Bananas, Crackers and Nuts

Infobox Television episode
Title = Bananas, Crackers and Nuts
Series = M*A*S*H


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 7
Airdate = November 5, 1972
Production = J311
Writer = Burt Styler
Director = Bruce Bilson
Guests = Odessa Cleveland

Stuart Margolin

Marcia Strassman
Episode list = List of "M*A*S*H" episodes
Prev = "Yankee Doodle Doctor"
Next = "Cowboy"

"Bananas, Crackers and Nuts" is an episode from "M*A*S*H". It was the seventh episode broadcast and aired on November 5, 1972 and repeated April 22, 1973. It was written by Burt Styler and directed by Bruce Bilson.

Guest cast is Odessa Cleveland as Lt. Ginger Bayliss, Stuart Margolin as Captain Phillip G. Sherman and Marcia Strassman as Nurse Margie Cutler.

Blake will not let Pierce leave for R&R, so he begins faking insanity. Captain Sherman, who happens to be a brilliant psychiatrist, comes over to see if Pierce's madness is for real and decides Pierce can use a few weeks of observation. To avoid this fate, Pierce, McIntyre and Radar pull off a scheme that makes it appear Sherman sexually assaulted Houlihan.

Detailed story

Everyone has been in surgery for longer than usual, but the enemy is backing off for a week. Due to the lengthy time in OR, the still has gone dry and Hawkeye and Trapper argue over who is at fault. As a result of having their 'first fight', they decide they need some R&R. Unfortunately, Henry is leaving for a few days, leaving Frank - who is unlikely to let them have R&R for any reason - in charge.

Hawkeye decides to pretend to be insane to try and get a few days off despite Frank's prejudice. When the very attractive Nurse Cutler propositions him, he publicly rebuffs her, accusing her of trying to take advantage of him. Trapper tries to plant the idea in Frank and Margaret's minds that Hawkeye might be going insane, but they don't believe him until they witness Hawkeye, still in full OR garb, sitting down to eat a plate of liver in the mess tent. Upon being asked about the origin of this liver, he implies that he took it from the corpse of a recent patient. When Frank touches the plate, Hawkeye screams at him, accusing him of having ruined the food, and Trapper has to slap him and get Radar to take him away, while he stays to reiterate his point that Hawkeye is losing it, and that he (Trapper) should take him to Tokyo for R&R.

Still uncertain about whether they are serious or if it is an elaborate act, Margaret calls in an old friend, Sherman, who is a psychiatrist to assess Hawkeye's emotional state. Hawkeye tells Sherman that he is deeply in love with Frank and can't bear to be around him any longer, because Frank only has eyes for Margaret, whom he is having an affair with. Sherman, who has had designs on Margaret, is obviously disappointed by this, but nonetheless declares Hawkeye to be quite insane.

When Henry returns and finds that Hawkeye has been pronounced insane, he claims that it must have been an elaborate ploy to get R&R. Although Frank and Margaret strongly suspect this is the case, they do not help, and Sherman insists that Hawkeye is insane and needs to be taken stateside for full treatment. As Hawkeye does not want to go back stateside - he simply wanted a holiday from the war - he concocts with Radar an elaborate plan to make it appear that Sherman is trying to molest Margaret in her sleep. Their plan succeeds, Sherman is sent from the unit, and Hawkeye is allowed to stay.