"M*A*S*H" Hot Lips Is Back in Town (1979)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Charles S. Dubin

Writers:

Larry Gelbart (developer) and
Larry Balmagia (writer)

TV Series:

"M*A*S*H" (1972)

Original Air Date:

29 January 1979 (Season 7, Episode 19)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Plot:

Margaret celebrates her newly obtained divorce by creating a new way to handle triage and invites a general to observe. Radar is enamored of a new nurse and tries everything he knows to get her attention. |

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Colonel | Doctor | Korean War | Captain

Cast

Alan Alda	...	Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce
Mike Farrell	...	Captain B.J. Hunnicut
Harry Morgan	...	Colonel Sherman T. Potter
Loretta Swit	...	Major Margaret Houlihan
David Ogden Stiers	...	Major Charles Winchester
Gary Burghoff	...	Corporal Walter Eugene O'Reilly
Jamie Farr	...	Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger
William Christopher	...	Father Francis Mulcahy
Walter Brooke	...	Gen. Lyle Weiskopf
Peggy Lee Brennan	...	Lt. Linda Nugent
Jan Jorden	...	Nurse Baker
Enid Kent	...	Nurse Bigelow
Kellye Nakahara	...	Lieutenant Kellye Yamato

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Trivia:

The title is from a line in the song 'Mack The Knife' composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, for the musical 'Three Penny Opera'.

Quotes:

Col. Sherman T. Potter: Tell your nurses not to be afraid to carry litters if they have to. Some of them are stronger than I am.
Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce: Can I have names?

Soundtrack:

Blue Moon

Margaret Houlihan's Freedom From Donald Penobscott!!

The opening clip of this episode had Corporal O'Reilly delivering mail in the mess tent. Everyone received mail in the opening part of "Hot Lips Is Back In Town." Major Houlihan received the best news of her life. Her final divorce decree from Lieutenant Donald Penobscott was a blessing to her image. Captain Pierce was happy for her after the troublesome marriage to her husband.

Colonel Potter -- in contrast -- had some choice words to say about triage procedures to the surgeons. Diagnosis -- not case studies -- of a person's injuries was the key responsibility for these doctors to fulfill upon surgery. He chastised Major Winchester for spending too little time diagnosing a soldier's injuries upon surgery. Without any warning, Lieutenant Nugent arrived at the 4077th to assist with Major Houlihan with surgery ... after bumping into Corporal O'Reilly unexpectedly. During surgery, Lieutenant Nugent started her work under the direction of Major Houlihan. Captain Hunnicutt had Corporal O'Reilly leave some fragments out the post-operative surgery ward. Major Houlihan then told him "Get Out!!" She meant business in the aftermath of her divorce from Donald Penobscott!!

Major Houlihan had plans to format a triage system at the 4077th. Colonel Potter had balked at the idea. He eventually had no choice but to commit to his visit within the week. Majors Winchester and Houilhan -- with the entire nursing staff and the doctors -- were doing a demonstration of the patients in the mess tent in reference to the types of injuries the patients suffered in battle as if it was the real thing.

Corporal O'Reilly endured a crisis of his own. He wanted to know Nurse Nugent better. He first spoke to Captain Pierce. He believed that she needed to know him more closely. He then saw Major Winchester in the laboratory. His suggestion: Shakespeare. He would eventually see Nurse Nugent personally in the Nurses' Tent. He asked her about going to the dance at the Officers' Club. She said yes to that idea.

By the end, General Dunkopf offered Major Houlihan a position in Tokyo. She knew the promotion was nothing more than exploitation of her professionalism and reputation. At least she hated herself with a sensible conscience. Meanwhile, Corporal O'Reilly enjoyed the night with Nurse Nugent. A Fat 10.4!! A+++!! Highly Recommended!!