7. Bananas, Crackers and Nuts

November 5, 1972 (J-311)

Written by: Burt Styler
Directed by: Bruce Bilson
Guest Stars: Stuart Margolin as Dr Phil Sherman.
Semi-regulars: Odessa Cleveland as Ginger. Marcia Strassman as Nurse Cutler.

Plot: The gang have all been working themselves half to death. Hawkeye and Trapper decide that they have to have some R&R. After Henry says no and goes off on R&R himself, the boys are left with Burns in charge. Hawkeye starts acting strangely - he turns down nurse Cutler for a date, then has dinner in surgical scrubs using surgical equipment (and apparently eating the liver of a North Korean!). Burns arranges for a psychiatrist, Phil Sherman, to come and study Hawkeye. Hawkeye tells the psychiatrist that he's in love with Burns. Henry returns, in time for the psychiatrist to say that he's taking Hawkeye to Tokyo for observation. The boys trick Sherman into thinking that Hot Lips is interested in him, then orchestrate a rather compromising situation in her tent. He is packed off in disgrace, without his patient, and Hawkeye and Trapper get their week in Tokyo - well, almost. They're about to leave when casualties arrive.

Great Lines: Hawkeye: 'I had a dream last night that I was asleep, and I dreamt it while I was awake!'
Hawkeye: 'You've ruined my liver! Ruined it! And we're all out of North Koreans!'

Continuity is for Wimps: Stuart Margolin returns as a plastic surgeon later on, but interestingly enough he attacks Major Houlihan in a very similar way to the way he does in this episode. Maybe there's just something between them.

They All Look the Same to Me: Stuart Margolin - the list of non-Asians who turn up as supposedly-different characters is small, but Stuart Margolin makes it.

Notes: Sidney Freedman is yet to turn up as Hawkeye's regular psychiatrist.
Suart Margolin will later change specialty and become a plastic surgeon (episode 42. Operation Noselift in season 2).

Comments: A fairly decent episode for the most part. Hawkeye's looniness is amusing, although not especially finely done. There's some cute dialogue and some of the scenes between Hawkeye and Sherman are very funny, but Dr Freedman is much more personable as a psychiatrist than Dr Sherman.

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