#what would mike farrell do? (not this)

[bardengarde]

One day I'm going to start drawing Dr. Jim Wills (of bonanza fame) and expand on my interpretation of him and that is the day you can all put me down

[mashbrainrot]

"Did BJ and Hawkeye ever get together when they went home?"

MASHCAST podcast - Rob Kelly (@robkellycreative) & Mike Farrell || Full || Airdate: Sept 29 2021

----(Transcript under the cut)----

Rob: Alright, I'm apologising for asking you this question—

Mike: —no, go ahead—

Rob: —because it's so nerdy, but I— what other opportunity am I gonna have to do this?! And maybe you don't think like this, maybe actors don't think like this, but— in your mind— have you ever extrapolated— did BJ and Hawkeye ever get together when they went home? In your mind?

Mike: Oh, for me— for me, it was an absolute. An absolute. Sure, of course they did. You know... BJ would walk across the country to spend— spend time in Hawkeye's company. And it probably... wouldn't have been as wonderful as he— as he'd hoped it was because, you know, lives had gone in—

Rob: —right! Sure—

Mike: —different directions, but. Yeah, no, I don't think there's— for me, there is no question but that they saw each other again—

Rob: —right—

Mike: —made a point. Made a point of seeing each other again.

Rob: That makes me feel good.

[marley-manson]

Hawkeye is being overdramatic when he says 'would you hold me and let me die in your arms or would you let me lie there and bleed' (probably in part because he's still coming down from a manic episode and has been extra intense this episode, and in part because he's Hawkeye and Hawkeye is often overdramatic), but BJ's overly literal response is bizarre because he's either willfully ignoring what Hawkeye's saying and refusing to engage with his actual point, thereby proving Hawkeye's point (even if you can't do something to change a situation you can still be emotionally available, except you never are) or he's just totally misunderstanding what Hawkeye's talking about somehow and thinking Hawkeye is being literal in some way?

Honestly Mike Farrell's delivery there is v strange to me too lol, because he sounds genuinely confused and freaked out but idk how you can miss Hawkeye's point man, the context is very clear, and if you're not used to Hawkeye's occasional overdramatics by now... Like him taking Hawk's line weirdly literally might work if it was in a casually dismissive way, like 'shut up lol you're not dying' but that wasn't the vibe.

I wonder if he's meant to be more disturbed than he otherwise might be because of Hawkeye's recent manic episode, projecting his feelings about that and running away again? Or maybe that's more like a convenient excuse to himself, because ofc he doesn't want to talk about his emotional constipation? idk.

[majorbaby]

some early and candid thoughts on MASH: The Comedy that Changed Television

I thought Gary Burghoff had the most illuminating commentary to offer. he was specific, technical and detailed when recounting how the show was constructed, a style of media commentary that caters to my preferences. he has one comment that really stuck with me as a strong descriptor of the Radar character (paraphrase from memory): they needed a character who was experiencing the concept of war for the first time, for whom you could see the

after Burghoff, I thought Jamie Farr had some interesting things to say re: Margaret - 'she contains multitudes' being one of them, and a recurring theme when everyone was speaking about the character

i have to talk about mike farrell's comment on anti-war vs. anti-military: i've talked about how I feel that the post-reynolds/gelbart years have heavily watered-down messaging re: war before, and i've pointed to several episodes where i feel this is obvious, but mike farrell saying (quite strongly) that he felt the show was anti-war but never anti-military is pretty damning evidence.

i mean, i think this is good characterization for BJ, to take a more, let's call it 'broadly', anti-war stance, rather than be opposed specifically to military, particularly to the US military. it fits with his aspirations to live a quiet, middle-class life, with his insistence that he's always done 'the right thing' and imo, a good motivation for him to butt heads with the more radical Hawkeye, who opposes authority figures in general (per Alan Alda himself in this same special) - which actually goes beyond the military...

so i love it for BJ but i hate it for a show that never framed him as being wrong about that idea specifically. i can't say for sure whether BJ always held Farrell's beliefs of course, or vice versa, but if BJ ever did oppose the military as a system, Farrell doesn't know it. this knowledge makes episodes like Preventative Medicine and Back Pay land even worse with me.

'some of us were IN the military' he added, as a justification for his point that the show could not have been anti-establishment which i would speak on even more candidly if i was going to make this unrebloggable lol. but truly it's not that serious except in terms of how i think about the themes of this show - he seems like a perfectly lovely person who really loved making MASH and i think his fans will enjoy watching him speak about that.

Mclean Stevenson makes a point about how what Radar anticipates about a character tells us something about that character beyond what we would receive if we just heard the character say it themselves (which they usually do, at the same time as Radar) - I need to think about this some more when re-watching those scenes...

dlfkjaljfk I've never heard David Ogden Stiers' natural voice I thought someone was giving commentary over footage of him and then i realized he was actually giving the commentary - I feel like everyone knows this, but he was immensely talented, a master of voice and speech

1 hour and 10 minutes (including ads, or 'commercial breaks' as we used to call them back in my day) spent on seasons 1-3. tbf there's character-specific commentary in the first half that is for characters that were with us for the whole run, but, there's also a lot of time devoted to talking about how the show was initially constructed, the pilot being good (correct), and something that made me smirk - Larry Gelbart's commentary on how people were incensed and outraged at Henry's death and felt they had been misled, lied to, about their funny haha, wholesome weeknight comedy (set in the Korean War???) is almost indistinguishable from how people talk about plots they don't like in media nowadays

it was good! i had fun!

[mrs-stans]

Meet the makeup wizard who transformed Sebastian Stan into ‘A Different Man’

By Josh Rottenberg

At the tender age of 5, Mike Marino saw “The Elephant Man” for the first time and his life was forever changed. When David Lynch’s haunting and heartbreaking story of the disfigured John Merrick would air on HBO in the early 1980s, Marino found himself horrified but unable to look away, sparking a fascination with prosthetics that would eventually lead him to becoming one of Hollywood’s top makeup artists.

“I was so afraid of it, but little did I know how beautiful that story was and how much of an imprint it would leave on my brain and soul,” says Marino, 47, who earned consecutive Oscar nominations in 2022 and 2023 for his makeup work on “Coming 2 America” and “The Batman,” the latter starring a totally transformed Colin Farrell. “If it wasn’t for that film, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”

But for actor, TV presenter and disability rights advocate Adam Pearson, Lynch’s film took on a more painful role in his life. Growing up in England with neurofibromatosis type 1, a rare genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on his face, Pearson was often taunted by classmates who cruelly called him “Elephant Man” and other names. As he got older, he saw how movies routinely depicted people with disfigurements as freaks, villains or victims, stripping away their humanity. “There’s an element of laziness to it,” says Pearson, 39. “How do we show this character is evil? Let’s slap a scar on them.”

