Episode Spotlight: Dear Dad… Three

15 Comments

Every Monday, I spotlight a random episode of M*A*S*H, providing a brief review and asking readers to offer their thoughts.

“Dear Dad… Three” (#33, 2×09)
Originally Broadcast: Saturday, November 10th, 1973
Written by Larry Gelbart & Laurence Marks
Directed by Don Weis

Capsule Summary: Hawkeye writes another letter to his father, telling him about the latest goings-on at the 4077th.

The third and last Dear Dad episode, “Dear Dad… Three” is also the weakest, in my opinion. Not a lot of laughs. Like all the letter home episodes, there’s no story, just vignettes. Perhaps the most significant is the tale Hawkeye tells his father about the racist Sergeant Condon. Hawkeye is so disturbed when Condon worries he’ll be given the wrong color blood, he decides teach the man a lesson.

Hawkeye and Trapper tint Condon’s skin and enlist the help of Ginger and Klinger to trick him into thinking he did get the wrong color blood. The two later tell Condon about Dr. Charles Drew, who helped pioneer blood storage and transfusion techniques. An African-American, Dr. Drew died in April 1950 following a car accident but not because a hospital refused to treat him. It’s unfortunate M*A*S*H has played a role in keeping this particular urban legend alive.

Henry’s home movies are interesting to watch but not nearly as amusing as Frank’s home movies, seen in “There’s Nothing Like A Nurse” during Season 3.

The staff meeting is just boring, to be honest. I do like how Frank is vehemently opposed to voting to end the war. Radar almost seems to think the vote actually means something. For some reason, Trapper climbing onto the table after the vote (perhaps eager to get to the unemployment office?”) is hilarious to me.

A few minor things: the soldier with a grenade stuck in his body; the camp happy hour at in the Mess Tent; Father Mulcahy boxing to keep in shape; Frank and Margaret slapping one another and then furiously kissing; Hawkeye meeting Anna Lindstrom.

Still from the M*A*S*H episode Dear Dad Three showing Hawkeye.

Hawkeye reacting to Sgt. Condon in the Swamp

In a March 2001 post to the alt.tv.mash Usenet group, Larry Gelbart revealed he went to high school with Kathleen Hughes, who plays Lorraine Blake in Henry’s home movies.

Hawkeye mentions hearing about General Eisenhower running for President. Eisenhower made the announcement in January 1952. Therefore, this episode must take place around that time. That conflicts with Hawkeye telling Sgt. Condon that Dr. Charles Drew “died last April” because Dr. Drew died in April 1950.

The group playing volleyball in the opening scene includes Kellye Nakahara, Sheila Lauritsen, Marcia Gelman, and Dennis Troy.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, I recall cable channel FX using footage from this episode–specifically, Frank and Margaret passionately kissing, in promotional spots for M*A*S*H.

15 Replies to “Episode Spotlight: Dear Dad… Three”

  1. I don’t really have much to say about this episode that hasn’t already been said. While I don’t necessarily agree that it’s a boring episode, I will agree that of the three “Dear Dad” episodes, it is probably the weakest.

    Seems like Season 2 tried to touch on the pretty heavy issues, but just weren’t too particularly good at it, like homosexuality in “George” or racism in this episode as well as “L.I.P.”

  2. This episode was just on TVLand! I wouldn’t say it’s a great episode, but it is not bad either. The dialogue between Frank and Margaret was hysterical. 🙂

  3. I believe that Mills Watson, who plays Condon in this episode, bears a resemblance to Dennis Franz, of “NYPD Blue” fame. Watson also starred on the short-lived series “Lobo”. Other than that, this was a run of the mill episode.

  4. I watched this just yesterday – the grenade shot in a solider was powerful. I burst out laughing when they other guy thought he was turning black.

    Just found this site, have seen each episode just about twice, and currently enjoying going through again, at random. Thanks for the effort put in to run this site!

  5. RJ,

    I love this website. I come here every time I have a question about a M*A*S*H episode. I wish you’d do this for every show that I watch.

    “Hawkeye mentions hearing about General Eisenhower running for President. Eisenhower made the announcement in January 1952. Therefore, this episode must take place around that time. That conflicts with Hawkeye telling Sgt. Condon that Dr. Charles Drew “died last April” because Dr. Drew died in April 1950.”

    Not necessarily. Remember that Hawkeye is writing home about his memories of things that have happened. Our memories are not linear. If he’s writing in 1952, that doesn’t mean that the memory of the prejudiced soldier wasn’t from 1950. Hawkeye doesn’t write that everything happened in the last week, the last month or the last letter only that it happened since he arrived in Korea.

  6. Only minor problem I have is that Henry and Hawkeye aren’t wearing their masks when removing the grenade. (Of course, they had a bigger problem at hand, but come on, guys!)

  7. Using the last line to Rudyard Kipling’s “Gunga Din” is an example of the cleverness we see throughout M*A*S*H. Even if the parallel to the topic of racial prejudice is missed, we still get the idea it’s an ‘upscale’ poem … From that (and serious) to the risqué poem Henry started (Trapper’s quick “Steady, Henry” to stop him) then back to the seriousness of the grenade should cause whiplash, but it flows smoothly … and continues throughout the episode, ending with the song “Makin’ Whoopee” right after a serious scene.

    Fun episode.
    Great balance of humor and serious.

