Ep 4. Father's Day

In the penultimate season of M*A*S*H, we have episode 4 titled Father's Day. This heartwarming episode delves in the emotions surrounding father's day, with different characters struggling to cope with the day.

Colonel Potter is the center of the episode, receiving a package from his daughter with a 'Happy Father's Day' message. He gets emotional, and the whole camp tries to cheer him up, starting with Radar giving him a special gift of a picture of his family.

Meanwhile, Klinger, running the motor pool, is met with a surprise when his own father, who he hasn't seen in years, shows up, pre-empting his visit and sending Klinger into a state of confusion. His father is full of old stories and wants to make amends with his son, but Klinger is just too overcome with emotions to deal with it.

Lastly, we have B.J., dealing with Father's Day for the first time since the birth of his daughter. He tries to make the most of it by recording a message to his daughter. He also relates to Col. Potter's emotions regarding the day and tries to help him.

The episode revolves around the interactions of these three characters, all in different stages of fatherhood. Potter is an older man nearing the end of his military career, while Klinger is a younger man who has recently become a father and has issues with his own dad. B.J. is somewhat in the middle, dealing with the struggles of raising a child while not being able to see her due to his work commitments.

The episode's strength is the way it deals with the complex emotions behind fertility and fatherhood; it takes a lighter approach to the serious topics, making it easier to watch while still conveying the important message adequately.

In terms of the presence of humor, we see the usual amusing scenes involving the cast, particularly the banter between Hawkeye and B.J. There is also a prank war between Klinger and Mundane, with the two taking turns trying to get one over the other.

Despite this, the underlying theme is a bit more complicated. Father's Day is a tricky topic to cover, with a lot of emotions running high. The show manages to tackle this without being too heavy-handed, allowing the audience to reflect on their own experiences of fatherhood and the relationships they've had with their own fathers.

Overall, M*A*S*H season 9 episode 4 makes for a heartfelt and entertaining watch. Though it deals with serious topics like fatherhood and relationships, the episode never veers too far into soap opera territory, and the humor is well-timed and balanced. While it may not be the most memorable episode of the series, it manages to deliver a satisfying story within the show's familiar confines.