-Best Care Anywhere-

I think it was the Fourth of July

M*A*S*H // Saturday in the Park - Chicago

like actually I think the closest anyone comes to describing this flaw of BJ’s in words is Hawkeye’s “what if I was dying, would you hold me in your arms or would you let me lie there and bleed?” and that’s not even necessarily referring to BJ’s overall lack of support so much as specifically the current conflict of BJ refusing to say goodbye. But man it really nails everything from BJ’s casual refusal to engage with Hawkeye’s looming court martial in The Grim Reaper to blowing Hawkeye off throughout most of Back Pay to dismissing his project in Depressing News to triggering Hawkeye and then running away in GFA.

it’s easily the most compelling thing about their relationship to me. (well okay I shouldn’t say easily bc the psychological torture gives it a run for its money, but yk)

and I love so much that Hawkeye’s reactions to BJ doing this initially tend to be taking offence (eg ”Will you shut up about the stupid jacket” in The Grim Reaper when he shows more outrage about his jacket being stolen than Hawkeye’s court martial) but evolve into resignation (eg silently walking away when BJ’s response to his tongue depressor monologue is sarcasm). it shows such awareness on the parts of the writers, and it makes so much sense, and it’s a wonderfully subtle thread that’s very emotionally true.

BJ’s emotional repression and lack of support is also followed through on and shown obliquely through Hawkeye simply not turning to him for support. in the latter half of the show he often opens up to Margaret instead, and she comisserates with him by sharing her own feelings. he goes to Father Mulcahy for help in Letters and Depressing News, eg. he doesn’t tell BJ about his father in Sons and Bowlers, and it’s Charles who ends up supporting him.

also it’s really interesting and kind of unique of the writers to give BJ, the best friend and most important person in the MC’s life, this flaw. his relationship with Hawkeye is objectively the most important relationship on the show, BJ is the character who means the most to Hawkeye, they are best friends, but Hawkeye doesn’t turn to him for emotional support, and BJ doesn’t offer it. it’s just so interesting, like has a best friend on tv ever consistently and pointedly refused to engage with the mc’s problems bc he’s emotionally constipated? normally the best friend is default support and if it’s uneven it’s uneven favouring the protag, but in this case the protag is the best friend’s emotional support system and he gets very little in return.

now to be fair there are examples of BJ supporting Hawkeye - eg the red party; looking for him in comrades in arms, arguably stealing the jeep at the end of back pay and otherwise going along with some of his schemes, etc - but those aren’t emotional support. they’re actions that show he cares but which don’t require any actual open honest engagement with Hawkeye’s feelings on his part, or opening up himself. when BJ opens up emotionally to Hawkeye, it’s because he needs Hawkeye’s support, like in Period of Adjustment.

and even early on, before BJ’s character was fully developed, this aspect of him still shined through in more neutral ways. in The More I See You BJ engages with Hawkeye from a place of somewhat judgy detachment and then has a thematically intriguing final scene with Hawkeye where he casually lies during a guessing game. In The Late Commander Pierce he walks away and leaves Hawkeye on the bus. In Hawk’s Nightmare his response to Hawkeye’s fear is to tell him it’s no big deal, which I’m sure is how BJ deals with feelings, but it isn’t compatible with how Hawkeye deals, as we can see when he doesn’t accept that and keeps insisting that the nightmares are fucking him up.

like honestly… Hawkeye’s “would you hold me in your arms” line is overdramatic in the context of BJ refusing to say goodbye, sure, but it does absolutely nail BJ’s overall attitude in their relationship, because he’s bad at emotional engagement and because he actively tries to keep himself at a distance, and because he does have a habit of ditching Hawkeye when he specifically just needs emotional support.