M*A*S*H (TV Series) Abyssinia, Henry (1975) User Reviews

So sad....

[shenspen747 · 10/10 · 4 January 2008]

I was absolutely bawling, I don't know a better way to ruin an absolutely awesome character. I felt as though I was dragged into the set. I loved Henry (McLean Stevenson) and I just felt extremely sad when this happened to him, no one better deserved to be sent home than him. This is an excellent episode. I also felt sorrow with characters such as Radar and Hawkeye and it was made even worse when Hawkeye, in the following episode, didn't get to say goodbye to his soul mate in Trapper. I also think that Frank is an idiot in the show and Larry Linville is an awesome actor! M*A*S*H is brilliant! Can you get a better series?

McLean Stevenson Was a Brilliant Comic Actor

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 8 March 2015]

When I first saw this I had already heard that they were going to kill Henry off. With that said, there is a beauty in this episode. Those closest to Henry had a chance to do right by him. He had wonderful moments in this series. It's interesting that McLean Stevenson left so early. When the orders arrive we are so happy for him. His call to his wife and his little girl are stunning. And then there is the closeness between Radar and Henry. How many times did Radar trick Henry into signing papers or agreeing to something he couldn't even remember. It's true that he was incompetent and how he got to be a colonel is amazing, but he had some incredible lines and his comic timing was flawless. This episode sends MASH into an entirely different era.

It's not fair

[safenoe · 10/10 · 27 October 2020]

This episode I think has the highest IMDb user rating of any M*A*S*H episode (except for Goodbye, Farewell and Amen). It's no surprise, given the emotional reaction it elicited big time from viewers at a time when snail mail reigned supreme.

Henry Blake was the only major character who died in the run of the series, and I really wish it never happened.

M*A*S*H at the first real climax

[mierco · 10/10 · 28 June 2006]

To find out how entertaining M*A*S*H is you just need to watch two or three episodes. To find out how emotional it is, you have to watch "Abyssina Henry". But one hint: Watch the previous episodes first. The effect you'll gain will be much more satisfying then. After three seasons you have to like Henry Blake. His friends (Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar) prepare a wonderful good bye party. They drink quite a lot and it's very funny. The emotions for Henry are nicely played then and even better next morning when he leaves. The plot at the end of this episode is so surprisingly that you wouldn't expect. One of the greatest episodes all over the millions of TV-series there are.

An episode that affects every other episode

[hachmom-1 · 10/10 · 27 August 2018]

I watched this show in its original airing. There had never been a sucker punch quite like it. Henry Blale's Death will haunt the following 8 seasons, not only because of the effect on other charecters (especially Radar), but the effect on the audience as well. Never again would our charecters be completely safe. This was not only true on MASH, but any TV show.

Over many years of watching MASH I have noticed another effect of this episode. Knowing what will happen at the end of the third season affects the earlier episodes as well. Watching the episodes where Henry learns of the birth of his son, watches film of his daughter's birthday, or passes on a chance for an early medical discharge because the work he is doing is too important-all take on greater meaning knowing that Henry Blake would never get home.

MASH isn't just a comedy

[disastrousdallas · 10/10 · 4 October 2017]

if you watch the series and expecting a comedy, you've got half of what you expect due to excellent writing and acting this show perfectly combines Comedy and the serious nature that is the pointless act of war, this episode proves that point.

This episode shows the first Major cast Change as Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) is discharged, whilst most of the episode is a comedy and a goodbye for the Character, by the last 10 minutes you start to see that the Comedy can be a drama, the goodbye scene is one of the best written and best preformed of the first 3 seasons.

if you watched the first 3 seasons and grew to love Henry you will be deeply moved by his Off Screen death portraying the horrors of war that not everyone makes it home, Henry is sadly the victim of this.

when the laughing and the comedy stops you feel like you're in another series, a well acted and rightly deserved top rated episode.

Radar's premonition?

[subego · 10/10 · 4 November 2009]

SPOILER: Though this isn't my favorite episode, I will admit it is the one with the most emotional impact of all of them by far. The one thing that struck me when watching this for the umpteenth time was that I seemed to see it in a different way. I contend that when Henry looks through the chopper canopy to see a saluting Radar nearly in tears...that the writers and producers intended this as a hint that Radar somehow knew what was going to happen to him. Much is made throughout the entirety of the first 3 seasons that, not only do Henry and Radar share an intensely close, almost paternalistic bond, but also that Radar does indeed know things in advance of their transpiring...hence the nickname. Since they had already said their goodbyes earlier in the episode, this display of affection...with its profoundly sad air of finality, leads me to believe the writers used his possible premonition as a plot devise. Regardless if true or not, this was extremely effective storytelling and a prime example of how a simple plot twist or single line of dialog can change the entire complexion of an episode...or a character for that matter.

