M*A*S*H {MASH}: GOODBYE, FAREWELL AND AMEN {SERIES FINALE} (TV)

Summary

The final episode of this series of comedy programs about the men and women of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M*A*S*H), stationed behind the lines during the Korean War. In this episode, peace talks have begun in Korea and the anticipation of going home hits the 4077th. Meanwhile, Hawkeye is a patient in a psychiatric ward, having suffered a mental breakdown after a Fourth of July trip to the beach. In conversations with psychiatrist Sidney Freedman, Hawkeye flashes back to the bus ride back to camp, where the group of revelers picked up some Korean refugees. While Hawkeye and the other doctors performed emergency surgery on the wounded, the bus was forced to pull into the woods because of some Chinese troops coming up the road. The safety of the passengers was jeopardized by a woman in the back of the bus nurturing a clucking chicken. Hawkeye, who feared the noise might attract the Chinese, implored the woman to "keep that damn chicken quiet!" which she did by smothering it. After many agonizing hours of analysis, Sidney dredges the truth out of Hawkeye's tormented memory: the "damn chicken" Hawkeye compelled the woman to smother was actually her infant child. Other developments include the following: while Hawkeye is away at the ward, a tank is abandoned at the camp, drawing the attention of the enemy in the form of artillery fire; Winchester is on his way back from the latrine when five Chinese refugees, who happen to be musicians, follow him in order to give themselves up; Margaret tries to use her family connections to help Winchester become Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Mercy Hospital in Boston; B.J. is ecstatic when he receives his orders to leave, hoping to be home in time to see his daughter's second birthday; with the bombings growing worse, the POWs are in danger of being killed, so Mulcahy runs out of the operating room to unlock the gate and let them out, suffering severe hearing damage as a result; Mulcahy swears B.J. to secrecy about his condition so he can't be discharged and forced to leave his orphans; Soon-Lee desperately searches for her parents with the help of Klinger; Winchester gets mail informing him that when he returns to the states, the job he wants will be waiting for him; Klinger helps B.J. get a last-minute flight out of Korea, and B.J. leaves without saying goodbye to Hawkeye; the bombing continues despite Klinger's efforts to hide the tank under a phony medical tent; Winchester is enraged when Klinger tells him that Margaret was responsible for the job in Boston; to find solace, Winchester begins rehearsing the first movement of Mozart's Quintet in A for Clarinet and Strings (K581) with the Chinese musicians; Hawkeye is classified mentally stable enough to return to the 4077th and as soon as he shows up the wounded come rolling in; Soon-Lee is missing and Klinger goes out to search for her despite the heavy fighting; Col. Potter notices a strange glow in the distance, which turns out to be a fire raging through the forest, so he orders the camp to bug out; at their new hospital site, a helicopter from the Evac hospital arrives with what everybody presumes is the new surgeon, but is actually B.J., unable to fly home because of the heavy fighting; Winchester's music group gets taken away and he is deeply hurt because they were extremely close to playing the composition correctly; an announcement on the PA system informs everyone that the peace treaty has been signed and the war is over, though the wounded keep pouring in; in the operating room, the doctors talk about what they plan to do first when they get home; Winchester discovers one of the five Chinese musicians among the wounded; Klinger announces he is staying in Korea because he and Soon-Lee are getting married; and after the wedding ceremony, the doctors and nurses say their heartfelt goodbyes. Commercials deleted.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by Alan Alda.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: February 28, 1983 Monday 8:30 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:56:25
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T86:2155
• GENRE: Comedy
• SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Korean War - Comedy; Surgery - Comedy
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1972-1983
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Burt Metcalfe … Executive Producer, Writer
• Thad Mumford … Producer, Writer
• Dan Wilcox … Producer, Writer
• Alan Alda … Director, Writer
• Larry Gelbart … Developed for television by
• John Rappaport … Writer
• Elias Davis … Writer
• David Pollock … Writer
• Karen Hall … Writer
• Robert Altman … Based on the film by
• Richard Hooker … Based on the novel by
• Johnny Mandel … Theme Music by
• Alan Alda … Cast, Capt. Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce
• Mike Farrell … Cast, Capt. B.J. Hunnicut
• Harry Morgan … Cast, Col. Sherman T. Potter
• Loretta Swit … Cast, Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan
• Jamie Farr … Cast, Sgt. Max Klinger
• William Christopher … Cast, Father Francis Mulcahy
• Allan Arbus … Cast, Dr. Sidney Freedman
• G.W. Bailey … Cast, Sgt. Luther Rizzo
• Rosalind Chao … Cast, Soon-Lee
• John Shearin … Cast, the Chopper Pilot
• Kellye Nakahara … Cast, Nurse Kellye
• Jeff Maxwell … Cast, Igor
• David Ogden Stiers … Cast, Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester
• Lang Yun … Cast, the Woman on the Bus
• Van Ness, Jon … Cast, Truman, the Mental Patient
• Kevin Scannell … Cast, MacArthur, the Mental Patient
• Arthur Song … Cast, the Korean Man
• Judy Farrell … Cast, Nurse Able
• Jan Jorden … Cast, Nurse Baker
• Enid Kent … Cast, Nurse Bigelow
• June Kim … Cast, the Woman with the Shawl
• Scott Lincoln … Cast, the G.I.
• Herb L. Mitchell … Cast, the First M.P.
• Blake Clark … Cast, the Second M.P.
• David Orr … Cast, the Soldier
• Mark Cassella … Cast, the Jeep Driver
• John Otrin … Cast, the Ambulance Driver
• Denis Flood … Cast, the Corpsman
• Shari Saba … Cast, a Nurse
• JoAnn Thompson … Cast, a Nurse
• Brigitte Chandler … Cast, a Nurse
• Gwen Farrell … Cast, a Nurse
• Natasha Bauman … Cast, a Nurse
• Jennifer Davis … Cast, a Nurse
• Roy Goldman … Cast, a Corpsman
• Dennis Troy … Cast, a Corpsman
• Bill Snider … Cast, a Corpsman
• Lawrence Soong … Cast, a Chinese Musician
• Byron Jeong … Cast, a Chinese Musician
• Jen-Chia Chang … Cast, a Chinese musician
• Jim Lau … Cast, a Chinese Musician
• Zi-Li Peng, Frank … Cast, a Chinese Musician