(10x10) 228 - Twas the Day After Christmas

[Big Daddy O'Reilly]

1. Charles explains to Klinger that Boxing Day is a British tradition in which the day after Christmas, upper class people and their servants (butlers, maids, etc) switch places for a day, which inspires Potter to have the Officers and Enlisted switch places for a day. Does Charles not know that Boxing Day is actually a Canadian tradition, but basically for the sake of packing up all of your holiday decorations to make a special day out of it?

2. Are B.J. and Kellye wearing Radar hats supposed to try and remind us that Radar's not there anymore?

I've noticed an interesting little observation from this episode: when the staff of the 4077th holds their Boxing Day switch, it seems like Potter and Klinger are the ones who take it the most seriously, right down to uniform switching: everyone else just kind of goes along with it and reluctantly switches places (well, the officers anyway, the enlisted were more excited about it), but Potter went so far as to wear Klinger's Mud Hens ballcap and jersey, while Klinger wore Potter's winter cap (insignia and all), and even smoked Potter's cigars... everyone else stuck with wearing their respective uniforms.

Also, doesn't Hawkeye and Kellye switching places defeat the purpose a little, considering they're both officers?

[kkt]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but Boxing Day trading places really is a British tradition, not just putting away Christmas decorations. In many places of business, Boxing Day is when annual presents to the staff are given -- bottle of booze, annual bonus, etc.

I think the caps like Radar wore are just the warmest Army issue caps available.

Switching places clearly needs some work. In most army units, there'd be way too many enlisteds to be made into officers for the day. In the regular cast of MASH, on the other hand, there were way too many officers to be made into enlisteds for the day. Still, it made for some funny scenes.