Now, through a twist of fate, the lives of Marino and Pearson have intersected on a very different project: the darkly funny, mind-bending psychological thriller “A Different Man.” Directed by Aaron Schimberg, the A24 film stars Sebastian Stan as Edward, a shy, disfigured actor working in New York City who undergoes an experimental procedure to transform his appearance, only to find himself losing the role he was born to play — himself — to a cheerful, outgoing man named Oswald with his same facial deformity, played by Pearson. Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World”) co-stars as a playwright whose latest work brings Edward’s identity crisis to a head.

“A Different Man,” which The Times called “a self-deconstructing meta-pretzel of a dark comedy” following its debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, tackles complex themes of identity, beauty and disability with a blend of Charlie Kaufman-esque surrealism and David Cronenbergian body horror. Along with Stan’s performance, Marino’s meticulously crafted prosthetics are key to bringing Edward and his inner agonies to life, reflecting the deeper emotional anguish of a man trying to escape his own skin.

“The movie portrays how the shell of who we are should not dictate our spirit and our personality,” Marino says. “I think it’s a very important film, much like ‘The Elephant Man’ was.”

When Schimberg first wrote the script, inspired by his own struggles with a cleft palate and his experience working with Pearson on his 2019 satire “Chained for Life,” he initially had no idea how he would actually pull off the film’s demanding prosthetics work. “I was sort of blissfully ignorant,” says Schimberg. “After Sebastian came aboard, we started cobbling the film together very quickly. It was only about a month before shooting that I realized this film was going to completely fall apart if we didn’t get this right. It was very down to the wire.”

Signing on as an executive producer for the film, Stan asked around about makeup artists in the New York area who could handle such a difficult job under that kind of time pressure. One answer consistently came back: “Literally everyone, hands down, was like, ‘You’ve got to get Marino,’ ” the actor recalls.

Though he was already busy with a job on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Marino, who has done his share of more fantastical creatures, leapt at the challenge of re-creating a real-life disfigurement like Pearson’s. “I’m fascinated with people that have something going on with their skin because it’s just the most interesting, artistic, natural thing,” Marino says. “For me, there’s an amazing beauty to how Adam looks. This was not about a scary face or a monstrous person. I don’t like to do things like that with no soul or purpose.”

Marino’s passion for makeup and prosthetics took root early in life, inspired by industry legends like Dick Smith (“The Exorcist”) and Rick Baker (“An American Werewolf in London”). Growing up in New York, Marino started honing his skills as a preteen by practicing on his friends with latex, foam and various chemicals, destroying his bedroom rug in the process, to the chagrin of his parents. While still in high school, he mailed his portfolio to Smith and received encouragement and advice by phone from the makeup legend, who won an Oscar in 1985 for “Amadeus” and earned an honorary Academy Award for his life’s work in 2012. “Once he acknowledged me, it was like, OK, this is serious. There was no stopping me.”

After cutting his teeth on “Saturday Night Live” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Marino broke into film with the 2007 psychological thriller “Anamorph” and quickly became known for his versatility, seamlessly switching between fantasy creatures and more subtle, realistic applications. His work on Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” amplified the film’s psychological horror, while on Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” he enhanced the film’s digital de-aging of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino with carefully crafted prosthetics.

Outside of film, Marino created the Weeknd’s plastic-surgery-gone-wrong look for the singer’s “Save Your Tears” video. “It’s all problems to solve,” Marino says. “There is no playbook.”

Diving into “A Different Man,” Marino used photographs and 3D scans of Pearson’s face, which has undergone some 40 surgeries over the years, as the basis for a multi-piece silicone prosthetic that would work with Stan’s features. “There was no way I could completely replicate Adam’s exact proportions,” he says. “I had to make some aesthetic choices.”

While the makeup work in “The Elephant Man” benefited from that film’s grainy black-and-white cinematography, the prosthetics in “A Different Man” had to withstand more unforgiving scrutiny. To put his Edward face to the test, Stan would walk from Marino’s makeup chair to the set through the streets of New York and crowds of strangers, giving him tremendous insight into how people treat those who look different.

“I went to my old coffee shop and the same barista who’d served me for years couldn’t identify me,” Stan recalls. “I got to really feel people’s reactions in real time. There were people who couldn’t even look at me, other people were staring and sometimes you’d get a bigger reaction, like, ‘Oh s—, it’s the Elephant Man!’ As Adam puts it, you feel like public property.”

Pearson, who shares his character’s sunny gregariousness, encouraged Stan to think about it like he does with his own experience as a movie star. “I was like, ‘You don’t know the level of invasion I get with people pointing, staring and taking photos, but you do understand a very similar thing from this angle, so lean into that heavily,’ ” he says. “ ‘And if it makes you uncomfortable, lean into it further.’ ”

While wearing the prosthetics, Stan could only see out of one eye and had limited hearing in one ear, challenges that helped further inform his performance as a man who has learned to shy away from potential threats and insults. “Edward is a character that has had to endure a lot of emotional abuse and probably some physical abuse, so he is probably always on his left foot a little bit in case something happens,” Stan says.

As Edward’s face changes following his radical treatment, Marino made additional prosthetics showing the transition, including an “extremely soft, mushy version” that, in a particularly Cronenbergian scene, Stan could pull off in chunks.

Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot in “The Batman,” work for which Marino was Oscar-nominated. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Marino’s talent for transforming stars is on full display in Farrell’s hulking, thuggish look as the Penguin in 2022’s “The Batman” and the new HBO spinoff series. “When Colin saw the sculpture I made, ideas started exploding,” Marino says. “Once we did a makeup test, it was magical — he knew how to speak, how to walk and he was already the guy.”

Marino, who is preparing to make his directorial debut based on a script he wrote set in the 1980s (“It’s deliberately not effects-heavy,” he hints), has lost none of his passion for the transformative power of latex and silicone since the days he was obsessively poring through issues of Cinefex magazine as a teenager. “If you think of Michelangelo showing beauty 500 years ago in painting and sculpture, I’m still showing that same beauty but in this new hyper-realistic way, in silicone,” says Marino, who named his makeup effects studio Prosthetic Renaissance. “It’s a very unique art. It’s like moving sculptures and paintings all at once.”

As for Pearson, if he were offered an experimental treatment to change his face, like in “A Different Man,” he says he wouldn’t take it. Despite the challenges it has brought him, Pearson believes his face has shaped the life he leads today.

