M*A*S*H Rewatch: Season 11

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.

When I started “Hey, Look Me Over” earlier this month, I realized that my M*A*S*H rewatch journey was coming to an end. Season eleven is shorter than the other ten seasons, so it went by too quickly. Having seen the eleven year progression of M*A*S*H over the course of eleven months enabled me to realize how much the show changed over its run. I don’t think that is a bad thing. The series adapted as television audience’s tastes changed. A lot of shows came and went between 1972 and 1983, but for eleven years, M*A*S*H was a constant. When Fox and CBS announced the show was coming to an end, they began promoting the final season and the grand series finale. For the first time in over a decade, I watched the series in order and wrapped up with that finale. I found season eleven to be very similar to season ten, and a big part of that is because six of the episodes were scripts held over from season ten. So while the season may have felt disjointed at times, season eleven ended the series in a way that not only defined what M*A*S*H was, but set a standard that future shows would try to match.

Season 11 Episode List

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

Episode #	Season X Episode	Episode Title
236	11×01	Hey, Look Me Over
237	11×02	Trick or Treatment
238	11×03	Foreign Affairs
239	11×04	The Joker is Wild
240	11×05	Who Knew?
241	11×06	Bombshells
242	11×07	Settling Debts
243	11×08	The Moon is Not Blue
244	11×09	Run For the Money
245	11×10	U.N., the Night and the Music
246	11×11	Strange Bedfellows
247	11×12	Say No More
248	11×13	Friends and Enemies
249	11×14	Give and Take
250	11×15	As Time Goes By
251	11×16	Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

Favorite Episodes

These are the top 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.

• “Hey, Look Me Over” (11×01) – It’s great that they finally had a storyline featuring Kellye Nakahara. She was on the show for eleven years, and the way Hawkeye “looks over” Kellye in the series is a great metaphor for how the writers and producers overlooked her talent for so many years. Kellye was immensely talented and held the spotlight well in this episode. After all, she is “cute as hell!”
• “Trick or Treatment” (11×02) – This is the only Halloween episode in the series, and it is very well done. As always, the holiday is spoiled by incoming wounded, but the holiday episodes always feel special. The storyline of the “dead” soldier plus the appearance of George Wendt make this a classic, later episode of M*A*S*H.
• “The Joker is Wild” (11×04) – Since season eleven is the final season, I like how there were several mentions of past characters sprinkled in. It was a good way to honor the past of the series, and Hawkeye and Trapper did get up to a lot in the first three season. So to see an episode where B.J. successfully plays a well orchestrated joke on Hawkeye…it’s pretty satisfying. (Just a fun note, hearing “Happy Days Are Here Again” over the PA system is a great throwback to the early seasons!)
• “Give and Take” (11×14) – A great example of a well balanced episode. The comedic storyline of the charity collection officer duty being passed around (very much so in the manner of “For Want of a Boot” (02×17) and “The Price of Tomato Juice” (04×15)) pairs well with the dramatic storyline of the American soldier coming to terms with killing a North Korean. The military often uses tactics to dehumanize the enemy because knowing that the person you’re killing is a human who is just like you makes it more difficult. Taking a life is something that leaves a mark on a person, and getting to know the enemy humanizes them.
• “As Time Goes By” (11×15) – I love this episode. I think part of it is know that it was the last episode filmed. But it also just a well written episode. Burying a time capsule to mark their time in Korea (and to highlight the eleven years and cast members who came and went) was true both on and off the screen. It is the perfect, penultimate episode because it felt like they knew the war was coming to an end.
• “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” (11×16) – I know the reviews of the finale are mixed. There are legitimate criticisms that it is too long, overly dramatic, and doesn’t give every character a proper post-M*A*S*H storyline. I don’t disagree with those assessments, but then I watch it and that last half hour gets me every time. Seeing these characters say goodbye to each other, and us, makes it all worth it. The characters (and actors) spent a great deal of time together, and the I greatly appreciate that CBS allowed the show to end in such a realistic way. It is ultimate sendoff that only M*A*S*H could deliver.

