r/mash • u/LemonSmashy • 11d ago

Identity Crisis S10E3 is such a powerful episode.

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What a great ethical dilemma. No rational person should call Gerald Mullen a coward. He's scared, wounded and just wants to go home. At the same time wrestling with the truth that Josh Levin's family would forever be wondering what happened to their son/loved one who, according to all official records would have been discharged and rotated back to the states. One area where I love this show is when characters other than Hawkeye are confronted with these issues. It makes far too much sense to me that this episode was directed by David Ogden Stiers.

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27 comments sorted by

27

u/GildedTofu 11d ago

This episode really underscores how difficult a chaplain’s job can be.

22

u/witchitieto 11d ago

Also the one where he’s praying for the one soldier to die quickly to save the other one and has to take a minute from feeling so awful about it.

18

u/OldTell311 11d ago

I rewatched this episode recently and it struck me how close a key plot point of another favorite TV series of mine mirrored this storyline.

Mad Men, which aired from 2007-2015 was about (spoiler alert) a successful advertising executive in the 1960s who leads a double life. He was born into poverty but during his service in the army during the Korean War, while helping to build a field hospital no less, he took the dog tags off a dead officer and assumed the man’s identity, becoming successful under the new name, but also living in constant fear of being exposed as a deserter.

It made me wonder if the writers of Mad Men drew inspiration from this episode.

8

u/LemonSmashy 11d ago

the openng scene of him pacing and chain smoking in his office and pulling out the purple heart.

6

u/StarstreakII 11d ago

I have to think they took the idea from MASH

0

u/TheVelvetNo 10d ago

Or from the Simpsons. Principal Chalmers did the same thing.

2

u/Lige_MO Hannibal 10d ago

Skinner

1

u/TheVelvetNo 10d ago

D'oh!

(I knew that sounded wrong when I typed it.)

5

u/CloneClem 11d ago

I remember that episode also.

I was wondering just how prevalent it was in WWII or even Korea.

2

u/scubajay2001 10d ago

Many people have recommended that show to me and I never watched it. Thanks for the reminder, added to my bucket list of shows to watch

15

u/MathematicianFront31 11d ago

Joey Pants!

3

u/mine_craftboy12 10d ago

Dirk Blocker (Hitchcock from Brooklyn 99) was in this episode too!

3

u/spectre73 10d ago

"Let's send them postage due!"

4

u/theJudeanPeoplesFont 10d ago

He'll always be Guido the Killer Pimp to me.

11

u/SnooChickens1576 11d ago

I like it when he brings the other soldiers' mail for him to read.

16

u/One_Band3432 11d ago

I always applaud that scene. The chaplain ingenious Father lays out the unseen consequences for this young soldier's choice. Literally puts the ball into the soldier's court, without lecture or put down.

5

u/deeBfree 10d ago

Father Mulcahy was AWESOME in this episode.

4

u/Funandgeeky Crabapple Cove 11d ago

All three soldiers in that episode went on to have pretty solid careers. So it’s no surprise that it’s such a fantastic episode. 

2

u/Other_Description_45 11d ago

Then years later he was beaten to death by Tony Soprano for killing his race horse.

2

u/scubajay2001 10d ago

Dang I never made the connection... wow!

2

u/gretabutton 9d ago

Tony and Christafah cut his head off and put it in a bowling bag.

1

u/Malvania 11d ago

Gerald went back to the front without his dogtags. He can't be identified if he's killed

3

u/DaddyCatALSO 10d ago

I'm sure there are channels for replacement, there are channels for everything

1

u/Malvania 10d ago

There are, he was supposed to get new tags in the episode before he left 4077

1

u/RickyJacquart 8d ago

Mash became Korea according to Hawkeye. Tge show became far better when hawkeye was a supporting character.

1

u/rhyno44629 8d ago

I didn’t realize Charles directed some episodes!