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ravenStill watching M*A*S*H, still talking about it. Sorry. (Except I'm kind of not.) I'm on the later seasons now, and I think I appreciate them more this time around. I'm not getting over how unusual this show is, how kind, how funny and warm and heartbreaking but above all things, how humane. And it's proudly, angrily, assuredly liberal, and oh, god, I love that. I love how it's not hipster racist, and, and, sex is not the enemy! BJ has a lot invested in his fidelity to his wife, and that's okay. Hawkeye really likes casual sex, and that's okay. Margaret really likes casual sex, and that's okay, too. (There are so many sweet little moments where the rest of the cast make jokes about how much Margaret likes sex, and they're full of affection and occasionally, awe. It makes me very happy.)
And if those ways in which I love it were not enough, it respects mental illness, in both ways that you can. It doesn't ever deny that mental illness is serious, is real, debilitating illness, and at the same time, shows you that people with mental illness can be and are happy, sad, joyous, talented, real people, thank you Hawkeye Pierce, Exhibit A so glorious and crazy.
(Oh, and it's really, really quite funny. Just to mention it.)
I will take these down in a few days, so please grab them if you want them. They're a completely random selection from season four onwards, so a quick note on who's who: Trapper is replaced by BJ, who is very different - he's gentle, a practical joker, less caustic than Hawkeye, but they're best of friends anyway - and Henry by Potter, who is a former cavalry soldier, regular army, but surprisingly sweet with it. Oh, and Frank is replaced, eventually, by Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, whose name can stand in lieu of description.
(All about 250MB unless stated)
5x10 Hawkeye Get Your Gun
I just... cannot really believe this episode. I just can't. Here is the plot. Here it is. Hawkeye, draftee, and Potter, regular army man, go on an expedition to another MASH unit through sniper country. Hawkeye refuses to carry a gun. Potter makes him, but then he refuses to fire it. People shoot at them. He refuses to fire it. They hide in a foxhole and get drunk. People shoot at them some more. ("Why are they bombing us? We're already bombed!") He refuses to fire it.
I just,... I can't.thingswithwings wrote the other day that the very fact it's a comedy lets this show do the daring, outrageous things. And, just, watching this in 2011 when the US is still at war on several fronts and then so is Britain, when war is patriotic and something we do to blitz brown people, watching this show where Hawkeye sits in a foxhole, drunk, being shot at, and refuses to fire his gun, I just, I can't deal. I get handflappy.
5x14 The Most Unforgettable Characters
Radar takes up writing purple prose; Hawkeye and BJ decide to have a fight as a birthday present for Frank. This is basically a fanfic plot trope convention complete with sparkly hearts.
8x11 Life Time
Hawkeye, BJ and Margaret have twenty minutes to repair a patient's aorta before they risk giving him paralysis. This may be the first episode of anything to deliberately run in real time: the clock in the corner of the screen even jumps forwards at the points where the advert breaks would be. I love how it's shot, I love the immediacy of it, I love how the whole thing is shot through with distant sunshine. It's so sharp and so good.
(Warning, though: it's a wee bit more graphic than the show usually is: which is, not very very, but there is quite a bit of blood in this one.)
9x05 Death Takes A Holiday [390MB]
This one is infamous, somewhat: BJ, Hawkeye and Margaret try to keep a comatose soldier alive long enough so he won't die on Christmas Day. Do I need to mention that this one is sad? This one is sad. It's also poignant and beautifully written and oh, oh my god, so sad.
9x06 A War For All Seasons [390MB] [edit: now with fixed link!]
This one is adorably structured - a series of vignettes, beginning December 31st 1950 and going through to the next new year.
(Oh my god, continuity what even is it. The pilot has a date-and-time title card. Trapper and Henry Blake were in camp on New Year's Eve 1951. Henry was STILL ALIVE. Or not. I don't even know. I'll shut up now. Actually no i won't. The way the war goes on and on and there are Christmases and New Years and nothing ever changes - hey, you guys, you think this show might be about a different war? A different war in Asia? Okay really shutting up now.)
