Summary

• Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead follows a ghost soldier, Weston, on a poignant and tragic journey to accept his own death.
• The episode is rather dramatic and deals with the emotional stress and numbness of the main characters in the face of war.
• The ambiguous ending leaves the audience wondering whether Weston’s presence was real or just a hallucination of Klinger.

The only episode of MASH a thoroughly witty character is one of the show’s most tragic endings. Although the CBS medical dramedy was as far from a horror show as it could be, it occasionally dipped into the genre. For example,MASH The controversial “Dreams” explored the fragmented and sometimes eerie dreams of the revamped 4077th Division, including haunting images like an armless Hawkeye (Alan Alda) following a river of prosthetics.

Other episodes like “Trick or Treatment” contained genre elements, but of course the series was ultimately about the horrors of war itself. That’s why CBS agreed to MASH Leave the sitcom laugh track out of the surgery scenes, as sequences in which doctors stitch up injured patients should not elicit many laughs. Over the course of MASH 11 seasons, There were more experimental episodes that deviated from the formula, including the real-time excursion “Life Time” or Season 10’s “Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead.””

MASH’s “Follies Of The Living-Concerns Of The Dead” follows the ghost of a dead soldier

“Follies” is one of MASH’s most melancholic stories

What sets MASH “Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead” is different in that the main story involves a ghost named Private Weston (Kario Salem). The episode begins with Weston’s body being driven into the camp and his spirit soon emerges from the body. Klinger (Jamie Farr) is the only one who can see him, as he is delirious. The episode describes Weston’s journey from denial of his own death to his slow acceptance his fate.

Weston actor Kario Salem became a screenwriter later in his career and worked on films such as the thriller starring Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando
The score
or
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
.

Meanwhile, poor Weston overhears the trivial arguments between the surgeons – including the fight between Hawkeye and Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) over a coat hook – or the minor worries of the living. MASH also points out that surgeons are so overwhelmed with wounded soldiers that they essentially forget about Weston just minutes after his death. He and Klinger interact a few times, but the poor soldier is left to ponder his fate alone, and this is only made more poignant by all the silly problems he hears the living complain about.

The ending of “Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead” is one of MASH’s most devastating

Weston is just one in an endless sea of ​​ghosts for the 4077.

MASH’s “Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead” definitely leans more towards drama than comedy and even the usually quick-witted Hawkeye is in a bad mood most of the time. This episode is marked by a coldness that is unusual for the series, and that only underscores the tragedy of Weston’s situation. He also observes things like the staff searching his wallet or his best friend writing a letter to Weston’s parents after his death.

MASH isn’t saying the 4077th doesn’t care, but they’re so overwhelmed with patients and dying soldiers that Weston’s fate has become routine.

In the final moments of Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead, Weston encounters a series of ghosts, including Korean soldiers and civilians. Another American soldier invites him to join them, and they walk off together, not knowing where the series is leading. What makes this MASH The epilogue is such a quiet, devastating outing, with Klinger waking from his fever and immediately asking what happened to Weston. Unfortunately, Hawkeye and the others are so busy arguing about who’s on post-op duty next that they ignore Klinger’s concerns.

More than that, no one remembers Weston’s name, and the final shot is left with Klinger wondering if he imagined the whole thing.. With this end, MASH isn’t to say the 4077th doesn’t care, but they’re so overwhelmed with patients and dying soldiers that Weston’s fate has become routine. The war will take many more soldiers and civilians, and in order to function, the 4077th has become desensitized to the horrors that surround them.

“Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead” was directed by Alan Alda, who has already directed 32
MASH
episodes in total and wrote 19.

MASH’s “Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead” makes Weston’s performance ambiguous

Did Klinger just imagine Weston’s ghost adventures?

“Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead” was one of the rare cases in which MASH waded in supernatural terror or material. It also presents a cop-out, as Klinger could be hallucinating Weston’s ghostly walk through the camp throughout the episode. The episode begins with Klinger in bed, and he later goes outside in time to see Weston’s ghost emerge from his body. It’s true that he isn’t present in most of the other scenes with Weston, but these could also have been fevered nightmares of Klinger’s.

That is a question for the audience to decide for themselves. If Private Weston existed only in Klinger’s head, then the soldier should become a screenwriter after the war, as he gave his ghost a sophisticated backstory and emotional arc. For all his wacky comedy, MASH was a grounded series, so for those who might balk at the idea of ​​a supernatural episode, The Klinger element gives the Weston story enough ambiguity to pretend it was all a dream.