M*A*S*H: Fade Out, Fade In

M*A*S*H: Fade Out, Fade In
CBS
September 20, 1977
Dramedy
DVD
B

This hour-long episode (which aired opposite Three's Company and Soap) kicks off the middle season and arguably Phase Three of the series.  Major Frank Burns fades out off-screen, getting drunk and crazy because of his jealousy over Margaret's marriage.  Major Charles Emerson Winchester fades in, at first on a temporary basis, but then when it's clear that Frank isn't coming back, Potter insists on Winchester staying.  I like that instead of an insecure, incompetent surgeon, Winchester is a conceited very good surgeon.  Hawkeye. who has his own large ego, finds Winchester very irritating.  This will offer a different, much less stale dynamic than "needling Ferret-Face."

Meanwhile, Margaret has some fond memories of Frank and she's finding that her new husband is uncomfortable with her past.  (Not just with Frank but with high-ranking officers.)  The scene where she confides in Hawkeye and BJ could not have happened in the earlier years.  Hawkeye had to become more mature, and have a more mature pal than Trapper, and Margaret had to learn to relax and show vulnerability.  The scene where Father Mulcahy reluctantly voices his suspicions about Frank and Margaret's adultery is delicately done, as are Hawkeye and BJ's reactions.  Even though Fritzell & Greenbaum have been writing for the show awhile, the tone has shifted from some of their cruder, earlier efforts.

Note that Klinger says he's been dressing in women's clothing for two years, come April 22nd.  And Winchester claims his family knows Truman.  So I'm guessing this is set in Fall of '52.

MP Sergeant William Flatley would be a cab driver on Who's the Boss?  Robert Symonds would return as Col. Horace Baldwin, while Rick Hurst would be back as Captain (really Private) Schaeffer.  Kimiko Hiroshige (this time the Korean Woman that Winchester hires as a cleaning woman for a dollar a day), James Lough (this time as a Driver), Jeff Maxwell (Straminsky, who sounds like he's been dubbed by Johnny "Zale" Haymer), and Sal Viscuso (PA Announcer) return.