M*A*S*H: Deluge

M*A*S*H: Deluge
CBS
February 17, 1976
Dramedy
DVD
B

A newsreel from 1950 is interspersed with scenes of the 4077th, especially in and around the OR.  The Chinese have just joined the war (or "police action" as Frank calls it), which happened in October of that year.  So the retconning begins.  For once, a fragmented format actually helps, with scenes of famous politicians and movie comedians, as well as a ping-pong-playing cat, contrasting with the more serious scenes of the unit.  There are moments where Potter and Houlihan deliberately walk in on each other in the shower, and they're not played for prurience, as they would've been in the Blake era.  The colonel and the major treat each other like equals, both regular Army and understanding each other as no one else in camp can.

Kario Salem makes his first M*A*S*H appearance, as the Youngster.  Lois Foraker (Nurse Able), Roy Goldman (this time as a Corpsman), Kellye Nakahara (Yamato), and Lynn Marie Stewart (this time as Nurse Plummer) return.  Gelbart & Muntner wrote this one.