“I joke with my friends that my disability does a lot of heavy lifting for my appalling personality,” he says with a laugh. “Everyone thinks it’s hard to go from non-disabled to disabled but I think the other way around would be even harder. The path we walk and the struggles we go through make us who we are and they’re inseparable from one another.”

[boonesfarmsangria]

Mike Farrell Reflects on Captain B.J. Hunnicutt’s Ahead of ‘M*A*S*H’ TV Special

Scott Fishman, TV Insider Dec 21, 2023 Updated Dec 22, 2023 0

Mike Farrell knew he had a lot to live up to when he joined the 4077th Medical Corps and cast of M*A*S*H as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. The well-versed actor already had an impressive career including a stint on Days of Our Lives. However, this was a completely different kind of pressure coming into season 4 of a highly successful series after the exit of Wayne Rogers, who played Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre.

He was up to the challenge with viewers connecting with the devoted family man and what would be a long-time bond with Alan Alda’s Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce. Viewers will ever forget the shot during the historic series finale where B.J. yells out that he left a note for Hawkeye. As he flies away in the helicopter, he soon notices that his good friend spelled out the word “Goodbye” with rocks on the ground.

It’s these types of iconic moments and characters that are celebrated during FOX’s upcoming M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television. Executive-produced by John Scheinfeld and Andy Kaplan, this two-special delves into the Emmy-winning run over 11 seasons through the perspective of the cast and visionaries behind the scenes.

Joining Farrell and Alda on the doc is Gary Burghoff (Cpl. Walter “Radar” O’Reilly), and Loretta Swit (Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan) to name a few, as well as series executive producers Gene Reynolds and Burt Metcalfe. Those who have since passed, including show creator Larry Gelbart, Rogers, Larry Linville (Maj. Frank Burns), Harry Morgan (Col. Sherman T. Potter), and McLean Stevenson (Lt. Col. Henry Blake) are spotlighted through archival photos and footage.

Here Farrell opens up about his emotional reaction to the special. The 84-year-old also describes what it’s like to see the beloved sitcom still resonate more than 40 years after it ended.

Michael Farrell

How often do you go back and watch the episodes back?

Mike Farrell: The popularity of the show continues to astonish me and thrill me, frankly. I get constant emails, and mail, calls to keep it fresh in my mind, and its extraordinary impact. I don’t make a point of looking for it on television, but sometimes it’s there. And when it’s there, I can’t stop looking at it and watching those people I love so much and care about. To see and remember who they were and what we did together. It’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I’m so thrilled to be a part of it that it’s hard to put into words.

I remember seeing Alan Alda share a photo of you two toasting to the 50th anniversary of the show’s premiere. How is it for you to still have these close connections after all these years?

For us, it’s a family situation. We enjoyed working together and having this kind of bond that continues to this day. We talk about how much we love each other and stay in touch regularly. It has been something that brings an ongoing extraordinary rush of gratitude and appreciation for all of us here…Then you see David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan, Larry Linville, and others on the special. There is that sense of longing for somebody who you knew, loved, and enjoyed working with. It’s piercing at the heart when you see that sometimes. For me, I’m overwhelmed with the warmth that comes back from seeing Harry, remembering the relationship we had not only during the show but afterward. Watching Alan and his incredible wit and hijinks. Some of those things stay with me today. When I tell stories, I can’t help but get misty about those memories. It’s an everlasting love affair for me.

It’s fun to think about what would have happened if social media had been around during M*A*S*H’s original run. For example, B.J.’s mustache would be a hot topic of conversation.

People often ask me, “What do you think of the mustache?” I will say my mother hated the mustache. The mustache was a fun thing. Alan called me at the beginning of one season and said, “They think we are too much alike. What do you think about growing a mustache?” I thought it was a great idea. We made a lot out of it, which was fun to do. I wore what started as a red long shirt. Through many washes, it came out pink. I thought it was hilarious to be wearing a pink shirt in the middle of all that. I get many comments from people in the gay community who tell me they loved my pink shirt and ask if that was a signal. I tell them no, but that I’m glad they noticed it.

One of the topics that gets tackled in the special is B.J.’s character and moment of infidelity with a nurse divorcee. After all this time, I even saw a Reddit thread asking if B.J. cheated on his wife Peg.

I remember when I first met with the guys and they were talking about the possibility of Wayne leaving. I told them the one thing I didn’t want to do as an actor was come in and step in the boots of “Trapper.” They understood. They had in mind a fellow who was married, not a womanizer like “Hawkeye” or “Trapper,” who had a child at home. And he is going to be true to his wife and family. You’re talking about modeling fidelity on television, I didn’t mind that at all. We laughed. It stayed that way. One year we did a show where Blythe Danner played the guest star. She and “Hawkeye had been having a love affair in medical school, and she was temporarily assigned to our station. She was married, but the affair popped up again.

There is a scene where “Hawkeye” asks B.J. if he has ever been unfaithful. I said never. He said, “You ever tempted?” I said, “Tempted is a different question.” He said, “So, you have been tempted?” I said, “No, it was a different question.” It was a good gag. Larry Gelbart, who wrote the scene was ont eh stage when we finished that shot. I said, “Larry, that was wonderful, but let me suggest the idea. The fact B.J. is a faithful husband is great by me, but to suggest a man was not tempted goes too far. I don’t think we need to paint in that pristine manner.” He said that was a good thought. A year later Gene remembers that conversation with Larry. He asked, “What do you feel about B.J. falling off the fidelity wagon?” I said, “It depends on how you resolve it.”

How do you feel it came out?

I loved the whole process that they cared enough to hear me out, and decided it was worth dealing with that question. I thought they resolved it in a classy way. B.J. was upset about what he had done. It was brief and a misstep. He was miserable about it. “Hawkeye” gave him hell because he was going to write home and tell Peg. He said, “Don’t do that to her. If you must confess for whatever the transgression, wait until you get home where you can be with her and talk to her. I thought it was great that they were willing to explore the kind of experience people are put through in these circumstances.

It was almost like it didn’t matter how far they went, but didn’t matter. He would feel the same way.

Exactly. But the idea of them spending the night together in a bed, under those circumstances, and didn’t go far sounds a little stretch to me.

When was the moment you felt how big a show M*A*S*H was?

I was in Southeast Asia during one of our breaks. After my second or third year there on the show when I went around, I was astonished at the no matter what part of the world, the show meant something to the.m. This one man said, “Your show constantly underscores for me the meaning of peace and the need for peace in this world.” I came back to set and Alan and I were sitting together during the first day of the season back. I said, “Are you hearing what I’m hearing out there?” He said, “Yeah, we need to be aware of the way the show is affecting people.

