jjm (03/03/83)
Well, I felt I had to post a rebuttal to the item about the final episode of M*A*S*H being a letdown. I loved it. I felt that it did sum up the important aspects of the program quite nicely. BJ leaves without saying goodbye to Hawkeye - yes, it was cruel. But real. BJ has consistently valued his wife and family throughout the show. He mentioned them in almost every episode. Given the chance to go home (on 10 minutes notice, no less) how could he write a note that would say anything important? Also, I found the lack of a laugh track refreshing. I felt that it brought to me some more insight into Hawkeye's personality. For instance, in the scene where he move the tank to the dump, there was no canned laughter when he said "Why do I always have to take out the trash?". Many of the enlisted men laughed and cheered, but his friends were concerned about his sanity. Who was right? I think it pointed out that despite all the laughter he has gotten throughout the series, Hawkeye is rather crazy. Certainly his behavior would be considered unacceptable back home; why should we allow different standards for him? I feel that the main point of M*A*S*H throughout the years is that in war, there are no winners. Occasionally the characters would win their minor victories over the chaos that surrounded them, but they were MINOR victories. Helping to save the life of a man that has stepped on a land mine is good, but it does nothing to correct the situation that caused that land mine to be used. Or to help a man deal with the trauma of stepping on that land mine. The final episode shows that there are no winners when this war ends. There are only survivors. It's hard to make that message funny. Jim McParland American Bell - Holmdel hou5e!jjm
dfz (03/03/83)
What were you expecting, something like "And they all lived happily ever after"?
3363ewf (03/03/83)
I agree that the last episode could have been much better. For example we did not get to see them back in the USA when the press led us to believe that was the case. Trap and Radar and Frank could have met them as they deplaned. Henry could have been a mia or pow released but these items were not even touched upon. Recall that Trapper had to leave without saying goodbye-- these are the frotunes of war. I thought it was perfectly correct to parallel this situation with BJ but then the entire effect was ruined when he came back. I think it would have been better to let Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds write and produce the finale instead of Alda and Metcalf.