They STILL Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore...

Thirteen years and one week ago, I posted this:

"This past few weeks I've been spending time with my M*A*S*H DVD collection.

Great entertainment. Funny, bittersweet and at times a little sad. But almost without fail it is amazingly high quality writing, acting and directing in the 24+ episodes in each season.

I just watched the episode "Old Soldiers" from the 8th season. If you've watched M*A*S*H at all, either when it first aired or in syndication, you've likely seen this one. Colonel Potter gets a call, goes to Tokyo, comes back and after receiving a package from a law firm, he calls the group together in his tent.

Turns out that back in WWI, he and four friends got caught in an artillary barrage, holed up in a French Chateau and happened upon a case of fine brandy. When they reach the final bottle, they decide to create a tontine, a pact that the last survivor will get the bottle and drink a toast to his old friends. The good Colonel has the good fortune and sad honour of being the last surviving member of the group. Potter decides to not only toast his old friends but his new as well.

I don't come remotely close to doing this little piece of theatre justice. To call it moving, emotional and brilliant is just not enough, but it's all I have."

A decade, three years and one week later and Colonel Potter's tontine rotates back into the dvd player, this time as part of my "watch everything I own" project.  This episode is 40 years old or so, yet doesn't show any sign of aging.  It still works from start to the starched shorts finish.  Still, without a doubt, my very favourite sitcom episode of all time. 

If you have access to the DVD set of M*A*S*H or can stream it somehow, it's the perfect television to salve our isolated souls.  While our current pandemic scenario isn't remotely as horrible as living in a hospital a few miles from a war front, the show is very relevant to what many are experiencing at the moment.  M*A*S*H is a show about people living in isolation and using wit and creativity to survive the mental crush of their collective crisis. 

So to all of you, from my couch by way of Korea, stay safe and be kind to each other.