We decided on a regular meeting as a cast and talked through the issues of the day. Alan and I both made it a point that this show is having an impact that is beyond just being a popular television show. We need to be seriously committed to making sure we do the best work we can do. Everyone got it and agreed and rededicated ourselves to commit to doing meaningful work because of the audience’s respect and appreciation for the show.

What are your overall thoughts on the FOX special while screening it? 

I watched it with tears streaming down my face while laughter burst from my mouth. It was an extraordinary tribute. Not only to the show and people involved but the people involved behind the scenes. I’m glad they included the clip of Gene, Larry, and in particular Burt Metcalfe, the casting genius who brought many of the characters to the show; me included. He was a powerful force in maintaining the integrity of the show. It was deeply touching and I think the audience will love it. It shows the significance and the work of the characters and the way the show was built and what it became. I was thrilled when I saw it. 

How do you think the show would do in today’s TV landscape? 

I think it would remain a touchstone for people I can’t tell you how many veterans have contacted me. Even children of veterans. They would say. “My dad would never talk about his experience in the war until he saw your show. Then he would say, ‘That’s the way it was.”…That it has stayed relevant and meaningful to people for generations speaks volumes about the show. 

M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television premiere, January 1, 8/7c, FOX

@stroyent 🤝

[2o3dinge]

The pandemic brought us Farrelleto back (kinda): 2021, the year of The Batman and House of Gucci and faked Italian accents

2021/22 was a Farrell/Leto year first and foremost due to the stellar make-up work by Mike Marino (@ prorenfx on Instagram) and his frequent collaborator Göran Lundström (@ effexstudios_goran) who created the stunning masks for Colin's Penguin and Jared's Paolo. The Batman shoot ended about the time that House of Gucci's started, so for Lundström these were back to back jobs. Because of their unrecognizable appearances in their roles, Colin and Jared were constantly mentioned together on social media for the most part of 2021/22. That was fun while it lasted.

By now, I think that it's not quite a coincidence. If you listen to Jared and Colin, you might get a feeling that they, too, talked about it — with each other…

Jared Leto about “the idea of a mask” I’ve heard about actors who didn’t have the character until they put on the shoes. In this case, I was sent the script for another part; when I read the script, I really connected with this character and I saw a lot of opportunity for heart and humor. Once I started doing the research, I [knew] this was going to be a pretty intense transformation. And I love immersive work. I love the idea of a mask. In the earliest theater, actors would wear masks. It’s not only a disguise — a mask also reveals. My job is to create a life behind the mask, and Göran’s job is to find humanity in the mask. It’s not just about how well he puts together some chemicals or chooses the right colors. It’s really about creating an individual. THR, December 7, 2021

Jared Leto about taking the chance to channel his own grandfather in House of Gucci The Dallas Buyers Club Oscar winner — who is speaking to Screen International prior to the death of that film’s director Jean-Marc Vallée — was originally considering a different part in House Of Gucci, but after reading the script fell in love with Paolo, the black sheep of the Gucci family who ends up turning on his relatives after his dreams of becoming a designer are thwarted. “I could relate to Paolo’s desire to be taken seriously as an artist, his desire to be heard, his desire to create something special and share it with the world,” says Leto. “He reminded me a lot of my grandfather, who had a kind of mischievous charm to him and was gregarious and full of life and laughter. In my life I can be quite reserved and quiet unless I’m on stage [with his band 30 Seconds To Mars], so I love that Paolo was virtually singing and dancing all the time.” Screendaily, January 2022

Jared Leto about having permission to “go completely fucking crazy” on set Leto let Scott know that he wanted to work with him years back at the 2003 Morocco Film Festival. They’d run into each other. And Scott was on the set of “Blade Runner 2049.” After asking to play Paolo instead, Leto spoke to Scott on the phone. “I basically told him I was going to go completely fucking crazy if we were going to this,” he said. “He was going to have to take the cuffs off and let the lunatic run around the asylum, in a way.” IndieWire 2021/2022

Colin Farrell talking about all the things Jared Leto talked about — the idea of masks, shadows and having the permission to let loose without judgment Look I only had as I said five or six scenes or seven scenes, and I wasn't quite I was at the early stages of looking at what I felt, I could do or bring to it, I was at a bit of a loss and then when I saw what Mike did, the whole character made sense to me, I swear to God, I saw what he did, and I just went okay, okay, and I got really excited about this all that to say that most of — if anyone ever thinks what I do in Batman is a decent performance, I'll gladly take 49% of the credit, I — honest to God, I'm not—I’m not joking you, cause there's — you know mask work? And like Jung used mask work and certain eastern philosophies have used mask work, it’s a very powerful way to allow the shadow to have permission; the shadow that exists in all of us to have permission because you're aware that you're not gonna be judged, that you feel protected from, you know, the awful rule of judgment that man inflicts upon each other. Well, that's gone and so the sense of I—you know, conventional logic would say, maybe with a full face covering you, that it would be limiting that it would, you would feel constricted… it was 100% the opposite! It was so f—damn liberating, it was so liberating, and I felt so free, and I felt like, and I may be proven wrong, I felt like it was impossible to be too big — cut to: Farrell is too big— but like I had such, Mike gave me such permission to just explore you know behaviors by the brilliance of the work that he did, Mike Marino… Happy sad confused Podcast, July 2021

It’s not only that, but Colin and Jared approached their characters, Oz and Paolo, similarly - the kind of similar I perceive as essentially the same ...

Colin said Oz is a variation of Fredo from the ‘Godfather’. Fredo served as “emotional reference”.

Jared conceived his Paolo as a mixture of his own “cheeky” grandfather - which he admits - and the real Gucci imbued with Fredo-like motivation.

It makes a lot of sense, for both!

Also on a personal level in regard to Colin’s and Jared’s struggles to be taken seriously as artists, one of the great themes of both of their careers, I figure.

It’s kind of amusing to think about Al Pacino playing Jared’s father in HoG, so the ‘Godfather’ inspiration went full circle ;)

[wellntruly]

M*A*S*H - Season 8, misc. notes

Welcome to March M*A*S*H-ness, the season in which I finish M*A*S*H

Here are some reduced notes from S8, I hadn’t forgotten! No approach this time, just whatever made the cut.

Oh you know actually there is a theme it's thighs???

— — —

Start of this season gotta be the collective skinniest this cast has ever been, babes what was going on in 1979! Mike Farrell has always been a sapling, but Loretta Swit seems to have gotten even tinier this year, Alan Alda rushed into a frame partly undressed looking markedly thinner than the last time I saw him, and when Gary Burghoff comes back?! Positively a shadow of himself!

