M*A*S*H (TV Series) The Consultant (1975) User Reviews

Father and Son

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 6 March 2015]

This is a pairing of Robert Alda with his son Alan. Dad plays a doctor who has been through two wars already and is invited to come to the MASH unit. He arrives and assists in surgery, but when he is about to do an arterial transplant to save a soldier's leg, he hits the booze. The interest in this has to do with the comparisons between wars. There is also a scene where the guys must talk a British officer (a stuffy stereotypical huff and puff kind of guy) into giving them an artery from one of his casualties. Hawkeye is conflicted by the older doctor's decision and his character, forsaking a basic sense of compassion. It turns out there aren't always heroes; sometimes there are only humans.

Guest starring Robert Alda

[safenoe · 8/10 · 17 March 2024]

Alan Alda's father Robert guest stars as Dr Anthony Borelli, and it happened that Robert returned five years later to reprise his role as Borelli in the episode Lend a Hand. In Lend a Hand, Alan's half-brother, Antony Alda, also appeared. William Christopher's wife also appeared as a nurse in the episode Dear Mildred, where they sing a song together, and of course Mike Farrell's wife Judy makes many appearances in the series. Anyway, The Consultant has an Irish actor playing an English army officer, which I guess is kind of like getting Canadians to play Americans I guess. Anyway, The Consultant is worth watching.

Quite . . .

[tomronning50 · 10/10 · 22 December 2018]

"I wish you better luck on your third war . . . . . "

Stereotyped

[cordey_bear · 4/10 · 7 March 2007]

I was really quite irritated with the English role in this episode - the accent was shabby and the whole thing was extremely stereotypical. The actor was from Ireland - which didn't exactly help the whole affair, and the joke was unnapreciated.

I must say - I DO love M*A*S*H, but the when they (seldomly) put English parts in they are very shoddy and stereotyped. (When I say stereotyped, I mean the whole *stiff upper lip* thing, and the drinking of wine calmly in a bombing situation, as well as the incredible rudeness to the American soldiers.) I am not sure if people acted like that in the '50s, but they certainly don't now.