M*A*S*H (TV Series) A War for All Seasons (1980) User Reviews

A Little Time Capsule

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 24 April 2015]

The show starts on New Year's Eve. While we need to be careful of the chronology here (since most TV shows tend to ignore time anyway) this is a fun episode with Potter overseeing the party and hoping all will be home in the coming year. We are then treated to a series of events that happen in the forthcoming year. For one, we have the Sears Roebuck catalogue, which is a lifeline to the states. B.J. and Hawkeye seem to have unlimited funds to buy lots of junk. As spring comes around, we watch as the Dodgers build a huge lead in the National League and Winchester becomes enamored, not with baseball, but with a "sure thing." Mulcahy plants sweet corn so that on the 4th of July, they will be eating corn on the cob. Dire results, thanks to Igor. There is also a patient who is dealing with kidney problems. The boys are able to rig up a kind of machine (dialysis?) because moving him to a hospital could be fatal. Anyway, if one can overlook the obvious junctures of time, just enjoy the individual events.

Purgatory

[sstrudell-826-781963 · 8/10 · 3 February 2023]

This is the episode that convinced me that the entire series tells the story of a group of people who have died and are in Purgatory. The series as a whole always played loose with timelines. They all are their to either gain enlightenment, overcome personal challenges, or finish finding purpose. The 4077th is even in the middle... between a hell (north korea) and a more peaceful place (South Korea) the character age beyond their intended time. There are numerous references to angels, lifetimes, hell and heaven. In fact, it's Father Mulcahey said it best at the end of the series "when we reach the pearly gates, and they tell us we have to serve time in Purfatory, we can say No Thanks. I've already done mine."

Timeline off

[kellielulu · 7/10 · 14 October 2022]

I really don't have a problem with this episode or the idea of showing a calendar year . It doesn't mean we don't see the in between moments in other episodes but it doesn't add up due to the character changes. Hawkeye made the point to Frank that for a year or over a year Trapper kept Hawkeye from killing Frank. Trapper and Blake had to have been there for a year. Charles came later . I understand they wanted to cover how long they had been there how at the end of each year and hoped it would be over by the next year but they should have made some timeline adjustments and told it another way .

Innovative and bold

[safenoe · 8/10 · 16 January 2020]

A mature M*A*S*H episode that takes place in a year, with some retro-scripting required in the days when you could get away with retro-scripting. Sort of a dramatic episode with slight touches of comedy.

Fun That is a throwback to earlier episodes

[DKosty123 · 5/10 · 21 February 2017]

While MASH overall is a great series, there are times where they just want to have fun. This is one of those times. Because of this, the march through an entire year in 30 minutes sometimes loses real connections between segments. It is a case of one episode trying to do too much.

BJ and Hawkeye put together a kidney machine, only they do very little actual work on screen. The main thing on screen is all the folks using the Sears Catalog (which was in business until 1993 from 1888) to get what they wanted. Seems there are several times more than 1 person wanted to see the catalog.

Meanwhile, the main plot for this year is the baseball miracle of the NY Giants winning the National League Pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Of course Winchester gets his wallet damaged after listening to Klinger and betting way too much money of the Dodgers. This is a fun sentimental look back at that, and goes from New Year's Eve to New Year's Eve in 30 minutes.

It is fun, but a bit of a stretch.

A year's worth of M.A.S.H. In one episode

[louiseculmer · 1/10 · 24 February 2015]

One of the most bizarre episodes of mash. it is supposed to be new Year's eve 1950, despite the fact that M.A.S.H. By this time had been going on for over 8 years - more than twice as long as the Korean WAr lasted, and had already shown two Christmas episodes, which would mean we should by now be in 1952 at least. but still we get shown a whole year going rapidly by, meaning by the end of that episode it is new year's eve 1951, with nearly 2 years of war still to go. they were clearly getting desperate for ideas by the time they made this peculiar episode, but slogged on relentlessly for another two series. i really wish they had called it a day before they reached this desperate stage.