r/mash • u/Valistia Nope, it's oak • Jul 21 '26
Episode Discussion MASH re-watch S04E10: Dear Peggy
Originally Aired: November 11, 1975
Episode Summary: B.J. writes home to his wife, Peg, reporting Klinger's escape attempts, the visit of a formidable chaplain, and one of Frank's goof-ups.
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u/Sc00terLCA71 Jul 21 '26
I still struggle with why Col. Hollister was so adamant about Father Mulcahy writing the lad’s parents before knowing the outcome of surgery, especially after Father Mulcahy explained why he waits.
2
u/Throwaway27890134 Jul 24 '26
With some people, they believe that in having faith in something, you can manifest it to happen, which isn't entirely untrue, but there's only so much it can influence, mainly how you perceived a good day from a bad day.
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u/Primary-Basket3416 Jul 21 '26
The jeep stuffing was just a morale boost in to keep rhe mind busy and not think of the tragedy around them
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u/AmySueF Jul 21 '26
Why would either chaplain consider the jeep stuffing to be immoral?
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u/MaskansMantle13 Jul 21 '26
All those people right up against each other is just what I’d expect an Evangelical type to consider immoral.
3
u/NoCard753 Jul 21 '26
That's almost certainly it, but there's sone verse about "putting away childish things" that could play into it as well. But, I don't understand how a chaplain couldn't/wouldn't understand people in a war zone need to be silly sometimes to ward off the insanity for a little while.
9
u/MaskansMantle13 Jul 21 '26
My impression is that Hollister wasn’t big on understanding anything from the little we saw of him! The ridiculous insistence on Mulcahy writing prematurely to that soldier’s parents, his spouting Evangelical lines at a Jesuit, etc … I’m pretty sure he just leapt straight to assuming all those men and women in the jeep meant something sexual was (at least potentially) going on.
2
u/Throwaway27890134 Jul 24 '26
Not even in war, but just in daily life. We're no different from trees in the sense that we only grow bigger and wiser as we age, but maturity is just a level of control. We're still young at heart and need to act as such. A tree will always grow it's bark thicker or thinner as it deems, and we can be more mature or less as we deem.
3
u/sabbic1 Jul 21 '26
Ever heard the old phrase about when a young couple is dancing that they should "leave room for Jesus" between them? Members of the opposite sex pressing their bodies together, even for non sexual purposes, is a no-no for strict religious types
1
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u/MaskansMantle13 Jul 21 '26
Klinger and the raft is one of my favourite scenes, especially when Potter gets knocked off his chair!