Every Monday, I spotlight a random episode of M*A*S*H, providing a brief review and asking readers to offer their thoughts.
“The Novocaine Mutiny” (#92, 4×20)
Originally Broadcast: Tuesday, January 27th, 1976
Written by Burt Prelutsky
Directed by Harry Morgan
Capsule Summary: Frank has charged Hawkeye with mutiny and various members of the 4077th attend a preliminary hearing.
This episode is a terrific yet disturbing look into the psyche of Frank Burns. His outlook on life can be summed up perfectly by this somewhat famous line of his:
“Unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free.”
And he believes it, too, earnestly and completely. In fact, the episode revolves around Frank’s various convictions: that Hawkeye is a danger to America; that he can reshape the 4077th in six days while in temporary command; that his surgical skills are top notch; that everyone around him is incompetent at best, mutinous at worst.
Frank’s recollection of the surgery that led to the so-called mutiny is brightly lit, bizarre and easily the highlight of the episode. That he thinks highly of his surgical skills was not surprising but the depth and extent of his false memory was unbelievable. Left uncertain is whether Frank actually remembers the surgery that way or if he was simply trying to build himself up while tearing down everyone else. Personally, I’m conflicted.
There are a lot of great bits of dialogue in this episode. My favorite is between Frank and Radar about his teddy bear:
Frank: “Don’t tell me he sleeps with you.”
Radar: “I’m hoping to do better, sir.”
I also like Hawkeye’s “Mediocrity’s no crime, Frank!” from Frank’s recollection.
Anachronism alert: Radar’s comic books seen during Frank’s search of his desk are Marvel comics from the 1960s.
During Frank’s recollection of the events of 11 October, notice his voice when he calls out “Nurse Johnson.” It doesn’t match the rest of his dialogue.
The title of the episode refers to the 1952 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Caine Mutiny, which was turned into a 1954 movie starring Humphrey Bogart.
Margaret does not appear in this episode.
This was Harry Morgan’s directorial debut.
I’m pretty sure that, “Nurse Johnson” line was an ADR dub, which they seem to do on occasion.
To me, this was a meh episode at best, however, I do actually like Frank’s recollection in surgery, mainly because it’s exactly what we need to expect from Frank: building himself up as the super surgeon who saved countless lives, while Hawkeye, B.J., and all the others simply couldn’t keep up… and did you notice? Despite taking place in the O.R., we still heard the laugh track. We know not to take any of Frank’s story seriously.
Also, don’t forget, Frank thinks so highly of himself, he almost pretty much compares himself to God:
FRANK: Six days, Colonel? God created the universe in six days.
KLINGER: (Enters) Here’s your bridle and truss, Major Pussycat! (Exits)
FRANK: Oh course, God wasn’t surrounded by a bunch of flakes!
Actually what Klinger said was “Here’s your mail, Major Pussycat.”
I found this to be a very uneven episode. First of all, wouldn’t Frank need the CO to sign off on the court martial papers before they are brought to court?? How and why did Col. Potter do that?? Couldn’t the matter have been resolved in his office like always??
Second of all, how come everyone believes Hawkeye’s version of events but not Frank’s?? Again, Hawkeye is deemed to be a near demi-god for his surgical skills and it seems that he can do no wrong.
Uneven episode and quite unbelievable at that.
By the way, I thought I’d announce this just in case some of you didn’t hear about it.
The last four remaining raiders of the Doolittle Raid are getting together one last time in public somewhere in the Midwest of the United States. They will drink from their Goblets the 1896 year Cognac (Look it up!:)) and toast the other seventy-six that have died over the years. 🙁
While there were definitely some amusing moments, I also find this episode completely unbelievable. As Sue said, Potter would never sign off on something so frivolous. Also, Hawkeye would likely never want anything to do with Frank ever again after putting him through that. The ending is remarkably laid back and jovial considering it was a court martial proceeding.
Tuttle: see my reply below.
It’s another laugh fest. Just keep in mind it may not reflect reality all that well.
One of my favorite lines takes place in the O.R. as artillery goes off outside and Frank has the stupidity to ask Hawkeye:
Burns: Was that a bomb?
Pierce: Uh no Frank, someone’s been playing their World War II album.
This calls up images of Sunday mornings and a nice breakfast and coffee, perhaps a smoke, the Sunday paper and oh dear what to do?
Hey I know! I’ll just pull out my favorite WWll! Man they sure don’t make em’ like they used to. Bang! Bam! Boom!
I guess I didn’t really think about the logistics of the court martial. Do we know for sure that Frank’s complaint against Hawkeye would have had to go to Colonel Potter first, or could he have bypassed the regular chain of command and gone directly to whoever? Frank and Margaret certainly went over Colonel Blake’s head plenty of times.
Technically Frank could not bring charges against Hawkeye, with or without going “through channels” (i.e. Potter). He could only present his evidence to the JAG office, they would review the evidence, determine what, if any, crime had been committed, then bring charges.
Just like in real life, if you see a crime committed you do not bring charges, you report your evidence to the police (and therefore to the DA’s office). If charges are then filed, you appear as witness.
I don’t recall whether this episode takes place before or after Hawkeye has been made chief surgeon. In the military there is differentiation between “rank” and “authority”; the classic example is a lowly private assigned MP duty can arrest a five star general if he sees him doing something illegal. “I respect your rank; you respect my authority.” If Hawkeye has already been appointed chief surgeon, then in the operating room he has absolute authority, therefore there was no mutiny.
Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.
My username is from “Bottoms Up”.
My favorite episode is “Old Soldiers”
I live 2 hours east of Toledo,Ohio.
I’m a devoted fan of the site and check in often.
Hope to hear from all you M*A*S*H fans
Frank was his usual bizarre self in this episode.
Hi, Doc Funnypants!
My name is JocularityGirl (Made it up myself after Father Mulcahy’s catchphrase!)
My favorite character on the show is Father Mulcahy, and my favorite actor/actress on the show is William Christopher.
My favorite episode is “Nurse Doctor” .
I’m eighteen, live in Northeast Texas and love watching Mash and writing clean romance novels inclunding one Mulcahy/original character fanfiction!
Nice to meet you all!
This is a perfect example of what would happen if Frank were in charge and Margaret wasn’t there to rein him in.
A funny episode especially where the courtroom scenes are concerned. Knowing Frank, he probably really did believe his own story. As BJ said, he had no doubt that Frank remembered it that way.
Potter: “I’m not saying I’d want a company of Klingers…”
Hawkeye: “Unless Christian Dior invades Pearl Harbor.”
Frank (when trying to explain why he had the unit moved from one spot and then back again): “Mash means mobile.”
Hawkeye: “Also meshugah.”
Franks distorted look at realty…it would have been funnier if the CO was Col Blake…Potter whould have put Houlihan not Burns in charge…..
IIRC, Hawkeye had been made chief surgeon early on in Season 1, so after what you said, he had total authority.
I love this episode but I take on board comments such as Tuttle’s about unbelievability: “Hawkeye would likely never want anything to do with Frank ever again after putting him through that. The ending is remarkably laid back and jovial considering it was a court martial proceeding.”
This episode, plus the one where Hawkeye is arrested after punching Frank, are two examples where – in their respective aftermaths – the 2 guys shouldn’t have been in the same camp together.
More proof that MASH didn’t really do continuity, more like 250-odd episodes existing in their own separate universes.
“Gentlemen, I have weighed the evidence carefully. Not merely the testimony, but the records of those involved. I have no doubt that Captain Pierce is a prankster and thoroughly unmilitary. But the records indicate that he’s a topflight surgeon. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to lead a company of Pierces into battle but I’d sure as hell want him around when that battle was over.”
Case dismissed!
My favorite dialogue from Frank’s warped memory was this:
Nurse: “Thank you doctor.”
Frank: “For what?”
Nurse: “Just for being you!”
I just rewatched this episode and I have to say that one of my favourite little touches has to be that the surgical mirror that Frank’s wearing in his memory of the O.R. session keeps catching the light and giving him a sort of halo effect.
As to a comment someone made earlier questioning why everyone believed Hawkeye’s version of events rather than Frank’s: 1) Hawkeye had others who largely corroborated his story while I have no doubt that Frank was the only one telling his version; 2) it’s hardly the first time Frank has brought (or tried to bring) erroneous charges against a fellow surgeon – not knowing much about how the military works, I’m still inclined to think that all of those would be in Frank’s file and would act as something of a warning flag not to take him too seriously; 3) Frank and Hawkeye’s respective behaviours just within the setting of the court martial spoke volumes – even if you knew nothing about either of them, Frank’s total enthusiasm for getting Hawkeye the worst punishment available is sort of alarming. You can even practically see those in charge of the proceedings slowly getting on Hawkeye’s side pretty much every time Frank opens his mouth.
As to the question of how the court martial came about in the first place since it would have apparently required Potter’s input, I’m inclined to think that the most likely explanation is that Frank simply refused to stop kicking up a stink about the whole thing; plus there’s the fact that Potter’s still fairly new in the camp at this stage and it’s possible that (much like Henry believing Hawkeye was capable of mass theft early in the first season) he was maybe a little concerned that Hawkeye had potentially pushed his blatant disrespect of Frank too far and decided for himself that the matter was indeed worth an official sorting out if only as a warning to Hawkeye to play nice… Then once it became clear just how not in the wrong Hawkeye actually was, Potter completely stopped backing Frank altogether.
Actually, another episode – Season 5’s “The Nurses,” in which Colonel Potter tells Major Houlihan he’d understand if she wanted to hit Hawkeye and BJ with charges over what happened in her tent – might indicate that Potter had no choice but to let Frank go forward, because he wasn’t there.
BTW, Loretta Swit seemed to miss a lot of episodes late in Season 4. Perhaps movie or theater work?
Yes, she was appearing in “Same Time, Next Year” and started rehearsals before the end of 1975. Her last episode filmed during Season 4 was “Der Tag”, and it was produced after a couple episodes where she didn’t appear. That leads me to think that her scenes were filmed a few weeks before the rest of the episode.
Re the above comment about the laugh track in OR during Frank’s “recollection”, later on Hawkeye gives his version of events in the OR and there is a bit of laugh track in that one also!!
I think Harry Morgan did a pretty good job directing this one, and yes it does have quite a few plot holes.
My main problem is the issue raised above as to how the case managed to proceed to the level it did based on flimsy and/or concocted evidence, yet quite often it was mentioned that Hawkeye was facing possible capital punishment ie.e death as punishment. Mutiny on the Bounty this was not!!
I just watched this episode and noticed that in the scrub room there is a hook with a label that says “Gary.” Wonder who that was lol.