M*A*S*H (TV Series) Dear Dad (1972) User Reviews

A Lot Funnier Than I Remember!

[dominik-81717 · 9/10 · 6 December 2023]

I definitely did not rememver this episode to be this funny when I watched it the first time. This is a really fun episode, my favorite part probably being Radar mailing a Jeep home piece by piece. Klinger actually wanting to kill Frank still sits wrong with me though, that just doesn't feel like something Klinger would do. I get that they hadn't fully figured out his character by then, it was only his second or third appearance, but still.

And the final scene of Hawkeye going to the frontlines to help some wounded soldiers dressed as Santa Claus is a great ending to not only this episode, but also the first half of season one.

The first M*A*S*H Christmas episode

[safenoe · 7/10 · 9 March 2024]

Dead Dad, from the first season of M*A*S*H, is the first M*A*S*H Christmas episode, and we see Hawkeye writing to his Dad. Ironically, a few years later Alan Alda's real-life father Robert Alda starred in a M*A*S*H episode, but not playing Hawkeye's Dad. In that same episode Alan's brother also appeared. Odessa Cleveland returns as Lt. Ginger Bayliss, RN, and Gwen Farrell (no relation to Mike) also appears. I'd love for Ryan Patrick and Jeff Maxwell (who played Igor), the hosts of the acclaimed podcast M*A*S*H Matters, to have Odessa and Gwen as guests so they can talk about their days on the early days of M*A*S*H.

The one where Hawkeyes writes to his father

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 15 March 2023]

It's Christmastime in Korea, and Hawkeye writes a letter to his father about the antics of the 4077th. Interestingly, this episode aired in mid-December 1972, and there was another episode broadcast closer to Christmas. We are told that Hawkeye's father lives in Vermont, and this is supposedly where Hawkeye grew up. But his home state is later changed to Maine.

The episode is a hodgepodge of vignettes, some of them comedic and some more dramatic. Some better than the others. The silliest vignette is the one where Hawkeye describes an evening where he and Trapper, probably going too far, rig Margaret's tent into a booby trap so that it will come toppling down during a night of passion between her and Frank. Later, Hawkeye makes his first play for Margaret and gives her a long kiss, which will be repeated in the last episode of the series.

Other comic highlights include Radar sending pieces of a jeep back home to Iowa and Henry giving a lecture on premarital sex. The nicest sequence involves Trapper giving vaccines to Korean children, then his helping some local farmers birth a calf. The most dramatic scenario depicts Hawkeye flying into battle, dressed as Santa, to help a wounded soldier on the field.

I thought the best vignette, however, was the one that featured Father Mulcahy, Klinger and Frank. Klinger is helping the nurses, when he has a dispute with Frank which turns into a brawl inside the recovery room. Of course, Father Mulcahy tries to intervene, covering for Klinger who scrams when the MP show up.

This leads to a later scene where Klinger, now a bit unhinged and still mad at Frank, intends to kill Frank with a live grenade. The part where the priest is able to reason with Klinger and get the grenade away from him is very well-played, and you can see why actors William Christopher and Jamie Farr would eventually become regular cast members of the show.

Hawkeye's last voice over at the end coincides with his finishing the letter to his father. We see the main cast credited again using clips of them all from earlier in the episode.

Santa uhg..

[csteinmayer-25141 · 5/10 · 9 October 2019]

Ok, there's a lot to like about this episode, but Hawkeye dressed as Santa dropping into an active fire fight was a hill too far. This was pure holiday pandering. Not MASH at its best.

Come on!!!

[Bronco46 · 5/10 · 24 August 2010]

Who wrote this? Was this a case of writers block so they threw together a bunch of ideas from a cookie jar. The dear dad concept was used again later to much better effect. And in fairness this review is written on an episode watched on TV so a lot of the plot was cut out for commercials. But the biggest insult to the intelligence is sending a surgeon to fox hole to heart surgery. And he performs this miracle in a full Santa Claus suit. Supposedly he's so rushed he can't even take time to take the pillow padding that supposed to give Santa his physique. Our intrepid Santa is lowered from helicopter dressed in red and white in the middle of fire fight to preform heart surgery with no equipment and no help. A very frustrating story line to watch.

Just a Bit Too Much

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 22 February 2015]

I have to agree with the previous reviewer. The Dear Dad concept is a fun way to bring vignettes of the various characters into play. Up until the Santa Claus trip things were OK. but there are times when it gets beyond belief. When Hawkey (Santa Claus) is able to drop into a bunker to perform surgery, wouldn't it have made more sense for the helicopter, which obviously was hovering and in just as much danger with or without Hawkey, to be used to airlift the patient out of that bunker? The other stories were less than great but OK. We have Klinger going toe to toe with Frank Burns and wanting to blow him up with a grenade. We have Hawkeye's big smooch with Margaret. And then there's Radar trying to send a jeep home, piece by piece. Oh, well, they didn't always strike gold.

The worst of all the episodes

[1Wishbone · 1/10 · 25 November 2022]

Other people have already reviewd many obvious errors with this episode, so I won't repeat all of them, but there is one scene that is so ridiculous, that I need to post it. The final scene when Hawkeye is dressed up in a bright red Santa suit, and for some unexplained reason, he is needed to fly up to the front for some lame medical excuse (when the helicopter could have easily done the job). So, the helicopter is hovering over an active battlefield with bullets flying, and lowering Hawkeye on a rope - in a BRIGHT RED target suit for the North Koreans to have a field day with their rifles - at either him OR the chopper. And this is underscored when Hawkeye hits the ground, and has to belly crawl several feel to avoid the bullets. Of course, he is not hit. It just strikes me as stupid.