When Trapper notices the fire, he takes off both of his gloves, but the next time he is shown a few seconds later, he is taking the left one off again.
Trapper narrowly prevents Frank from removing a patient's kidney, saving the soldier's life since he only has one. But a man with only one kidney would have been declared 4F and would have been denied a chance to serve in the Army.
The date for this episode can be determined because over the camp P.A. there is an announcement about Gen. Douglas MacArthur's ticker tape parade in New York City, that event occurred on Apr 20, 1951 yet the episode features an injured Ethiopian soldier. The Ethiopian Kagnew Battalions were three successive battalions drawn from the 1st Division Imperial Bodyguard sent by Emperor Haile Selassie I between June 1951 and April 1954 as part of the United Nations forces in the Korean War. The ticker tape parade happened at least 2 months before the first Ethiopian solders stared fighting.
Two events are mentioned as happening on or about the same day: Gen. MacArthur's ticker-tape parade on 20 April 1951 and the appointment of Mark W. Clark as commander of the Korean theater, which in reality happened more than a year later on 12 May 1952.
Correction to Water Conductivity. The water Trapper sprayed on electrical wire fire would be non-conductive if it was either distilled or de-ionized water which is water with minerals removed and could be used to put out fire with no danger to Trapper. This type of water would typically be used in medical procedures.
When the wires for the light switch in O.R. catch fire Trapper puts them out by squirting water on them. Water is an excellent conductor for electricity so you should never ever try putting out an electrical fire with water due to the high risk of electric shock. He should have used something like baking soda which would have smothered the flames.
Margaret's uniform is clearly tailored to fit a woman's body. BUT the military did not (and still does not) issue fatigues specifically for women. The only uniforms tailored for women are the dress uniforms. Fatigues, or Battle Dress Uniforms, are unisex. Margaret's uniform in this MASH was clearly tailored to fit Loretta Swifts curves.
While Hawkeye is performing open heart massage, there is a close-up where he is staring straight ahead and a red splotch crosses the screen diagonally from lower left screen to upper right (likely blood). The exact same shot is used a few seconds later after Henry starts to assist, except that it lasts for just a moment longer, as just at the end of the shot, his eyes shift to his left.
Margaret screams at Trapper for using irrigation syringes to put out the fire saying " How do you know there wasn't alcohol in that basin?". Alcohol would never be used for irrigation. An experienced OR nurse would know that.
When Trapper goes to put the fire out in the or when he squirts the water on the fire the lights go dim but he did not turn down the lights.
In fact after the lights go out you can see him move his hand down to the light switch showing that the lights were turned off by a crew member.
In fact after the lights go out you can see him move his hand down to the light switch showing that the lights were turned off by a crew member.
When Hawkeye is told that his patient didn't make it, he sits down on a bench below the level of the operating table. At that point, he is no longer sterile. But he gets up and immediately starts surgery again without re-scrubbing.
While talking with Henry on break, Hawkeye jokes that arthritis "came after 'acne' (and) right before 'arrangements for time payments'". In fact, arthritis would come after both alphabetically.
When preparing to operate on the Ethiopian soldier Hawkeye gloves himself. While this is permissible for non-invasive sterile procedures, it would not be considered sterile for invasive surgery.
In the first scene Frank enters the OR without a mask to complain about his missing scrub brush.
No one cautions him about being in the OR without a mask.
No one cautions him about being in the OR without a mask.