Marriage Story is Academy Award nominated filmmaker Noah Baumbach’s incisive and compassionate portrait of a marriage breaking up and a family staying together.
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Hagerty, Merritt Wever
There’s a subtle dirty joke in this one too: in his tent having martinis with Nancy, Hawkeye complains about the black market Chinese olives: “You can’t conquer the world with a shoddy olive. Hitler found that out.” That this remarkable episode, which moves so effortlessly between comedy and tragedy, found time to include a jab on Hitler’s testicle is just one more reason it’s a masterpiece.
Let’s be real here: “Bullet” is the best episode of M*A*S*H season 1; the best episode of M*A*S*H, period; and almost certainly in the top 20 TV episodes of all time, of any series. I have my own favorites, but even I must admit this. Larry Gelbart et al set out to take a compelling story about horny war doctors and give it something extra, push the existential element to a bigger, universal place. With “Bullet,” they achieved what they were going for. It’s the yardstick against which all other MASH shows can be measured, and should be.
Hawkeye’s heart breaks when he’s unable to save the life of his childhood friend Tommy Gillis. Tommy has enlisted in a regiment so he can write a book, with the working title You Never Hear the Bullet, and pops by the Swamp for a rowdy, joyful visit. He returns mortally wounded—telling Hawk, with his last breath on the operating table, that he heard the bullet after all. His death, and Hawk’s grief, give rise to Henry Blake’s famous speech of comfort, repeated by fans frequently. “Rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is, doctors can’t change rule number one.”
Subject matter with this kind of weight might seem out of place in a comedy, and it was indeed an extremely daring thing to try. MASH swung for the fences, with miraculous success. Part of why it succeeded, though, is that amid its wrenching drama the show is funny. Frank throws his back out while trying to sail into Margaret, and decides he deserves a Purple Heart for it. Incredibly, he gets one—which Hawkeye steals to give to Walter Peters, a boy who lied about his age to become a Marine (in order to impress a girl, who will flip when she sees the medal). Ron Howard is impeccable and the interplay between Peters and Hawkeye, while still serious, is lighter, providing a balance with the bleaker half of the story.
Finally, we will never forget the way Tommy planted one on Henry at their first meeting, shown again as a freeze-frame in the closing credits.
Love, without inferior olives, really does conquer all.
