M*A*S*H (TV Series) Period of Adjustment (1979) User Reviews

BJ, Klinger and Radar too

[safenoe · 8/10 · 9 October 2020]

Radar's presence is felt in this episode, and it overshadows BJ's relationship with Erin, and Klinger's job as company clerk. I'm surprised BJ and Klinger didn't abduct Radar's teddy bear.

Mike Farrell should have won an Emmy award for his gut-wrenching performance. He even mentions Trapper in his emotional speech to wrap up the episode.

Klinger and Hunnicutt on the Loose

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 14 April 2015]

Once again, B.J. goes into his sad sack stage when he gets a letter from his wife, saying that Radar met her and their little girl mistook him for her daddy. Meanwhile, Klinger has been given the job vacated by the little corporal and he is having a terrible time. In anger, Hunnicutt knocks Hawkeye unconscious, destroys the still, and rushes out the door of the swamp. He finds an ally in the persecuted clerk. The episode involves the two of them going on a binge and being sought out by Potter and the others. Once again, the amount of drinking that is used for humor doesn't wash with me. I ask the question again: "If there are only a handful of surgeons, how can these guys be hammered so much of the time?" Had there been casualties, it would have been devastating. I know it's only a television show, but some sense of order needs to be there.

Touching and truthful. War is hell and loads of sacrifice.

[garp-02621 · 10/10 · 5 March 2024]

Such an amazing episode that highlights what I imagine people serving their country especially during war and have to leave their spouses and children.

The speech at the end by BJ is heartbreaking. He truly captured the feeling of loss that a war takes away. The moments, the days, the years you can never get back, lost forever. The damness and evil of War. Its not that I dont appreciate and respect the sacrifice these men and women make that we should thank them every day but there is a certain amount of unfairness.

Anyway Mike farrell gives an amazing performance. I also love the reference to Trapper. It was fitting in that moment to include him.

Waking Up To Reality!!

[ellisel · 10/10 · 27 February 2007]

The opening clip of "Period Of Adjustment" had colonel Potter speaking to I-Corps about Corporal Klinger's job as company clerk. Colonel Potter threw up his papers and files in frustration. He had surly word about Klinger's incompetency in his new role. Colonel Potter would threatened Corporal Klinger with a potato peeler for the duration of the war. Major Houlihan would later tell Corporal Klinger about the missing requisition forms concerning two new nurses at the 4077th. From there, all the mail was delivered to everyone in "The Swamp" about "Radar" O'Reilly's visit with Peg and Erin Hunnicutt at the San Francisco International Airport -- for which he would subsequently head to Ottumwa, Iowa for his Uncle Ed's funeral. The surgeons acted coldly about the greeting in the letter.

Major Houlihan told Corporal Klinger that his appetite was the only thing he did not lose as company clerk. Captain Hunnicutt told everyone -- in the mess tent -- that Radar was better off dead; better off with his family; better off than everyone at the 4077th. Captain Hunnicutt started acting angry about missing his wife and his little girl -- while in conversation with Captain Pierce -- in "The Swamp." He started getting drunk to the point where he would eventually destroy his martini glass, the concoction, and slug Captain Pierce in his left eye. Eventually, Klinger and Hunnicutt would become drunk at Rosie's Bar; then in Colonel Potter's Office. Colonel Potter and Major Houlihan would tell them they were a pathetic pair for their display of inebriate behavior.

Colonel Potter would eventually help Corporal Klinger assume new responsibilities as company clerk with some assistance and direction. Captain Pierce would see Captain Hunnicutt in a drunken stupor. He would tell Captain Pierce that he was sorry for his amoral conduct with his buddies. He would later tell Hawkeye -- in a weeping motion towards the end of the episode -- that Erin's lifetime would not come again in his conversation ... within his own family. A Definite "A!!"