They began as pure antagonists. Hawkeye, the anti-authority, irreverent prankster, and Margaret, the by-the-books head nurse who valued military discipline. Both grew as characters, and their relationship grew into one of the most complex and debated ones in TV history. You may remember an episode of MASH where Hawkeye and Margaret fall into each other’s arms. They kiss and embrace, and then we are left to imagine what else they do. This occurred in Season 6, Episode 13, called Comrades in Arms. The story continues in Part II, Episode 14. Did they actually have sex? Do they get together? Did Hawkeye and Margaret ever have a real relationship?
First, I’ll provide an in-depth synopsis of the two-part episode, Comrades in Arms, where Hawkeye and Margaret are intimate with each other. Then, I’ll answer the burning question that many fans are confused about.
MASH Season 6, Episode 13 – Comrades in Arms Part 1
The episode begins with Hawkeye and B.J. in the shower, as Charles says, “singing two entirely different operas and both of them out of tune.” Colonel Potter walks in and says he needs a volunteer for a “business trip.”
Potter tells Hawkeye, B.J., and Charles that the 8063 MASH is “all agog over our arterial transplant technique.” He explains that the CO (commanding officer) wants him to send his best surgeon over to demonstrate the technique. Charles, of course, assumes Potter wants him to go, but in fact he wants Hawkeye to go, since “he’s done dozens of them.”
Margaret then pounds on the door of the shower tent, impatient for them to be done showering. It transpires that Margaret volunteers to go along with Hawkeye to the 8063, despite Pierce’s efforts to pick his own nurse. They are to leave in the morning at 0800 (8 AM). Just before they leave, Margaret gets a letter from Donald Penobscott, and something about the letter makes her very upset.
They bring along supplies, including canned peaches, to trade for penicillin once they arrive. The jeep thus loaded, they set out. Margaret is in a terrible mood and even more short-tempered than usual. She berates Hawkeye, who is driving, all along the way, and is completely intolerant of his jokes.
There’s Shelling On the Road
As they make their way, shells start exploding on the road in front of them. Pierce tries to back up and turn around, but Margaret convinces him to keep driving forward. The shelling continues, but Hawkeye speeds forward at Margaret’s insistence.
Meanwhile, back home, Klinger finds out on the radio that the 8063 has been forced to bug out (mobilize and move the camp), as the North Koreans had invaded the area and were “practically in their chow line.”
Caught Behind Enemy Lines
Hawkeye and Margaret arrive at what’s left of the 8063rd camp and realize that they must be behind enemy lines. They leave quickly in the jeep, and a shell explodes just in front of the vehicle. Hawkeye pulls onto an alternate road to get away from the shelling while Margaret continues to complain about his choices. Then the jeep makes a bad noise that Margaret mistakes for artillery. Unfortunately, the jeep breaks down. Hawkeye, with no mechanical ability, cannot fix it, although he gives it a good kick. Margaret insults his manhood, but then kicks the jeep herself.
The Jeep Breaks Down and They Are Forced to Abandon It
They then hear voices and realize a group of North Koreans is coming. They hide in the bushes, and the North Korean soldiers find the jeep, get it started easily, and drive off in it. Hawkeye and Margaret walk off, find an abandoned hut, and decide to take refuge in it.
A wounded Korean soldier is lying outside the hut. Hawkeye tries to help him but arrives too late, finding the soldier already dead. The shelling begins again, very near the hut, raining debris on Hawkeye as he shields Margaret with his body. A piece of wood gets stuck in Hawkeye’s leg in the process. Margaret removes the wood, but Hawkeye finds it difficult to use his leg.
Margaret Talks About the Letter From Donald
Afterward, the shelling having stopped, Margaret apologizes for insisting he keep going forward during the shelling. He doesn’t let her off the hook and asks her what’s eating her. Perhaps it is the letter she received from her husband, Donald Penobscott.
Hawkeye then pulls out a bottle of Japanese Scotch he had brought along. They share the scotch, and Margaret confides in Pierce that Donald had accidentally sent her a letter meant for another woman named Darlene. The letter talks about how Donald can “still see the moonlight splashing on her shoulders and hear the gentle woosh, woosh, woosh of the waves” at the beach. Meanwhile, says Margaret, his last letter to her dealt entirely with a “self-loading semi-automatic submachine gun.”
In the letter, Donald describes Margaret as “competent and a hard worker,” saying “she’ll make an excellent hostess” and that she is “all in all, a sturdy woman.” Hawkeye attempts to comfort her, but she closes up again and insists that she’s alright and nothing can touch her. After Margaret, despite her insistence on being fine, drinks most of the Scotch, they settle down for the night and go to sleep.
