In the fifth season of MASH, an episode arrived that would forever change the way fans viewed Major Margaret Houlihan. The MASH episode ‘The Nurses’ (S5, E6) is an important and rare departure for a series that typically relegated its nursing staff to the background. While the show was often criticized for its generic treatment of nurses, this half-hour proved that even within the rigid military hierarchy of the 4077th, there were stories of friendship, frustration, and growth waiting to be told.
🎭 A Rare Moment of Character Depth
For most of the series, the nurses were treated as a monolithic group. They were the “generic” background presence that kept the camp running, but rarely had a voice. While the doctors were given complex backstories, the nurses were often shuffled through revolving names like Nurse Able and Nurse Baker. This episode finally breaks that pattern, forcing the audience to see the camp through the eyes of the women who lived in the tents, rather than just as surgical assistants or romantic interests.
“The Nurses” (Season 5, Episode 6) Is should have happened more often: For 25 minutes, the show stops focusing on the surgeons’ antics and forces the audience to see the camp through the eyes of the women who truly kept things running. It’s a rare look at their frustrations, their personal lives, and the rigid military hierarchy that often pitted them against their own superior, Major Margaret Houlihan.
The episode revolves around a high-stakes conflict between Houlihan and Lt. Mickey Baker (played by Linda Kelsey). In a rare move for the series, this ‘Nurse Baker’ is given a first name and a complex personal life. The plot kicks off when Margaret is forced to sleep in the nurse’s tent because the doctors have staged a fake plague quarantine for Baker’s husband in Margaret’s own quarters.
Even before this “quarantine” problem, Margaret is already on the warpath. She is especially upset with Nurse Baker, whom she had confined to quarters. Baker, meanwhile, was never able to have a honeymoon with her husband and is heartsick and angry, knowing she can’t see him. With the help of Hawkeye, BJ, and others, she sneaks out of the nurse’s tent to see her husband in the VIP tent, played by Gregory Harrison. Harrison would go on to appear in the MASH “spinoff” Trapper John, M.D., as Dr. George Alonzo ‘Gonzo’ Gates.
Houlihan catches Baker coming back and decides to “throw the book at her.” She later reconciles with the nurses who discover that she is secretly hurt by the way they have treated her. Not only does Margaret not press charges against Baker, but she hides the truth of what had occurred from Col. Potter, telling him it was a personal matter between her and her nurses.
💬 “Did You Ever Ask Me?”
The turning point occurs when the nurses confront Margaret about her relentless discipline. In a rare moment of raw honesty, Margaret fires back:
Margaret: “Did you ever once show me any friendship? Any help? Did you ever offer me a cup of coffee? Invite me into your ‘clique’ so I could get to know you?”
Nurse Walsh: “You’re the superior officer! We’re supposed to keep our distance!”
Margaret: “I’m a woman first! And I was a nurse before I was a Major. I’ve been lonely and I’ve been hurt… but did any of you ever ask me how I felt? No. You just sat in here and whispered behind my back.”
The Margaret Houlihan Mirror: An Illusion of Depth
While this entire episode seems to be about the nurses, it is an important point in the development of Major Margaret Houlihan’s character. The Nurses are simply there to illustrate Margaret’s evolution. Nurse Baker would subsequently be played by other actors, with no first name being referenced. In fact, none of the actors who appeared in this episode as nurses would ever appear again.
One of the actors in The Nurses is given a regular name, Mary Jo Walsh. This character was played by Mary Jo Catlett. It was not unusual for the real first names of actors to be used. This doesn’t mean they are getting special treatment. Catless had appeared before playing nurse Becky Anderson, a visiting nurse. Beyond this, most of the nurses in the episode are not even identified, and it seems that Mary Jo, named conveniently after the actor, is only given an identity because she has a lot of dialogue.
The Nurses Episode: Problems Upon Problems
This episode may be the most criticized episode on MASH, and for good reason. It’s full of plot holes, like why don’t the doctors use the VIP tent like they always have in the past for quarantines? And, why does Margaret behave basically like a child, accusing the nurses of treating her like the enemy when she has been consistently cruel to them? While I find the scene powerful and I think Loretta Swit’s performance was beautiful, I share these criticisms.
💔 More on Margaret’s Evolution
The vulnerability Margaret shows in the nurses’ tent wasn’t a one-time event. Her struggle to balance her military rank with her personal needs eventually culminated in her shifting dynamic with Hawkeye Pierce.
Did Hawkeye and Margaret ever have a real relationship? We dive into the chemistry, the “Comrades in Arms” episode, and why their bond was the most complex in the camp.
The Permanent Shadow of the “Generic” Nurse
I think that the purpose of “The Nurses” was to show that Margaret was a flawed leader, but that it “goes both ways.” From a military perspective, and even a human one, this falls flat. It certainly does not “go both ways.” The military operates from the top down. The discipline and morale of the troops depend on the leadership.
Yes, there are many problems with this episode, including the plot holes. But the biggest one, for me, is not only a problem for this particular episode; it is a systemic problem for the series as a whole. While “The Nurses” gives these women a brief moment of humanity, the show’s status quo immediately resets. By the next episode, the depth we saw in Lt. Mickey Baker or Nurse Walsh is gone, replaced once again by the monolithic “background wallpaper” of anonymous staff.
The real shame is that MASH proved it could write the nurses as complex, feeling human beings with their own internal lives, but it simply chose not to. Instead, it stayed comfortable with a revolving door of actresses who were treated more like set dressing than soldiers. This episode is an interesting “what if” that highlights just how much the show missed by keeping its nursing staff in the shadows. Yet, we can’t ignore that Margaret was forever changed, marking the most startling evolution of all the main characters.