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.

• “The Moon is Not Blue” (11×08) – I am not sure why, but I have never really liked this episode. It seems like Klinger would have easily been able to get the movie for them without the use of sugar pills. And we’ve seen them try the making the 4077th a “dry camp” before, and it never turns out well.
• “Strange Bedfellows” (11×11) – The two storylines in this episode are mismatched. Potter finding out about his son-in-law’s affair, and then admitting to his own is a lot to begin with. But then there is yet another disagreement between the doctors in the Swamp, this time over Charles’ snoring. By this point in the series it felt out of place because we saw Hawkeye, Charles, and B.J. get along great one episode, and then be at each other’s throats the next.

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.

• “Hey, Look Me Over” (11×01) – M*A*S*H Timeline: So, Truman is still president? The war is coming to an end soon (July 27, 1953), and President Eisenhower took office in January 1953.
• “Trick or Treatment” (11×02) – Pumpkin pie for Halloween?
• “Trick or Treatment” (11×02) – They act as though this was the first time that Father Mulcahy had saved a life, but what about the field surgery he performed in “Mulcahy’s War” (05×08)?
• “The Joker is Wild” (11×04) – Igor makes a joke about “has beans” which is the same joke Hawkeye made in “It Happened One Night” (04×03).
• “Who Knew?” (11×05) – The cognac that Klinger pours is clear, and it is a brown liquor.
• “Who Knew?” (11×05) – In the Swamp, it looks like the patient file B.J. is reading from is upside down.
• “Bombshells” (11×06) – M*A*S*H Timeline: Ted Williams did leave Korea in June 1953, so very close to the end of the war.
• “The Moon is Not Blue” (11×08) – The Officer’s Club was built by General Mitchell in “Officers Only” (02×15), so how is it unauthorized?
• “Say No More” (11×12) – M*A*S*H Timeline: There is a still a photo of President Truman, but it should be Eisenhower by now.
• “Give and Take” (11×14) – The chocolate bar that Klinger gives out in Post-Op has the Hershey’s logo covered, and it is has a barcode on the back. The barcode wasn’t commercially used until 1974.
• “As Time Goes By” (11×15) – The teddy bear that Hawkeye puts in the timeline is obviously not the original left by Radar. Gary Burghoff later acquired the original teddy bear and sold it at auction in 2014.
• “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” (11×16) – M*A*S*H Timeline: Charles was at the 4077th for two years, and B.J.’s daughter is turning two…something doesn’t add up because B.J. arrived at the 4077th before Charles.
• “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” (11×16) – In the bug out scenes, they reused scenes of the tents being torn down from the episode “Bug Out” (05×01).
• “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” (11×16) – When Sidney arrives at the 4077th, he is driving a MASH 4077th Jeep (stenciled on the front bumper). Where did he get it?

Season 11 Wrap-Up

As I mentioned in my wrap-up of season ten, the later seasons of M*A*S*H have less of a cohesiveness from episode to episode. That continued with season eleven, and a big part of that was due the fact that six of the sixteen episodes in the season were held over from season ten (“Hey, Look Me Over,” “Foreign Affairs,” “The Joker is Wild,” “Who Knew?,” “Settling Debts,” and “The Moon is Not Blue”). M*A*S*H‘s timeline has never been easy to define, but watching the last two seasons, things really get sketchy. It’s winter, then it’s spring, then we have a Halloween episode, and then everyone is back in shorts. That would not be as distracting if you were watching each episode a week or more apart, but watching two episodes a night, those inconsistencies begin to stand out. Despite that, season eleven was better than I remembered. So much of the season is overshadowed by the two and half hour finale that we forget that there were fifteen other episodes and that the finale itself wasn’t even the last episode they filmed! As with the previous seasons, I looked for themes as I watched, and I did find a few.

