#requiem for a lightweight

[remyfire]

#this bitchy exchange is extremely important to me #if we wonder why i enjoy shipping them so much #rewatched this for margie energy and got taken out at the knee #father mulcahy #father francis mulcahy #hawkeye pierce #trapper john mcintyre #requiem for a lightweight #s1e3 #m*a*s*h #mashposting #mashblogging #trapcahy

[movietonight]

Trapper John "Rocky" McIntyre

#trapper tuesday #mash #m*a*s*h #requiem for a lightweight #macks musings #amv #I guess?? #trapper john mcintyre

[mashpoll]

Requiem for a Lightweight (s1 e3): Trapper steps into the boxing ring to keep a favorite nurse from being transferred out of the 4077th.

Death Takes a Holiday (s9 e5): The spirit of Christmas is felt at the 4077th during a truce as they throw a potluck party for the orphans, which reveals a surprising side of Charles. But when Hawkeye, B.J. and Margaret receive a mortally wounded soldier, they attempt to keep him alive until the day after Christmas for the sake of his wife and kids.

#requiem for a lightweight #death takes a holiday #season 1 #season 9 #round 3

[jonberry555]

I Watched the M*A*S*H: Requiem for a Lightweight | Season 1 Episode 3 | Retro Review

#I Watched the M*A*S*H: Requiem for a Lightweight | Season 1 Episode 3 | Retro Review #M*A*S*H #MASH #requiem for a lightweight #retroreview #youtube #video #youtube video #jonberry555 #Youtube

[uncletrapperandaunthawkeye]

underrated moment from requiem for a lightweight

#HAWKEYE THIS GUY KNOCKS OUT JEEPS #fghjdfkjghfdjkgh #hawkie shares with the class #requiem for a lightweight

[badmashaus]

AU where in "Requiem for a Lightweight," Fr. Mulcahy boxes instead of Trapper.

#father mulcahy #requiem for a Lightweight #we already know he actually knows how to box! Let him beat the shit out of someone

[timeloopmash]

Second Episode: Summer 1950 SO1EO3: Requiem for a Lightweight

A nurse, clad only in a towel, runs from the showers on hearing the summons for all shifts to report to operating room. This is Marcia Strassman/Margie Cutler. She runs into Hawkeye and Trapper, who attempt to stop her by holding on to her towel. She gets away by leaving her towel in Trapper's hands. Hawkeye flirts with her over the wounded patient: Hawkeye and Trapper walk with her to the mess tent for coffee and more sexual harassment, Hot Lips summons her to her office. "Yes sir!" says Margie Cutler, "At least she didn't have trouble figuring out your sex", says Hawkeye.

Both Hawkeye and Trapper declare they're now going to bed to sleep for a few weeks, show up simultaneously at Margie Cutler's tent. She is being transferred to another unit because Major Houlihan - we finally have a name for Hot Lips, thank you scriptwriters - says she is "a bit of a distraction". Hawkeye and Trapper, who have been engaging in competitive one-two flirtation (bonus: "do you two want to be alone?" from Margie Cutler, the line that launched a thousand threesomes) run off to find Henry Blake and get her untransferred.

"You're the best thing to hit this place since dry socks," says Hawkeye, who has forgotten all about Karen Philipp/Maria "Dish" Schneider, whom he was pursuing resolutely and relentlessly in the previous episode.

Radar is getting Henry Blake to sign blank papers so that Radar can type whatever he wants on them later. Blake answers the phone to General Barker, who proposes a boxing tournament, because fighting is just what you want in war. Blake offers to override Major Houlihan and bring Cutler back if either Hawkeye or Trapper will go three rounds with Barker's boxing champion. Hawkeye hustles Trapper into agreeing to do it with compliments about Trapper's physique that, er, sound quite like his flirting with Cutler. Next thing we see, Trapper and Radar are training in an actual boxing ring, and the unit chaplain shows up, greeted by Hawkeye as "Father". The unit chaplain has transmogrified from George Morgan to William Christopher. He hands Hawkeye a booklet and tells Hawkeye he doesn't think Trapper has a prayer. Radar takes Trapper out with one punch.

Scenes of Trapper training, Houlihan flirting, Radar frightening Trapper, and Hawkeye with Ugly John soaking Trapper's glove in ether so that Trapper doesn't actually have to fight, and the first of many scenes at the mess tent table: Hawkeye, Trapper, Henry Blake, and gorilla.

The unit is gathered round the boxing ring. Father Mulcahy is the ref, Frank and Houlihan are plotting to replace the ether with distilled water, General Barker and Henry Blake are laying bets, and Radar is ringing the bell. The gorilla and Trapper fight: since Trapper's entire strategy consists of holding his glove out for the gorilla to sniff, he gets knocked down twice - between first and second knock-outs, Hawkeye figures out what's happened from Frank and Houlihan's big gleeful smiles, and gets more ether. The glove-sniffing finally works to knock out the gorilla, and the next scene is the Swamp, with Trapper's eye being poulticed by a raw steak. Henry produces Margie Cutler, and tells her quietly "Keep moving, or you're dead." She is very impressed by Trapper having fought for her: less impressed by Hawkeye's planning the fight.

