#50/50 if this will still pop up in the tags tbh. we'll see.

[mashbrainrot]

one piece of fanon I see thrown about as a casual fact about beej is that he is somehow morally opposed to cheating as a concept, and has judged and would judge people based on them doing that. most of the time I see the evidence for this being his own meltdowns over even the potential of cheating on peg, and his behaviour towards hawkeye in The More I See You.

the latter is particularly confusing to me because he does emphatically state in his conversation with hawkeye in potters office that he actively does not have a moral aversion to cheating - "I couldn't break my word to Peg. And not because God'll send me to hell without an electric fan... or because it's not the right thing to do. I just don't want to."

and one of the reasons i think he says this - and the reason I think people read some sort of judgement from bj in this scene - is that hawkeye is twitchy about it. hawkeye is probing, maybe projecting, is worried about this guy thinking badly of him because he himself doesn't feel too clean about it. he pokes and he prods, slightly skittishly and nervously.

textually bj starts this conversation, and I think hawkeye (and therefore some of the audience) read into that that he is doing so to Make a Point, but what I personally read into it - and I think the intent - is that bj has some genuine concern (and perhaps a healthy dose of interest!) because he has already had a huge dose of the backstory to this whole debacle, and like any sensible person I don't think he sees it ending well for his friend.

but by the end of it hawkeye knows he has neither censure nor celebration from bj, just a steady and even-keeled acceptance of what hawkeye accepts is 'messing up his life'. bj is just acting as a neutral good-natured sounding board, which is very much early BJ's MO. it's a carefully balanced check in from a friend, one that I fanonically read as an echo of what he says he does with Peg, where he sort of pokes until she speaks about what is on her mind. (In this reading I sort of see hawkeye as hanging about wanting to Talk on purpose, especially as objectively you think this would be Private Time for bj and peg. hawkeye, to me, seems to be Loitering.)

but as bj says, a la potter writing to mildred... that's none of his business 😉

#there are more scenes and moments in canon you could twist to make out that HAWKEYE is the weird one about cheating tbh #bj has that standard for himself - he doesnt cheat because HE doesnt want to - but he isnt about to pass judgement on hawkeye for it #but to me in this scene its less about the Morals for hawkeye personally and more just that... he doesnt see a happy ending #he is sort of projecting that onto a suggestion that bj is judging him but bj doesnt really let him #anyway this is in no way a well thought out piece i just found it in my drafts cos ive been thinking about carlye again #i might turn off reblogs idk #helen speaks #my mash #hmmm idk i havent rewatched this scene to post this but eh #mash s4 #mash s04ep23 #50/50 if this will still pop up in the tags tbh. we'll see.