#mash meta

[margarettherelentless]

[peter-pantomime]

god okay the thing is that yeah, bj and hawkeye have a "yes, and" relationship from jump, but more specifically than that is that they have an "i see you, and i raise you-" relationship.

from the moment he realizes hawkeye isn't registering him at all, i think bj is trying to get hawkeyes attention, increasing his opening bids until finally 'rudyard kipling' gets hawkeye to actually stop and take in the guy in front of him. and then he immediately starts doing the same thing as bj, throwing out lines and provocations and prodding for information to see if bj will meet his invitations without hesitating, and even more than that, go further.

i just love the way they're analyzing and evaluating each other throughout this whole scene. like, this is one of my favorite bj shots - compared to how he looks in the rest of the scene, in this shot he suddenly has a much more intense expression, and yeah hes picking popcorn out of his teeth lol, but hes also just riveted studying hawkeye's methods toying with the officer in such a stripped down, open way, i love it:

And we talk about 'rudyard kipling' and the double-take a lot (as we should), but honestly 'coleman hawkins' and this shared look are so incredibly !!! as well, because here they're both putting a bid forward and being delighted the other is matching and upping it:

the other thing i love about this scene is the way it shows us so early on how bj is both genuinely guileless and naive in certain moments, but is also incredibly good at simply pretending to be those things while he is actively using the 'butter wouldn't melt in his mouth' facade to get away with murder. like, look at his face above compared to him being genuinely (as far as we can ever tell lol) open and honest below:

its so microscopic, but its also undeniable that he just has a little more of a gleam in his eye in the former than the latter. and the contrast between these two gifs, and the general theme here about their relationship being a sort of poker game, is why i posit that bj is lying about being bad at poker here:

to me, it is much more fun to interpret his expression as closer to the 'coleman hawkins' false naivety moment than the genuine sincerity of the other moment, and to say that the above moment is bj already playing a poker game with hawkeye, literally and figuratively.

like i do really love the interpretation of bj being genuinely earnest in this moment, and that its a reference point in the metric of how much innocence is lost over the course of the show, but i really do love using it instead to trace the deviousness that slowly reveals itself in him back to his earliest moments on the show.

because like if hawkeye was holding the all the chips when bj bid for his attention with rudyard kipling, and they were both evenly matched with 'coleman hawkins,' i think this is the moment when bj turns the tides and gains a winning hand, even though it won't actually pay out for ages. Cuz like, i can so imagine them later playing an actual game and bj losing a few on purpose to continue the scheme, and then winning a few with an aw shucks performance of pure dumb luck, before finally getting caught or admitting the scheme when he cashes out big. that would be so deeply in line with the prankster we see in dear sigmund, and under the bombast of the indignant squawking, the bit would DELIGHT hawkeye exactly how all those pranks did, and the revelation about bj would be as intoxicating for him as watching hawkeye play the officer was for bj.

and i think that's what i love about calling their dynamic "i see you, and i raise you-", is that it isn't just about the escalation of bids and stakes, although that is a huge part of it. its that, in the act of feeling those things out with each other, they're seeing if the other gets them, if they understand what they're doing and why - literally, if the other sees him.

and i think both parts of this aspect of their dynamic - pushing against each other to higher and higher stakes and seeing and really understanding each other - play out so beautifully between them throughout the show, but its there immediately and so wonderfully even in just the first few episodes. later in wtk, hawkeye meets bj where he is in the despair, and then offers his hand for bj to use to pull himself up to meet what faces him. in the late captain pierce, bj doesn't acquiesce to what hawk's put on the table, a proposal to give up - he raises the stakes, goes back to their shared sworn duty, and pushes hawkeye to meet him there.

so many times in the show, they demonstrate how well they see the other as they are in a moment, and also what the other is trying to be, and whether its during a bit or an existential crisis, whether they're succeeding or failing, the other is right there playing along and challenging them to do it more, bigger, fuller, deeper, better, and it starts the moment they meet.