The only surgery we see is Hawkeye flirting with Margie over a patient: the only reference to long shifts is Hawkeye and Trapper mentioning they've been in surgery for twelve hours (and are not too beat to pursue Margie) and aside from sexually harassing a nurse, systematically cheating General Barker out of his hundred-dollar bet with Henry Blake and getting a champion boxer to lose a fight by dosing him with ether, they don't do anything they could actually get court-martialled for.

#SO1E03 #requiem for a lightweight #mash in chronological order #mashposting #mash tv

[majorbaby]

should i make this gifset that makes it look like hawkeye is jerking trapper

#requiem for a lightweight of course

[hawkeyeslaughter]

I dont know if youve done this yet, but Mulcahy and his sass! 🙏💛

oooh this is such a good idea !!

i just did a mulcahy edit but i will grab clips of mulcahy being sassy while i’m watching and do an edit >:] it may take a little longer but i’m gonna put it in my notes to do !!!!

#townes answers asks ! #i love it when he’s a smartass it’s genuinely so funny #i love in requiem for a lightweight when trappers about to fight and he’s like ‘ prayer . he hasn’t got one ‘ LSJAOSBS. #mash #mashposting #m*a*s*h #mash 4077 #father mulcahy

[mountain-in-springtime]

TRAPPER 😭

#i am watching mash again #specifically the pilot but i plan on watching requiem for a lightweight also #mal thoughts #m*a*s*h

[remyfire]

#i don't wanna talk about it i'm crying too hard #the pilot #requiem for a lightweight #sometimes you hear the bullet #radar's report #the more i see you #s1e1 #s1e3 #s1e17 #s2e3 #s4e23 #m*a*s*h #mashposting #mashblogging #hawkeye pierce #carlye breslin

[movietonight]

* watches Rocky * omg it's just like in mash

#mash #macks musings #requiem for a lightweight

[mashpoll]

Settling Debts (s11 e7): Hawkeye and company plan a surprise mortgage burning party for Colonel Potter while B.J. operates on a young lieutenant who has a trigger happy sergeant.

Requiem for a Lightweight (s1 e3): Trapper steps into the boxing ring to keep a favorite nurse from being transferred out of the 4077th.

#settling debts #requiem for a lightweight #season 11 #season 1 #round 1

[prince-of-elsinore]

Dear M*A*S*H: S1 Ep 03 “Requiem for a Lightweight”

Previous episode here.

This episode follows much the same pattern established in the previous two; Hawkeye and Trapper encounter a problem. Hawkeye comes up with a devious plan to solve it. Trapper assists. Hijinks ensue.

I think it’s worth noting that I always saw Hawkeye as the main character of M*A*S*H and assumed that was the common perception. I’ve since come across the view that Trapper was meant to be an equal protagonist, and that his secondary role in these episodes was a mistake or unexpected. While I don’t claim to know all intentions or understandings behind the scenes, the pilot certainly primed me to see Hawkeye as the protagonist and Trapper as his wing man, and the next few episodes further reinforce that--not necessarily to the show’s benefit, as the formula already feels a little repetitive.

This episode departs from the established formula, though, in that what sets events in action is not the noble desire to send a Korean boy to college or procure medicine for patients, but the far baser desire to keep around a hot nurse whom Hawkeye and Trapper both want to bang. The show does make a point of the fact that she’s also a talented nurse, and to his credit, Hawkeye seems genuine when he tells Henry, “Real talent in the operating room is hard to find.” Given how much focus the episode puts on Hawkeye and Trapper competing for Nurse Cutler’s affections, however, and the fact that her supposed talent is demonstrated with a brief scene in which she... does exctly what every other nurse in the outfit does, it’s hard to believe that it’s her competence spurring the surgeons’ efforts to get her transferred back to the 4077. If only she had done something a little more extraordinary--noticed something a doctor or Houlihan missed, perhaps--the stakes would feel higher, more sympathetic, and more in line with the ethos of the show. The writing doesn’t convince me that anything bad would come of the failure of Hawk and Trap’s plan, which is never a good sign for the strength of a story. There are even plenty of other beautiful women whose pants they can try to get into, so it’s not like they’ll be forced into monkhood without her.

If Cutler weren’t so gorgeous, would they go to such lengths? I doubt it--unless, again, she’d done something more medically significant. But I suppose the writers didn’t think the audience would be as invested in good nursing as hot nurses, especially for a comedic premise. This is the kind of plotline I’m glad the show soon left behind.

One thing of interest to me is the chain of cause and effect between Margaret and our dynamic duo. It’s really their disrespect of Margaret that creates all of their problems in the first place. Margaret regards Hawkeye’s flirting with Cutler in OR with disapproval, but I don’t believe it’s until she attempts to confront him later that she makes up her mind to have Cutler transferred. Annoyed that Margaret is interrupting them chatting up Nurse Cutler, Hawk and Trap let loose on her before Margaret can get in a word. Notably, the insults focus on her womanhood and sexuality with quips such as “At least she didn’t have any trouble figuring out your sex.” It’s after this degrading exchange that Margaret decides to take drastic measures.