The other notable thing is that their doctors coats are now fully "blush." [Elliott Gould voice] It’s fine by me.

I appreciate that we simply all dislike Zale

The slipshod “Previously On”s they do for the two-parters finally worth it for the implication that Hawkeye hurting his finger is going to be just as emotionally impactful as anything else going on.

Sitting Awards. And in the pink shirt.

The company clerk job going from Radar to Klinger is like a reverse Henry Blake to Sherman Potter, huh. I confess to being a little stressed.

Ohhh okay okay, I can see it, oh boy okay I can see how we pull this off: Klinger CAN be a good clerk, he just has to be a totally different kind: a renegade little rascal. Radar is like a London cabbie with the Knowledge: knows the entire map of the war and every rule and person in it. Klinger can be an improv artist, a con artist, schemes upon schemes. Oho, I would like this! Ed. note: hey I was pretty much on the money!

Okay don’t make me cry….. ah too late

Hoooooooooooo all of Hawkeye’s boyfriends simply have to kiss Radar and tell him to pass it along, huh. WHAT a way to reference when Trapper left…. !

Hey gang we’re still crying! :(

The most impactful way they could do this bit with BJ’s toddler thinking Radar was her dad is if it isn’t commented on again, we just have this wordless moment where he’s so visibly stricken by the fact that his child doesn’t know who he is.

Ah never mind, it’s the whole episode.

Y’know, when drunk BJ smashed up the still and hit Hawkeye, I thought well this is a lot to deal with, but it’s him later sobbing to him, quote: “I’m so torn up with envy I almost hate him! And I feel the same way about Trapper, and I never even met him. But he built that still with you, and…” that had me staring wild-eyed, repeating a strangled “Pause pause pause pausepause” while my hands search blind & desperate for the remote to give me a fucking MOment---

Just, the DARK GALAXY BRAIN, M*A*S*H, to go hey, how about BJ got violent because he’s jealous of your ex

...God the absolute nuclear event this episode would have caused if it aired during the Internet….we all would have aged 10 years.

“Well what else am I good at? Being a malcontent? Silliness? Booze?” The three Graces.

“Colonel, you wanted to see us?” “Not really, but it’s the only way I can talk to you.” Hahaha, Potter like, I’ve seen enough.

Whoa! Transition alert! I don’t even know how to describe this, it was like an in-camera PowerPoint wipe? Jaunty!

BJ grabbing his hands to get him to stop doing CPR, and Hawkeye just letting him hold them while he gets his own breath back. See, and now you do this…and I just…..!

Ah, I know exactly what you mean, Father. Hawkeye would ‘make a fine priest’ in the sense that he could write a good sermon. And he could write a good sermon in the sense that Danny Boyle, M. Night Shyamalan, Martin Scorsese—they were all on their way to seminary school before veering off into filmmaking. Because: they liked the storytelling. They liked getting at meaning, at feeling, through words delivered a certain way. Commanding an audience, and trying to get them to understand. Who does this apply to most in camp?

Line delivery of the episode once again goes to David Ogden Stiers, for “What is your name?”

I want to be playing poker in the sunshine with Klinger, Hawkeye, BJ, and Margaret with her sleeves pushed up her shoulders.

The way Klinger comfortingly trilled a little “Brrrr” to freezing Hawkeye as he pulls a blanket around his shoulders has gone right to the cockles of my heart. You sweet weirdo I love you!

INCREDIBLY dynamic of them to take five minutes from us for the commercial break, I yelped

Oh, SOLID Potter impression, Jamie Farr!

I like whenever they make grim jokes about this being a “police action,” not a war. Can you believe we were doing this shit all the way back in the ‘50s…. Potter, in his lil lilting gravely grandpa voice: “Believe me, boys and girls: this is a war.”

Father Mulcahy’s sad war song: it moved this reporter

Big ups to Kellye teasing Hawkeye behind the bar at Rosie’s in the most gender way possible

“Hawkeye, you’re really cute, and probably a wonderful dancer—” thanks, Scully

What does PDQ mean, Potter

Hawkeye is spelling “theremin” in Scrabble

With Radar leaving, Charles has probably taken the mantle of funniest character on this show per minute. He kills me. <3 His silly presh baby chatter, then segueing into “I talked to everyone in camp, which, by the way is a first for me—”

To everyone else they’re Class A’s, to Pierce they’re “Sunday go-to-court-martial clothes”

Uuuugh the loosened ties and unbuttoned cuffs of an off-duty Class A….

Are they using the Officer’s Club a lot more this season, or is this just me

Image set idea: every group shot where Hawkeye is half horizontal on some surface half asleep

Loretta Swit wins first actor on this show to feel for an elevated temperature correctly: back of the hand

Sometimes I wanna get at Alan Alda with Glossier ‘Boy Brow’ and just see what happens. I mean by all rights this man should have eyebrows

Wait, it’s MAXWELL Klinger. Maxwell Q! Quentin? Quincy? Quinn??

I like night in the camp when everything is quiet

Kind of appreciate that by this point putting Captain Pierce in charge is just routine. It’s only the third time but Potter’s like, it’ll be the charm. And then he’s right, it’s entirely uneventful.

I know I’ve cried at the last two episodes in a row and yet already can’t remember much of them. Truly this season is so odd.

The return of Alan Alda’s actual dad, and the emergence of Loretta Swit’s BIG HAIR. A lot to take in in one episode.

Oh and naturally EVERYONE’S FREEZING, ALANNN

That was his bROTHER????!?! Other Alda????!!

I mean we really need to bring the drag back because so far Klinger’s whole experience as the new company clerk has been essentially “god forbid women do anything”

At least Sidney’s here :)

I’m already so into the COLD & DREAMS episode and we haven’t even hit the DREAMS

AH HERE ARE THE DREAMS

Oh Klinger that’s brilliant. Warm up the blood against the bodies it wants to be back in.

The sense of spatial arrangement and time and perspective all so mutable…it’s really, really good. Most cinematic dreams are fantastical but overall too sequential—this nails that “and now this is happening” quality.

The bit where as Father Mulcahy nods off this soldier's words become nonsense?? So neat and so effectively rendered!!! Huge commendations to this actor’s seamless transition, god I loved the sensation of watching this.

Ohhhh this is not what I though Hawkeye’s nightmare would be like, and ho-ly shit

Very rare that you actually see someone in the real life swallow convulsively—5 narrative fiction points to Alan. No you know what: 7

Smitten with her deep voice. I have as the kids say, a crush.

