The Most Important Episode of MASH

Edit:
Thank you all so much for nearly 800,000 views! This video has done far better than I ever could've imagined, and rest assured, a follow-up is in the works.

Also: I AM AWARE that I misused the word 'Titular'. This was a grammatical error I didn't catch on my last pass of the script. I caught it after completing the video, but I felt it was too minor an issue to warrant re-editing the project (for the third time). Grammatical issues like these will be minimized going forward, as I no longer have to crunch to get these videos done by a college due date!

Original Description:
Hi all,
This was a project I made for my Modern American History college course. There are a couple things here that I would love to go back and tweak, but at this point, I've kind of moved on from the project (and onto other college projects, heh). I consider this not half bad work, and certainly work I'd be happy presenting publicly. This is my first video essay as well, so please be kind!

Works Cited:

[captainjohnh]

My father was in a medical unit something like a MASH in WWII. He entered the Dachau camp the day after liberation and later went to Mauthausen. This was one of only two eppisodes of MASH (the other being a newsreel format of interviews) that my father didn't despise; he never saw comedy in war.

[sharons]

The Christmas episode where they were trying to keep a dying soldier alive long enough enough to save his children from seeing Christmas as the day they lost their father was heartbreaking.

[MrJLCharbonneau]

The episode where Col Blake got sent home… gets me every time.👏

[celticlass]

The fact that this show is still shown, and still loved, says volumes about its quality.

[garethspotfur]

this is one of the very few shows that can genuinely make someone laugh and cry several times in just one episode.

[Spark_Chaser]

I would argue that, while the "Yankee Doodle Doctor" bit Hawkeye is doing throughout the movie is Him at his usual self, the final scene of that "Documentary" is the real Hawkeye. Looking dead at the camera and making it clear that war is no place for human beings to be. He says this best in an operating room conversation between himself and Father Mulcahy:

"Hawkeye: War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.

Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?

Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?

Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe.

Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them — little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander."
Season 5 Episode 20
Hawkeye has no love for war, and would sooner see every one of them home and safe than anywhere near a battlefield. But, this is what the show would eventually turn to. It was an "Anti-War" War sitcom.

[marionkeepper]

The episodes with Sidney were some of the best

[dionysus]

Wonderful video, M*A*S*H really is something special.
The scene of Col. Potter toasting his old friends, who have all died, wearing his Great War uniform and then toasting to the doctors, nurses and staff of 407 is a scene that has always made me have to take it slow, I'm welled with emotion.
Some of the finest characters ever writen, and some of the greatest TV put to the screen.

[powerdroidgirl]

Well said.
For me, MASH was something I first saw as a very young girl in the late seventies, I was 5 or 6. It was one of my dad's favorite shows and I was allowed to stay up late to watch it with him. I laughed when he did but never understood what I was laughing at. Later when I had grown up, I watched it again and understood everything. The commentaries on racism, sexism, war, sexuality..
My father passed away in 2013. When I rewatch MASH now, I feel close to my dad. So yeah, MASH is quite special to me x

[reconty]

I remember watching MASH growing up in the 70’s and reruns in the 80’s. They were like part of the family. We had fewer choices on TV back then but this will stand the test of time. A true classic!

[specialk]

M*A*S*H takes on a new meaning when you've served. I did 20 years in the US Air Force, retired earlier this year. Deployed three times, and took my M*A*S*H DVDs with me every time. You see some of everybody in the show, in reality. The people who are great at their jobs but Frank), the people who are super gung ho, but will still do right by their people (later seasons Margaret), the officers who think their shit don't stink (Frank, early Margaret), the young kids forced to grow up really fast (Radar), the malcontents (Hawkeye/Trapper/Klinger. I may have fallen in here, I could be something of a smartass) the arrogant guys who could back it up (Winchester), and who couldn't back it up (Frank) the family men, who are away from those they love most (BJ). I've seen people crap on BJ because "He's always whining about his wife and kid". You try missing your newborn child's life, time you will NEVER get back, and see how well you deal with it. 