  8. I found this to be an enjoyable episode, however I am disappointed that we are barely halfway into season 2 and this is the third (count them, 3) Dear dad Hawkeye episode, yet we have never had a similar letter home episode from Trapper John (and we never did get one). Yes he did write a letter in “Kim” but that was in service of that specific storyline, not a framing device for general vignettes about camp life. And Hawkeye wrote another letter to his dad in “For The Good of the Outfit” and one much later to Harry Truman in season 10.

    Three letters home from the one character in 1 and a half seasons is a bit much.

    Having said that, I do enjoy the episode, especially the home movies, the Charles Drew aspect and the strangely funny staff meeting, which to my mind actually works pretty well.

    1. In regards to Dear Dad letters:
      From the very beginning writing his dad is part of Hawkeye’s character…
      1. The Pilot’s first scene opens with, “Dear Dad, Hawkeye here. You said I sounded a bit callous about my job in my last letter. Well, let me see if . . .”.
      2. Jokingly, in The Moose, “Dear Dad, we had a little poker game . . . seems I won a person.”.
      3. He mentions he wrote his dad while explaining why he’d sent him the long johns in The Longjohn Flap.
      4. He writes his dad wanting a favor from Senator Baxter in For The Good of the Outfit.
      5. There’s a fake Dear Dad letter in Mail Call (a trap for Frank).
      6. ”Dear Dad, I’m bring home a marine. He’ll be the son you never had.” (joking in Springtime).
      7. ”Dear Dad, something new has been added, a tape recorder . . .” as he begins a taped letter to describe a day (A Full Rich Day).
      8. “Dear Dad, the wounded keep coming and coming. The latest batch were Greek soldiers. . . . The common denominator is blood, and it’s all red. And there’s an awful lot of it leaking out . . .“ (Private Charles Lamb).
      9. And, of course, “Dear Dad”, “Dear Dad, Again”, and “Dear Dad … Three”.
      Trapper received letters from home (starting in the Pilot). The only two times he wrote home they were specifically about being a father; adopting Kim (in Kim) and in Bulletin Board he tells his daughter he’s sorry he missed her birthday party, he didn’t know when he’d be home, and a little bit about the two doctors he shared a tent with.

      Trapper’s are family life (from and to), Hawkeye’s camp life; it’s the way their characters were written.

      Dear Dad letters were an excellent tool to quickly familiarize viewers to the setting and the characters, probably why so many in those early seasons.

  9. Apologies, but two other observations about this episode:

    Noting Maddie’s comment above, viz:
    Only minor problem I have is that Henry and Hawkeye aren’t wearing their masks when removing the grenade. (Of course, they had a bigger problem at hand, but come on, guys!)

    That is certainly true, and once you notice it you can’t unnotice it. However, prior to that there is the scene in the O.R. with Hawkeye and the racist patient Condon requesting “the right colour of blood”. The trouble is that if you watch the scene it starts with Hawkeye * finishing up * his surgical procedure on Condon and at that time has the above conversation with Condon.

    Huh?

    Yes, that’s right, Hawkeye is having a good conversation with a patient on the table that he has just * finished * his surgery on. No anaesthetist in sight. Condon must be one helluva guy (racist notwithstanding) to maintain a conversation and be operated on at the same time!

    I can not for the life of me work out how that was not noticed during filming.

    The other observation is that during the happy hour party in the Swamp, there is brief sequence where an inebriated Henry corners a young nurse, leans in close and says to her (words to the effect of) “Listen honey, you can get a promotion in the field or … you can come back to my tent”.

    Cue gales of canned laughter on the sound track.

    I know it is just a TV show, and it was made in 1973, but come on, it is a bit off putting to see those kind of throwaway lines these days. I don’t mind the generally more decadent atmosphere of the early years, as opposed to the perhaps moralistic latter years, but individual lines like that from the Camp Commander Henry, an older male in authority, are just a bit … off.

    Having said that Hot Lips Houlihan clearly had some kind of history in this regard. don’t get me wrong I do love MASH, but from time to time some of the dialogue stands out for the wrong reasons!

    1. Brian L, in regards to Condon:
      It appears to me his injured foot only required a local anesthetic, which would leave him able to easily carry on a conversation.
      M*A*S*H excelled at using their 24 minutes wisely, explaining a local (or seeing it given) wasn’t essential to the story.

      Mask-less: For me, Margaret wearing a mask and Henry and Hawkeye not actually helps show the drama of how stressful the situation is; a small detail helping set the mood, done on purpose.

      1. MeTV pi$$es me off every time this episode is on. They always cut the bit where Trapper brings a covered tray to Condon. The exchange that follows is priceless. From the depths of my memories, it goes something like:

        Trapper: “Here’s your lunch.”
        Condon: “What is it?”
        Trapper: “Just what you ordered.” (removes the towel from the tray). “Fried chicken and watermelon.”
        Condon (getting upset): “What the hell are talking about? I didn’t order that!”

        Trapper’s seriousness combined with Condon’s exasperated reaction makes for a great scene.

        But MeTV always cuts that part and starts with Trapper and Hawkeye telling Condon about Dr. Drew. It makes absolutely no sense to remove that when plenty of other stereotypical racist comments are made (darky, picking cotton, “passing” for white, etc.). None of those comments are made in order to demean blacks; they are all used to demonstrate Condon’s ignorance.

        Nevertheless, while this probably is the weakest of the “Dear Dad” episodes, it’s still a very fine example of what made the show so great.

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