As I mentioned, one of the themes in season eleven is a carryover from season ten. There are inconsistencies between episodes, and they ranged from comedy vs. drama to abrupt changes in season. As the war was winding down, it would have been nearing summer 1953, and there is some hint of that in the finale. One of the better themes from the season was the inclusion of threads that would reappear in the finale. Since “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was the first episode of the season filmed, the writers were able to introduce Soon-Lee (played by the incredible Rosalind Chao) in “As Time Goes By” instead of waiting until the finale. There were also several mentions of Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Charles lent the book to Margaret in “Give and Take”, and it reappears in the finale. Those threads were a great way to get the attention of eagle-eyed viewers as they watched the finale. Then, there is the finale itself. There has been a lot written about whether it is good or overhyped, but the writers did a great job sneaking in some clever easter eggs. We see the reappearance of Hawkeye’s cowboy hat and original Hawaiian shirt, Sidney recites a famous “slide on the ice” quote from earlier in the series, the music playing over the PA system is from the first few seasons, and Charles and Margaret argue about whether or not Charles touched his nose. As they prepared for the war to end and go home, it only made sense that these characters would reflect on their time the 4077th.

Season eleven was a good season. There are some strong episodes, as I have highlighted above, but I really like the last four. “Friends and Enemies” and “Give and Take” are well balanced episodes and have some funny moments. But “As Time Goes By” is a great episode. Burying a time capsule as they knew the war (and the series) was coming to a close was a great storyline. It allowed them to reflect on the characters who had come and gone in a way that wasn’t overly dramatic or unnecessarily comedic. The inclusion of items from Radar and Col. Blake was a nod to the original cast (even though they did snub Trapper). “As Time Goes By” sets up the finale well, but I think what makes it even more memorable is that it was the last episode filmed. There are hundreds of photos from January 14, 1983, and that makes the episode even more nostalgic because I know what it represented to the cast and crew as they wrapped filming.

When I began my rewatch in January, November seemed so far away, but now that is here, the year went by too fast. I watched 251 episodes of M*A*S*H in eleven months. As I watched, I made notes, and I really noticed the show’s evolution. When you watch M*A*S*H in order, the progression of the show feels organic. You can imagine the first three seasons being fairly early in the war, and shortly after everyone arrived at the 4077th. As time marches forward, rivalries are made, characters come and go, and the 4077th is dramatically changed by the of Col. Blake in season three. That is a turning point for the series. Once the show runners saw that audiences returned after the initial shock and anger over the character’s death, they allowed the characters to grow and experimented more. Throughout the eleven years, characters left, characters changed roles, and some characters changed completely. Watching a season one episode and a seasons eleven episode back to back would be jarring. You would question whether you were watching the same show! But, when you watch the series in order, you see the characters earn their growth and become what we see in the finale. And it was earned. These characters went through hell together, and the last 15 minutes of the finale hits me hard every time because you see the true love these people had for each other. And that wasn’t just the characters, but the actors too. It comes through beautifully on screen, and that is why “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” remains one of the best finales in television history.

M*A*S*H truly stands the test of time. It is just as watchable in 2025 as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. There are some stereotypes that would not be acceptable today, but those faded as the series went on. The core themes of M*A*S*H are relevant today in that these people had to work together doing impossible things even though they were all different people with different backgrounds, ideologies, and beliefs. M*A*S*H represents humanity in its purist form in that when people are put in impossible situations, they stand up together to meet the moment. M*A*S*H met the moment. The characters of the 4077th faced the war, were successful in saving lives, and stayed (mostly) sane while doing it. And the actors, writers, and crew more than met the moment. They had an incredible ensemble cast, and the writers and producers continually tried new things to push the television medium forward. Over the course of eleven years, M*A*S*H connected with millions of people across the world, and it continues to connect with people today. That is the lasting legacy of M*A*S*H, and it is a legacy that continues to develop as new generations discover the show and relate to it in new ways.