“This is BJ, the doctor that put you back together, and this is Hawkeye, who uh, seems to be falling apart.” She’s so clever and so fun, hell yeah Mike.

WAIT “LET ME SHOW YOU MY ETCHINGS” HAS BEEN A JOKE SINCE AT LEAST 1980?? What is this from!!!!! I thought my theatrical design friends made this up in 2009!! Update: WOW! We’ve just all been making this same inside joke no one knows the origin of for over 100 years!!

I know I’ve had two hot toddies but all I want is to spend the night with Margaret and Aggie and just talk into the night while lotioning our arms, maybe flirt a little, who knows

Charles: “Klinger, as the poets would say: [lowers three inches] hubba hubba.” This episode is the most fun I’ve had all season.

Huh. Oh huh. It’s Hawkeye’s comment about how the war threw Aggie and Scottie together and now they care about each other, that cracks it for BJ. Now he can pin his feelings on the war. You gave him an out—both a way to reframe it and a tool to end it. I half-think you knew what you were doing, too.

“Everyone knows the civilian M.D.s pack away the dineros.” Excuse me?? Is ‘De Niro’ a homonym for money?? Is his name Bobby Money???? Update: Spanish for an old Roman coin. Incredible.

Just started chanting “Math! Math! Math!” through a mouthful of cake. Okay, average of 7 bowel resections a week, for 546 total = 78 weeks. Hawkeye has been there 1 and a half years. In Season 5, it was already 2 years. This has been: the Jeremy Bearimy Corner.

Potter: “Pierce, you’re like an unbroken colt, and all I can do is give you reign until you wear yourself out.” Help that’s astute.

Okay I still need to figure out what PDQ means, Sherm….. Oh hey it means “as quickly as possible,” but why...? PRETTY DAMNED QUICK ! Fuck this is going in my vocab immediately.

BJ grinning to himself at learning Hawkeye has squirreled a Jeep away somewhere as part of his “payment,” and receiving a warm conspiratorial grin in return, then later slyly stealing another Jeep for him—this is what I love.

Aaah yay they’re doing it again! Charles was eventually proven to be wrong and immediately starts apologizing and complimenting them and shaking their hands. This is very consistent!

Whaaaat we never shoot the tent from this angle??

Whaaahahahahaat is THIS ANGLE ALSO

Get your camera out from between his legs, this man is a father!!

Oh and in closing, the numbers on this season: - 3 episodes written & directed by Alan Alda - 2 episodes where they’re all so cold - Venn diagram is a completely contained circle

In the third one he wrote & directed Hawkeye still ends up under a blanket being doused in ice, and another he just directed someone else's script—and put everyone in jackets and turtlenecks. I still don’t know what this means, but by god it sure is important. To me.

— — —

Season Viewguides

These

[blue-ravens]

🔥

"BJ would walk across the country to spend time in Hawkeye's company, and it probably wouldn't have been as wonderful as he'd have hoped it was, because [their] lives have gone in different directions" [mashcast, 29/09/2021]

why did this fandom take such an otherwise. lovely and insightful quote from mr mike farrell and twist it into something that it really isn't. the way everyone jumped on this as if it were their november 5th moment and conveniently forgetting the rest of the quote is...... insane behaviour, tbh. it's like. you've had to change his *entire* canon characterisation to make him more 'palatable' and 'interesting' basically taking away what made bj bj to begin with, and he was already an interesting character given half the chance. idk man, do you all even like this guy or just wanting an OC with his face.

[variousqueerthings]

Was thinking about what you said about the likelihood BJ never sees any of them / Hawkeye again, and besides the very interesting cocktail of emotions that idea makes me feel (agreement and denial at war, essentially), it inevitably got me thinking about the Trapper & BJ comparison again.

I think about BJ calling out, I'll see you in the states, I promise! and the smile he wears. and I think the reason it hits so hard is bc in the moment when he says it, he absolutely does mean it? the flush of emotion in those big life moments can make everything seem undeniable e.g. "you mean a lot to me, so of course we will see each other again". but ofc people don't live in those big life moments.

it's so easy to envision BJ finding a way to integrate Korea into the greater lie that is his life (easier to do when it's over, in the past and subject to whatever framing he chooses to give it). the truth he can't face in the moment of goodbye is that it really IS goodbye, that Korea-as-it-was and Hawkeye do not fit in the life he told himself he burned to get back to.

(Hawkeye was so tired, I got the impression he implicitly understood all this about BJ and wearily accepted it even though it hurt -- another way GFA knocked me down; sometimes people are not as strong for the people they love as they'd hope, and sometimes you just have to accept that it's going to hurt and there's nothing to be done.)

With Trapper, I think it is also very likely he never sees Hawkeye again, or at least not for a very long time. But I don't think he ever lied to himself about it; he seemed like a "ripping the bandaid" type. the pain of not seeing hawkeye again is one he is willing to confront and accept (and inflict?)

(...apologies, this didn't end up being as coherent as I'd hoped, I sat down with coffee on my break and started rambling in your inbox lol)

OK FRIEND WE ARE HERE WE ARE QUEER WE ARE (STILL SICK AND RUMINATING OVER YOUR WORDS BUT I GOT ABOUT FIVE HOURS SLEEP LAST NIGHT BUT I THINK THAT BRINGS OUT MY BEST RAMBLES SO!)

"I think the reason it hits so hard is bc in the moment when he says it, he absolutely does mean it" <- oh heck yes, BJ is -- to me -- the character on this show who faces all of this experience the least, including the bits that, despite everything, were good. he's got that increasingly at-odds-with-his-outbursts genial type of "everything will be fine" attitude right up until the last moment we see him.

something about the best lies are the ones we believe ourselves and the things he's going to be slapped in the face with when he gets home, despite knowing that it's not the home he left (also do we think he shaves off the moustache, yay or nay? if he does, I put that down to the commitment to put on the "nice young husband/father/veteran/doctor/community man" man again, for better or for worse, but if he keeps it, I'll assume it's his one concession, because I doubt he'll actually properly talk about anything).

Trapper was weary and pragmatic and (correctly) pessimistic way back in ceasefire (although he allowed Hawkeye to be hopeful for the most part, I like the read that Trapper tries very hard to not bring Hawkeye down, but occasionally how he really feels just slips out), not to mention the way he talked in mail call.

Who was it that said Trapper's speech about the war in mail call is basically Hawkeye's journey's-end by s11, because um... ouch.