Makes So Long, Amen an Anti-Climax

[DKosty123 · 10/10 · 10 September 2018]

Mac Steveson (Henry Blake) had very well established himself on this series the first 3 seasons. While the Col. Blake in the original movie (Roger Bowen) was kind of an after thought with Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland (Trapper and Hawkeye) being the main men in the movie, Stevenson's Henry Blake had become a more comic character in the TV show, rivaling Alda & Rogers. This big 3 had established this series as a top rated program in the 1970's when CBS Saturday Nights were must see tv. The show was just hitting it's stride in season 3.

Stevensons best dramatic moments in the series had happened as well which raised him into a really fragile human commander of the MASH unit. I can never forget the time after a patient died, to one of his docotrs- this line - "This is what I was taught in command school - Rule number 1- In war young men die. Rule number 2 - Doctors can not do anything to prevent rule number 1." (Think I got this right.)

Regardless, this episode is a celebration. Blake has earned the right to go home. After seeing home movies of his wife and growing kids, he really wants to go home and be with them. Hawkeye, Trapper and everyone except Radar are looking forward to Blake leaving. They throw a party for him.

Then in the final review of his unit, Blake tries to explores Hot Lips, and tells Frank to ease up when he takes command. His final message to Radar is to shape up or else he would come back and kick him in the butt. Radar cries as he flies off in a chopper.

Then comes something which would happen in real life for Stevenson as well. News that Blake will never be back comes into the operating room. Years later after Stevenson gets passed over to replace Johnny Carson (he was Carson's most frequent Substitute host) Big Mac Stevenson would depart just as suddenly in his real life as he did on this episode. That would become the most haunting coincidence of all. That is the real life tragic loss that this episode foreshadows, and haunts all of us. Real life parallels can be drawn by some of us with the sudden departure of JFK more dramatically, and later of John Ritter dying for real on the set of his latest series.

The country has never recovered from JFK, an he is the only one more shocking than the latter ones. All that is left of this early cast now is Alda, Berghoff, Switt, and Farr. The time passes too quickly for some of us, but those who remember will know exactly what I mean. This episode says it all.

Impactful and memorable

[esanger-17823 · 10/10 · 25 January 2024]

This show is a bit of comfort food for the soul. With depth in emotion, humanity and what brings us all in - comedy. No matter how many times I watch this episode, it gets me every time. It brings a reality to the series and to war as a whole. They show their love of Henry Blake as he prepares to return to his family. With your heart full as he says goodbye, the impact is made. A he lifts off in the helicopter there are only thoughts of promise and hope. When Radar returns in the next scene, the all too real fate is exposed. No matter how many times I watch, There will always be tears in my eyes as I watch this scene.

"No, I Just Want To Say Goodbye."

[JosephPezzuto · 9/10 · 31 March 2015]

Thus is spoken one of the last phrases uttered by Lt. Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson) to the pompous Maj. Frank Marion 'Ferret Face' Burns (Larry Linville) as the company from the 4077th M*A*S*H assembles to see Henry off when he asks, "Does the Colonel wish to review his troops?" M*A*S*H, made for television from September 1972-February 1983 post an eponymous 1970 Robert Altman black comedy film and 1968 book 'MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors' by H. Richard Hornberger (Richard Hooker's pseudonym) was an endearing half-hour program, carrying both emotionality and entertainment for saving the sake of sanity of the world surrounding our main characters in 1940s Korea. The title of the episode uses the word "Abyssinia" as a comic corruption of the phrase "I'll be seeing you", specifically in what follows thereafter. In Korea, death was always a certainty, but it specifically had someone else in mind that day. Not a soldier nor the enemy, but a particular Lt. Colonel from the 4077th precinct with his warm smile and trademark fishing hat, also meaning that the innocent Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) would lose one of his closest and dearest friends in that short amount of time as well.

