The Yalu Brick Road was the 10th episode of Season 8 of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H, also the 183rd overall episode in the series. Written by series cast member Mike Farrell, and directed by Charles S. Dubin, it first aired on network TV on November 19, 1979.
Synopsis[]
Right after Thanksgiving, with nearly everyone except Father Mulcahy down sick from food poisoning, Hawkeye and B.J., while tracking down some antibiotics, become lost, and have to deal with a lone North Korean soldier who insists on surrendering to them.
Full episode summary[]
It's after Thanksgiving, and Father Mulcahy has returned to camp from the orphanage to find the Post Op completely filled with patients; not casualties, but the 4077th's own, as nearly everyone there has come down with a bad case of salmonella, which Potter is convinced is from a bad Thanksgiving turkey Klinger procured from an I-Corps Quartermaster supply sergeant named Thomopoulous. Klinger is ready to defend the notion that the turkeys didn't cause the problem as he and Potter both partook of the holiday fare and at that moment were still unaffected, but it doesn't take long for Klinger and then Potter, to fall ill as well.
Potter is the only doctor left in camp to help the others; Charles and Margaret are at the 8063rd for a conference, while Hawkeye and B.J. are at Kam Song Batallion Aid getting antibiotics for the camp. Charles and Margaret return first and tend to the sick. When Winchester tries to worm his way out of doing menial chores which everyone else is too sick to do, Margaret threatens him if he takes one step towards his cot, and gives him a choice of either tending to washing sheets or cleaning bedpans; Charles chooses the sheets.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye and B.J. have gotten lost and can't find their way back to the main road. They get into an accident and crash their jeep, forcing them to walk. They soon run into a North Korean soldier who is determined to surrender to them, despite Hawkeye and B.J.'s disinterest in taking prisoners. Hawkeye takes to nicknaming the tenacious soldier 'Ralph', after a friend's kid brother who used to tag along with her on dates. But Ralph proves to be invaluable when they are accosted by a group of four heavily-armed North Korean soldiers who are ready to kill Hawkeye and B.J; Ralph parlays with the soldiers saying that the two surgeons are his prisoners. After a tense moment, the other soldiers move on. After they're gone, Ralph again surrenders to Hawkeye and B.J., who to their collective surprise realize that Ralph just saved their lives, and gratefully give him a big hug.
Back on their way, B.J., Hawkeye and Ralph come across an old man who has hurt his ankle while moving a wooden cart down the road. Seeing that he is too weak to walk at all, Hawkeye volunteers B.J. to pick up the injured old man, whom he nicknames 'Fred', and carry him to his homestead. He and his wife reward them with a beat-up, rusty motorcycle, which B.J. insists he can drive. With Hawkeye climbing into the side car, and Ralph on the back, they haphazardly take off for, and finally return to the 4077th, accidentally running over Winchester's freshly-cleaned sheets in the process. They head off to Post Op to help out, but when Ralph again surrenders to them, Hawkeye tells him to come along saying, "There's a whole ward full of people you haven't surrendered to yet."
Epilogue[]
Later in the orderly room, a still-sick Klinger has Sparky put through a call to I-Corps Supply and Sgt. Thomopoulous, the one who pawned the tainted turkey off on him. When Thomopoulous finally answers, Klinger mentions the turkey and tells him to "Stuff it!" before having a relapse of his illness!
Research notes/Fun facts[]
- The episode's title, while obviously referring to the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz, also references the Yalu River, which forms the border between North Korea and China.
- This episode is written by Mike Farrell, making him the fourth M*A*S*H cast member (after Alan Alda, McLean Stevenson, and Harry Morgan) to write for the series.
- This is actor Soon-Tek Oh's fourth episode guest-starring on the series.
- Charles makes another Star Trek reference, albeit chauvinistically, to Margaret when he says "I'm a doctor, not a woman!"
- Correct chronology would have this take place in November 1952.
- Sharp-eyed viewers will notice something the editors missed. During the scene where Hawkeye, B.J., and Ralph help the injured farmer, there is a shadow of a boom microphone that appears in the lower right hand corner of the frame. It appears as B.J. is lifting the damaged cart off of the farmer, and is in the scene for about 6 seconds. Additionally, as B.J. and Hawkeye are driving through the countryside, several large power transmission towers are visible, unlikely to be found in rural Korea at the time.
- This is the episode where we learn about B.J.'s affinity for motorcycles (we never do find out what happens to this motorcycle after this episode). B.J. gets another cycle in Season 10's Blood and Guts (that bike gets trashed by visiting journalist Clayton Kibbee), and a third two-wheeler in the series finale, where he takes one from the Chinese musicians, paints it yellow, and eventually drives off with it at the end of the episode.
- One plot hole is having a North Soldier surrender to hawkeye and BJ; at this stage of the war the main fighting was with the Chinses!
- another Plot Hole; November 1952 Major Frank Burns was still at MASH; remember the Novacine Mutiny October 1952! Winchester would not have got to Mash until after June 1953!!!!
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Soon-Tek Oh as "Ralph" (as Soon-Teck Oh)
- G.W. Bailey as Sergeant Luther Rizzo
- Byron Chung as North Korean Patrol Leader
- Bob Okazaki as Korean farmer
- Jeff Maxwell as Igor
- Kellye Nakahara as Nurse Kellye
- Roy Goldman as Corpsman (see Private Roy Goldman)
- Uncredited appearances: