Ep 7. Your Retention Please

In M*A*S*H season 9 episode 7 titled "Your Retention Please," the staff at the 4077th face the prospect of losing some of their own to reassignment. The episode highlights the importance of retaining skilled and experienced medic personnel during wartime, even when the strain of long hours, close quarters, and uncertain conditions can make such retention difficult.

Over the course of the episode, the characters struggle with the possibility that some of them may be reassigned to different units or sent home entirely. Hawkeye (played by Alan Alda) and BJ (Mike Farrell) work to boost morale among the staff by organizing a party and rallying their colleagues to lobby for retention. Meanwhile, various members of the team express their personal fears and anxieties about the potential changes that may lie ahead.

The episode explores the theme of loyalty, both to one's colleagues and to the military institution as a whole. Some of the characters express frustration at the arbitrary nature of reassignments and the challenges of emotional attachment in a war zone, while others insist that duty to the mission must come before personal sentiment. In the end, the staff are forced to navigate the difficult balance between the need for stability and the realities of military life.

As always, M*A*S*H manages to blend humor and drama in equal measure, using witty banter and well-timed one-liners to lighten the mood even as it grapples with weighty issues. The episode features standout performances from Alda and Farrell, as well as strong supporting work from the rest of the ensemble cast. While it is not one of the most memorable episodes in the series, "Your Retention Please" is still a solid installment that highlights some of the key themes and tensions that define M*A*S*H as a show.