M*A*S*H Rewatch: Season 7

Throughout 2025, I will rewatch M*A*S*H and review each season on the final day of each month. I am rewatching the episodes in broadcast order using the DVDs from the 2000s with the laugh track left on. You can find an archive of these rewatch posts here.

It is the heat of summer, and watching M*A*S*H has been a great way to wrap up my days. For July, I rewatched season seven, which has 25 episodes instead of the typical 24. Before I began watching, I glanced over the episode titles, and none of them really jumped out at me like in previous seasons. I’ll admit, I wondered if I’d have a harder time picking episodes to go on the favorite/significant episodes list this season. I was concerned that season seven might suffer from “middle child syndrome” in that it wasn’t the new and fresh first season nor the groundbreaking finale, but just the middle episodes that were fine. Thankfully, I don’t think season seven was that bad, but it is the first time that I started to notice a few repeating storylines and plot devices. Surprisingly, when I sat down to create my favorite and least favorite episodes list, I really struggled to find an episode in season seven that I did not like. In fact, there were several really good episodes in this season. Season seven was strong, and I think there were several factors that contributed to that.

Season 7 Episode List

Episodes are listed in broadcast order. Hyperlinks direct to “Script Spotlight” posts for that episode.

Episode #	Season X Episode	Episode Title
145	07×01	Commander Pierce
146	07×02	Peace On Us
147	07×03	Lil
148	07×04	Our Finest Hour (One Hour Show)
149	07×05	The Billfold Syndrome
150	07×06	None Like it Hot
151	07×07	They Call The Wind Korea
152	07×08	Major Ego
153	07×09	Baby, It’s Cold Outside
154	07×10	Point of View
155	07×11	Dear Comrade
156	07×12	Out Of Gas
157	07×13	An Eye for a Tooth
158	07×14	Dear Sis
159	07×15	B.J. Papa San
160	07×16	Inga
161	07×17	The Price
162	07×18	The Young And The Restless
163	07×19	Hot Lips is Back in Town
164	07×20	C*A*V*E
165	07×21	Rally Round the Flagg, Boys
166	07×22	Preventive Medicine
167	07×23	A Night At Rosie’s
168	07×24	Ain’t Love Grand
169	07×25	The Party

Favorite Episodes

These are the top five episodes of the season that I believe contribute something important to the series as a whole. The episodes are listed in the order in which they aired.

• “Our Finest Hour” (07×04) – While this isn’t as good as “The Interview” (04×24), I like that Clete Roberts returned to the 4077th to follow up on his original story. What makes this episode really special is the flashbacks to prior episodes, so we get to see Trapper, Col. Blake, and Frank again!
• “The Billfold Syndrome” (07×05) – It’s a Sidney episode, so it was always going to make my favorite list, but I think Kevin Geer (Sergeant Jerry Nielson) delivers probably one of the best guest performances of the series. You believed the pain he felt when he realized what happened to his brother.
• “Point of View” (07×10) – While this is a divisive episode in the M*A*S*H community, I really enjoy it. We get to see what it is like for a wounded soldier from the moment he is wounded until he leaves the MASH unit. It reminds me of the book Back Down the Ridge. Plus, the camera work in this episode must have been challenging given the size of a film camera in the late 1970s.
• “Dear Sis” (07×14) – This episode is a two for one in that it is Father Mulcahy’s “Dear home” episode, and it’s Christmas. We see the struggle Mulcahy has feeling like he is not needed, but we see his thoughtfulness. I can understand why Mulcahy feels under appreciated because it had to have been hard for a non-medical member of a MASH unit to watch the doctors and nurses save lives.
• “Hot Lips is Back in Town” (07×19) – This episode really completes Margaret’s transformation. Even though the name is used in the title, this is the end of “Hot Lips.” Margaret’s confidence after the divorce is on full display, and the way she handles the advances of the general is fantastic. “Hot Lips” would have given in to the general, but Margaret doesn’t.
• “Rally Round the Flagg, Boys” (07×21) – I had to double check, but this is the final appearance of Edward Winter as Col. Flagg. It’s a real shame too, because I really liked the dynamic between him and Charles. I am surprised that they didn’t try to write him into the finale.
• “Preventative Medicine” (07×22) – After listening to the M*A*S*H Matters episode about this episode, I have a new found respect for it. We saw Hawkeye and Trapper remove Col. Flagg’s appendix earlier in the series, and in an early draft of the script, B.J. and Hawkeye were going to remove Col. Lacey’s appendix together. But Mike Farrell and Alan Alda had a disagreement over performing an unnecessary surgery, so they wrote it into the episode! Their on screen disagreement matched their off-screen disagreement and that made it feel more authentic.
• “The Party” (07×25) – This episode is probably my favorite from the season. I really like the idea of the families of the 4077th getting together in the United States to comfort each other while their loved ones are in Korea. The scenes in the vehicles reading the initial letters from home is very well executed, and the following scenes as they try to find a date that works for everyone are very funny. It’s a very well balanced episode with a believable premise.