anyway, happy 50th beejhawkiversary everyone, whatta show

[mashandmartinis]

something something would hawkeye have grown as attached to bj if he had been available, or is bj's devotion to peg (the guarantee that he will never ever be able to end up with hawkeye) part of why hawkeye could get this close to him in the first place. something about finding security in the knowledge that nothing will ever come of it. something in seeing unwavering devotion, not directed to himself, and recognising it as something safe and stable even if he knows it's not meant for him. hawkeye's abandonment issues coupled with bj's very clear and steady devotion to peg and erin; bj will always be out of reach for hawkeye but at least he gets to witness the security of a loving marriage from a distance. it's not directed towards him so hawkeye gets the warmth (from a distance) without the attached risk of abandonment. looking in from the outside. something something warming himself next to a decorative fireplace that gives off no real heat, wrapped up in a blanket next to bj during a sweltering summer. the heat is there and it's not comfortable but he'll stare at that fake fire for as long as he has to until he can almost believe it's real.

[redcheekdays]

my m*a*s*h hot takes now that I've finished the show & let gfa digest

1. all the crimes fandom accuses trapper of committing, bj committed too

2. s4-11 don't solve the racism or misogyny in s1-3. it's still there, just easier to ignore. and, 4-11 is less overtly political and anti-war than 1-3

3. I thought gfa was just okay

4. I understand why, as a television show, they felt like they needed to give us a found family dynamic at the end. we've spent 11 seasons with these characters! we want to see our own affection for them reflected in the characters' affection for each other! but on the other hand turning the ensemble cast into a found family is a betrayal of the show's original thesis

[prince-of-elsinore]

still thinking about that Mike Farrell quote about BJ walking to Maine, specifically the “And it probably wouldn’t have been as wonderful as he’d have hoped it was, because you know, lives have gone in different directions” and how really that just acknowledges and summarizes the core irony and bitter-sweetness of not only beejhawk as a ship, but BJ and Hawkeye’s canon friendship, and the ethos of the entire show.

It’s a cruel twist of fate that brought these people together. War, senseless destruction, indiscriminate killing: these are the circumstances under which they become intertwined. None of them want to be there, they all want out, they endure unutterable horrors and will forever be altered and scarred. Wouldn’t it be morbid to cherish any part of that experience? To want anything but to leave it behind and wash it all off? And yet--they will miss each other. All the goodbyes are difficult, and BJ and Hawkeye's is the hardest of all. Hawk knows, and BJ must too, deep down where he’s not ready to admit to himself, that it will never be the same between them. The war created the conditions of their friendship. The stress, the blood, the fear, the yearning, the depression, all were part of it--are the very reason they “cling to each other,” in BJ’s own words. They cannot go back to that, and given the choice, they would not.

BJ and Hawk will undoubtedly miss each other, very much, as they both admit. I’m sure there are many times post-war that they wish the other were there, or might even long for the simplicity and camaraderie of the Swamp (with the rose-tinted glasses of memory), but you can’t pick and choose which parts of an experience to keep and which to throw away. The war was a package deal. Any possible reunion between any of the 4077 would, inevitably, make it clear how lives went on and paths diverged. For most of them that wouldn’t even be a disappointment, but for BJ, who clings harder than anyone to the “there and later,” to the fantasy of a perfect future, of course whatever he hoped for when he so confidently told Hawk “I promise” isn’t how it would play out. But that doesn’t mean--and Mike’s quote doesn’t even rule out--that there’s no happy ending, even if your happy ending is BJ and Hawk together. It only means that BJ will have to realize that his relationship with Hawk isn’t something he could preserve in ice and then thaw out and jump back into like nothing at all has changed (just as he’ll no doubt realize with Peg when he gets home). Because everything has changed. The war is over. If BJ and Hawkeye want to preserve their bond, they’d have to find new patterns, new ways of relating to each other, new routines away from death and destruction and hardship. It would take time and effort. Mike also said they’d make a point of seeing each other. To me that sounds like he thinks they’d be willing to put in the work. I like to think that too, even if I’m imagining a bit more drastic an endgame.

tl;dr: Mike Farrell understands that at the core of MASH is the paradox that these people mean more to each other than anyone who didn’t share that experience, but the status quo where those relationships are forged and flourish is a state of war that they all want out of so badly.

