The Moose was the fifth episode aired during Season 1 of the M*A*S*H TV series, also the series fifth overall episode and the fifth episode in production order. Written by Laurence Marks and directed by Hy Averback, it originally aired on CBS-TV on October 17, 1972.
Synopsis[]
Hawkeye wins a young Korean servant girl, Young Hi, off a visiting sergeant in a card game with the intention of freeing her. However, Young Hi thinks she now belongs to Hawkeye. He and the other doctors attempt to show her that she is free.
Full episode summary[]
Sergeant Baker stops by the 4077th with his "moose"; a Korean girl named Young Hi, whom he "bought" from her family for $500.00. He tries to get Henry to force Baker to release the girl, but he states it's no use - Baker would just pick her up again 5 minutes later. Hawkeye and Trapper try to talk to Young Hi about getting away from Baker, but she says it would dishonor her family, not understanding she deserves a life of her own. Hawkeye is outraged and tries to convince Baker to let the girl go free, even to the point of wearing his Class A's and pulling rank on him, but it doesn't work, so they offer to buy her off him, but he turns them down again. It finally dawns on them to play poker with Baker (and cheat with a little help from Radar).
When Hawkeye eventually cleans Baker out and demands immediate payment, Baker agrees to trade Young Hi to clear his debt. However, he explains to Young Hi that she now belongs to Hawkeye, rather than that she is free (as was Hawkeye's intent). Young Hi gets right to work, shaving Hawkeye and cleaning the Swamp within an inch of its life, which outrages Trapper and Spearchucker. Hawkeye first attempts to get rid of Young Hi by sending her on a truck to Seoul with Ho-Jon, but she gets off when the truck stops for gas and hitchhikes back to the 4077th.
The surgeons send Ho-Jon to Seoul to find Young Hi's family while they try to "demoosify" Young Hi and teach her how to be a normal person, even teaching her to help out in Post Op. They soon meet the head of Young Hi's family, Benny, and discover that he is Young Hi's little brother. He immediately plans to sell her again. Initially, Young Hi agrees with Benny out of loyalty to her family, but she then returns, having told Benny to "shove off".
In the end, Young Hi is enrolled in convent school in Seoul. In the last scene of the episode, Hawkeye, Trapper, and Spearchucker receive a letter from her.
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- When Benny shows up and says, "You bought Young Hi from Baker. Now you wanna dump her. What's the beef? She goofing off?" Hawkeye replies, "The 'Dead End Kids' in Korea." The "Dead End Kids" were six young actors from New York City who starred in the play and the movie Dead End.
- Though Larry Linville and Loretta Swit are listed in the opening titles, neither Frank Burns nor Major Houlihan appear in the episode. Frank is mentioned to be in Tokyo just past the 19-minute mark, while Margaret's absence isn't mentioned at all.
- This is the fewest members of the show's main cast to appear in an episode apart from Season 4's "Hawkeye" (in which only Alan Alda appears).
- This is the shortest appearance of Henry in an episode before his actor McLean Stevenson left the show at the end of Season 3, as he only appears in one scene for about 45 seconds.
- Another "moose" was seen in the Season 4 episode "Of Moose and Men", though in that episode, a "moose" was defined as a Korean girlfriend.
- The term "moose" is derived from the Japanese word "musume" which means "daughter" or "young girl".
- When Sgt. Baker first arrives at the 4077th and meets Trapper and Hawkeye, he tells them (regarding Young Hi) that "these gooks don't mind working." Hawkeye tells him he doesn't like that word, Baker repeats the slur, and Hawkeye pulls rank to tell him to knock it off. In some syndicated airings, both instances of "gooks" are edited out.
- Anomaly: In a portion of the scene of Hawkeye and Young Hi right after Baker leaves that is usually cut out of syndicated airings, Hawkeye mulls over how he's going to tell his father he's just acquired a human being. One of the scenarios involves him saying "Dear Dad, I know how you always wished I had a sister..." Hawkeye repeatedly mentions having a sister throughout Seasons 1 and 2, including asking his father (via letter) to give her his love ("Dear Dad"), telling a General he's saving up to buy her a truss ("Chief Surgeon Who?"), receiving an oversized sweater from her ("Mail Call"), and earlier in this episode, where he tells Baker he's sending his sister through barber college.
- Young Hi refers to Baker and Hawkeye with the Japanese honorific 'san', as in "Hawkeye-San". However, Young Hi's family is in Seoul and the 4077th M.A.S.H. is in Korea, so we should assume Young Hi is Korean. It doesn't make sense a Korean woman would use Japanese honorifics.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Paul Jenkins as Sergeant Baker
- Virginia Ann Lee as Young Hi
- Timothy Brown as Spearchucker Jones
- Patrick Adiarte as Ho Jon
- John Orchard as Ugly John
- Craig Jue as Benny
- Linda Meiklejohn as Lieutenant Leslie Scorch
- Barbara Brownell as Lieutenant Jones