Shelling Begins Near the Hut Again
In the night, the shelling begins again, and Margaret awakes screaming for the bombing to stop. Hawkeye startles awake, yelling, and crawls to her on his wounded leg while she continues to rant. He covers her with her jacket and holds her. She says, “I don’t like being afraid, it scares me.” He replies, “Me too, I’d be a lot braver if I weren’t so scared.” She asks him to hold her, which he already is. She repeats, “Hold me” while he tells her he is holding her, and the shelling gets closer, causing more debris to fall. Hawkeye becomes more upset, yelling, and as their faces rub against one another, they look at each other and begin kissing.
Comrades In Arms Part 2 (Season 6, Episode 14)
And that is how Hawkeye and Margaret “fall into each other’s arms.” Afterward, in Comrades in Arms Part 2, Margaret assumes they are now in a long-term relationship and seems to think that this all makes sense and was somehow meant to be. She talks about how she has always stolen glances at him and how she would secretly be grinning ear to ear when he “good a good one off” on Frank.
She then tries to get him to admit his true feelings for her, and Hawkeye, nervous and confused, tells her that he has always found her attractive and yes, he had thought about what it would be like (for them to be together). Thus begins an awkward situation where Margaret thinks they are now together while Hawkeye is like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what to do.
Meanwhile, the 4077 is worried about Hawkeye and Margaret being missing, and B.J. enlists the help of a chopper pilot to search for them. The pilot has been ordered to stay on the ground but B.J. convinces him.
A North Korean Soldier Appears
After breakfast, Margaret hears someone outside the hut. It turns out to be a North Korean soldier looking for food. The soldier is played by Johnny Yune, one of the few actual Korean actors who worked on MASH. After checking the dead Korean soldier outside the hut for whatever he can scavange, but finding nothing, he heads for the hut. Hawkeye and Margaret hastily hide under a rug. The soldier walks in and finds a bite of food that the two had left on a table. He then realizes someone is hiding under the rug. Before he can reach them, however, he passes out, having been gravely injured and presumably starving and dehydrated. Hawkeye finds that he has a belly wound.
Margaret Hears a Helicopter
While Hawkeye attempts to help the soldier, Margaret hears an approaching helicopter and yells excitedly that they have been saved. She runs outside to try to get the attention of the chopper, waving and yelling. B.J. and the pilot are in the chopper looking for their lost friends, but they do not see anything, including Margaret. Then, Klinger calls on the radio, and Potter takes over while B.J. and the pilot ignore the calls, pretending that the “radio is broken for another five minutes.”
Potter tells them they are going to be in big trouble, but then B.J. sees the jeep that had been taken by the North Korean soldiers, who are still with it. The jeep is easily recognizable by the big red cross painted on the hood. When the soldiers see the helicopter circling overhead, they take their rifles and begin firing at it, forcing B.J. and the pilot to retreat.
They Leave the Hut
Margaret hears the shooting and sees the helicopter leaving, so she rushes back in and frantically tells Hawkeye they need to leave quickly. Hawkeye wants to take the wounded soldier with them, but his leg still barely works. Margaret convinces him to leave without the man, saying the North Korean soldiers will find him.
While they leave the hut, the chopper arrives back at camp, and B.J. tells Potter that they think they spotted them. Potter asks the pilot if he knows the coordinates, and he says, “Yeah, I got ’em.” The colonel informs them that the North Koreans are backing off, and the 8063 can send out a search party.
Margaret is in Full Romance Mode
We next see Hawkeye and Margaret after night has fallen and it’s pouring rain. Hawkeye is studying a map while the two are trying to keep dry under a tree with a single raincoat over their heads. Margaret is in full “relationship mode.” She begins telling Hawkeye that she wants to get him a new shirt, instead of his Hawaiian shirt, which he is wearing. He makes a joke about it, and she tells him that he doesn’t have to make a joke about everything, smiling. Hawkeye replies, “Just about most things.” Margaret, still happily smiling, says, “I’ll have you in tow soon.” She nuzzles him and asks, “Don’t you ever shave?” “Just my legs,” answers Hawkeye.
Margaret continues talking romantically, telling him that all the time they were insulting each other, she often wondered what it would be like to be close to him. She asks if he wondered, too. She is once again trying to get him to talk about his “true feelings” for her. Hawkeye admits that he did, but it is obvious that he is uncomfortable with the situation, although Margaret seems oblivious to this.
Margaret then takes it even further, saying, “I guess we have a problem.” Hawkeye replies, “We do?” “What are we gonna tell Donald?” asks Margaret. “Tell Donald?” stutters Hawkeye. “What are we going to tell Donald? About what?” “About us,” answers Margaret. “About what happened.”
Hawkeye says the worst thing possible in response: “Well, what do you usually tell him?” Margaret does not respond well to this, but while she is yelling, Hawkeye hears a twig snap. He tries to get her to be quiet, fearing the worst. Margaret is in full Margaret-mode at this point, however.
Rescued!
A soldier finds them hiding behind a bush. The soldier is Asian, but he turns out to be an American from the 8063. “You must be pretty glad to see us,” he says. Hawkeye expresses how glad he is a bit too much for Margaret’s liking. She yells at him to stop laughing. He says, “Margaret, it’s over!” “No, it isn’t! Not by a long shot, buster!” she yells in reply.