[swampmartinis]

idk why it gets to me when people say that hawkeye and trapper were ''basically the same person''. i mean yeah i get it they're tweedle dee and tweedle dum and they share the same brain cell, but they weren't ever the same character

there's differences between them, a lot of them subtle but differences all the same. trapper can bring out the soft caring dad energy and adores kids, meanwhile hawkeye is more of a wine aunt who brings all the good presents every time he visits. trapper can be fiercely protective of his friends/lovers/patients, a fierceness that nearly made him kill a man over his patient dying. he's a lot less touchy feely than hawkeye and tends to keep his emotions to himself until they spill over

hawkeye is an open book compared to trapper, how many times have we seen him cry and breakdown? he agonizes over things and wears himself down to the point that they need to sedate him. he's also very protective over the people he loves and cares about but when they leave they take a part with him. he's usually always the one to initiate a prank or to take a stand on something he believes in, trapper usually goes along with it but the ring leader is usually always hawkeye

not to mention the big differences like how trapper has a wife and kids back home waiting for him, he's got more at stake, more reasons to get out of that hell hole. I could list more but this post would end up too long so just add your favorite differences in the tags if you want

[andrandiriel]

Does someone want to tell me what the MASH writers were doing with all of these Albert Schweitzer references? Was he a household name in the 50s? In the 70s? I always thought he was kind of niche, but I just watched an episode where they said his name 3 times

[variousqueerthings]

Top ten most haunted episodes of MASH

I realised! I can now post this, because as much as I’m sure the finale is going to be one hell of a ride, I am kind of seeing it as its own thing in connection with this (I may change my mind once I’ve watched it of course) and therefore want to take it out of the running, because 2 hours of thematically weighted narrative really isn’t fair compared to the usual 25mins an episode has to make you feral 

anyway MASH is haunted, but sometimes... it’s even more haunted!

* Runner ups *

tuttle: this one goes more shenanigans than haunted, however it cannot be denied that an incorporeal person briefly worked at, slept at, and befriended people at the 4077th MASH unit

dr pierce and mr hyde: the first episode to make you wonder... wait, war may be war and hell may be hell, but maybe this narrative about war is actually purgatory and Hawkeye is so plagued by insomnia that he’s seen past the curtain and is looking right at us! maybe we’re haunting the narrative! but there are a couple of episodes in which Hawkeye is haunted far more obviously

abyssinia, henry: in hindsight we’re watching a eulogy of sorts. A goodbye spoken over and over, every time the episode is watched and the players play their parts once more. But Henry isn’t actually dead yet... 

heal thyself: an episode in which there’s a haunting by the potential future of losing your mind after seeing so much violence, however “dreams” does it with more surrealism and spread more evenly across the board

where there’s a will there’s a war: this one might have made the list, but for the fact that there is another episode in which Hawkeye dies more readily...

* THE TOP TEN MOST HAUNTED MASH EPISODES (SUBJECTIVELY, IN THE ORDER THEY APPEAR) *

the late captain pierce: Hawkeye dies. they tell his father and everything. a guy comes to pick up his corpse. his body lays down amongst the other dead, allowing itself (briefly) to be taken, before deciding to drag itself up again to go on and on and on. it makes you ask “what if he is dead and this is a purgatory of some kind and he can never leave?” and of course, it’s the episode that first invokes both Trapper and Henry (after the opening episode) as figures that will haunt the 4077th for the rest of the story

hawk’s nightmare: all of his friends from back home keep dying horrible, violent deaths in technicolour! he rushes to the phone, trying to reach them somehow to warn them of what only he knows is coming, only to discover that they’re all perfectly fine. it’s a metaphor, the violence he’s seeing in war is invading the peacefulness of his life back home, marring its idyllic, safe place in his head. but it plays not unlike a literal horror movie, just like the war itself -- he’s the only one who can save them, all of them, and nobody believes him

exorcism: I mean this episode is called “exorcism,” they very literally get the place exorcised from angry spirits. I know this tradition exists, but I don’t know how accurately it’s portrayed, but I do like that the episode takes it very seriously -- and considering “follies” I’d say that makes it even more canon that this is about very real (and not metaphorical) ghosts. sometimes spirits are a metaphor. sometimes ghosts are just pissed off that you’re not respecting them!

