by Ronald Gibson

Created on: November 09, 2008   Last Updated: December 05, 2008

I think all M*A*S*H fans can agree that one episode that will make everyones top ten list is "So Long, Goodbye and Farewell" the two hour long series finale. That is one of the few episodes that I remember the title of. In this heart touching episode you get one last final look deep into the hearts and minds of each of our favorite characters. At least those that were still there at the end. We see Major Charles Emerson Winchester III coping with a situation that severely damages his ability to enjoy music. While Father Francis Mulcahey loses his hearing and tries to keep it quiet. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce goes temporarily insane and we get to watch him work through it with our favorite Psychiatrist Sidney Freedman. During which we see him gradually uncover the disturbing suppressed memory that drove him to his breakdown. Maxwell Q. Klinger finds true love, and Margaret "Hot Lips" Hoolihan finds her own path. We see Hot Lips and Hawkeye kiss and Potter gives his beloved horse to the orphanage. All in all there's a lot of emotion in the episode. Of course Freedman repeats the line that introduced him to us in the first episode in which he advises the 4077 to "Pull down your pants and slide on the ice." A line I never fully understood.

Besides that one some of my favorite episodes are all the ones in which the regular cast of characters change. The last episode featuring Major Frank Burns which is filmed without the actor, in which Frank receives a Psychiatric discharge, and then the later episode in which Winchester is brought in against his will as his replacement. The ipso in which Colonel Blake is allowed by the Army to go home but never makes it is also very heart wrenching. The closing scene is very authentic because of the fact that the actors were not informed that the character would die until they filmed the scene in which Radar O'Reilly announces it. They knew he was leaving but not that the character was being killed off. The reactions therefore were very genuine. The introduction of Colonel Potter is also pretty emotional. It's interesting that the actor who plays him made his first M*A*S*H appearance as a one time only visiting Brigadier General who was insane. This is a bit confusing if you watch the episodes out of order and don't realize it's a different character. There is the episode where we trade Trapper John for BJ Hunnicut. That was a good one. I especially liked the Corporal Captain joke that Hawkeye used to get Radar into the Officers club. Then there's the departure of RADAR which caused every eye to shed tears. That loveable young man was one of my favorite characters of all time. Funny that it was created by an actor who was much older. He was the only actor who played the same character in the series and the movie. It was also rather touching to watch Klinger try to fill Radar's shoes as company clerk in the episodes that followed.

Basically I love all the episodes but those are my favorites.

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