The Sniper (M*A*S*H)

"The Sniper" is the 34th episode of the M*A*S*H television series, and tenth of season two. The episode aired on November 17, 1973.

Plot

Hawkeye's picnic date with new nurse Lieutenant Marquette is interrupted by gunshots, which Hawkeye believes to be from Frank Burns, testing his new pistol, but as he and Margaret insist he has yet to fire a shot, the gunshots continue, confirming they are coming from a sniper. The four head back to the camp, where everyone but Radar and Blake, who are both in the showers shelters in the main hospital building, eventually managing to treat casualties which soon arrive.

Help from headquarters is not immediately forthcoming, and Frank's attempts to be "a real man" (encouraged by Margaret) leads him and Hawkeye to ambush a figure in the mess tent, who turns out to be Radar, desperate for food. It's not until the following day that outside help arrives, in the form of a US army helicopter firing shots at the sniper. Hawkeye operates on the sniper, and reports to the Swampmen that the sniper targeted the camp in the belief that he was firing on MacArthur's headquarters.

Notes

Frank Burns discusses his medical training with Hawkeye, noting it took him "twice as long" as the usual time to qualify, and that he "flunked out of two med schools". While this departs from the background of the character of Frank Burns from the novel and the movie, it nonetheless echoes the non-standard medical training of these previous incarnations of the character.

This episode also contains the only instance of onscreen nudity in the television series—a brief glimpse of Gary Burghoff's buttocks as Radar runs into the shower tent to escape from the sniper fire and his towel slips.

External links

• "The Sniper" at the Internet Movie Database