The Nurses

For me there are about a dozen truly great episodes of M*A*S*H, and though I was sorry to see Trapper John and Henry Blake leave the series at the end of season three, the show didn't start to cook until season five.

"The Nurses" is a pivotal moment in the development of Margaret Houlihan and for the first time we are offered insight into the Major's motivations. Swit's soliloquy towards the end of act three is delivered with such passion, it's clear that the actor herself is moved to tears by her own words. This is an impassioned monologue that not only hoists the character to a new level of respectability, it pays homage to the brave women who served their country then and now.

Houlihan's nurses in this episode are terrific, however I was disappointed that Nurse Kellye was not available, but more so that the series failed to develop more than a stark handful of female characters....in fact, it's this episode that begins M*A*S*H's long crawl back from an atrociously misogynistic history.

"What a pity," as Dr. Zachary Smith himself put it, that such an enlightening indelible little carving of M*AS*H is so ironically labeled with 1 of the dullest titles in its storied history - I could have done better easily in the 6th grade! - though the contemporary viewing audience still around would not yet know of this for many long years. My regard for this episode has not changed in all these decades despite its Disappointment Island resident "canonic" flaws. The uninitiated (having seen neither the ho-de-la-hum - "said with affection," in no less than Colonel Potter's own words - original movie or this program's early, more inclusive chapters - & Nurse Kellye must've been on leave painting Tokyo town red) will be of the wrong impressions that these "Nurses" are a) all such complement among the 4077th crew; b) that the place was populated by 98% white people; & c) that somehow (observed elsewhere, though directed at the "quarantine patient") there was noplace else for the Major to crash, even only overnight, than squeezed in with a quartet of subordinates she was clashing with. Such a ridiculous state of affairs had already been aired aboard ye Federation starship Enterprise ("Elaan of Troyius," 1968) wherein somehow that spacegoing tug had no other room for, especially the future (titular) equivalent of Princess Diana, that VIP than to inconvenience the chief Communications officer Lieutenant Uhura, for accommodations. In both cases this was done purely as a drama-creating device (which hopefully since has not been worked til it dropped), which here actually was more effective for more than just that. Miss Loretta Swit said as much herself, & who should try to argue against that? So it is that while its not insubstantial blemishes keep it from being of 10/10 character, they are not enough to diminish it past a 9; & overall it takes its place among the best & most endearing of M*A*S*H, which this now being 47 years later ain't nothing to sneeze at - oops, no pun! {:^)

I just watched S5,E6, The Nurses I would say its one of my favorites, but I say that about every episode. Gregory Harrison plays Tony Nurse baker's husband. He was really young and quite the looker. I have been watching MASH since early 1981, when I caught Mono, and had to stay in bed for a month. I was too cool to watch TV in the 70s when it was on the CBS network. I now have all the seasons on DVD, but still watch the reruns every day. I can speak the lines along with all the actors. I never seem to get tired of it. And yes I do have my favorite episodes and lines. Too many to list here. I like the original cast the most, but I like all of them.

It has been stiflingly hot and everyone is one everyone else's nerves. The usual good- natured banter in the O.R. turns kind of ugly and Margaret goes after her nurses, assigning the extra duty, even though they have completed seventeen hours in surgery. Linda Kelsey, from the Lou Grant show, is a young bride whose husband gets 24 hours to see her, but she mouthed off to Houlihan and is confined to quarters. Hawkeyes and B.J. do what they can to circumvent this order and arrange a place for the husband to meet the wife. There is considerable tension here and eventually the chickens are going to come home to roost. It's interesting that Margaret is a sympathetic figure. She is portrayed as such a spartan. Well done and quite touching in many ways.

I'm a Marine Corps Combat Vet with two back to back tours and this one got me in the feels!.... Well Written Better Acted!! Feelings Feelings Feelings........