The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan was the 104th episode of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H, and, also the seventh episode of the fifth season of the series. The story was by Gene Reynolds, who also directed the episode, and the teleplay was penned by Allan Katz and Don Reo. It first aired on October 26, 1976.
Synopsis[]
Margaret takes off in the middle of the night to help deliver a Korean baby. Nobody knows of her whereabouts, and Colonel Flagg is brought in to help investigate her disappearance.
Full episode summary[]
In the middle of night, Margaret and Klinger (who is on guard duty) are met by a young Korean girl, who is in distress and asks for help.
Margaret, understanding a certain amount of Korean, explains that the young girl says her mother is giving birth, and needs her help to deliver the baby. She grabs her medical bag and takes off with the girl. Klinger is relieved of guard duty, and immediately falls asleep in his tent.
The next morning, Margaret is nowhere to be seen. Radar looks everywhere, but can't find her. He questions a still-sleeping Klinger, who replies that she's out having a baby; Radar dismisses this as just babbling, and continues the search. Frank decides to go find her himself, loading his gun with macho pride. Unfortunately, he accidentally fires the gun, with the bullet nicking B.J. in the leg.
Col. Potter, not knowing what else to do, brings in Army Intelligence. Unfortunately, that means...Col. Flagg. Flagg does some investigating, including mistaking Hawkeye for B.J., and insisting that Frank's reading material - Reader's Digest - is, in fact, a Commie rag, Red's Digest. He even goes as far as saying that Burns was probably responsible for Margaret's disappearance, which leads to Hawkeye and B.J. spinning a wild yarn about him shipping Margaret away to Las Vegas, disguised as Johnnie Ray, to do two shows a night at the Sands club, three on Saturdays. Flagg, however, finds one flaw in that "theory"; they don't do three shows a night at the Sands. (Flagg knows this because he was disguised as a showgirl for six weeks for an assignment.) Flagg turns up nothing on Margaret, and in Col. Potter's office he has Radar order some artillery strikes. Potter is aghast, but Flagg is not deterred.
Meanwhile, Margaret assists the Korean woman's delivery, then accompanies the family back to the camp. Carrying the baby herself, she's greeted by Klinger, who has been equally unaware of the commotion her absence caused. Margaret hands the baby to Klinger, who affectionately marvels at the baby and its "tiny" nose.
Margaret walks into Potter's office, and is surprised by the fuss. With the missing major's safe return, there is no need for Flagg's elaborate schemes, or Flagg himself. Potter calls off Flagg's plans and dismisses him. Flagg, though, won't depart until everyone closes their eyes so he can leave mysteriously - like his codename, "The Wind." Everyone initially refuses, but when Flagg says he won't leave unless they do, they shut their eyes immediately.
They hear a grunt and a crash, and see that Flagg has jumped out the window. Hawkeye looks out the hole, and says, dismissively, "'The Wind' just broke his leg."
Later in the Swamp as the episode closes, Hawkeye and B.J. are playing chess when Hawkeye has an epiphany; he saw Flagg at the Sands, disguised as a showgirl, when he had once been in Vegas. When asked by B.J. what tipped him off, Hawkeye states that Flagg was the only showgirl carrying a machine gun.
Research notes[]
- William Christopher receives billing, but does not appear in this episode.
- The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas opened in 1952, so Flagg could not possibly have spent time there prior to the war.
- The episode's tag back at The Swamp is usually omitted from syndicated airings.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Edward Winter as Colonel Sam Flagg
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Nurse Baker
- Susan Bredhoff as Nurse Able
- June Kyoto Lu as Korean Woman
- Le Quynh as Korean Husband
- Susan Sakimoto as Korean Girl
- Johnny Yune as Korean Translator (as Jon Yune)
- Jay Fenichel as patient
- Roy Goldman as Private Roy Goldman (uncredited; as the soldier who relieves Klinger from guard duty)