In Love and War was the 130th episode of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H. The episode, which was the eighth episode of Season 6, was written and directed by Alan Alda. It originally aired on November 1, 1977.
Plot synopsis[]
Hawkeye falls in love with an aristocratic Korean woman whose mother is very ill. Margaret learns that her husband Donald may have been making time with a new nurse assigned to the 4077th.
Full episode summary[]
During triage, Hawkeye can't help but notice a very unusual sight: a car - not a Jeep, but an actual car - drives into the compound, and from inside emerges a very attractive Korean woman named Kyung Soon. After he briefly talks with her, Potter tells Hawkeye that the young passenger in the car has a dislocated collarbone and needs attention ASAP. Hawkeye is already examining another more seriously injured patient, and is indignant that a seemingly high society woman can come into camp and cut to the front of the line. Moments later, Potter talks with the woman again, and then tells Hawkeye to go with her back to her estate to look after her sick mother, which only exacerbates his indignance.
En route, Hawkeye is very sarcastic, but he develops a change of heart once they arrive at the "estate": a bombed, burnt-out shell of a building, where Kyung Soon is taking care of several refugees - older people and young children, all displaced because of the war. He gives her mother some medicine, but tells Kyung that she has pneumonia and all they can do is let it run its course.
In a gesture of apology, Hawkeye offers to help Kyung in any way he can, but she only asks if Hawkeye knows any French. She opens up to him about how she attended school in Paris when she was young and became a devotee of writer and poet François de La Rochefoucauld, and how she misses speaking in French. Hawkeye then opens up about his admiration for her, particularly her attitude, how she can continue to smile in the face of everything going on; when he remarks that "nothing is all that bad unless you think it is", Kyung's eyes light up, and she points out to Hawkeye that what he just said is similar to a line from one of La Rochefoucauld's poems. Hawkeye then says, "Je suis poulet a la poetry", which he thinks means "I am pulled toward poetry", but when Kyung corrects him saying he called himself a chicken, the two share a laugh, and before they realize it, they start falling for one another.
After Kyung drops Hawkeye off back in camp, he sings a completely different tune about her to B.J. and Potter. He wonders aloud whether or not Kyung would consider going out with him, but Potter, accurately pointing out that love and war don't mix, cautions him to not let himself fall in love, adding that "for every hello, there are two goodbyes". But Hawkeye is already too far gone and begins spending more time at Kyung's estate and help her out where he can. Some two weeks later and apropos of nothing, Hawkeye asks Kyung out to dinner; she initially thinks he wants to join her and her people at their evening meal, but when he reveals that it's actually a date, she is hesitant at first, but agrees to go with him the next evening.
After they arrive where they're going, they set things up; Kyung brought her Victrola phonograph with some violin music by Beethoven. They look into each other's eyes, and Kyung reveals that she is afraid that their relationship will go too far, that "I will feel something I haven't felt in a long time". Hawkeye says he is touched by Kyung, simply by her sense of humor and many of the little things he sees her do. Kyung reveals that she too is touched by Hawkeye, mainly because he cares for and about her people, but also because of his own sense of humor. The two share a dance, and then spend the night together. By daybreak, Hawkeye and Kyung have fallen deeply for one another, but Hawkeye has to return to camp as they are expecting casualties.
Later that day, while in OR during surgery, Klinger informs Hawkeye that Kyung's mother has taken a turn for the worse and is now dying, but he is in the middle of repairing a patient's spine and can't immediately get away. When he is finally done he rushes over, but when he sees Kyung in tears at the doorway, he realizes that it is too late. Kyung tells Hawkeye that her mother kept asking for him "in that demanding tone that she has...that she had".