old soldiers: the episode in which they drink to (and with) Potter’s dead friends, and in many ways, to Potter’s life as well -- one in which he’s been involved in war after war after war (and now, at least personally, that’s about to end). Potter as a character has a particular feeling to him. he’s lived a long time and experienced all kinds of deaths, not just from war, but simply from coming ever-closer to the end of that life. in many ways the entirety of his narrative in this story is a coda, and this is one of the strongest episodes to showcase that, through the invocation of old soldiers

dreams: things that were, things that are, and some things... that have not yet come to pass. all the things spoken about by galadriel in lord of the rings basically, but make it even more fucked up and covered in blood. haunted by your mother calling you in to dinner as a kid. haunted by the life you’ll never have and the bodies piled in front of you instead. haunted by the perfect marriage and promised life slipping through your fingers. haunted by the expectations placed upon you. haunted by Christ-symbolism judging your desires. haunted by empty streets and your own dead body. haunted by bodies, by a lake, by a dead child. it’s just really haunted okay. 

the life you save: this is another one that feels recontextualised once you’ve seen “follies,” but maybe you were already wondering... maybe Charles wasn’t just imagining his brother hanging around after he’d died, maybe he really was there. regardless, he was feeling his presence. beyond that, there’s the metaphorical hauntings -- the unspoken thing that happened that Charles clearly feels very guilty about. the desperate desire to engage with the afterlife, clinging to a literal dying soldier. and of course his odd little unfazed acknowledgement of the fact that he may die too

follies of the living - concerns of the dead: IT’S AN EPISODE ABOUT A GHOST! THE POV CHARACTER IS DEAD! it’s not half-teasing the audience that maybe Klinger is just really sick, because Klinger is not the POV. it’s a story about life about death, told through the eyes of someone who’s letting go of the things that frustrate and worry the living. and then the soldier wanders away from the MASH 4077th, ready to let go, and joins other dead people in wandering down the road to... somewhere. they really just did this, huh. I also imagine just how sick Klinger might have been to have seen said ghost... makes ya wonder...

trick or treatment: coming at you all of a sudden in s11 of all places, we have literal ghost stories! in many ways this is actually the silliest of the haunted MASH episodes, because the stakes of the ghosts themselves aren’t so intense. the episode does have intensity and an actual resurrection, but in many ways it’s chasing away the fear of death, as one may do on Halloween. ghosts include: a dead brother, a ghost ship, dead husband, and of course the ghosts of all the soldiers that you watched die that demand penitence 

who knew: an episode that once more is contextualised somewhat by “follies,” but actually it’s slightly less the ghost of nurse Carpenter that stalks this tale (although she does that for sure), and more the eulogy at the end that pushes this one over the edge. The eulogy is really only partially about her, and far more about Hawkeye’s family at the 4077th. If Hawkeye is speaking as the dead in episodes like “the late captain pierce,” and “where there’s a will,” he’s speaking as someone who’s mourning the seemingly very alive people before him in this one. the fact that it comes in the last season of the show makes that speech feel all the more like the goodbye that a eulogy is

as time goes by: hey, remember how the show opens with “100 years ago” and then this episode asks “how will we be remembered in a 100 years?” a neat little circle back to the beginning, in which one remembers all of a sudden (meta, I know, but what is a haunting without meta) that we just passed the 50th mark of the show’s release. another 50 years and that question will be answered (and heck, 100 years since the Korean war is only about 30 years away...) -- an episode about living ghosts, leaving behind a legacy of their story that is only contextualised through having watched that story (a teddy bear, a fishing hook, a dress, etc). and of course, within that story itself, a form of final burial to the ghost of Henry Blake

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