Opening in the operating room, the surgeons and medical staff (with the exception of Frank Burns) participate in a game of "Name That Tune". Radar enters the O.R. shortly after shut-ups arise between Frank, who requests silence, and the other doctors has reached its peak. He then informs Blake of his discharge back to the States, confirming he has received all of the Army service points to be rotated back home. Upon completion of the surgical session, Henry is overjoyed and begins planning for his upcoming trip home, first placing a telephone call to Bloomington, Illinois to inform his wife and family of the good news. As he is making the call, we see a skeleton on his right-hand side as he continues his conversation. The camera then holds on him as he is sitting and speaking, insinuating to us that his demise is near, unbeknownst to him or us. The skeleton, however, had always been in his working quarters all this time, but here it has an unsettling and chilling significance that Blake will never see America and that he is tragically doomed.

Meanwhile Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) and Burns are eagerly awaiting the upcoming transfer of the 4077th M*A*S*H: upon Blake's departure, Burns will become the new unit commander. Cleaning out the main office, a sentimental moment emerges when Radar tells Blake of his meaning to him in his life. As a token of appreciation, Radar gives him an inscribed Winchester cartridge; a surprised Henry returns the favor by spontaneously giving Radar a rectal thermometer that once belonged to his father.

On the night of his departure, Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (the always wisecracking Alan Alda), his comrade in comedic caper crimes Trapper McIntyre (Wayne Rogers) and Radar throw Henry a drawn-out going-away party at Rosie's Bar and Grill. The foursome, inebriated from the sake, share pleasant memories, reminiscing times of old before Blake has to find a lavatory. While absent, the rest of the party decide to prepare a comedic ceremony to "drum him out of the Army", presenting him with a brand-new suit upon his return as a parting gift.

After saying his initial goodbyes the next morning, and the first day with Frank Burns in charge (with no less respect for him than before from the other surgeons) and laying a long kiss on "Hot Lips" from Blake after a whisper from Radar convincing him to do so, Blake then leaves the camp and walks towards the chopper pad with Hawkeye, Trapper, Margaret and Frank. Guest starring were soon-to-be famous characters on the show such as the Reverend Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) and the constantly cross-dressing Corporal Klinger (Jamie Farr). They then all sing him out with "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow". What followed thereafter shocked, even outraged, many viewers at the time.

"Abyssinia, Henry" aired on May 18, 1975 in the US on CBS-TV. It was the twenty-forth episode of the third season, the final episode for that season and the seventy-second episode overall. It was written by Everett Greenbaum and Jim Fritzell, directed by Larry Gelbart, and produced by Gene Reynolds, who said of the episode, "We didn't want Henry Blake going back to Bloomington, Illinois and going back to the country club and the brown and white shoes, because a lot of guys didn't get back to Bloomington." Disregarding though understandably receiving letters of feedback from viewers showing the intensity about it's condemnation, it is estimated that the producers received over one thousand letters regarding the episode; "some… were from people who understood. Many were from people that didn't." The cast did not even know about Henry's death off-screen or on until when Radar comes into the O.R. announcing Henry's plane being shot down, spinning, and finally crashing over the sea of Japan with no survivors. All of their reactions when the camera was rolling were completely genuine. Rogers quit during that summer break between seasons. An upset 20th Century Fox sued for breach of contract, but the suit collapsed. Producer Reynolds continues: "Not everybody, not every kid gets to go back to Bloomington, Illinois. Fifty thousand – we left fifty thousand boys in Korea – and we realized it was right for the show, because the premise of our show was the wastefulness of the war."

Forty years later, "Abyssinia, Henry" still packs the power from its dark, unexpected turn to stay in viewer's minds long afterwards, even after the light-hearted montage of Blake with clips from past episodes, playing an "affectionate and reluctant farewell", reminding us all that the haunting M*A*S*H theme song title could possibly be true after all.

Henry Blake, We Hardly Knew Ya.

