User Reviews

Whenever I watch an actor directing himself, I'm fascinated how it pans out. Harry Morgan doesn't disappoint in this episode where Hawkeye is facing a court martial because of mutiny against Frank. I thought the scene of Frank's version of being a true commander was hilarious.

I actually like this episode and thought Harry Morgan did a good job as director. However, it also highlights something that I always found troublesome about the series. In the earlier seasons, Frank Burns was represented, at different times, as a "good" surgeon, "competent" surgeon and "fair" surgeon; and it was his PERSONALITY that was annoying, irksome, something to be made fun of. As the series progressed, more and more it was his surgical skills, or more accurately, his LACK of surgical skills that was the basis for the other doctors' (especially Hawkeye's) dislike of Burns. This is highlighted especially in this episode during Hawkeye's explanation of the events of October 11, showing Burns' total incompetence during triage, as well as when Burns asked the JAG overseeing the court martial what the records said about his surgical skills, only to have the JAG reply that if Burns hadn't been drafted as a doctor, he would've been assigned as a pastry chef. This implies that Burns' record is full of surgical mistakes, foul ups, malpractice, etc... . If Burns was really this incompetent, it would've been criminally negligent to have him operating on wounded soldiers, and Hawkeye, BJ, Potter and (before them) Blake and McIntyre, would be just as culpable/responsible for any soldiers'...less than positive...results after allowing them to being operated on by Burns. In fact, they would be even more responsible, as Burns thought he was a great surgeon, while they knew the truth.