Episode Spotlight: The Late Captain Pierce

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

“The Late Captain Pierce” (#76, 4×04)
Originally Broadcast: Friday, October 3rd, 1975
Written by Glen Charles & Les Charles
Directed by Alan Alda

Capsule Summary: The Army mistakenly declares Hawkeye dead, causing all sorts of problems for him and prompting him to consider going AWOL.

This is a solid episode. It’s not perfect, but I like it. I think maybe it suffers somewhat from a common problem on M*A*S*H: trying to mix comedy with drama. Something feels off but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Is Hawkeye’s anguish at becoming an un-person diminished by the antics of Digger (aka Lt. Detweiler)? Is that what bothers me?

Digger is a funny character. Richard Masur does a great job playing the sarcastic, somewhat apathetic morgue officer. I love this exchange between Digger and Klinger:

Digger: Hey, aren’t you the guy who’s trying to get out, pretending you’re a woman?”
Klinger: “No, no. I’m the woman trying to get in, pretending I’m a guy.”
Digger: “Funny.”

Maybe it’s just me, but Hawkeye worrying about his poor father while Digger wandering around the 4077th worrying about losing bodies doesn’t quite work. As the episode progresses, Hawkeye becomes increasingly distraught at how his life has been impacted since it ended. It’s bizarre at first, almost comical, and B.J. throws Hawkeye a wake. True, Hawkeye worries about his father, but it’s not until he learns isn’t getting his mail or getting paid that the seriousness of the situation starts to sink in. To make matters worse, he can’t reach his father to let him know he’s alive.

The telegram Hawkeye dictates to Klinger is amusing, yet also laced with some of the distress Hawkeye feels:

Hawkeye: “Dear Dad. I am not dead. Stop. Hope you are the same. Stop. Thinking of selling my clubs? Stop. Spending my insurance money? Stop.”
B.J.: “Poetry.”
Hawkeye: “Will call soonest. Please don’t worry. Sign it, ‘Love, your nowhere-near-late son, Hawkeye.'”

Later, after fighting with Frank and trying everything he can think of to contact his father, Hawkeye decides to go home. He’s dead, according to the Army, so is it really considered going AWOL? B.J. tries to talk him out of it and their conversations includes one of the show’s most memorable lines of dialogue:

Hawkeye: “I don’t care. I really don’t. They’ll keep coming whether I’m here or not. Trapper went home. They’re still coming. Henry got killed and they’re still coming. Wherever they come from, they’ll never run out.”

In the end, Hawkeye can’t leave knowing wounded are on their way, injured soldiers he can help, lives he can save. After surgery, Hawkeye is able to call home and let his father know he’s still among the living. Poor Digger has to leave without the body he came to collect.

Still from the M*A*S*H episode The Late Captain Pierce showing Hawkeye.

Hawkeye calls his father.

According to the Internet Movie Database, this was the first television writing credit for brothers Glen Charles and Les Charles. The two later went on to create Cheers, which ran on NBC from 1981 to 1993.

Eldon Quick made his third and final appearance on M*A*S*H in this episode, playing Captain Pratt. He previously played Captain Sloan in “The Incubator” during Season 2 and “Payday” during Season 3.

Margaret and Radar do not appear in this episode. Klinger explains that Radar has been given a few days in Seoul to unwind. Margaret’s absence is never addressed.

32 Replies to “Episode Spotlight: The Late Captain Pierce”

  1. This was a particularly visually interesting episode for the inclusion of snow on the ground, which save for it snowing during the tag of “Dear Sis,” I believe was the only time we ever saw any accumulation on M*A*S*H (unless we also count when it started falling at the end of “Twas the Day After Christmas”).

    One thing that sticks out for me about this episode is the fight between Hawkeye and Frank in the Mess Tent, if mainly because Frank is showing his true colors during the fight, as he wimpily asks Hawkeye not to hurt him in front of everybody, calls out for help, and has veggies shoved down his shirt and into his face. And as the MPs finally arrive, Frank chansts, “Punch ‘im in the throat! Punch ‘im in the throat!”

    My favorite line is when the lines get disconnected, and Klinger asks into the phone, “Hey world, where’d you go?”

  2. Why didn’t Klinger ask Mr Pierce why he wanted to talk to BJ? That would have cleared the whole thing up right there.

    1. And come to think of it, how did Mr. Pierce already know who B.J. was, considering he was the newbie in camp?

      1. Perhaps, in one of his letters home, Hawkeye told his dad about BJ.

        Capt. Pratt: You are what George Orwell described in “1984” as an unperson.

        I really don’t have any feelings, sympathetic or otherwise, for Lt. Detwiler. He came across as being hamstrung by his job.

        In short, an episode that falls flat, even with Hawkeye and BJ’s revealing conversation in Digger’s ambulance.

