Beej Honnecticutt

favorite things about this short scene:

he's too tall for the table. (important to me)

"Doctor? ... Hawkeye?"

Alan Alda's unparalleled sleepy acting

they're already prepping the patient, she let him sleep as long as she could :,)

bj's anger sits. he's usually the mediator, the peacemaker, the one grabbing hawkeye by the collar to stop him from picking another fight. sure, he's angry and frustrated, but he doesn't do anything about it. he has a couple brief bursts of anger, but usually hawk breaks him out of it pretty quickly by cracking a joke. beyond that, he pushes it down because he knows reacting quickly, like hawkeye, is unproductive. but then instead of getting it out in (probably unhealthy but) functional ways like hawkeye, it simmers. bj is bitter about the things that make him angry, that's why he's so good at working himself up into a frenzy over little things. and when something does get to him (like hawkeye being attacked or radar's letter) EVERYTHING comes out. as sidney put it, the volcano explodes.

i don't think that means bj ISN'T less short-tempered than hawkeye, but it does make his anger more dangerous. rather than shoving someone, or punching frank but frank deserved it ok, you might end up with bj's hands around your throat. hawkeye does things he'll regret for an hour, maybe a day. bj is very likely to do something he'll regret for the rest of his life. yknow? hawkeye has never gotten hotheaded enough to KILL someone. bj has! do i think he would do it on purpose, no, but it's not an unfounded fear

And he sees all this, sees the difference between faking it and what losing your mind looks like and watches as Hawkeye is sedated, or calmed, or talked away from the edge, or sent for R&R and they never even talk about sending him home because his hands still work. His hands never shake. He can still do surgery.

And Klinger's the only one that isn't truly surprised when Hawkeye Pierce is sent back to them after time spent in a mental hospital.

It wasn't about being crazy at all. It was about being functional as a cog in the war machine and Klinger and Hawkeye were always the most functional pieces in the 4077th.

Post-war Hawkeye but it's him building a still and, for the first time, realising BJ isn't there to take the first sip with him.

Post-war Hawkeye but it's him looking for someone to complain to and having to come to terms with the fact not everyone is as patient as Potter was with him.

Post-war Hawkeye but it's him donating his change to the church every Sunday, knowing Mulcahy would have been overjoyed to receive it.

Post-war Hawkeye but it's him buying a teddy bear and wondering how Radar sleeps without his.

Post-war Hawkeye but it's him craving hotdogs, knowing Klinger might still be missing them, too.

Post-war Hawkeye but it's him hearing a classical song play on the street and thinking about what Charles would have to say, even if he doesn't want to.