Hawkeye and Trapper’s animosity towards Margaret is of course further aroused by the news of the transfer. Yet later, when Trapper is practicing his punches for the big match using Frank’s duffel, Margaret passes by and Hawkeye offers a cordial, “Morning, Major” with no apparent ulterior motive. He turns back to Trapper as if expecting her to move on. Margaret is obviously caught off guard, though, and stops to reply “Good morning, Captain,” with a pleased smile. Surprisingly, Hawkeye continues the conversation rather civilly, though it’s clearly no invitation for her to stay and chat. Now, it’s possible, I suppose, that he’s baiting her with what she notices next; her good mood sours as she points out, “Isn’t that Frank’s bag?” that Trapper is punching. To my eyes, though, there’s nothing that indicates Hawkeye was expecting that turn, or the retort Trapper shoots back: “I thought you were Frank’s bag!”--though I could just as easily imagine this coming out of Hawkeye’s mouth. It’s yet another insult to Margaret’s femininity, and I wonder if what follows would have happened if Trapper had kept his trap shut.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Trapper is the one who stands to pay the price when Margaret attempts to foil their plan to cheat in the boxing match. Frank is against the ether plan on “principle” and, I suspect, simply because he doesn’t like Hawkeye and Trapper and would find it funny to see Trapper get hurt. For Margaret, who actually pulls the switcheroo of ether for water, I think it’s revenge of a more personal nature.

While Hawkeye and Trapper thus create all their own problems in this episode, the show doesn’t cast them in a bad light for it; at least, not for their insults to Margaret. What I do think the show is already implicitly poking fun at is Hawkeye’s Don Juan persona, which is so overdone with Cutler that I believe it was meant to make even contemporary audiences cringe. It’s a proper comeuppance when in the end she goes for Trapper instead, who hasn’t crowded her nearly as much.

It’s interesting too that for all Hawkeye’s Lothario tendencies, he’s hardly typically masculine in this episode. He’s no red-blooded all-American hero, ready to put his body in harm’s way for the woman he loves. He’s ready--eager even--to throw his friend under the bus and let him take the physical beat down. He readily admits, when Trapper questions his “bad shoulder,” that it’s “the result of being spineless.” It’s played for laughs, and the ending reinforces that the coward doesn’t get the girl; it’s also the clearest indication we’ve had yet of what an atypical protagonist Hawkeye is. We’re meant to admire and like him--for his principles, intellect, and compassion, not for his brash readiness for a fight or coolness in the face of danger. A coward he is not, as we’ll see time and again, but he is afraid, of many things, which the series will not shy away from exploring. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, suffice to say, John Wayne he most certainly ain’t.

More thoughts:

I didn’t realize before that at the beginning when they’re leaving the mess tent, Radar isn’t playing cards with Hawkeye and Trapper. They’ve roped him into being their table so they can continue their game on the way to OR.

It was a surprise to see Frank happily planting flowers and I actually felt bad when Trapper picked them all. This was probably just for the gag but now I’m wondering about gardening Frank headcanons.

Trapper’s “Only if you put those on” to Hawkeye as he fingers the pantyhose: he really didn’t have to lean in so close and say it so flirty. And yet he did.

I believe this is the first appearance of The Still 2.0! Not in its full glory yet; still rather rudimentary.

When the boxing opponent shows up, his C.O. asks if they can “rustle up some steaks” for him. Maybe that’s why they had steak on hand for Trapper’s black eye later, when we know good meat is a rare commodity at the 4077.

First appearance of William Christopher as Father Mulcahy! And in typical fashion he destroys Trapper with a single word of advice for the match: “Prayer.”

Biggest laugh runner up (couldn’t pick just one): Hawkeye on his fake bad shoulder: “Actually, I’m in pain most of the time. I don’t like to burden my friends,” made all the better by him trying to use the same line at the very end, only to get literally pushed off the bed as Cutler goes for Trapper. What can I say, I love loser Hawkeye.

Biggest laugh: Hawkeye to Trapper, Serious Face on: “You got a cute body.”

Parting thoughts: There are lots of good laughs here, but it just hasn’t got the substance or plot strength of the previous episode or even the pilot, something that might have been easily fixed by fleshing out Nurse Cutler’s competence and upping the stakes.

#mash #m*a*s*h #mash meta #mash requiem for a lightweight #mash 1x03 #dear mash #my meta #I really didn't expect this one to end up so long but I guess I had more to say than I thought #they won't all be this long/in depth. at least not if I'm gonna keep it up lol

[thebreakfastgenie]

Cheating djdjdjdnd I think Hawkeye is good at poker for real but he just can’t take the risk here. I do love that the moral compass of early mash openly takes the position that cheating is good.

#the movie does with the football game #and the show with requiem for a lightweight and this #mashposting

[brinnanza]

operation drag Jay into the mash hole a stunning success so far three episodes in

#we're skipping though the first season cause not all the episodes are good #so we've done requiem for a lightweight chief surgeon who and Yankee doodle doctor