{"id":493570,"date":"2022-09-16T17:30:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T14:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/this-mash-episode-proved-that-sitcoms-can-break-our-hearts\/"},"modified":"2022-09-16T17:30:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T14:30:47","slug":"this-mash-episode-proved-that-sitcoms-can-break-our-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-mash-episode-proved-that-sitcoms-can-break-our-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"#This M*A*S*H Episode Proved That Sitcoms Can Break Our Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2920b86d5e0\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2920b86d5e0\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-mash-episode-proved-that-sitcoms-can-break-our-hearts\/#%E2%80%9CThis_MASH_Episode_Proved_That_Sitcoms_Can_Break_Our_Hearts%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;This M*A*S*H Episode Proved That Sitcoms Can Break Our Hearts&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CThis_MASH_Episode_Proved_That_Sitcoms_Can_Break_Our_Hearts%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;This M*A*S*H Episode Proved That Sitcoms Can Break Our Hearts&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<pre><code>     &lt;span class=\"mx-1\"&gt;The season one M*A*S*H episode \u201cSometimes You Hear the Bullet\u201d revealed the show\u2019s bleeding heart, and gave voice to profound topics it would keep returning to throughout its storied run.&lt;\/span&gt;\n&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;div id=\"\"&gt;\n\n\n\n                &lt;figure class=\"sf-entry-featured-<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> \"&gt;\n            &lt;img width=\"800\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MASH_Sometimes_You_Hear_the_Bullet.jpg\" class=\"articlethumb wp-post-image\" alt=\"M*A*S*H: Sometimes You Hear The Bullet\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MASH_Sometimes_You_Hear_the_Bullet.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MASH_Sometimes_You_Hear_the_Bullet-768x480.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/&gt;                                    &lt;p&gt;\n                    &lt;span class=\"sf-entry-flag sf-entry-flag-creditline\"&gt;20th Century Fox Television&lt;\/span&gt;\n\n                        &lt;\/figure&gt;\n\n    &lt;!-- START BYLINE --&gt;\n    &lt;div class=\"row align-items-center justify-content-center my-4 text-center medium dark-gray\"&gt;\n        By\u00a0Valerie Ettenhofer\u00a0\u00b7 Published on September 16th, 2022 \n        &lt;\/div&gt;\n    &lt;!-- END BYLINE --&gt;\n\n    &lt;em&gt;This essay is part of our <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a>\u00a0&lt;strong&gt;Episodes&lt;\/strong&gt;, a monthly column in which TV Critic\u00a0Valerie Ettenhofer digs into the singular chapters of television that make the medium great. This time she\u2019s revisiting an early M*A*S*H episode that showed just how much the classic sitcom was willing to blend comedy with deeply felt drama.&lt;\/em&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Fifty years ago, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/M*A*S*H_(TV_series)\"><em>M<em>A<\/em>S<em>H<\/em> premiered<\/a> and changed television for good. Over its eleven seasons, the show would break ground in more ways than one, championing progressive, anti-war attitudes and frequently blurring the lines between comedy and drama in a way that would influence decades\u2019 worth of sitcoms to come. But in its first season, the Korean War-set series was still finding its footing, playing in the same bawdy comedic sandbox as Robert Altman\u2018s\u00a01970 movie of the same name. Despite its rebellious spirit, early <em>M<\/em>A<em>S<\/em>H<\/em> aimed to amuse above all else \u2014 until, suddenly, it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>The episode \u201cSometimes You Hear the Bullet\u201d arrived in 1973, late in the show\u2019s first season, with a deceptively simple plot that gave way to a sobering peek inside the show\u2019s bleeding heart. By the end of its 26-minute runtime, the episode had deftly communicated nearly all of the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme<\/a>s that would preoccupy the series\u2019 writers for the next eleven seasons. Among them: expectation-defying images of masculinity, deferred trauma, the perils of misguided patriotism, and the devastating human toll of war. Not bad for an installment with a B-plot about Frank (Larry Linville) trying to get a Purple Heart after throwing his back out during a hot date with Margaret (Loretta Swit).