Template:Infobox M*A*S*H episode V2
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. Written by Allan Katz and Gene Reynolds, who also directed the episode, for a teleplay also penned by 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, Hot Lips and Klinger (who is on guard duty) are met by a young Korean girl, who is in distress and asks for help.
Hot Lips, understanding a certain amount of Korean, explains that the young girl says her mother is giving birth, and needs her delivering. She grabs her medical bag and takes off with the girl.
The next morning, Hot Lips is nowhere to be seen. Radar looks everywhere, but can't find her. Frank decides to go find her himself, loading his gun with macho pride.
Unfortunately, as Hawkeye says, "Frank's as good a marksman as he is a doctor", and 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 investigation, 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 Los Vegas, disguised as Johnny Rey, to do two shows a night at the Sans club, three on Saturdays. Flagg however finds one flaw in that "theory"; they don't do three shows a night at the Sans; knowing this because he was disguised as a showgirl for six weeks as part of an assignment! Flagg turns up nothing on Hot Lips, and in Col. Potter's office he has Radar order some artillery strikes! Potter is aghast, but Flagg is not deterred.
But suddenly, Hot Lips wanders in--wondering why everyone is so shocked to see her. She tells them where she was (having successfully delivered the baby) and Potter has Flagg call off all his elaborate plans.
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 Sans, 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!
Fun facts
A very, very funny episode, featuring one great laugh line after the other, and that's even before Col. Flagg arrives!
Previous episodes have shown Hot Lips learning the Korean language, a nice little character touch that pays off in this episode.
One real funny scene is the one where Frank accidentally shoots B.J.! As they drag him to the hospital, he demands that Hawkeye and B.J. not tell Potter who it was that shot him. They promise Frank, just to shut him up. When Potter asks what happened, Hawkeye doesn't pause for a moment before answering: "Frank shot B.J."
The Me-TV synidcated version has some restored parts-such as Flagg claiming that he had an operation on him that doesnt permit him to get drunk on alcohol! {A part cut of this version is when Radar recognizes Flagg desguised as a Italian soldier! see dialogue at http://www.mash4077tv.com/2013/11/04/episode-spotlight-the-abduction-of-margaret-houlihan/}
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)