Least Favorite Episodes

Liking or disliking an episode is subjective, so I have tried to be fair in my criticism of why certain episodes are not my favorites. The episodes are listed in the order in which they aired.

• “B.J. Papa San” (07×15) – I had a hard time finding an episode in this season that bothers me. They are all solid M*A*S*H episodes. My only issue with this episode is that the ending was predictable because it is the same as “In Love and War” (06×07).

Continuity Errors

There are minor issues in every episode that have been well documented, so I am choosing to focus on ones that really stand out to me.

• “Peace on Us” (07×02) – MASH surgeons weren’t subjected to service points. They were rotated home after 18 months. Following the M*A*S*H timeline (good luck), Hawkeye had to have been at the 4077th for well over two years.
• “Lil” (07×03) – M*A*S*H Timeline: If it is September 10, 1952, Potter doesn’t arrive at the 4077th for 9 days (September 19). And it can’t because September 1953 because the war ended in July 1953.
• “Our Finest Hour” (07×04) – M*A*S*H Timeline: The date is stated to be October 9, 1952. In less than a month since Potter arrived, Margaret got engaged, married, nearly divorced, and Charles showed up in under a month?
• “Major Ego” (07×08) – Margaret is interested in someone who doesn’t outrank her (not the last time that happens this season)!
• “Point of View” (07×10) – This is one of several episodes in the season where I noticed that Margaret’s finger nails are very impractical for a nurse (and too modern for the 1950s).
• “Dear Comrade” (07×11) – M*A*S*H Timeline: B.J. references General MacArthur, who was fired by Truman in April 1951, long before the arrival of B.J. and Col. Potter.
• “Out of Gas” (07×12) – Col. Potter says that 1400 hours is when the “big hand is on the 14.” But shouldn’t that be the small hand on the 14 since the big hand is the minute hand?
• “Dear Sis” (07×14) – Charles’ sister is no longer married, but she was in season six.
• “Dear Sis” (07×14) – Mulcahy’s name is presented in a different order, “John Patrick Francis Mulcahy.”
• “Inga” (07×16) – Klinger tells Inga that he needs two doctors to sign paperwork for his Section 8, but in the early seasons, Trapper and Hawkeye had already signed the papers. They needed three doctors to sign, so they tried to convince Frank.
• “The Price” (07×17) – Radar speaks to the boy in Korean, but he can’t understand Mr. Pak?
• “The Price” (07×17) – We’ve seen Radar drink in the earlier seasons. He drank Col. Blake’s brandy!
• “The Young and the Restless” (07×18) – Charles operates extremely hung over…was Radar offended? (Yes, I am still bitter about “Fallen Idol” (06×02).)
• “C*A*V*E” (07×20) – In the O.R., Hawkeye uses a camp to move the light, but in the close up scenes, the camp is not on the light.
• “Preventative Medicine” (07×22) – B.J. takes a big drink before they leave the Swamp to go into O.R. Was Radar offended by B.J.’s drinking. (Ok, I’m still really upset about “Fallen Idol!”)
• “Ain’t Love Grand” (07×24) – Hawkeye says “obsessive compulsive” backwards.
• “Ain’t Love Grand” (07×24) – It’s very ironic that Hawkeye points out how B.J. is effected when a patient goes sour on him, but we’ve seen a difficult case get under Hawkeye’s skin several times.
• “The Party” (07×25) – I am glad Margaret’s father was alive to attend the party!
• “The Party” (07×25) – Why does Hawkeye’s dad refer to him as “Ben” in the letter when it is well established that “Hawkeye” is a nickname given to him by his father?
• “The Party” (07×25) – M*A*S*H Timeline: What year did the party take place? 1953?

