Last month, visitors to MASH4077TV.com voted “Inga” their least favorite episode from Season 7. The episode received a whopping 47 votes, or 27% of the total vote. Far back in second place was “Commander Pierce” with 13 votes (7%) followed closely by “Our Finest Our” with 12 votes (also 7% of the vote due to math). Then came “Lil” and “Hot Lips is Back in Town” with 11 votes each (6%) and “C*A*V*E” with 10 votes (also 6%).
176 votes were cast, up slightly from the 170 votes for July’s Least Favorite Episode From Season 6 poll. Every single episode received at least one vote.
Here are the full results:
Great 2017 M*A*S*H Episode Poll: Pick Your Least Favorite Episode from Season 7
Inga (27%, 47 Votes)
Commander Pierce (7%, 13 Votes)
Our Finest Hour (7%, 12 Votes)
Lil (6%, 11 Votes)
Hot Lips is Back in Town (6%, 11 Votes)
C*A*V*E (6%, 10 Votes)
B.J. Papa San (5%, 9 Votes)
A Night at Rosie’s (5%, 9 Votes)
Preventive Medicine (4%, 7 Votes)
Rally Round the Flagg, Boys (3%, 6 Votes)
The Billfold Syndrome (3%, 5 Votes)
Ain’t Love Grand (3%, 5 Votes)
Peace On Us (2%, 4 Votes)
They Call The Wind Korea (2%, 4 Votes)
Baby, It’s Cold Outside (2%, 3 Votes)
Dear Comrade (2%, 3 Votes)
Out of Gas (2%, 3 Votes)
None Like It Hot (1%, 2 Votes)
Point of View (1%, 2 Votes)
An Eye for a Tooth (1%, 2 Votes)
Dear Sis (1%, 2 Votes)
The Price (1%, 2 Votes)
The Young and the Restless (1%, 2 Votes)
Major Ego (1%, 1 Votes)
The Party (1%, 1 Votes)
Total Votes: 176
For the record, back in July 2015, “The Billfold Syndrome” was voted the favorite episode from Season 7.
I actually forgot to vote last month but if I had, I would’ve voted for “Our Finest Hour.” True, it’s a clip show and it may not be fair to compare it to regular episodes. But the poll asks for the least favorite episode of the season and “Our Finest Hour” is definitely my least favorite episode from Season 7. I’m actually shocked more fans didn’t vote for it last month. Is “Inga” really disliked more than “Our Finest Hour”? What’s so bad about “Commander Pierce”?
Which episode did you vote for and why? Hit the comments with your reactions to the poll results.
Be sure to vote in this month’s poll. Pick your least favorite episode from Season 8.
‘Inga’ feels out of place. I guess ‘Our Finest Hour’ isn’t a favourite as it’s a copy of ‘The Interview’, which I suspect is a favourite and critically acclaimed (ironically).
I’m curious myself why ‘Commander Pierce’ is not liked. Please post your insights, fellow fans.
I voted for Inga as well. One of the main things I don’t like about Hawkeye is his attitude towards females, especially attractive ones throughout the show. This episode is probably the best one for showing it. I do like that he get’s put in his place in this episode, but I’ll come back to Hawkeye in a bit.
Charles is one of my favorite characters, and one of the things I always loved about him was how he was much more respectful to woman. Granted he wasn’t as much of a jerk to Inga as Hawkeye was, but it was very very disappointing seeing him do it too.
But the biggest thing about this episode that actually makes me very angry every time I watch it, is that despite being a complete dooshbag to Inga, multiple times, she STILL falls for him in the end and keeps going back. It’s absolute bullshit, and IMO completely destroys the awesome character they built for her throughout the episode. She still falls into the arms of the chauvinistic pig. That kind of ending only works in a 007 film.
Oh and maybe it was just crappy acting on Alda’s part, but some of the times he was saying his chauvinistic lines to her, it seemed really forced, and out of place, especially when he asked her who leads. Didn’t make any sense at all for him to randomly say that out of no where. Almost making it look like he was trying to be a asshole.
I also agree Commander Pierce was a pretty bad episode. I can’t speak for the others, but I dislike it because it’s just another Hawkeye focused episode with him acting like a turd, but this time we get a different kind of turdbag Hawkeye.
At least these results give me hope that I’m not the only one on the site who actually thinks Hawkeye is one of the worst characters on the show because of how much of a shitbag he is.
I don’t know how any episode other than Our Finest Hour could be chosen from this season. It wasn’t produced by the M*A*S*H producers. It didn’t go back to the original material, so it looks terrible today. It is a rehash of The Interview and it relies heavily on clips from old episodes, so there is almost nothing original. Yes – there are other flawed episodes from this season, but this episode wasn’t even produced by the regular team from M*A*S*H. Therefore, in my mind, this one is in a class by itself.