People forget that military service members are some of the most anti-war people you'll meet. We serve our country, because we love our home, for some of us it's a calling. But while the anti-war protestor will go home that night, put their sign down, post online about how they stuck it to whoever, and sleep in a warm, soft bed, the soldier half a world away might be sleeping on the ground, worried that some damn fool will try to kill him, and that he may never see his home again. Trust me, he's not pro-war, at that point, and he wants to go the hell HOME! All three of my deployments were support roles, I was never in combat, never even close to combat. But when you come home after 4 months, or 6 months overseas, for a while you feel like the world just moved on and left you behind. You have to relearn your normal routines. So, in a lot of the later episodes, you can see yourself, or some of the guys you knew in guest characters, or you can at least understand some characters, even if you've never experienced their trauma firsthand. Like the season 8 episode, when Edward Herrman guest starred as a surgeon who just broke in the OR, after a bad push sent them a huge load of wounded. He just walked out, and Hawkeye and BJ had to pick up slack, since Winchester and Col Potter were down with mumps. Sometimes, a guy just finally can't take anymore, and he breaks.

The show really nailed the boredom of deployments. The down time when NOTHING is happening, and you have to fill the hours with anything, like when Frank was so bored he arranged all the condiments on the mess tent tables by height and popularity, and then made sure they were perfectly aligned. No point in that except something to do. And how the people there could hate the war, hate the place they're in, hate the situation, but still love the people they're with. Guys from a deployment you'll probably never see again, but you'll never forget them, either. M*A*S*H worked, because it was real, at its core. And I've said this for many years, even when I was still active duty, I learned more about how to be a leader from Captain Picard and Colonel Potter than the Air Force ever taught me.

[captainjohnh]

I remember watching this episode as a kid. My father had been a lab tech in a mobile army unit in WWII. After watching that scene, he got up and started out the back door. Mom asked him where he was going. He replied, "I need to take a walk." It wasn't until he was in his 80s that he gave any indication how much his military time messed with his head.

[PRODIGALSON]

MASH was, still is, and always will be one of THE greatest series to ever come on television.

[brycedewsnup]

I think it’s a few episodes after this one called “sometimes you hear the bullet” and to me that’s one of the best episodes that walks the line of comedy and seriousness that the show got so good at.

Hawkeye has to end up operating on his childhood friend but still can’t save his life. At the end Hawkeye is in tears over his friend, but also because he doesn’t understand why he his crying for his friend when he has had so many other patients die on his table. It’s a really moving scene

[mudduck]

The mash episode that affected me the most, and made my bullet proof, armor plated, indestructible, 23-year- young butt cry like a little girl with a skinned knee was when Henry got his papers to go home.

[dadaevan]

My favorite TV show of all time. Grew up with it in the '70's, watched the finale in 1983 in my college dorm, and love watching the reruns to this day. Just the best!

[ethanburkhart]

I grew up watching this show cause my dad bought the whole series in dvd. Now it’s on Hulu and my brother watches it on repeat as his primary source of background noise. He’s probably watched it over 10 times since the beginning of COVID. Even my wife knows plenty of references from how often it’s been playing in the background from the time we’ve spent with him. This is a show that I think can transcend generations indefinitely if maintained for the people who love it. And it’s our job to share it with others who haven’t.

[ofrabjousday]

The episode where they are all suffering from nightmares still makes me cry at points. Especially Charles' and Hawkeye's nightmares. Such powerful statements. Prime time has never been so honest with us.

[sarahellie]

Im 17 and MASH has been my favorite show since forever. I will talk to my friends about how amazing show this is and they are like "really? a sitcom from the 70s?" And yes, a sitcom from the 70s. It has done what no show has ever done imo and I love it so much.

[marstondavis]

You'd be laughing like crazy one moment and then they would rip your heart out the next. M.A.S.H. will forever be relevant. It is timeless. The subject matter---WAR---is serious business but M.A.S.H. put a lot of humor in it. Very good actors at their prime and top-notch writers at their best, too.