M*A*S*H Rewatch: Season 9

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.

In 2007, I bought my first set of M*A*S*H scripts, and that purchase launched the collection that makes up “The M*A*S*H Historian.” In that collection, there were scripts that belonged to the costume director Albert Frankel, and most of those scripts were from season nine. For that reason, season nine has a soft spot in my heart because those scripts are a big part of why I am doing this today. I kept that in mind as I started watching the season because I didn’t want that to affect my opinion on the season itself. However, after watching, season nine has some really good episodes. As always, I tried to find some themes as I watched the season, and I do think I found a few. Before I discuss those, I need to mention that season nine only has 20 episodes instead of the typical 24/25 episodes we saw in prior seasons. This was due to an actors strike in 1980 that delayed the start of the season. But season eight was the last “full” season. So what were the themes in season nine? Let’s find out!

Season 9 Episode List

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

Episode #	Season X Episode	Episode Title
195	09×01	The Best of Enemies
196	09×02	Letters
197	09×03	Cementing Relationships
198	09×04	Father’s Day
199	09×05	Death Takes a Holiday
200	09×06	A War For All Seasons
201	09×07	Your Retention Please
202	09×08	Tell It To The Marines
203	09×09	Taking the Fifth
204	09×10	Operation Friendship
205	09×11	No Sweat
206	09×12	Depressing News
207	09×13	No Laughing Matter
208	09×14	Oh, How We Danced
209	09×15	Bottoms Up
210	09×16	The Red/White Blues
211	09×17	Bless You, Hawkeye
212	09×18	Blood Brothers
213	09×19	The Foresight Saga
214	09×20	The Life You Save

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.

• “Letters” (09×02) – This episode reminds me of a “Dear home” or “Mail Call” episode of M*A*S*H, but instead of focusing on a single person at the 4077th, we get a little from each character. The short flashbacks we get as everyone writes to a student works really well. I like the story of Irving and “Hoops” Potter, but the one that always gets me is the girl who sends the leaf. It immediately softens Charles, and his simple “Autumn in New England” line is well acted.
• “Death Takes a Holiday” (09×05) – While this is a very heavy episode, I like the premise. Despite the Christmas truce, a wounded soldier is going to die. B.J., Hawkeye, and Margaret work to keep him alive so his family doesn’t think of Christmas as the day their father/husband/son died. At the same time, Charles’ secret donation to the orphanage as a family tradition shows a softer side of his character that we rarely see.
• “A War for All Seasons” (09×06) – I know there are a lot of timeline issues with this episode (see below), but I really like this episode! It’s a clever use of time to show how there are story threads that make their way through the year. The baseball storyline is well done as is Mulcahy’s garden (justice for the corn!).
• “No Sweat” (09×11) – By this point in the series, there are fewer episodes that exist purely for comedy. This is one of those episodes, and it works very well. The constant waking of Col. Potter for something is a great running gag, and Igor turning on the fan in the Mess Tent just as Charles is about done with his tax paperwork is priceless!
• “Blood Brothers” (09×18) – We switch back to the dramatic storylines, but I like this episode for the acting. Patrick Swayze as Private Gary Sturgis was great. The way he cared for his buddy and reacts to the news of having leukemia are well done. However, I think William Christopher’s delivery of Mulcahy’s sermon in front of the camp and Cardinal Reardon might be his best acting in the series.
• “The Life You Save” (09×20) – As I watched this season, I noticed that Charles had more storylines. I think the writers finally figured out how to best use David Ogden Stiers, and this is a great example of his superb acting. While the B-story with the missing Army trays isn’t the greatest, Charles’ struggle with his near death experience is very human and real.

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.

