an Army doctor) start a pediatrics clinic. Might have been a nice sitcom to watch. It made me smile anyway. 🙂
Thank you, Tom! Yeah, I do think Charles would love for his daughter to call him dad. That little word would make him smile every time.
Love your thoughts on Margaret after Korea, I would watch that show too! Her living a life completely different from what her father, or society, had told her she should live is so interesting to me, there are so many directions her life could take if she just listens to what she truly wants.
I live in Wisconsin, so if there is a specific type of postcard that you would want, or from a specific place, I can work on it! Just let me know.
Hi James. That is very kind of you
I am away at present but I will let you know my details when I get back.
Thanks for the observations, Andrea and Rob! Another great episode of the series we love, and another reason I’d have loved to see it as an hourlong series. Alas, we cannot go back in time. 🙂
Rob, I think it’s been a while since a mention of “The Young Sherman Potter Chronicles,” so it was a welcome reference! I’ll go a step further and say that, if I could get my wish and the episodes were an hour long, I’d have loved to see flashbacks to World War I and Potter and his friends. Don’t get me wrong, this is a perfect episode, and I cry every time I watch it. I just want to know so much more about those guys. But, as you said, the whole thrust of producing the show is to write for the main cast. Still…wouldn’t that have been a sight to see?
If I’m remembering correctly, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of this episode in the Making M*A*S*H documentary – that must have been when that crew was there. So maybe that’s why they tend to favor this episode during the other reunion specials, because they have so much more BTS footage than they normally shoot for other episodes. When Making M*A*S*H came out (January 1981) I made a cassette recording of it and listened to it religiously – even wrote my final 8th grade paper on it. Because of the repetitive listening, I can still hear all of Potter’s flubbed or alternate lines – curiosity KO’d the feline, give that man a cheroot, etc. That and popular cuts of outstanding episodes – I had Margaret’s speech from The Nurses memorized, along with Henry’s “There are certain rules about a war…” I’m glad Making M*A*S*H has been uploaded to YouTube and TV Archives – there was a long period from the 90’s to the 20-teens where I couldn’t find it anywhere.
Also – there is a mistake in this episode I can never unsee and it bums me out – I actually look away from the screen to pretend it doesn’t happen. I won’t burden anyone here with it by posting it publicly, but feel free to contact me and ask! 😀