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At first, it would seem that Charles is rather out-of-character in this episode, the way he was living vicariously through Hawkeye and B.J. and also through Margaret, in having them play practical jokes on each other, however, when you know about the inspiration for this episode, it makes sense.

Apparently, David Ogden Stiers was quite a prankster behind the scenes, and was constantly pulling practical jokes on the other casts members. From what I understand, everybody banded together to get back at him by staging a prank of their own in which during lunch one day, Gary Burghoff was given a bill/tab for something he didn't owe, and he went on a tirade about it, which prompted DOS to come clean about him being responsible for all the various pranks that were played on the others, to which they revealed they just pranked him, much like how Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret staged a prank to make him think that their pranking got to the point that Margaret wrote to Peggy saying that she and B.J. were having an affair and that he was through with her.

I loved the story with the pranks. I can easily see why some people may feel like it was out of character for Charles, and maybe it was, but I think it was a great episode for him, even within this season, when he really had a lot of chances to shine. One of the things I loved about his character was that, even though he was above a lot of things, he wasn't above joining in prank wars, and I could definitely buy that he'd also relish the idea of manipulating other people into having prank wars for him, so he could have all the fun without any of the consequences.

I can't say I was as thrilled with the Mulcahy story. Not that it was bad, and I did like him volunteering for the helicopter ride, but I do think there were better Mulcahy episode.