• “Cementing Relationships” (09×03) – I actually really like the A-story in this episode. I love how they get the whole floor down in the O.R. only to realize that Klinger’s recipe for cement was wrong. However, the episode is let down by the B-story…Ignazio De Simone is a very annoying character. I know that’s the point, but it hurts an otherwise good episode of M*A*S*H.
• “Taking the Fifth” (09×09) – This is another example of a storyline that ruins an entire episode. Hawkeye’s use of the wine to get a date with a nurse after he strikes out…it’s not funny or endearing. It was desperate! And Hawkeye doesn’t wear desperation well.
• “Bless You, Hawkeye” (09×17) – I struggle with this episode. Sidney is my favorite character, and I do like the scene with Hawkeye and Sidney working through Hawkeye’s problem. I have two issues with this episode: 1. There is no B-story. Hawkeye’s sneezing is the entire episode. And 2. This storyline is repeated in the finale. I have read several reviews fo “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” (11×16) where the author argues that Hawkeye would have never been in an asylum or had a nervous breakdown. Those authors must have never watched season nine because Hawkeyes sanity is teetering.

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.

• “The Best of Enemies” (09×01) – This isn’t the only episode this is an issue, but Loretta Swit’s finger nails and hairstyle are not from the 1950s. Neither is Mike Farrell’s!
• “Letters” (09×02) – I love this episode and this scene in particular…but what they call a “leaf from a birch tree” in the episode is clearly a leaf from a red maple.
• “Cementing Relationships” (09×03) – The corps of engineers point about “M” standing for Mobile is correct! So why would they put in a cement floor?
• “Father’s Day” (09×04) – Margaret’s father is alive!! He was dead in the early seasons, so I’m glad he got better.
• “Father’s Day” (09×04) – Hawkeye is wearing a different Hawaiian shirt in this episode. While the blue one still shows up on occasion, I have noticed that is used less often, and I suspect it is because after 9 years it was getting worn out.
• “Death Takes a Holiday” (09×05) – M*A*S*H Timeline: What Christmas is this? The only option is 1952, but we also previously saw an April Fool’s episode, which had to be in 1953…
• “Death Takes a Holiday” (09×05) – When Winchester is dropping off his donation at the orphanage, he is dressed like it is cold. But you can clearly hear the sound of frogs. There are frogs in winter?
• “A War for All Season” (09×06) – M*A*S*H Timeline: *Sigh* —Where do I even begin? Based on the date of this episode, January 1951 – December 1951, it should have Col. Blake, Trapper, Frank, and Radar in the entire episode since Col. Potter didn’t arrive until September 1952.
• “Taking the Fifth” (09×09) – The food at the 4077th is always discussed as being terrible, but there are donuts on the Mess Tent tables?
• “No Sweat” (09×11) – M*A*S*H Timeline: It is summer again? What year?!
• “Depressing News” (09×12) – In one scene when they are walking across the compound, Hawkeye is clearly wearing blue shoes! B.J. is wearing Converse, but they were actually available in the 1950s.
• “Depressing News” (09×12) – Klinger is threatened with KP, but he is company clerk. Surely he can’t do both?
• “Oh, How We Danced” (09×14) – How did Charles get a karate gi in a week?
• “Bottoms Up” (09×15) – M*A*S*H Timeline: Whitfield was at the 4077th for two months, but we only see her in one episode?
• “The Foresight Saga” (09×19) – Why was Radar’s mom surprised that they could call from Korea? She talked to Radar on the phone before, and Charles even helped her deliver a calf over the phone!
• “The Life You Save” (09×20) – Where is Igor? He isn’t the cook?
• “The Life You Save” (09×20) – The battalion aid station is the Rosie’s Bar set.

