tac1055

I agree with the "Trivia" comment stating this episode was shown out of sequence. Just the way Reed and Malloy interact, their "look", and other factors already mentioned in the trivia comment basically prove it. I would guess this is probably the second episode filmed and would be surprised if it was any later than that. I like this episode for the same reason I like the pilot episode-it has the "Jack Webb/Dragnet" staccato paced acting and speaking patterns, as opposed to all the other, more natural episodes. I prefer the more natural paced ones, I just like this and the pilot episodes because they are so different from the rest. Additionally, contrary to what the other reviewer stated, that is NOT Kent McCord in disguise doing double duty as the head "Nazi" juvenile. It's an actor by the name of Jon Shank. You can look him up on Google.

I basically agree with the other reviewer. I just wanted to add how this episode really shows how times have changed since the show originally aired. When James takes Eddie into the bedroom to discipline him with a spanking, James' kids talk about how James has three levels of spanking in his repertoire. The fact that this dialogue, while funny, was also believable, shows how spanking kids by their parents was a typical, ordinary, acceptable practice at the time. The reaction of the studio audience also backs this up. Can you imagine how this would be received today? Especially since Eddie isn't even James' son? Back then, it was perceived that Eddie needed/deserved this action for his own good. These days, if this was real, James would probably be investigated, arrested, charged with assault, sued by Eddie's family (or any lawyer in lieu of the family) and have his kids removed from the household. And if a show tried to show this on tv, it would probably be banned and cancelled.

I actually like this episode and thought Harry Morgan did a good job as director. However, it also highlights something that I always found troublesome about the series. In the earlier seasons, Frank Burns was represented, at different times, as a "good" surgeon, "competent" surgeon and "fair" surgeon; and it was his PERSONALITY that was annoying, irksome, something to be made fun of. As the series progressed, more and more it was his surgical skills, or more accurately, his LACK of surgical skills that was the basis for the other doctors' (especially Hawkeye's) dislike of Burns. This is highlighted especially in this episode during Hawkeye's explanation of the events of October 11, showing Burns' total incompetence during triage, as well as when Burns asked the JAG overseeing the court martial what the records said about his surgical skills, only to have the JAG reply that if Burns hadn't been drafted as a doctor, he would've been assigned as a pastry chef. This implies that Burns' record is full of surgical mistakes, foul ups, malpractice, etc... . If Burns was really this incompetent, it would've been criminally negligent to have him operating on wounded soldiers, and Hawkeye, BJ, Potter and (before them) Blake and McIntyre, would be just as culpable/responsible for any soldiers'...less than positive...results after allowing them to being operated on by Burns. In fact, they would be even more responsible, as Burns thought he was a great surgeon, while they knew the truth.

I generally enjoy this episode whenever it plays. However, the thing that strikes me as strange is, for an episode centered around a soldier hating his large nose and the efforts the doctors go through to get him an operation for it, the nose, in my opinion, never looks that large to me. I agree with the other reviewer who mentioned that the makeup department did a poor job with the prosthetic nose as far as matching the actor's skin tone, but, except for a bump on the top of the nose (where I assume the fake nose is attached to the actor) the nose basically looks normal. In one scene, Hawkeye's nose looks as big, if not even a bit longer. It's also strange that no mention or observation of Klinger is in this episode, considering it's about a large nose. He could've been in at least one scene maybe praising having a large nose. Again, I enjoy the episode, but they could've done a better job on the nose.

I agree with several of the other reviews here and won't be repeating all the good/bad points. My criticism is for the weak writing points. At the beginning, Troi is on the bridge as they approach the void and tells Picard she senses nothing. Then, after the commercial break, as they arrive at the void (only 12 minutes later to the crew) she's gone with no explanation, not appearing again until the towards end. Considering her empathic abilities, why would she leave the bridge under these circumstances? The writers could've at least had a throwaway line explaining why she just up and disappeared; maybe a scheduled counseling session with a crew member? The same can be said for the disappearance and reappearance of Wesley Crusher. First he's there on the bridge, then he disappears for no reason (except to put a non-regular character on the bridge for Nagilum to kill before Wesley then appears again). Maybe another quick line explaining why he leaves, like a scheduled class he was required to attend? Just a couple of lines, ANYTHING, to explain why these two characters just disappear and reappear during a major situation/mystery? Other than that, I did enjoy the situation, even the claustrophobic feeling brought on by being unable to exit the boud.

I do like this episode; however, I also have some reservations about how they tied up the "Will Cartwright" storyline. I know that Will was being brought in to replace Adam until Pernell Roberts decided to stay on the show for at least another season; and then they had to decide what to do with Will. So they decided to pair him with Laura and have them ride off together. The only reason Will was leaving was to give Laura and Adam their life together. But when Adam tells Laura that he didn't love her as Will did, and that she should marry him, Will's reason for leaving no longer existed. Adam even tells her this, adding that they should marry and live on her ranch together. At first, neither Will or Laura believe Adam is being honest with them, and Will still plans to leave. Yet, at the end, when Laura and Will finally accept this as the truth and realize they CAN be together, they ride off, never to be seen again. If they chose to live on her ranch (in the same area as the Ponderosa and Virginia City) you'd think they would be involved with the Cartwrights in the years to come, especially since they were "family". Yet they're never, seen, heard or spoken about, again. Having said that, I reiterate that I did like this episode and at least SOME resolution to the Will Cartwright situation was presented to the audience.

I have to say I did not care for this 2-part goodbye send off to Radar. For seven seasons the character of Radar was established as an innocent, easy going, all around nice guy. In these last two episodes, he was a different character altogether. He was an angry, resentful, not so nice of a guy. If they were trying to show how he had matured into being more "adult" due to his experience in Korea, they could've done it without turning him into a totally "unlikeable" character. The same could be said if they were simply trying to show Gary could play a different type of character with a different/broader range of emotions. To me, this was more of a Goodbye Gary, rather than Goodbye Radar.

I really do like this episode. The performances by Victor French, Nick Nolte and James Arness are very good. Trivia:this is the third time I've seen this story on a tv western. The first one was in a Have Gun Will Travel show with Paladin in the Matt Dillon position and David White as the friend turned tyrannical sheriff; and the second time was in a Big Valley episode. The Big Valley episode was called Incident in a Small Town (I believe) with Heath Barkley in the "Matt Dillon" position and James Whitmore as the former friend turned tyrannical sheriff. HGWT was only a half hour, so the next two times had more filler to fill in the hour running time. There were some scenes in the HGWT episode and TBV episode that were identical. The Gunsmoke version looked like it was going to end the exact same way as the other two, but at the last second, they threw in a slightly different twist to it.