Tension and Argument at the 8063
Back at the 8063, Hawkeye and Margaret demonstrate an arterial transplant for the surgical staff there. There is a great deal of tension between them, and Margaret keeps slamming the instruments into Hawkeye’s hand, and the two make comments clearly aimed at each other.
After the operation, they confront each other in another room:
Hawkeye: “What the hell is the matter with you?”
Margaret: “Not a thing, Captain. What’s eating you?”
Hawkeye: “I’ll tell you what’s eating me. You’re driving me crazy! We got along a lot better until we started to get along so well. Now, all of a sudden, you’re the queen and I’m the mirror mirror on the wall!”
Margaret: Is that so?
Hawkeye: “If I had to tell ya you were beautiful one more time, I was gonna put it on a record.”
Margaret: “Are you trying to say I’m vain?”
Hawkeye: “Who? Me?
Margaret: “And demanding I suppose.”
Hawkeye: “Look, I don’t mind, but all that genuflecting is making my pants baggy!”
Margaret: “Let me tell you something, buster. Sir Walter Raleigh, you ain’t! You think you’re not demanding? You think it isn’t vain to expect me to laugh at every stupid thing that comes into your head? And the sloppiness! The crudity!
Hawkeye: “And stop trying to improve me! Just leave me the way I am!”
Margaret: “Gladly!”
Before this argument is over, Hawkeye insists that they keep it out of the operating room and remain professional. Margaret tells him she’s a professional, and when they get back to the 4077, no one will have the slightest idea they’ve had even the mildest disagreement.
Back Home at the 4077
They arrive back home and are greeted happily by everyone, and a celebration ensues in the mess tent over their being home safe. Hawkeye is a bit too enthusiastic in telling everyone how glad he was they found them: “Oh, boy, am I glad you found us. You really saved my life!” Margaret, catching his drift, gives him a mighty slap on the face.
Later, Hawkeye visits Margaret, after confiding in B.J., and the two have a heart-to-heart, working things out and agreeing to be friends.
What Happens After?
In subsequent episodes and for the remainder of the series, what happened between Hawkeye and Margaret is not addressed again. The two are better friends, but they still have their salty moments. Margaret mentions their fleeting relationship once, regarding a list of men she’s been with, but it’s only a passing reference.
Did Hawkeye and Margaret Have Sex?
Much speculation has occurred about what happened in the hut between Hawkeye and Margaret, besides kissing and hugging. Did they have sex? Are we supposed to assume they did? Or, are we supposed to wonder? The answer is: They had sex. First, despite the raunchy sexualism of the novel and film, the MASH TV series never once showed sex. It only ever showed “making out” or hugging and kissing. It was never a question whether sex was occurring because this was more than suggested by the dialogue that often occurred in the show concerning dates and liaisons. We can, then, assume that the same is true here. Margaret and Hawkeye did indeed go all the way.
However, we don’t have to assume. Larry Gelbart himself once stated, on the alt.tv.mash newsgroup, that in Comrades in Arms, Hawkeye and Margaret had sex. While this was long after filming and Gelbart may have misremembered the intention of the script written by Alan Alda, it seems unlikely that he did, as Margaret’s subsequent behavior, including her behavior when the two first wake up in the morning, certainly implies that a lot more happened than kissing and embracing. She seemed to think that their relationship had been cemented. She would surely not have been so convinced that they were together if all they had done was kiss.
Some Episode Notes and Facts
- All the nurses are waiting outside the shower as Hawkeye and B.J. take their showers. Usually, the nurses have their own shower, but sometimes it is conveniently portrayed as if they do not. The availability of consistent showers and plenty of water is not historically correct, but it worked well for comedic elements of the show.
- The jeep that Hawkeye and Margaret take has a big red cross painted on the hood. This was not a usual feature of MASH 4077 jeeps.
- Hawkeye performs an arterial transplant, presumably replacing a very large artery with another section of artery, as often portrayed in the show. More often, arterial transplants were done on arms or perhaps legs (arms were more successful), and a large vein was taken from the thigh to replace a section of artery. This was also depicted on the show. Some arteries, such as the aorta, are too large to be replaced even by the largest section of vein. It would be more likely to demonstrate the more common operation, with a section of vein.
- It is unlikely that one MASH unit would make a show of requesting the demonstration of an arterial transplant from another unit, as these operations were forbidden by Army Medical Command. They were often done without being noted in the charts. As well, different MASH units were experimenting with and performing arterial transplants independently. If this episode takes place at a time when these operations were officially permitted, then it would be set sometime in 1952.
- MASH units were very far apart during the Korean war, so a jeep ride from one MASH to another would have been a long a perhaps very dangerous drive. The drive in this episode was certainly dangerous, but quite short.