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes You Heart the Bullet\u201d starts off innocuous enough. While secret lovers Frank and Margaret attempt to cover up the evidence of the former\u2019s bedroom injury, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) gets cozy with a woman over a less-than-impressive jar of black market olives. When his date is interrupted \u2013 first by Frank, then by a new round of injured patients \u2013 the surgeon heads to the O.R. There, a patient arrives with his hands over his face, calling out for Hawkeye specifically. When the doctor leans over, the man gleefully springs up, calling, \u201cI think I love you!\u201d before he seems to kiss the doctor\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not a real patient, it turns out, but Hawkeye\u2019s childhood friend Tommy (James T. Callahan), a reporter turned enlisted soldier who\u2019s writing a book about the war. We don\u2019t know much about Tommy, but what we do know reveals that he\u2019s as gleefully counter-cultural as his best pal. <em>M<em>A<\/em>S*H<\/em> is full of gay jokes, but in a move that\u2019s surprising for its time, they\u2019re often more winking than homophobic. By letting Hawkeye and his fellow soldiers idly flirt, they hint at a half-joking fluidity among the men of the 4077th MASH unit that\u2019s a comfortable opposite to the traditional, hyper-masculine Army-man image. Tommy plays into this constantly, kissing Lt. Colonel Henry (McLean Stevenson) on the mouth and joking with Hawk about how he \u201cprances\u201d around camp.<\/p>\n<p>Other than his good humor and freely given affection, though, we never learn too much about Tommy. We do know he\u2019s anti-war \u2013 Hawkeye points out the irony that he used to be a Communist, and now he\u2019s fighting them \u2013 and that he wants to capture truths about the front lines that don\u2019t appear in overly-romantic battle stories. He tells Hawkeye and Trapper (Wayne Rogers) his idea for a book, titled <em>You Never Hear the Bullet<\/em>, as the three catch up in The Swamp:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere\u2019s always that big blonde kid who\u2019s in all those war movies, right? The one that should never die and always does\u2026Well, you always hear this big, loud ricochet just before he gets killed, right? Well, that\u2019s not the way it really happens. There was a young blonde kid in our outfit. One day I looked over and half of him was gone. And you know what he said? He said, \u2018I never heard no bullet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s a downbeat moment, one that Hawkeye only knows how to respond to in one way. \u201cLet\u2019s get drunk,\u201d he says as if he\u2019s offering a life-saving prescription. Only, like every moment of revelry, romance, or respite attempted in this episode, they\u2019re interrupted by the radio call: more wounded have arrived. Among them is Wendell (Ron Howard), a young Marine with appendicitis. He says he\u2019s 20, and when Hawkeye hits him with a knowing look, he lowers his age to 18. \u201cFor somebody who\u2019s both 20 and 18, you look awfully 16 to me,\u201d Hawkeye says. Tommy, meanwhile, hits the road to keep working on his manuscript.<\/p>\n<p>As the show does with countless guest stars throughout its lengthy run, M<em>A<\/em>S*H uses Howard\u2019s Wendell to put a human face to the ever-churning machinery of war. He\u2019s just a teenager, but he\u2019s already internalized dangerous and nasty ideas about wartime glory; he\u2019s no doubt been watching those movies Tommy hates. Hawkeye corrects Wendell when he uses a racial slur to describe the North Koreans, and when the doctor finds the still-recovering teenager trying to leave camp to avoid being turned in for his underage enlistment, he discovers that Wendell plans to impress an ex-girlfriend by becoming a war hero. It\u2019s a fool\u2019s errand, and Alda\u2019s sad eyes make it clear that Hawkeye knows there are countless more kids like Wendell on the front lines, waiting to make their way to his O.R. when their rose-colored glasses inevitably shatter in battle.<\/p>\n<p>Hawkeye\u2019s concern only grows, though, when yet another batch of wounded arrives, with Tommy among them. When he sees his friend\u2019s face, his own goes blank with shock, and he responds to Tommy\u2019s joke \u2013 \u201cI\u2019d give you a kiss, but I can\u2019t lift my head\u201d \u2013 as if on autopilot. It\u2019s suddenly clear now that Hawkeye\u2019s martini glasses and quips and flirtations all work as defense mechanisms, insulation between himself and the unthinkably tragic truth of his circumstances. He\u2019s not ready to face this truth yet, so when Tommy makes a heartbreaking reference to his own book, admitting he did hear the bullet, after all, Hawkeye quickly insists he can just change the title. \u201c<em>Sometimes You Hear The Bullet<\/em>, it\u2019s a better title anyway,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The surgeon\u2019s voice betrays a hint of anxiety as he speaks, and he begins calling out assured medical commands to the nurses and doctors around him. The camera speeds up here, with episode director William Wiard quickly cutting between the looks on the faces of each person around the operating table. It\u2019s a visual tactic that effectively conveys how grave the situation\u2019s become without testing CBS\u2019 tolerance for on-screen bloodshed. The death looks bloodless, just like the faces of the people witnessing it. Priest Father Mulcahy\u2019s (William Christopher) sudden presence is as grim a sign as any, but Hawkeye refuses to accept that his friend is gone until Henry tells him to step away.