      2. I have no way of knowing this, but I suspect that this episode was written before Wayne Rogers left, and then they shoe-horned BJ into it. At any rate, Klinger certainly would have told Mr. Pierce that his son was alive. Otherwise, a very good episode.

      3. On second thought, after seeing this again last night, it could be argued that Klinger never actually talked to Mr. Pierce. When Klinger returns to the office with BJ and Hawkeye, he picks up the phone and says, “Okay, Sparky, we’re ready.”; then Mr. Pierce is patched through. So maybe that explains the misunderstanding???

        Regardless, the plot requires that Mr. Pierce thinks his son is dead, and that Hawkeye cannot get in touch with him, which leads Hawkeye to become more and more distressed. Hence, other conveniences like Eisenhower’s visit, Hawkeye’s mail and pay being stopped, Digger hanging around like a vulture, and Captain Pratt’s unhelpful bureaucratic attitude.

      4. Maybe in some event that took place outside of an episode he had written his dad telling him of all of the changes that had taken place at the 4077th,such as Henry’s discharge then his tragic death,and of then Trapper going home and BJ’s arrival,then of course of Col. Potter’s assuming command of the 4077th.

    2. Even if it was Sparky who spoke to Mr. Pierce, Klingon always talks directly to sparky so the message of “you sure you want to capt. Hunnicutt and not your son?” Could have been communicated from Sparky to Mr. Pierce. Plus, wouldn’t Klinger get at least some information about the call prior to waking up an officer in the middle of the night to come to the phone? Also, given how they always talk about how the phone lines get overloaded, wouldn’t Sparky have asked Mr. Pierce “what’s this about? Is this an emergency?” Before he put the call through anyway? I guess, like Hawkeye, they could have just assumed that he wouldn’t call unless it was as important but making assumptions like this doesn’t really strike me as the army way. Never been in the military myself but have trouble believing this call would have gone through without this misunderstanding being cleared up.

  3. I was mistaken about Digger’s last name. It was actually Detmuller, not Detwiler. Hawk was unintentionally funny with all the dead wordplay.

  4. One of my favorite episodes. The only thing that seems off is that Klinger and his antics are apparently famous enough outside of the 4077th to rank a ‘hey aren’t you that guy’ from Digger upon their first meeting.

    I wonder if kids watching today can understand truly the feeling of being totally cut off from communications as Hawkeye is here.

  5. I think there is a slight blooper at the end, Hawkeye takes his duffle bag on the bus, but doesn’t seem to have it when we see him walking back.

    1. It’s been a while since I saw this one, but I’m pretty sure that when Hawkeye climbs out of the bus and slams the door, he hauls his duffle bag over his shoulder and trudges back to the camp.

      At any rate, I love the music that plays at that time.

  6. Frank’s attitude seemed to make him more annoying than usual, but the fight seemed a little overboard. Why couldn’t Hawkeye wait for the money? And would he really have deserted before they found him not dead?

  7. Trapper John/Blake caracthers would have made this funnier. Historical note President elect Eisenhower visted Korea for 3 days in December 1952….so if MASH had keep to the real Koren war Timeline…this would have been the series finale as the war ended July 1953…besides this would have been a nice series finale…Hawkeye going home…then 20 years later the Army cathes up with him…so he has to work in a VA hospitsl gratis…where he meets a younger version of himself from the Vietnam war…and where the Hos Administrator is …Frank Burns!

  8. This is one of my favorite episodes. It combines two of my favorite themes in fiction: bureaucratic absurdity and commitment to duty. I love the scene where Hawkeye gets off the bus and trudges back to the OR because the insanity of the situation can’t overcome his dedication to saving lives. It’s like Kafka tempered by idealism.

  9. Just noticed a bit of foreshadowing…when BJ wakes Hawkeye he was apparently dreaming of being executed.

  10. Saw the money line scene unedited for the first time on MeTV last night. I liked Frank’s pathetic “Stop it, you’re hurting me in front of people!”

  11. Yes,that is a really somber and haunting piece of music,especially the way that last night dramatically ascends as it plays and has a hauntingly distraughtful feel to it. They used that bit in the last scene in “Some 38th Parallels” in the mess tent when Father Mulcahy tries to pass Radar popcorn during a movie and he’s sitting there still in total shock over the death of the soldier he formed a friendship with,right before it fades out. It was used in in some episodes from season 3 as well. Also I believe it went into season 5 as I think it was used in the scene in “The Nurses” when that one nurse walks into the linen room with the baby Margaret had just helped deliver.

    1. Clarification: That was supposed to say the way that last NOTE plays,not last night. I hate that autocorrect!!!

  12. Was it not revealed until a later season that Pierce’s father is a doctor? I was wondering why they referred to him as “Mr. Pierce” instead of “Dr. Pierce”, B.J. even addresses him this way when speaking to him.

