Requiem for a Lightweight

Infobox Television episode
Title = Requiem for a Lightweight
Series = M*A*S*H


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 3
Airdate = October 1, 1972
Production = J308
Writer = Bob Klane
Director = Hy Averback
Guests = Marcia Strassman

Sorrell Booke

John Orchard

William Christopher
Episode list = List of "M*A*S*H" episodes
Prev = To Market, to Market
Next = "Chief Surgeon Who?"

"Requiem for a Lightweight" is an episode from the television series "M*A*S*H". It was the third episode broadcast and aired on October 1, 1972 and was repeated on December 31, 1972, the first episode of "M*A*S*H" to do so. It was written by Bob Klane and directed by Hy Averback.

Guest cast is Marcia Strassman as Nurse Margie Cutler, Sorrell Booke as General Wilson Spaulding Barker, John Orchard Capt. 'Ugly John' Black and William Christopher in his first appearance as Father Mulcahy.

Overview

Nurse Margie Cutler arrives at the 4077th. Realizing Cutler is an incredible distraction for Pierce and McIntyre, Major Houlihan has her transferred to another unit. Blake agrees to try and get Cutler back if one of them fights in a boxing tournament and they agree. To secure victory, Pierce has McIntyre’s boxing gloves coated in ether.

Detailed story

As Pierce and McIntyre are walking from the mess tent to the O.R., Nurse Margie Cutler, dressed only in a towel, runs into them. As she runs off, she accidentally leaves her towel behind. In the O.R., Cutler is assisting Pierce during surgery. Houlihan notices Pierce making several lascivious remarks and tells Burns that she will take care of it.

After the O.R. session, Pierce, McIntyre and Cutler are in the mess tent discussing surgical procedures that they did in the O.R. when Houlihan tell Cutler that she needs to see her. After Cutler leaves with Houlihan, McIntyre and Pierce tell each other that they are tired and are going to sleep. Secretly, they both go to Cutler's tent, McIntyre with flowers he picked from Burns' garden and Pierce with a pair of nylons that were drying on a clothes line he passed. They both go into Cutler's tent and find her packing her things; Houlihan had her transferred to another unit because she was a distraction.

Pierce and McIntyre go to Blake's office to complain. Just before they arrived, Blake received a phone call from General Barker ordering Blake to find somebody to enter the inter-camp boxing tournament. Pierce and McIntyre ask Blake to stop Cutler's transfer. He tells them that Houlihan makes all the decisions about the nursing staff, but if one of them would box in the tournament, he would see what he could do. After watching Cutler drive off in a jeep, McIntyre agrees to box.

Pierce pays Radar $10 to spar with McIntyre. When Blake distracts McIntyre by walking in the tent, Radar decks McIntyre with a punch to the stomach. Later, McIntyre trains behind a jeep and punches Burns' duffle bag, while Pierce sits back sipping a martini.

As Pierce and McIntyre are relaxing in The Swamp, Radar comes in and tells them that McIntyre's opponent has arrived and that he heard that the guy was once crossing a street when a jeep got to close, so he punched it. They go see the opponent and decide that the only way McIntyre is going to survive is to cheat. Their plan is to rub ether on McIntyre's boxing glove and then to get his opponent in a clinch so that the ether will knock the guy out.

Pierce, McIntyre, Blake and Burns are sitting in the mess tent discussing a Sugar Ray Robinson boxing match when General Barker and his boxer come in. After they leave, Blake asks McIntyre if he wants to reconsider and Pierce tells Blake and Burns about their plan to use ether. During introductions of the boxing match, Burns switches the ether with distilled water. McIntyre gets clobbered in the first round when Pierce discovers the switch and runs to get real ether. During the second round, McIntyre, with real ether on his glove, gets his opponent in a clinch. His opponent falls out of the ring, out cold, on top of Burns and Houlihan.

Blake holds up his end of the bargain and gets Cutler transferred back to the 4077.

Trivia

* According to Frank’s duffel bag, his middle initial is W., even though his biography says that his middle name is "Delano Marion".
* When Nurse Cutler meets with McIntyre and Pierce after the fight you can clearly see an overdub. You can hear McIntyre but his mouth does not move.
* This episode features the first appearance of William Christopher as Father Mulcahy.