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We discussed "Margaret's Engagement" (5x03), so we might as well discuss Margaret's Marriage (5x25) as well.

Personally, Margaret was SO ANNOYING this ENTIRE season... ANY chance she got, she went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and ON about Donald Penobscott... I sided with Frank in one episode where he finally blurted out, "'Oh Donald Penobscott, Donald Penobscott', I get so sick of hearing about him!" so now, they finally get married... but of course, leave it to the war and incoming wounded to cut the nuptuals short.

I agree with the mass of fans, though, that the tag of this episode was completely unnecessary. Frank says, "Bye Margaret", fade out, and that's how the episode should have ended (and does in syndication actually), but then we're treated to a really awkward scene where Hawkeye, B.J., and Potter sit up with Frank, talking about Margaret and Donald's honeymoon, arousing themselves and driving them to take a cold shower.

I'm actually not sure how to rate this episode though... I think it's actually somewhere between average and above average...

Margaret really treated Frank like crap at times in season 5, in Hawk's Nightmare (05x13) 109, when Frank accidently bumps into her in OR she mutters "clumsy oaf", now Frank could certainly be obnoxious much of the time but this occasion was uncalled for since in a crowded OR bumping inadvertantely into someone happens all the time. And in Most Unforgettable Character (05x14) 110, even though Margaret is engaged she didn't even bother to wish Frank a happy birthday, especially since she had gone all out to organize a birthday party for Frank in For Want of a Boot, (02x17) 41.

Yes, Margaret treated him pretty badly. But he treated her pretty badly too. He lied about her family ring she had given him, called her names, etc.

Five seasons of Frank's hypocrisy were finally clear to her, and she was really mad at herself for putting up with it for so long.

Just finished season 5. This episode brought Frank back to "normal Frank" for me. All of season 5 they had him acting strange and it just didn't seem like they eased him into the "craziness" he spiraled into. Maybe that tenuous thread finally snapped, but I wanted to see that snap at the time of the engagement, not during "Fade In, Fade Out" where he snaps off screen. It would have made his erratic behavior during Season 5 make more sense to me.

I really wish they would have created a good story arc for him and Margaret because her engagement seemed so forced. It just seemed strange that she goes to Tokyo for a seminar and comes back engaged... no showing us the breakdown of her relationship with Frank, no struggle of a true break up before she goes off to meet Donald, etc. As good as MASH is/was, hindsight shows us a ton of missed opportunities, not just in this case, but in so many others.

I agree with Frank's Girl above, that Frank should have snapped during Margaret's Engagement. It would have made his actions during season 5 make more sense.

Margaret's engagement was forced and it never had any real emotion or depth. The funny thing is her marriage didn't last anyway. It broke up the Hot Lips/Burns team which was a big part of M*A*S*H.

I did notice some moments in Season 4 where Margaret would get disgusted with Frank's behavior but then she would immediately go back to him. There were hints of a breakdown in their relationship but only small ones.

Keep in mind, the reason why Margaret got engaged and married this season was because of Gene Reynolds: this was the season he took over after Larry Gelbart's departure the previous season - also, the war in Vietnam was ending, and that's where Larry drew a lot of his anti-war satire from during the first four seasons: doubling losing the original creative force as well as the source of the show's humor, the show had to go off into a different direction. Gene's main motivation for Season Five was character development, and felt that Margaret deserved better than the weasely and coniving Frank Burns, hence why she got engaged and married, to give the character growth and maturity outside of her affair with Frank.

Of course, Gene apparently wanted Frank to stay all 11 seasons, and for Margaret to stay married, neither which happened after his eventual departure as well.

There were hints all the way back to Season 2 that Margaret was unhappy with her relationship with Frank. "Hot Lips and Empty Arms" about a friend of Margaret's getting married, while Margaret only has an affair with a man who clearly has no intention of divorcing his wife.