[ExplorerDS6789 · 8/10 · 20 October 2014]

Another long, noisy O.R. session, in which Trapper, Hawkeye and Father Mulcahy show off their knowledge of showtunes, Frank yelling at them to shut up and Henry yelling at everybody to shut up, the monotony was quickly broken up by some good news. Radar came in with news of Henry's discharge. He'd gotten all his "points" (which hasn't been in existence since World War II) and he'll be going home. Needless to say, Henry Blake was a very happy man and everybody was happy for him. Frank and Hot Lips were happy too, mainly because Frank would finally be taking command of the 4077th, even though his promotion and assignment hadn't come through yet, he still thought it best to count his chickens before they hatch. So as Henry packs up his office, he comes across a few old treasures, such as a previously misplaced jar of mayonnaise he'd accused some chaplain of stealing, and a picture of he and Radar together when he removed his appendix. The two take some time to reflect on all they'd been through, not fully expressing their feelings in words, but rather tokens: an en-scripted shell casing from Radar and a vintage rectal thermometer from Henry. After that, he's able to call the family in Bloomington to give them a heads up that he's on his way home. The call doesn't last long, unfortunately, but they got the message.

The following night, Hawkeye, Trapper, Henry and Radar go to Rosie's and get juiced, and after Henry goes out to use the little boy's tree, the gang bring out a surprise they'd prepared for him: a brand new pinstripe suit custom made in Seoul, and an unofficial discharge ceremony, taking away his rank of lieutenant colonel and naming him Mister Dr. Henry Blake once again. Next morning, Frank has everybody fall in formation, already starting to run the place as if it were an army camp. Henry trotted out of his tent in his brand new suit to say goodbye to everybody, especially his friends, then he plants a big smacker right on Hot Lips' lips and they all follow him up to his chopper. Before he can board, he sees Radar standing at attention and giving him a salute. Henry tells him to behave himself or else he'll come back and kick his butt before giving him a big bear hug and boarding his chopper. Everybody waved until Henry disappeared over the hills. So now he's on his way home, back to his family, back to his practice. All is well once again... or is it? A few days later during another O.R. session, a crestfallen Radar comes in and delivers news that Henry's plane was shot down over the sea of Japan and that there were no survivors. The room grew quiet, minus an instrument drop, as the sudden and harsh realization that their good friend and colleague never made it home and was gone. Before the credits, we get a montage of "Henry's greatest hits," showing various moments in the show where he acts like a goofball, having fun with his friends, just showing Lt. Colonel Henry Blake as the man he really was.

Very little else I can say about this episode. It's very well done, well acted, written, directed, everything. That was a very ballsy move on the producers' part to kill off a major character in a comedy show, but I commend them for their efforts. This was not only McLean Stevenson's final episode, but Wayne Rogers' as well, and he was treated far worse by the producers and network than Stevenson was. Trapper didn't even get a goodbye episode, he'd already left at the start of Season 4. A lot of people have mixed feelings about this episode, whether or not you think it was a good idea to kill off Henry in such a way or not, you have to admit they did it in a pretty decent fashion. I definitely recommend this episode, and as for Season 3 in general, it has some good episodes like Officer of the Day, Adam's Rib, Life with Father, Springtime, Mad Dogs and Servicemen and O.R., it also had it's share of pure crap like White Gold, House Arrest, Alcoholics Unanimous, Payday and Big Mac. Henry may have been a buffoon of a commander, but he was a good doctor and a great character, one of my favorites.

10 out of 10 soldiers died for no reason

[ratcat0 · 10/10 · 24 March 2015]

How can M.A.S.H be rated anything less than 10/10? The longest running TV show on our shores anyway. But the story remains the same, why do we send our young men out to be killed time after time? Goodbye Henry is as sad as it is a poignant reminder of the casualties of war. Maybe that's why the TV goes on every night at 6:30 PM every night - If the nights episode has been missed a certain painful loneliness ensues, Why? because M.A.S.H has so perfectly described the condition that we call Global conflict. For as long as it has run there still remains the battle between those who need to reign supreme for their religion or beliefs. You can either watch the Horror movie that is the 6:30 news or see it all as it has been portrayed in the past through the eyes of Hawk, BJ or trapper, Henry or Potter,Frank or Charles and Radar or Klinger. I guess there can be no replacement for Margaret (Hot Lips) Hawkeye or Father Mulcahy. This episode is especially painful because the last thing we expect is to hear that Henry has met his demise and the scene when Radar enters surgery to inform the team that Henry's plane was shot down certainly hits a nerve. Our love for these characters and the outstanding parts they play give us reason to laugh and cry although we have all seen each episode many times.

One of my favorite episodes.

[stampfreak-321-419532 · 10/10 · 26 July 2022]

It's heartbreaking but I loved it before the sad part as Henry said goodbye to everyone. The father-son relationship between Radar and Blake was touching. The comradery between the cast brought back memories of the Korean War where my late father served.)