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Well, I just finished watching the M*A*S*H Season 3 finale. ("Abyssinia, Henry" wink I had read the plot for this episode before watching it, I knew Henry was going to die at the end of the episode, but it's still really emotional. Here are my thoughts:

This episode is probably one of the most important in the series. My friend said that she cried when she first watched it (of course, she never read spoilers for the episode, and thus DIDN'T know about its shocking ending). I think this episode is one that just picks up a piece of "this is war" reality and slaps you in the face with it... hard. Good guys die, and sometimes they're the ones closest to you. The way we find out about it is also an important lesson- unlike in many movies, you aren't always there to see it when it happens. Sometimes, "Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane... was shot down over the Sea of Japan... it spun in... there were no survivors..." is all you get.

It takes a while to soak in, also. You stay in shock as Radar delivers his line, maybe tear up a little as his voice breaks. Over the commercial break, you start thinking, and then during the final scene with all those clips - memories - it really starts to hit you. I think I'm going to be down for a little while... Or perhaps just very deep in thought.


"...there were no survivors..."