If you ask me, Season Three was the first "great" season of the series: by then the writing had become very solid, the actors were set in their characters and their personalities, not to mention there were sooo many wonderfully great and memorable moments and episodes from this season... all and all, a big improvement from Season Two.
Well, from what I understand, a camp minstrel was an idea that Larry Gelbart wanted to toy with, for whatever reason, hence the addition of Captain Spaulding that season... personally, I DID like his ballad about Tokyo in "Rainbow Bridge" (3x02), as well as the musical interlude during the bus ride to the title location, but then again, I'm a music lover myself, and sometimes I like music montages like that... it was different for sure.
And I too loved each of those episodes you mentioned... matter of fact, just the other day, I was thinking about how funny it was that huge Marine ended up having a man-crush on Hawkeye for saving his life...
TRAPPER: How do you feel about long engagements?
HAWKEYE: Dear Dad, I'm bringing home a marine... he'll be the son you never had.
Some of my favorite Season Three moments...
Hawkeye being put under house arrest for punching Frank, and is pretty much treated like a prince... then once Frank is put under house arrest, he's treated like an actual prisoner, lol.
Hawkeye helping a Korean mother give birth on a bus, while Radar freaks out (and the anecdote Burt Metcalfe told about Gary Burghoff ad-libbing, "Oh! Ick! I saw her fuzzy-wuzzy!" during a take)... the only good moment from what was a lousy episode.
When Henry's trapped under the blown-up latrine...
KLINGER: Colonel, if you can hear me, knock three times! If you can't, knock twice!
HENRY: *Knocks twice*
KLINGER: Oh my God, he's dead!
Klinger as Lady Liberty and MacArthur saluting him as they drive by.
Flagg letting the penicillin thief free, then busting up the VIP tent and knocking himself unconscious to make it look like there was a scuffle (which kind of didn't make sense, but then again, what DOES Flagg do that makes sense?)
Then of course, there's just a vast number of episodes as whole that I really enjoy, like "Rainbow Bridge", "Officer of the Day", "O.R.", "Springtime", "Check-Up", "Adam's Ribs", "House Arrest", "Aid Station", and of course the season finales to end all season finales: "Abyssinia, Henry"... what a shock.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif)
Just about the only bad thing about the season was "A Full Rich Day"... everybody agrees, that episode makes no sense.
D'oh! How could I forget?! One of the shining moments of Season Three: Hawkeye and Trapper parking a jeep over Frank in his foxhole, leaving him screaming like a girl, while they, Henry, Radar, and Klinger watch the home movies of the wedding of Frank and Louise Burns! XD
I also remembered that Season Three was the start of the recurring routine where someone in camp would barge into Radar's office in the middle of the night and wake him up to make phone calls for them... I think it happened three times this season, maybe? I know General Kelly's aide woke Radar up to find a location where there was heavy fighting, Hawkeye woke him up to locate Adam's Ribs, and I think Frank woke him up at one point, I don't remember, I'd have to go through my DVDs.