  13. Was it not revealed until a later season that Pierce’s father is a doctor? I was wondering why they referred to him as “Mr. Pierce” instead of “Dr. Pierce”, B.J. even addresses him this way when speaking to him.

      1. In “The Party” Hawkeye sais his father probably can’t make it because he is still the town doctor and can’t leave his patients.

  14. The other day a friend of mine told me their credit card had been cancelled because the Social Security Administration told the credit card company they had died. I immediately thought of this episode!

  15. To me this is a very fine episode and a nice balance of comedy and sombre drama.

    A few points:

    Firstly, for a M*A*S*H episode there is quite extensive use of hand held camerawork (it was directed by Alda) so it gives the episode a nice cinema-verite look. It would have greatly benefited from having no laugh track though.

    Secondly, there is a nice bit of continuity insofar as both this episode and the immediately previous one (in broadcast order) “It happened One Night” are set in the same bleak midwinter environment.

    Thirdly, there is a nice bit of symmetry (although of course it wasn’t obvious at the time) in that both this episode and season 10’s “Sons and Bowlers” focus on the relationship between Pierce and his father and both episodes ended with Pierce having a nice touching phone call with his dad.

    Fourthly, and possibly most significantly, I believe this episode is the start of the idea of Hawkeye and his dad being the only members of his immediate family. The previous episode to mention Hawkeye’s family was season 3’s “The General Flipped At Dawn” in which Hawkeye made a throwaway line about a sweater knitted by his sister. In this episode, at no time is Hawkeye concerned about or mentions any family member other than his father, and vice versa, even at the end phone call with his dad. Failing to mention “sis” when he was thought to be dead pretty well seals the deal!

    Finally, the fight between Hawkeye and Frank is quite realistic and, given that Hawkeye really humiliates Frank with food in the face, and that it was in an episode directed by Alda himself, I wonder what Larry Linville thought of this?

    It brings me to the one thing about this episode I don’t like, and that is that Hawkeye deliberately started a physical fight with a superior officer, in front of witnesses, for no particular reason, and it went on, and on, and on … and yet afterwards there were no repercussions whatsoever. Potter didn’t seem to care, and Burns never had a scene where he complained to Potter about Hawkeye’s behaviour? And it was convenient that Margaret was away because really Burns and Houlihan should have (and had every right to) march into Potter’s office and demanded repercussions for Pierce. And I must say they would have had a point.

    But of course nothing happened to Saint hawkeye.

    1. I’d disagree that the fight between Frank and Hawkeye starts for no particular reason, nor do I think it’s fair to say that Hawkeye deliberately started it. Frank was not only deliberately withholding Hawkeye’s pay from him (which could be excused due to the whole “Hawkeye being declared dead” thing, but Frank’s still not exactly at all tactful about it) but was also actively taunting him about the situation and clearly trying to provoke some kind of reaction. Yes, Hawkeye technically shouldn’t have risen to the bait, but it’s not as though he just immediately went in swinging without any real provocation whatsoever as opposed to, say, the punch he throws at Frank in ‘House Arrest’. He’s perfectly reasonable (if his normal snarky self) up until Frank refuses to give him his pay; even then he doesn’t instantly start fighting, he’s fairly understandably upset and angry but the matter is kept entirely verbal until Frank begins outright mocking him. Also, it’s kind of hard to say exactly who’s responsible for actually starting the fight: Frank taunts Hawkeye, Hawkeye grabs the wrist of Frank’s hand that’s holding the money to take it from him, Frank basically pulls Hawkeye onto the table while trying to get his arm free and the two end up mutually wrestling and fighting from there. I mean, Hawkeye made the first physical move by grabbing Frank’s wrist but it’s Frank dragging Hawkeye onto the table (even if unintentionally) that moves things into an actual fight scenario where it just keeps escalating.

      I dunno, I just feel like that whole moment is more nuanced than “Hawkeye deliberately starts a fight with Frank and humiliates him for no reason”. While I admit that does occasionally happen (again, ‘House Arrest’), and while the fight here was something of an overreaction by both parties (were both characters entirely reasonable and rational people, Hawkeye shouldn’t have risen to the bait enough to grab Frank’s wrist in the first place and Frank should have realised that there are far better ways of getting someone to let go of your wrist than just pulling your arm back), the fight itself didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.

      1. Fair point (thanks for reading my comment too, much appreciated!).

        I guess though that what I was trying to get to was that (as usual) there were no repercussions for Hawkeye for this, and this is a recurrent theme throughout these years of MASH.

      2. Repercussions aren’t needed for the stories, they wouldn’t add a single thing and would take away from the stories themselves.

        The comedy and serious are masterfully blended in this episode.
        It makes my favorite fun list … and my favorite serious.

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