Season 9 Wrap-Up

As I mentioned in the introduction, I have a soft spot for season nine because of the scripts in the collection, but I also think that season nine is a solid season. While there were only 20 episodes due to the Screen Actors Guild strike which lasted from July to early October 1980, the M*A*S*H writers put together another solid season of television. In addition, M*A*S*H celebrated a milestone in season nine, and one that a tv series rarely achieve. As for themes, it has gotten harder to find themes as the series goes on, and I think that is because the writers want to keep the storylines fresh and not feel repetitive, so the episodes are more sporadic. There are only so many themes to explore in a war that lasted three years! But I did identify two themes. After nine seasons, the war is beginning to take its toll. The characters are beginning to suffer more, especially Hawkeye. And the other theme that I was pleasantly surprised by was that Charles seems to be fitting in more. Not only do we see a softer side of Charles in this season, we see him working with the characters.

In season nine, M*A*S*H filmed its 200th episode. “A War for All Seasons” is the 200th episode of M*A*S*H, and the cast and crew celebrated on the set of Officers’ Club with cake and campaign. That is indeed a milestone worth celebrating since there are not many show that make it 200 episodes, let alone nine seasons! M*A*S*H made it to 200 episodes with continued strong ratings, and, by 1980, the series was doing well in syndication too. This was good new for Twentieth Century Fox Television as they were profiting off new episodes and reruns of the previous episodes. In addition, M*A*S*H had begun to generate licensed products, so after 200 episodes, M*A*S*H showed no signs of slowing down.

When looking for themes overarching an entire season, that becomes more challenging the later seasons. The series became more episodic, but there is a clear theme in season nine. The war begins taking a toll on each of the characters. They’ve all been at the 4077th for quite a while (good luck determining how long with the M*A*S*H timeline), and we see several characters begin to really struggle with the effects. B.J. misses his family (as they all do), but we see him miss an anniversary in this season, and he struggle with the realities of his wife having to take care of the house while he is gone. Klinger, while not being Section 8 material 100% of the time, still has moments where he sees a possible way out of the Army and immediately takes it. Everyone at the 4077th is affected by the war, but the character who struggled most this season is Hawkeye. There are two episode (“Depressing News” and “Bless You, Hawkeye”) where we see him struggle to process the realities of the war around him. I believe that this sets up what we see in later episodes, and in “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.”

On a positive note, I really enjoyed the character development of Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. We caught a glimpse of Charles’ softer side in season eight, but in “Death Takes a Holiday,” we see Charles’ charitable side and him come to terms with how his act of charity may not have been as kind as he thought. He also struggles with death as he came close to dying himself in “The Life You Save.” Charle’s reaction very human in that situation. Throughout the season, Charles is shown conferring and working with Hawkeye and B.J. This is an example of something Charles could do that the writers could have never allowed Frank Burns to do. Charles was introduced as an arrogant doctor, but he was a talented surgeon who respects the skills of Hawkeye, B.J., and Col. Potter. He is more than a foil to Hawkeye and B.J. Instead, he was an equal and a collaborator. I really like the direction they took Charles and his relationships with the other characters. David Ogden Stiers was a damn good actor, and it’s great to see the writers take advantage of his talent!

The last few seasons of M*A*S*H definitely took a darker, more dramatic turn. There are some fans of the show who don’t like that change, and there are others who do. I tend to fall in the later camp. I appreciate the later seasons M*A*S*H, but I appreciate it for a different reasons than I do the early seasons. The later seasons explore more of the war’s effect on people. Not only the wounded, but the men and women of the 4077th. We start to see some cracks showing in the facade of the characters, and I think season nine is when that begins to really how. Overall, I enjoy season nine because I love M*A*S*H. I love the characters, and I like how they have grown over the course of the series. They continued to grow and develop in season nine, and I suspect that will continue into season ten. What I wonder is whether the final two seasons will feel like two parts of the same. There was a plan to end M*A*S*H after the tenth season, but they were convinced so return for a shortened eleventh, and final season. Because of that, some of the season ten episodes were saved for ten. As I type this, I know that I have less than 40 episodes of M*A*S*H left to watch, and I can’t help but think of how much the show changed over 200+ episodes so far. For me, change is not bad, it was necessary to ensure the show lasted as long as it did.