Season 7 Wrap-Up

From episode one of season seven, I was thrown off because I had gotten used to the hour long season premiere from seasons four through six. The opening episode isn’t the strongest, and it is clear that “Peace on Us” was written to be the season opener since it was the first address B.J.’s mustache. As with previous seasons, I tried to identify several themes that were present this season, and there were quite a few. The season wasn’t as tightly written as the introduction of Col. Potter and B.J. in season four, but there were some good themes (and a few strange one). As I mentioned in the introduction, season seven is a collection of “good” episodes of M*A*S*H. They aren’t the best of the best, but they aren’t “Edwina” (01×13) either. There isn’t a bad episode in the season, and that makes sense since the show was well into its run.

One of the carryover storylines from season six was the end of Margaret’s marriage and her continued development. She got divorced, rejected the advances of a general, developed a new nursing technique to free up the surgeons from working triage, and she was more confident in standing up to the other characters at the 4077th. It was great to see her transform from “Hot Lips” to Margaret, and by the middle of season seven, that transformation was complete. Speaking of standing up to characters, we saw Radar do that with Col. Flagg when he threatened to cut off the blood of a wounded North Korean solider. Radar stepped in and stopped him before Charles came over to the patient’s bed. We saw quite a bit of Radar this season. He only missed six episodes in season seven after missing 14 in season six. It was great to see his return. Sadly, this season also marked the last appearance of Col. Flagg. I would have liked to have seen him return in the finale. It would have been funny to see him in the same hospital as Hawkeye in “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.”

Season seven is when M*A*S*H began to get more serious. They began to tackle darker topics. There are comedic moments, but the pendulum began to swing more towards drama. A few other trends I noticed in this season were that there were several weather themed episodes. There were even two in a row (“None Like it Hot” and “They Call the Wind Korea”)! The personalities of several characters morph a little as well. Charles’ ego takes center stage at several points, and B.J. struggles with how he feels about being in Korea. When he misses home or has issues with a patient, he gets angry and lashes out at everyone. Unfortunately, this is a theme that will continue with mustached B.J. Finally, two characters got more screen time in season seven. Klinger’s Section 8 attempts aren’t as far fetched as the last few seasons. There are several episodes where there is no Section 8 dodge at all, but Klinger is just wearing a dress as if it is completely normal. I prefer this because it shows that he is still rebelling while he is doing his job. Then, there’s Father Mulcahy. It seems that we didn’t get to know Mulcahy as much in the first five seasons, but he had several episodes as the main character in seasons six and seven. I really liked “Dear Sis,” and I think his connections with the black market show how even the “good guys” have to do whatever they can to help people in a war.

I was pleasantly surprised by season seven, and I don’t know why I always am. I really like the show! When you read reviews of M*A*S*H online, the later seasons tend to be viewed more negatively. As I mentioned, I have not watched M*A*S*H all the way through in a decade or so, so I have yet to understand the hate for the later seasons. Are they more serious? Yes. Is there less comedy? Yes, but there is still comedy when it is appropriate. In fact, I would argue that the comedy in the later season feels more organic than the early seasons. It is comedy appropriate for the situation (maybe that’s why they call it a sit-com?) The reality is, there is only so much humor to be found at a MASH unit in the middle of a war. I believe that is why the writers had to move towards the dramatic storylines and address other issues that were present in the Korean War era. M*A*S*H had to adapt, and that is why it is such a great series. There is something for everyone to identify with. Looking forward to season eight, I know we have another character exit, and I am going to be keeping an eye on Klinger as he transitions into his new role.