Anyway. The reason this one is adorable is because it is basically a gigantic excuse to talk about knitting, corn on the cob and the Shot Heard 'Round The World. I have a lot of love.
In conclusion - I heart this show thiiiiiiiiiis much and I am going away to try and not be so uncool now.
And if those ways in which I love it were not enough, it respects mental illness, in both ways that you can. It doesn't ever deny that mental illness is serious, is real, debilitating illness, and at the same time, shows you that people with mental illness can be and are happy, sad, joyous, talented, real people, thank you Hawkeye Pierce, Exhibit A so glorious and crazy.
(Oh, and it's really, really quite funny. Just to mention it.)
I will take these down in a few days, so please grab them if you want them. They're a completely random selection from season four onwards, so a quick note on who's who: Trapper is replaced by BJ, who is very different - he's gentle, a practical joker, less caustic than Hawkeye, but they're best of friends anyway - and Henry by Potter, who is a former cavalry soldier, regular army, but surprisingly sweet with it. Oh, and Frank is replaced, eventually, by Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, whose name can stand in lieu of description.
(All about 250MB unless stated)
5x10 Hawkeye Get Your Gun
I just... cannot really believe this episode. I just can't. Here is the plot. Here it is. Hawkeye, draftee, and Potter, regular army man, go on an expedition to another MASH unit through sniper country. Hawkeye refuses to carry a gun. Potter makes him, but then he refuses to fire it. People shoot at them. He refuses to fire it. They hide in a foxhole and get drunk. People shoot at them some more. ("Why are they bombing us? We're already bombed!") He refuses to fire it.
I just,... I can't.
thingswithwings wrote the other day that the very fact it's a comedy lets this show do the daring, outrageous things. And, just, watching this in 2011 when the US is still at war on several fronts and then so is Britain, when war is patriotic and something we do to blitz brown people, watching this show where Hawkeye sits in a foxhole, drunk, being shot at, and refuses to fire his gun, I just, I can't deal. I get handflappy.5x14 The Most Unforgettable Characters
Radar takes up writing purple prose; Hawkeye and BJ decide to have a fight as a birthday present for Frank. This is basically a fanfic plot trope convention complete with sparkly hearts.
8x11 Life Time
Hawkeye, BJ and Margaret have twenty minutes to repair a patient's aorta before they risk giving him paralysis. This may be the first episode of anything to deliberately run in real time: the clock in the corner of the screen even jumps forwards at the points where the advert breaks would be. I love how it's shot, I love the immediacy of it, I love how the whole thing is shot through with distant sunshine. It's so sharp and so good.
(Warning, though: it's a wee bit more graphic than the show usually is: which is, not very very, but there is quite a bit of blood in this one.)
9x05 Death Takes A Holiday [390MB]
This one is infamous, somewhat: BJ, Hawkeye and Margaret try to keep a comatose soldier alive long enough so he won't die on Christmas Day. Do I need to mention that this one is sad? This one is sad. It's also poignant and beautifully written and oh, oh my god, so sad.
9x06 A War For All Seasons [390MB] [edit: now with fixed link!]
This one is adorably structured - a series of vignettes, beginning December 31st 1950 and going through to the next new year.
(Oh my god, continuity what even is it. The pilot has a date-and-time title card. Trapper and Henry Blake were in camp on New Year's Eve 1951. Henry was STILL ALIVE. Or not. I don't even know. I'll shut up now. Actually no i won't. The way the war goes on and on and there are Christmases and New Years and nothing ever changes - hey, you guys, you think this show might be about a different war? A different war in Asia? Okay really shutting up now.)
Anyway. The reason this one is adorable is because it is basically a gigantic excuse to talk about knitting, corn on the cob and the Shot Heard 'Round The World. I have a lot of love.
In conclusion - I heart this show thiiiiiiiiiis much and I am going away to try and not be so uncool now.
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on 2011-11-22 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
on 2011-11-22 08:36 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-11-22 09:32 pm (UTC)