M*A*S*H - Season Five (Collector's Edition) (1972) Review

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(More customer reviews)Most shows after a few seasons being to lose their impetus, but MASH proved to be one of those shows that proved the complete opposite, and especially with the fifth season.
By now Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman T. Potter and Mike Farrell as Captain B.J Hunnicutt were now fully settled in to the full cast as this was their second season. This series would prove significant for two cast members, this was to be Larry Linville's last season as Major Frank Burns and William Christopher's first season as a full cast member as Father Francis J. Mulcahy. I find this strange that they waited until this season to make him so, as he had been there since the first season.
My favouite epsiodes from this season includes the one-hour show to open the season "Bug Out" in which the camp had to move en-masse while Hawkeye, BJ and Margaret had to operate on a patient with spinal injuries. "The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" in which it is rumoured that Hotlips had been abducted and the appearance of the loony CIA man Colonel Flagg wanting to invade North Korea as a result. "Dear Sigmund" of more in the next paragraph. "Mulchay's War" in which was the first episode where Father Mulcahy played the significant part of him doubting his effectiveness in the camp, and "Movie Tonight" where they watch a bad copy of My Darling Clementine and the entertainment that takes place when projectionist Klinger has to repair it.
The episode that is one of the very best episodes in all 251 episodes is "Dear Sigmund", significant in that the main character and narrator in this episode is Dr Sydney Freedman played by Allan Arbus. Suffering from depression after the suicide of a patient and writing as a form of self-therapy to Sigmund Freud, he watches how the 4077th observes how they cope with the pressures of war, and the paves the way in the future when the originator of a series of practical jokes reveals himself near the end.
This episode written and directed by Alan Alda shows him by this stage becoming a huge part behind the scenes on the show, but in this episode does not show him taking center stage, which anyone who knows the history of the show, knows that is typical of Alan alda realising that is a ensemble show. It was also of no surprise that "Dear Sigmund" won him the 1977 Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series, 1977 Director's Guild Award, and 1977 Writer's Guild Award. An episode and season well worth recommending.

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As the fifth season opens, the Chinese are getting too close for comfort and the 4077 has been ordered to bug-out.Unfortunately, Hawkeye, B.J. and Margaret are in the middle of critical surgery and have to keep going even as the bombing starts.The rest of the 4077 find themselves in an equally dangerous situation upon discovering that the new location that HQ has chosen for them is actually in occupied territory.Luckily the Chinese aredriven back and the 4077 get to bug back to their old location.But the real bomb, as far as Frank Burns is concerned, is when Margaret returns from a medical conference in Tokyo engaged to Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott."How'd Burns take it?" a concerned Colonel Potter asked."Hard," Hawkeye replied. "He was clucking like a chicken last night.For nine straight hours."Potter shook his head."He's heading for a Section Eight." As expected, Klinger was green with envy.

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