M*A*S*H: Patent 4077

M*A*S*H: Patent 4077
CBS
January 10, 1978
Dramedy
DVD
B-

This Levine & Isaacs story has two threads where people's efforts aren't fully acknowledged.  In one, Klinger accidentally throws away Margaret's wedding ring, and she doesn't appreciate all that he, Hawkeye, and BJ do to try to find it again, until he makes her see their efforts.  In the other, Hawkeye and BJ come up with an idea for a clamp but they're not mechanically inclined enough to make it, so they get one of the local peddlers, Mr. Shin (Keye Luke in his first of three M*A*S*H appearances), to make it.  He only charges $10!  Considering that this clamp saves a patient's leg, and it seems to be the clamp that Hawkeye and Margaret demonstrate in "Comrade in Arms" (apparently set later), it seems like he should get more recognition, and money.

Johnny Haymer (Zale), Patricia Stevens (Baker), and Sal Viscuso (PA Announcer) return.  Radar remains absent.  Morgan directed this episode.