Right before the funeral, Kyung is cold and silent. When Hawkeye asks what is on her mind, she tells him that she only stayed at the estate because it was her mother's house, but now that she's gone, all that matters are the children in her care. Not wanting to see them grow up to be thieves, prostitutes, or worse, she has decided to move them all to a missionary school in Changnyeong (a town deep in southern Korea). To afford the trip, she sold nearly everything of value she owned - including the phonograph - and traded in the car for a pair of oxen, reasoning that oxen can eat grass while a car needs gasoline. Hawkeye sternly remarks on her practicality, and Kyung retorts that she thought that's what he liked about her. Hawkeye then quietly asks:
- Hawkeye: Kyung Soon, how can you leave?
- Kyung (after long pause): How can I stay?
That night back in the Swamp, B.J. tries to console Hawkeye saying that they at least had two unforgettable weeks together, but it doesn't work, and Hawkeye just can't bring himself to let Kyung go. At daybreak, Hawkeye drives back to the estate just as Kyung and her people are preparing to leave via ox cart. He brings a new phonograph for her with the same violin music they listened to during their night together. Hawkeye cannot find the words to express how much it has meant to him that she came into his life. They promise to write letter after letter, staying in touch, but then the painful and unacceptable reality sinks in when Hawkeye sadly says:
"I'll never see you again. We'll write a few notes as a graceful gesture of futility, and I'll... never see you again."
They embrace one last time, and with tears in his eyes, Hawkeye watches Kyung leave.
Subplot[]
A new nurse named Gleason arrives in camp and is immediately put to work. She makes small talk with Bigelow about how less than 24 hours ago, she was in Tokyo dancing on the Ginza with a lieutenant colonel, but when she calls him "ol' Donald Dimwit", Margaret's curiosity, and her suspicion, is piqued, though Bigelow attempts to placate Margaret saying he couldn't possibly be her Donald. But as time goes on, Margaret continues to grill Gleason for details, but Gleason is reluctant, claiming that she never even heard "Donald's" last name.
Later in the showers, Margaret finds Gleason again and asks if her Donald was wearing a Masonic pinkie ring. Eventually the two come to agree that the Donald she was seeing couldn't be Margaret's husband, but when Gleason mentions that she was creeped out by Donald's constant licking of her fingernails, this revelation is enough to push Margaret over the edge, screaming, "It WAS him!! It WAS him!! IT WAS HI-I-I-IM-M!!" while trashing the showers.
In another surgery session, Margaret is throwing blame at Gleason with snide and hurtful remarks until Potter orders her to go and check on a late shipment of hemostats, refusing to let her delegate (this scene is usually cut from syndicated airings). Later, to placate Margaret, Potter transfers Gleason as far away as possible from the 4077th so Margaret doesn't have to see her again, but much to Margaret's disbelief - and to his own chagrin - Potter winds up sending Gleason back to Tokyo.
Epilogue[]
That night in the Swamp, Hawkeye and Margaret attempt to drown their sorrows in booze from the still, comparing stories and commiserating with each other over "how much this place stinks." When Hawkeye asks Margaret what she's going to do about Donald, she answers she's going to take him back. She returns the question, and Hawkeye replies he's going to let Kyung Soon go. Margaret says, "That stinks." and Hawkeye sadly agrees.
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- The car Kyung Soon drives is believed to be a 1950-51 Plymouth Cranbrook four-door sedan.
- Gary Burghoff does not appear as Radar, nor is he even referenced in this episode.
- Hawkeye genuinely falls in love for the first time since his relationship with his former common-law wife Lieutenant Carlye Breslin. He tells Kyung to write to him and they will stay in contact. Yet, we never hear of her ever again, not even a mention of a letter. Yet, Hawkeye will later mention Carlye, though not by name: "I couldn't do it in med school for the woman I loved, and I won't do it now for an army I hate" ("Stars and Stripe").
- In a short scene usually edited from syndicated broadcasts, Hawkeye attends the funeral of Kyung Soon's mother, which is shown to be an abbreviated version of a Korean funeral procession.
- Changnyeong is 276 km - 172 miles - south of Uijeongbu.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
Uncredited appearances by
- Sal Viscuso as the P.A. Announcer
- Kellye Nakahara
- Gwen Farrell
Image Gallery[]
