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sprynx
Reviews
M*A*S*H: In Love and War (1977)
POIGNANT EPISODE
This episode succeeds in showing Pierce's vulnerable side as well as pointing out that his self-righteousness and presumptuousness isn't always appreciated or deemed warranted, particularly not by Potter.
Winchester has a small part in this episode and is not critical to the plot regarding Pierce's romance with a South Korean women who helps the local villagers or the secondary plot involving Margaret learning some inconvenient truths about her husband's infidelities . However, his brief appearance does do it's job in reminding us that he is the new antagonist of this series (although much more redeemable than Burns) as well being capable of being the new foil . The scene where Pierce reacts to Winchester's bigoted remarks about Korean food is great. I can have a field day imagining how it would have been if Burns was still in the series.
The Twilight Zone: I Am the Night - Color Me Black (1964)
Excellent story exempt for some dialog
Before people think that I do not consider this one of my favorite episodes, let me emphatically say that it IS one of my favorites. The storyline was very daring for a television show of this time and the acting was superb by all players.
My only wish was that the dialog wasn't so stilted on certain areas and inappropriate for certain characters. The former was by the sheriff character when he's expressing his bewilderment over the sun not rising. It's only a brief moment but it was noticeable to me and I wish it had been redone a tad. The latter was when the deputy-an obvious redneck mouth breather type-is having an argument with the more educated newspaper editor. The deputy says a couple of lines of diatribe that just seems too linguistically dexterous for that kind of a character.
The dialog of the condemned man did not have such flaws. In fact , on it's own merits ,it makes the episode worth watching over and over again . I only wish there had been more of it, especially when he is revealing his anguish to the reverend and loathing to the crowd at the same time.
Hot Tamale (2006)
Conducive To Repeat Watching
The reason why it's so watchable falls almost entirely on Diora Baird. Every scene she is in will captivate you because she is so sexy and her facial expressions are just so authentic. You can tell that she had theatrical training. She upstaged Carmen Electra in the sex appeal department which worked out since Carmen was only a supporting player. Diora's scenes with Spelling are believable even though if you saw these two as individuals you would never guess that they would be an item, and they range from heartwarming to fuel injected ribaldry. The jokes in this movie often fall short , especially with the supporting characters, although you can see they are doing their best with what was given them. There is also a subplot involving a cop with motives for staking out another character which is mildly amusing and a couple of the jokes revolving around the drug heist plan were pretty good. The banter between the hit men which was supposed to be funny left a little to be desired but I credit it somewhat for originality. Anyway- enjoy repeat viewing .
M*A*S*H: Hey, Doc (1975)
Three Plots ,One Theme
This episode was pretty well written because it had three co-plots with the same theme.I'm focusing on one of the plots which was a motor pool sergeant being discharged home. This sergeant apparently has a known penchant for stealing army property and sending it home and no one seems to care very much. He wants to go home by ship rather than by plane so that he could smuggle a ton of steel (don't ask me how) so that he can open up his own restaurant when he reaches the states . Pierce and Hunnicutt ,who play cards with this guy, tell him that they have no qualms about falsifying his medical record to state that he has an ear problem which makes it prohibitive for him to leave by plane. However, they tell him that he needs three doctor signatures and they say Potter won't sign because he is too honest and Burns won't sign because he is too thoughtless of other people. Interesting double standard- Burns is bad because he is a doctor who wouldn't falsify a medical record but Potter who also won't do it is just honest .
Later on, the units only microscope is stolen so Pierce and Hunnicutt tell the sergeant that they will still falsify his record-and will try to convince Burns to do it too- only if the sergeant acquires for them a new microscope. During that dialogue we learn that the sergeant is the one who gave them the original microscope after stealing it from somewhere else. The good doctors don't seem too taken aback by that information unless of course they already knew of it- which is worse . Anyway, they try to convince Burns to sign with them . Burns is initially puzzled of this medical report because he is the one who last examined the sergeant and he knows that he only has a hernia which Burns quips is the result of him trying to mail car transmissions home. So even the officious Burns knows about this sergeant's past antics yet he seems to have begrudgingly accepted it . I guess Burns has learned overtime how to pick his battles. Anyway, when the other two doctors explicitly tell Burns to falsify the record so that they may get a new microscope , Burns lividly refuses with some inane remarks to remind us that he is the bad guy.
They later succeed in getting Burns to sign the form by getting Burns out of trouble with Potter over something he did involving a tank. Again, I can't get over the big double standard coming from the mouths of Pierce and Hunnicutt . To them ,Burns is petty for not wanting to falsify a medical record in exchange of a much needed microscope but they don't even attempt to go to Potter with the same request. Did they not think he would have complied if he knew the whole story? Anyway- it was still a funny episode and the plot instruments of the three co-plots intertwined brilliantly.
M*A*S*H: Change Day (1977)
Winchester
I could see why some would think that this could have been a storyline stockpiled for Burns but at the same time I believe these antics generally fit the early Winchester character. He was after all the
new antagonist of the series in spite of the writing of the show gradually changing so that everyone was more dimensional and shown in shades of gray. Winchester did have a condescending attitude towards Korean peasants and he did hold money in a much higher regard than the other characters so I would say that this early Winchester episode fit the bill. Not to mention the fact that he was still bitter of being transferred to the unit and basically didn't care much for being liked by the others. As the seasons progressed I would definitely agree that this would be out of character for Winchester.