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t see the moment Hawkeye sheds his first tears. Instead, we see him holding that blank look again, like a child who\u2019s fallen but hasn\u2019t yet realized he\u2019s gotten hurt. Then he walks outside, and when the camera finds him again, it\u2019s from behind his shoulder as Henry approaches. When Alda\u2019s face is finally visible again, it\u2019s streaked with tears. \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve cried since I came to this crummy place. I don\u2019t understand that,\u201d he says. He gets why he\u2019s crying for Tommy, he says, but doesn\u2019t get why he doesn\u2019t cry for everyone else, too. Henry says rule number one of doctoring, paraphrasing a lesson he heard once without much conviction, is that young men die. \u201cYou believe that?\u201d Hawk asks, still an idealist and a cynic all at once. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Henry answers plainly. \u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes You Hear The Bullet\u201d is the first of countless emotional gut checks <em>M<em>A<\/em>S*H<\/em> would deliver over the years. It\u2019s a brisk tonal tightrope, and Carl Kleinschmitt\u2019s script conveys painful truths that few wartime stories of its era dared to. But in a testament to the show\u2019s excellent writing, it also finds a way to end a story that could have been hopeless with a moment of bittersweet victory. Hawkeye, realizing he can save at least one life that day, breathlessly rushes to report Wendell for underage enlistment. The boy is hurt and betrayed, telling the surgeon he won\u2019t forgive him for the rest of his life. \u201cLet\u2019s hope it\u2019s a long and healthy hate,\u201d Hawkeye says, mustering a small smile. It\u2019s a nuanced, sadness-tinged ending that Tommy would be proud of. After all, it\u2019s nothing like the movies.<\/p>\n<pre><code>    Related Topics: Episodes\n    &lt;!-- AUTHOR BOX --&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<div class=\"gray-bg p-4 border small mb-5\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center text-md-center\">\n<div class=\"col-md-2\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/val_2019.jpg\" class=\"circle img-fluid\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\"\/>\n        <\/div>\n<div class=\"col-md\">\n            Valerie Ettenhofer is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer, TV-lover, and mac and cheese enthusiast. As a Senior Contributor at Film School Rejects, she covers television through regular reviews and her recurring column, Episodes. She is also a voting member of the Critics Choice Association&#8217;s television and documentary branches. Twitter: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aandeandval\">@aandeandval<\/a> (She\/her)        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<pre><code>    &lt;!-- START RECOMMENDED READING 1 --&gt;\n                                &lt;section class=\"recommended py-5\"&gt;\n            &lt;h3&gt;Recommended Reading&lt;\/h3&gt;\n\n\n        &lt;\/section&gt;\n            &lt;!-- END RECOMMENDED READING --&gt;\n\n\n\n\n&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"&gt;&lt;\/script&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/mash-episodes-sometimes-you-hear-the-bullet\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=mash-episodes-sometimes-you-hear-the-bullet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This M*A*S*H Episode Proved That Sitcoms Can Break Our Hearts&#8221; &lt;span class=&#8221;mx-1&#8243;&gt;The season one M*A*S*H episode \u201cSometimes You Hear the Bullet\u201d revealed the show\u2019s bleeding heart, and gave voice to profound topics it would keep returning to throughout its storied run.&lt;\/span&gt; &lt;\/p&gt;&lt;div id=&#8221;&#8221;&gt; &lt;figure class=&#8221;sf-entry-featured-media &#8220;&gt; &lt;img width=&#8221;800&#8243; height=&#8221;500&#8243; src=&#8221;https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MASH_Sometimes_You_Hear_the_Bullet.jpg&#8221; class=&#8221;articlethumb wp-post-image&#8221; alt=&#8221;M*A*S*H: Sometimes You&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":493571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MASH_Sometimes_You_Hear_the_Bullet.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}