This is a well meaning episode that I'd like to rate higher. But certain inconsistencies prevent me from giving it a perfect score. First, I find it patently ridiculous they still have Klinger walking around wearing a dress, after the recent episode where a psychiatric evaluation was done on him, and he objected to being labeled a transvestite and homosexual after deciding he didn't want a section 8 that way.
So what makes him think that by continuing to wear dresses and high heels this practice will still get him discharged? Especially if his earlier attempts had backfired? Wouldn't he come up with a new tactic? By now, continuing this long-running gag no longer makes sense. Unless of course, Klinger does like dressing like a woman, which would mean he really is a transvestite and the shrink was correct, so he should have already had a discharge on these grounds!
The other thing that I find inconsistent is how they write Trapper. Usually Trapper is a fun loving carefree sort of guy. But in this episode, he is much more serious and concerned about the welfare of a little Korean boy. It is like he has suddenly developed a conscience, something other characters like Frank and Margaret still don't exhibit.
When Trapper and Hawkeye treat the five year old Korean boy, Trapper talks about having a five year old daughter back home. In fact, he's said to have two daughters, though the age of his other child is not given. In 1979, when Pernell Roberts started playing the role in the present-day medical drama Trapper John M. D. the character had two children, and one was a son named J. T. (played by Timothy Busfield in the later seasons).
So does this mean Trapper went on to have three children, if his son J. T. was born after the war? Or does it mean that there was a retcon in the second series, where Trapper having two daughters was changed to his having a girl and a boy? I guess I cannot blame that on the writers of M*A*S*H who are not exactly responsible for alterations that may have been made later in Trapper's backstory on Trapper John M. D.
Oh another nitpick...the medics always complain about the food. But there's a scene in the mess hall where we see the food clearly placed on their trays...and this 'slop' looks pretty darn good, like it probably came from the cafeteria frequented by the actors on the 20th Century Fox lot.
Back to the story, and what I do like about this episode. I think it's great that we have a guest character everyone in the camp adores. It's fun to see the grown-ups bond as they become 'parents' to young Kim. One delightful bit shows the boy sleeping with Radar, clutching Radar's teddy bear.
Of course, we know Kim (Edgar Miller) won't become a regular character, since the show's producers don't seem to want to have a regular Asian character or even a recurring one on this program (houseboy Ho-Jon disappeared after a single season).
Kim won't really be adopted by Trapper, who would like to raise him as a son. In a way this type of story would have worked better if there had been a final goodbye episode for Trapper...where he met a kid like Kim, they bonded, he adopted the boy and took him home to the U. S. with him, to add to his American family.
Since this is not Trapper's final episode and it would cramp Trapper's style as a footloose and fancy free pal of Hawkeye's to have him adopt a boy at this point in the show's run, the kid has to turn out to not be an orphan like everyone thought. Ultimately the boy is reunited with his Korean family and we can move on to the next episode with no carryover from this story.
So what makes him think that by continuing to wear dresses and high heels this practice will still get him discharged? Especially if his earlier attempts had backfired? Wouldn't he come up with a new tactic? By now, continuing this long-running gag no longer makes sense. Unless of course, Klinger does like dressing like a woman, which would mean he really is a transvestite and the shrink was correct, so he should have already had a discharge on these grounds!
The other thing that I find inconsistent is how they write Trapper. Usually Trapper is a fun loving carefree sort of guy. But in this episode, he is much more serious and concerned about the welfare of a little Korean boy. It is like he has suddenly developed a conscience, something other characters like Frank and Margaret still don't exhibit.
When Trapper and Hawkeye treat the five year old Korean boy, Trapper talks about having a five year old daughter back home. In fact, he's said to have two daughters, though the age of his other child is not given. In 1979, when Pernell Roberts started playing the role in the present-day medical drama Trapper John M. D. the character had two children, and one was a son named J. T. (played by Timothy Busfield in the later seasons).
So does this mean Trapper went on to have three children, if his son J. T. was born after the war? Or does it mean that there was a retcon in the second series, where Trapper having two daughters was changed to his having a girl and a boy? I guess I cannot blame that on the writers of M*A*S*H who are not exactly responsible for alterations that may have been made later in Trapper's backstory on Trapper John M. D.
Oh another nitpick...the medics always complain about the food. But there's a scene in the mess hall where we see the food clearly placed on their trays...and this 'slop' looks pretty darn good, like it probably came from the cafeteria frequented by the actors on the 20th Century Fox lot.
Back to the story, and what I do like about this episode. I think it's great that we have a guest character everyone in the camp adores. It's fun to see the grown-ups bond as they become 'parents' to young Kim. One delightful bit shows the boy sleeping with Radar, clutching Radar's teddy bear.
Of course, we know Kim (Edgar Miller) won't become a regular character, since the show's producers don't seem to want to have a regular Asian character or even a recurring one on this program (houseboy Ho-Jon disappeared after a single season).
Kim won't really be adopted by Trapper, who would like to raise him as a son. In a way this type of story would have worked better if there had been a final goodbye episode for Trapper...where he met a kid like Kim, they bonded, he adopted the boy and took him home to the U. S. with him, to add to his American family.
Since this is not Trapper's final episode and it would cramp Trapper's style as a footloose and fancy free pal of Hawkeye's to have him adopt a boy at this point in the show's run, the kid has to turn out to not be an orphan like everyone thought. Ultimately the boy is reunited with his Korean family and we can move on to the next episode with no carryover from this story.