I just watched my first Mike Farrell interview yesterday (the first interview I've seen with any cast member except for Alan Alda, and it was very emotional, but at least I didn't tear up as Mr Farrell himself did!) in which he said that he imagines they'll see each other at least once again, and that BJ would "walk across America" to see him -- but then he also added that it wouldn't be same, which was quite a sad little amendment to what until that point seemed like his personal BJ/Hawkeye is end-game headcanon.

Whether or not BJ and Hawkeye do see each other again (and purely geographically, there's a higher chance of Hawkeye bumping into Trapper, especially considering the fact that Charles is in Boston and I like the idea of Charles and Hawkeye getting surprisingly close after the war -- surprising to them of course, they have more in common than they'd admit!) I would love to know (but would be afraid to ask) Mr Farrell what he feels about how they left things, and how that might play into one or two odd reunions.

I've gone deep down a rabbit-hole of thinking about all of this in terms of BJ's issues (and Hawkeye's issues -- I say this over and over again, but was BJ wrong when he felt like he was Trapper's replacement, and to rage against the box he'd been put into that didn't really allow him his own personhood. On a meta sense, if Hawkeye knows they're in a haunted narrative, then BJ specifically is aware that he is Trapper's shadow and he doesn't like it! and I don't think it helped with everything else that was going on) and so the idea of fluffy mutually healing BJ and Hawkeye doesn't really gel with me, because they've hurt each other -- and BJ has really hurt Hawkeye, sometimes in very pointed, somewhat vindictive-seeming ways -- a lot!

But would BJ romanticize it in his head after he got back and real life there got hard to handle (as I imagine it will for him)? Would he smooth out the rough parts and -- who knows -- create outright lies to fix things (in which BJ Hunnicutt creates the ultimate AU) -- he and Hawkeye were the best of friends after all, and he says in their last scene that he doesn't know how he would have made it without him (I cannot go back and look at the wording, I cannot go back and look at that episode yet, I'm not strong enough!) so he's not wrong when he remembers just how important Hawkeye was to him.

The ways in which Hawkeye at times becomes a kind of stand-in for Peg (or, that is, the wife that BJ has in Korea -- I said this in another post, but I want to reiterate that I use "wife" deliberately, because I hc BJ veering wildly between acting with Hawkeye as his male best friend, and BJ treating Hawkeye like his put-upon spouse, because he's just... real fucked up about his actual wife, but then also at times they're a gay couple), versus the idea that Peg could start to be the butt of comparisons to Hawkeye?

I'd have to think about that one some more, now I've just written it. It depends on the Flavour of post-war fucked up BJ.

Anyway, Mike... Mike, care to go into detail about it not being the same? Do you think BJ will be able to live a life of benignly empty oppressive polite middle-class heterosexual suburbia after all of this? Would he just... carry on, living the dream (the dream here being used as in a literal sense that he builds the fantasy to cope)?

[thebreakfastgenie]

MASH AU where we get 8 seasons of Trapper and 3 seasons of BJ.

As a Trapper girl I would watch the hell out of that but like the MASH AU of my heart is 11 seasons of Trapper and 8 seasons of BJ. I know that wouldn't have happened but, like, they're supposed to have more than four surgeons anyway!!

I would really like to see Trapper get 8 seasons worth of development and I do prefer Wayne Rogers as an actor over Mike Farrell so I wouldn't be complaining.

I don't honestly think Trapper is inherently more interesting or complex or better-crafted than BJ (though I personally find him more interesting) but I think because in the MASH we got Trapper had 3 mostly-comedic seasons and BJ 8 seasons that veered toward drama, what we ended up with was Trapper having a lot of unexplored potential and more complexity than he gets credit for, while the writers got tapped out on BJ stories and struggled to find ways to make him interesting (Ken Levine confirmed this). It would be really interesting to see how that played out if the situations were reversed.

Also, are we talking seasons 1-3 BJ seasons 4-11 Trapper, or are we talking seasons 1-8 Trapper and seasons 9-11 BJ because those are very different things. I doubt BJ would be very popular if he joined in season 9 and I would be even more of a Trapper girl, but I also really like seasons 4-5 BJ and try to give new characters a chance, so I might actually like BJ more in that scenario than I do now because I wouldn't get frustrated with the later development.

[bardengarde]

If I were to steal Dr. Jim Wills from the Bonanza universe..... who would stop me

[mashbrainrot]

Ok so not because I actually want or believe it to be true, but I think there should be some Alan Alda and Mike Farrell rpf, because I’m a Pervert and I’m intrigued. I had to anonymously get this off my chest thank you for your time

Cannot begin to tell you how absolutely delighted I was to get this message. Genuinely made my evening.

Right from the very beginning of my time in this fandom, I (joined by the lovely @pomegranate) asked one key question: Where the FUCK is all the RPF?!

There should be SEVERAL stories out there somewhere, right? Have you guys SEEN the chemistry Alan Alda had with his two male costars? It was off the fucking chain, and for WHAT? For people to IGNORE it?

If there was any justice in this cold, dark world, there would be ship wars about this. Are you #TeamWaylan or #TeamFarralda? Personally, I'm a strong believer and follower of both. (In the past I have come out as more of a Waylan believer despite being a Beejhawker, but I don't think I stand by that anymore.)

It is, quite frankly, a disgrace that this is not more of a thing, and I have – alongside other brave warriors – been doing my part in spreading the Good Word as much as I can.... and it's out there you know! As far as I was aware, we were alone in this, and then ages ago there was a random twitter poll about RPS that had Farralda as an option and no one EVER came forward about who nominated it, so... clearly it is(?) kind of(?) a thing(?)...

Anyway, we have a saying where I'm from... Farralda real. You'd be surprised how often that phrase can naturally come up in polite conversation. Join us. Pspspspspspsp.

[majorbaby]

you know i will never give random old straight white men more credit than they deserve for doing the bare minimum but mike farrell was very publicly organizing around preventing ballot measures that would have banned gay teachers from working in california and raising money for union workers in 1978 and the earliest gay rights-specific organizing i can find of his is mid-seventies like. that is legitimately significant

in other news, mike farrell has a new book out about his long time organizing and activism work (sorry for the am*zon link); i'm curious (with my normal amount of cautious skepticism when it comes to "allyship") of to read it and learn more about his perspectives on it all!

