The only Mash episode with a ghost

The only episode of MASH To feature an out-and-out ghost features one of the show’s most tragic endings. While the CBS medical drama was about as far from a horror show as it was possible to get, it occasionally dipped its toes into the genre. For exampleMASH’s Dissecting “Dreams” explored the broken and sometimes creepy dreams of the reworked 4077. It included some haunting images, such as an armless Hawkeye (Alan Alda) still down a stream of prosthetic limbs.

Other episodes like “Trick or Treat” contained genre elements, but of course, the series was ultimately about the horrors of war itself. That’s why CBS agreed to leave MASH Drop the sitcom laugh track from the surgery scenes, because sequences involving doctors stitching up wounded patients shouldn’t cause many laughs. Over the course of MASH’s 11 seasons, There There were more experimental episodes that broke from formula, including the real-time outing “Life Time” or season 10’s “Follies of the Living Concerns of the Dead.“

MASH’s “Follies of the Living Dead” follows the ghost of a dead soldier

“Fools” is one of Mash’s most melancholic stories

What sets MASH’s “Follies of the Living Concerns of the Dead” apart is that the main story involves a ghost named Private Weston (Kario Salem). The episode opens with Weston’s corpse being driven to the camp, with his spirit soon emerging from the body. Klinger (Jamie Farr) is the only one who can see him because he is delirious with a fever. The episode details Weston’s journey from denying his own death to his slow acceptance of his fate.

In the meantime, poor Weston hears the petty arguments between surgeons – including Hawkeye and Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) bickering over a coat hook – or the minor worries of the living. MASH Also highlights that the surgeons are so overwhelmed with wounded soldiers they essentially forget about Weston Only minutes after his death. He and Klinger got together several times, but the poor soldier was left alone to think about his fate, and this is only made stronger by all the stupid problems he hears the living complain about.

The ending of “Follies of the Living Dead” is one of MASH’s most devastating.

Weston is just one in an endless sea of ​​ghosts for the 4077th

MASH’s “Follies of the Living-Worry the Dead” is definitely more drama than comedy. And even the normally quippy Hawkeye is in a foul mood for most of it. There’s a coldness to this episode that’s unusual for the series, and it only underlines the tragedy of Weston’s plight. He also observes things like the staff looking through his wallet or his best friend penning a letter to Weston’s parents after his passing.

In the final moments of “Follies of the Living Dead,” Weston wanders across a line of ghosts that includes Korean soldiers and civilians. Another American soldier invites him to join and they walk off together, not sure where the line leads. What makes this MASH Exit so quietly devastating is the epilogue, which sees Klinger snapping out of his fever and immediately asking what has become of Weston. Unfortunately, Hawkeye and the others are so busy arguing about who has post-op duty next that they dismiss Klinger’s concerns.

more than that, Nobody even remembers Weston’s name, with that last shot lingering, if he just imagined the whole thing. with this end, MASH isn’t suggesting that the 4077 don’t care, it’s just that they’re so swamped by patients or dying soldiers that Weston’s fate has become routine. There will be many more soldiers and civilians cut down by the war, and to function, the 4077 have named themselves to the horrors surrounding them.

MASH’s “Follies of the Living Dead” Makes Weston’s Appearance Ambiguous

Did Klinger just imagine Weston’s ghostly adventure?

“Follies of the living-care of the dead” was one of the rare cases where MASH Wadd In Supernatural Terror or material. It also works out, since the whole episode could have been less hallucinating Weston’s ghostly walk through the camp. The episode opens with Klinger in bed, and he later wanders out in time to see Weston’s ghost rise from his body. It’s true that he wasn’t present for most of the Westons’ other scenes, but that could also have been fever nightmares on Klinger’s part.

That’s a question for the audience to decide for themselves. If Private Weston was all in Klinger’s head, then the soldier should move to screenwriting after the war, because he gave his ghost a fleshed-out story and an emotional arc. For all its wild comedy, MASH was a grounded series, so for those who might bristle at the idea of ​​a supernatural episode, The Klinger element gives the Weston story enough ambiguity to pretend it was all a dream.