Active hostilities in the Korean War lasted three years, and M*A*S*H catches up with that duration in this, the third season. The show is far from over, though - two advantages that fictionalised wars have over real ones are:
- not ending until it is narratively convenient to do so; and
- they kill much fewer people
I'm not going to use this review to re-hash the basic premise of M*A*S*H. You can check out either of the previous seasons for that. Instead let's talk a little about how the show is evolving.
Some of those evolutions are more obvious than others: it's hard to ignore that this is the last season for core characters Henry Blake and 'Trapper' John McIntyre, even though the impacts of that won't really be felt until season four. But it's probably the less blatant changes that are more profound and telling. Season three sees the beginning of more dramatic finesse in the scripts, to my mind. Early seasons would occasionally add dramatic elements to the largely comedic antics of the cast, but they often felt a bit separated and distinct; not well integrated to the core of the show. I'd say season three has more maturity and sophistication in that regard.
Not that it's stopped being a comedy, mind you. Laughs are still the primary goal. It's just that the non-jokey bits are better melded into the whole, now.
Recommended episodes for this season: "Officer of the Day", "Adam's Ribs", "Private Charles Lamb" and "Abyssinia, Henry".
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