!!!! i couldnt validate it personally but i had read somewhere that in general he is a friend to workers + very active in his own union and i heard he had a new book out but i didn't know what it was about, so thank you for sharing these sources!

ikwym sometimes it's hard to think of these things in context but something that stayed with me personally was reading about how he was called "queerbait" as a homophobic insult and came out of that experience to later leverage his platform in support of the lgbtq community

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

ugh.

so that person who screenshotted my thing now has like. Half their posts (at least since then) clowning on me and other people like me so for the record

the issue isn’t headcanons or having fun. Those are great. The issue is that the majority of people are repeatedly going out of their way to ignore everything canon (which like. Why are you watching the show if you don’t enjoy what’s there. Adding is fine but why are you straight up replacing) make their headcanons and then criticize and harass anyone who just talks about the text of the show! And then says their view is canon!

I don’t even disagree with their beliefs all I said was while he’s likely attracted to men he’s def for sure attracted to women because he was interested in other women than his wife!

This happened to when I expressed displeasure at 90% of the fandom not knowing that walking across country to see Hawkeye again was about him fulfilling the promise to see each other in goodbye farewell amen and that it would’ve not been as wonderful as they thought (Mike Farrells words! Not mine!) because all anyone talked about was how gay it was. Like 90% of people shouldn’t have to actively be kept on the dark to make your specific idea for how to ship it (Not even shipping it at all! Just using that specific thing to do it that is canonically about them falling out of touch! Why would you want that as your gay rep!) work.

like is it really that hard to not directly contradict canon and then whole heartedly say “no this is real in show stuff and to disagree is homophobic” (again! Not even saying he can’t like men or fuck them silly or anything! Just to stop erasing canonical stuff for it!) and to maybe use the word bi instead of gay. Is me being frustrated that the only kind of queer that counts to people is gay upsetting to you and wrong of me? Or is it alright to go let’s not erase canon attraction and let this guy still be into men.

Or even to realize I’m talking about text and meta stuff and go “oh it’s not playing silly right now like it sometimes does” and then just ignore me? I talk about bi repressed Bj sometimes, but you guys make it really hard to keep doing it because the community is making me sick. My issue isn’t queer readings or smashing characters together like dolls to kiss, it’s going “no I am serious and correct about this stuff and will harass people over not erasing 50% of the originals themes motifs and meanings to further support this idea they already might believe in five specific spots.” That’s the issue. That’s my problem. It’s embarrassing to be around that and say I agree with anything those people say. It’s hard to look for content knowing half of it will be out of character on PURPOSE.

I’m sorry that I came to the dramedy about traumatized war doctors for the drama of traumatized war doctors instead of for the shipping culture and that I know reading things with a queer lens doesn’t mean forcing things into a hole that doesn’t fit and shaving half of the substance away to jam it in but is instead looking at the existing text and going “oh this as is can be read as queer”

like guys. I’m so tired. Maybe just think for two seconds before responding on if this is a serious post on my love for a show and my frustration with the disservice done to it or if this is a place to try and debate with me (who already shipped hunnihawk) on the merits of your ship (which I wasn’t attacking and said multiple times I ship.)

[seefasters]

Regina spektor anon back at it again: the bj stuff w period of adjustment made me fucking crazy. The jealousy stuff, the jealousy stuff!! i had been so appalled and fascinated by how angry and dismissive bj was being about his own struggles in relation to others'. The stuff where he directly frames his absence from his family as uniquely worse than hawkeye's father. That seemed so unconscionably cruel. (Yet there is a way that he is a little bit right, cus he *is* missing crucial developmental stages in his daughter's life!!! He's very much in the wrong, but he is *just* right enough for u to get where he's coming from) Even more jarring was how physically volatile bj was being- something about punching hawkeye felt like such a crossed line. to me it felt like: theres no world where hawkeye punches back. He just lies there. It took really good, careful writing/acting to make someone behave as out of line as bj did and still come off as sympathetic. Mike Farrell really killed it, the monologue about how the first time erin called someone daddy it wasnt BJ.....

i rlly love bj, hes not necessarily my favorite character (Margaret Houlihan Nation rise), but he is probs the one i relate to the most. Hes an overachiever who is interpersonally easygoing and very invested in being *helpful* and behaving with integrity so he very capably plays emotional support while deferring his own needs perpetually. And he struggles a lot with envy, with an anxiety regarding missing out and running out of time. That line about being "so torn up with envy i almost hate him." re: radar and trapper slapped me in the face cus its a feeling i am so familiar with.

All of that repressed resentment and rage bubbles over in such a potently ugly way here, and i think it is so ugly *because* bj is usually such an easygoing yet morally upright guy. He is so invested in that version of himself that he refuses to deal with his own anger. Hawkeye, Margaret, and BJ are all Very repressed workaholics but in wildly different ways. Margaret allows herself to be snappish, overdisciplined, and aggressive. hawkeye turns everything into a joke and capitulates to bitter, cynical nihilism. BJ is too invested in his self image of casual kindness and morality to do either so consequently he has no outlet whatsoever- he just unexpectly explodes with rage every so often.

Also i was sort of curious about what you thought of this in relation to trapper actually. Like how bj differs as a friend to hawkeye, especially in this instance. Cus if i remember correctly trapper punched hawkeye in the face and it was sort of over the same thing! Trapper wanted to defect and a reason he gave is that he wanted to see his daughters. And that punch in the face was also harrowing, but the episodes/scenes in questjon play v differently while relating to eachother in fascinating ways. (Again heres an instance of hawkeyes closest companion visiting physical violence on him- violence that i dont think hawk would ever reciprocate)

I was curious of your thoughts.

hiiii!!

the trapper situation is slightly different in that a) he hits him with a duffel bag, not with his fist. still bad but probably hurts less and b) hawkeye does try to stop him and warns that he "doesn't want to use violence" which is like. he probably shouldve seen that coming. but tbh to me the trapper situation being played mostly for laughs and then dropped is just by virtue of it being in an early season. 1-3 had drama, but not like That. maybe if wayne rogers had stayed he'd get his own period of adjustment

in-universe though, i think that hawkeye was hit (and literally shoved aside) by both of his best friends because they wanted to return home that badly must've stung. because - yes, everyone wants to go home - but at some point its like is it the war or is it me lol. the man has enough abandonment issues as it is

i totally agree with your bj analysis! yes, bj is being a dick, but he's being a dick in such a natural way in this situation. it is so easy to forget that other people are suffering too when you're this disconnected from everything you've known

i think the core difference between hawkeye, margaret and bj is that margaret was born in the army and doesn't really have a civilian life to get back to, and hawkeye admitted to himself a long time ago that the war changed him and he's never going to be able to wash that off. but bj clings to his civilian life more than anyone in the 4077th (except maybe klinger - but he has different ways of showing it) and he refuses to even consider that the war could change him or his life. so when reality inevitably comes crashing down, he lashes out at people around him