I voted for “Inga”, mainly because the subject matter seemed more in line when the episode aired, not when it was set. Although, I thought Mariette Hartley did a commendable job playing Inga.
I voted for “Our Finest Hour.” I don’t really mind the idea of a sequel to “The Interview,” or the idea of a clip show. Where the episode goes wrong is mixing those two things together. One of the things I loved about “The Interview” is how far they went to stick to the gimmick of the episode, using black and white film and getting rid of the laugh track. Obviously they tried doing the same thing for the interview sections of “Our Finest Hour,” but placing clips throughout the episode negates that effect, and seems way too jarring IMO. Even more so considering how poor the video quality is, even on the DVD since they lost the original version of the episode, and the clips still have the laugh track on them (except, of course, for the more dramatic clips). In fact, I’d say the only time they used the clips effectively was when Radar was talking about that one horrible day, and then it switches to the scenes from “Abyssinia, Henry.”
And to top it off, the interviews themselves rarely, if ever, got to the level of “The Interview.” Of course, with the exception of Mulcahy’s interview question about doctors warming themselves over the patients’ bodies, which was cheaply copied and pasted into this episode.
I too voted for “Inga,” it just didn’t age very well, given the subject matter; it may have been a groundbreaking episode back in the 70s during the height of feminism, but in the 21st century, it just comes off as sexist and dated.
Now, with that being said, how can “Our Finest Hour,” “Commander Pierce,” “Lil,” and “Hot Lips is Back in Town” be in the top ten? I really like those episodes. I guess I can understand some of them: people really do hate clip shows – especially in this day and age of reruns, DVDs, and internet, where it’s very easy to see your favorite clips from your favorite episodes, thus rendering clip shows meaningless . . . but I like them, they’re very nostalgic, and they kind of show you how much the characters have grown over the seasons and remind you why you love the show to begin with; “Commander Pierce,” yeah, I guess with it being a Hawkeye episode, it probably felt more like another example of M*A*S*H being “The Alan Alda Show.”
But why is “Major Ego” at the bottom of the list? That was a very, very weak episode.
I voted for BJ Papa San, it just wasn’t very original and was a bit dull. I also thought Radar being able to recognise individual bees was just a bit too silly.
That probably would have been my other vote had I not voted for “Inga,” because I agree, it was a really dull episode.
Like others, I voted for ‘Inga.’ It’s a frustrating episode to say the least. Dr. Inga, despite being so accomplished, took the nonsense that Hawkeye spouted out in stride. Not only that, she even falls for him. That was a bit too much to take.
I hate this episode. It ranks right at the bottom of the series pile for me. How on earth Alan won an Emmy for writing this dreck is beyond me??
Well again, at the time, this was during the height of feminism in America, so in a sense, the episode was very topical in the 70s; we’ve come a long way since then, but that was back when women were still somewhat regarded as second-class citizens, so the idea of Inga being an accomplished lady doctor that bruises Hawkeye and Charles’s male egos was really cutting edge at the time.
But again, the episode did not age well at all, and as such, it’s just almost painful and cringeworthy to watch today.
With feminism being so high in the 70’s, I would have thought this episode would have been hated because of the issues Sue and I pointed out with the ending and how Inga despite being repeatedly belittled by Hawkeye (& Charles) because of her sex, she still gives him chance after chance, and even falls for/sleeps with him.
Maybe they just chose to ignore all that and focused on what you pointed out with her being accomplished, smart, sophisticated and talented, and being able to put Hawkeye and Charles in their place. It’s just too bad they almost completely invalidated the awesome character they built for her with that falling for Hawkeye crap at the end.
Likely it’s simply the fact that Alda wrote this episode for why it ends like that. Probably some of his real life male ego showing through…
I went with ‘A Night at Rosie’s’ as mine. I read somewhere that Ken Levine and David Isaacs wrote in a few days after CBS ordered an additional episode for S7, and it has that slapped together, rushed quality.
I’m surprised by the amount of people who don’t like ‘Commander Pierce.’ It’s based on a tried and true storytelling device of putting the maverick in charge. The episode doesn’t reinvent the wheel but I believe Hawkeye’s moral compass would shift as soon as he was at the levers of power.
I can’t defend ‘Our Finest Hour’ in any way because it’s unmistakably an episode made from desperation. Clip shows can never overcome that appearance. Plus the presentation on DVD, even if it’s second generation copy, is particularly atrocious. Then again, it’s got a great moment in it when Hawkeye’s got a glean in his eye when he’s discussing Margaret with Clete Roberts…