8.7/1047 votesLoading...#1 - F.N.G.
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 4/16/1990
In November 1966, fairly new guys Colleen McMurphy and Dr. Richard find themselves learning the ropes when they arrive at China Beach.
Director: John Sacret Young
Writer: Carol Flint
8.6/1046 votesLoading...#2 - Vets
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 3/15/1989
The accounts of life in Vietnam by real vets are intercut with scenes from old episodes showing how closely the show has mirrored reality.
Director: John Sacret Young
Writer: John Sacret Young, John Wells
8.6/1044 votesLoading...#3 - 100 Klicks Out
Season 4 Episode 11 - Aired 6/11/1991
The imminent fall of Saigon reunites KC with her daughter as she struggles to get the little girl out of Vietnam and safely to America and a waiting Boonie. In the 1980s, a cynical McMurphy tries to prevent further child abuse in New Mexico.
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: N/A
8.6/1056 votesLoading...#4 - Hello, Goodbye (1)
Season 4 Episode 16 - Aired 7/22/1991
McMurphy agrees to attend a China Beach reunion planned by Boonie and recalls her last day in Vietnam, and travels to Washington DC with the others to visit the Vietnam Memorial. Karen comes to terms with the ghost of her absent mother, KC.
Director: John Sacret Young
Writer: John Wells
8.5/1044 votesLoading...#5 - The World (1)
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 4/26/1989
Wayloo Marie prepares to return the world and a new job at BBC news. She's unexpectedly joined by McMurphy, who's returning to her unsettled family in Kansas following her father's heart attack.
Director: John Wells
Writer: John Sacret Young
8.5/1043 votesLoading...#6 - The World (2)
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 5/3/1989
McMurphy reassesses her life as she tries to decide whether or not to return to Vietnam following her father's death.
Director: John Wells
Writer: John Sacret Young
8.3/1037 votesLoading...#7 - How to Stay Alive in Vietnam (1)
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/1989
Beckett and a civilian photographer temporarily join Dodger's patrol; McMurphy gets to know a wounded POW.
Director: Fred Gerber
Writer: N/A
8.3/1028 votesLoading...#8 - One Small Step
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 12/1/1990
Suddenly back home and missing one leg, Boonie begins a slow and painful re-entry into civilian life with the comfort of a loving nurse.
Director: Steve Dubin
Writer: John Wells
8.2/1049 votesLoading...#9 - Waiting for Beckett
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 5/18/1988
Cherry is taken in by a deserter who claims to know her brother, and who is pursued by a determined office from the CID. Laurette and Boonie try to help a stressed out Beckett get some sleep.
Director: Kevin Hooks
Writer: N/A
8.2/1042 votesLoading...#10 - Lost and Found (2)
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 12/7/1988
Wayloo Marie becomes a casualty as she shoots her assignment. Frankie Bunsen arrives for temporary duty. McMurphy finds a badly injured Dodger.
Director: John Sacret Young
Writer: William Broyles Jr., John Sacret Young
8.2/1042 votesLoading...#11 - Women in White
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 1/4/1989
McMurphy fights jealousy, envy and fear when a confident woman doctor comes in from the States and takes over Dr. Richard and Dodger's case. Wayloo Marie tries to win a position as a armed forces tv reporter with a report on the war from a woman's point of view. Frankie debuts as a disk jockey
Director: Sharron Miller
Writer: Patricia Green
8.2/1044 votesLoading...#12 - Tet '68
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 1/25/1989
Wayloo Marie tries to keep reporting, McMurphy and KC are trapped in an officer's restroom, Beckett is held prisoner by Mai's brother and Dr. Richard and the wounded Dodger prepare to defend the hospital during the fierce fighting of the 1968 Tet offensive. Cherry comforts another Red Cross volunteer at a firebase.
Director: Steve Dubin
Writer: John Wells
8.2/1040 votesLoading...#13 - Twilight
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 3/22/1989
Wayloo Marie's digging results in a medal ceremony for Boonie and an unwelcome investigation into his lost jungle patrol. McMurphy sees Dodger again as he prepares to go back into action. Frankie befriends a captured deserter.
Director: Michael Fresco
Writer: Lydia Woodward
8.2/1041 votesLoading...#14 - The Unquiet Earth
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/1989
McMurphy and K.C. are kidnapped by the Viet Cong and taken underground into a warren of tunnels, where their captors expect McMurphy to operate on their wounded leader.
Director: Michael Ray Rhodes
Writer: Alan Brennert
8.2/1034 votesLoading...#15 - Skin Deep
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/1989
McMurphy uses a little guilt and a little blackmail to get a reluctant K.C. to visit a wounded soldier whose face has been badly disfigured. Holly, the new doughnut dolly, challenges the nurses on behalf of the Red Cross Volunteers to compete in a Miss China Beach beauty pageant. Frankie is assigned to the motor pool and runs into Sarge Pepper, who's not very eager to have her there.
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: Carol Flint
8.2/1031 votesLoading...#16 - Nightfall
Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 1/10/1990
K.C. feels responsible for the death of a Vietnamese prostitute she sent out and takes things into her own hands when Otis refuses to investigate the matter.
Director: N/A
Writer: Lydia Woodward
8.2/1039 votesLoading...#17 - The Thanks of a Grateful Nation
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 2/28/1990
Dodger tries to reintegrate his life as a civilian but finds himself drifting as he tries to make sense of his experiences in Vietnam.
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: John Wells
8.2/1032 votesLoading...#18 - One Giant Leap
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/17/1990
In 1969, China Beach watches from afar as the first men land on the moon. McMurphy simmers jealously as Dr. Richard falls for a new nurse. Beckett entertains a group of USO singers in his G.R.U. hut. A disturbed Boonie meets with a tragic accident.
Director: John Sacret Young, Michael Katleman, John Wells
Writer: Josef Anderson
8.1/1040 votesLoading...#19 - Lost and Found (1)
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 11/30/1988
Lila takes over command of China Beach and orders KC off the base. McMurphy finally lets herself admit how much she cares for Natch when she receives some disturbing news about him. Wayloo Marie Holmes, former Saigon weather girl, arrives at China Beach to handle her first journalism assignment, extolling the recreational facilities at the base.
Director: John Sacret Young
Writer: William Broyles Jr., John Sacret Young
8.1/1043 votesLoading...#20 - X-Mas Chnbch VN '67
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 12/21/1988
Christmas '67 brings a steady supply of casualties and a crazed Santa to China Beach.
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: John Wells
8.1/1042 votesLoading...#21 - Cherry
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 2/1/1989
Wayloo Marie becomes intimidated by the war as its reality sinks in following Cherry's death. McMurphy tries to fight the bureaucracy to keep Dodger from going to Japan for more medical help. KC fights her heroin habit as she tries to locate Cherry's brother and prepares to accompany her body home to Iowa for burial.
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: N/A
8.1/1036 votesLoading...#22 - Skylark
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 3/14/1990
A pair of ballroom dancers bring a note of grace and harmony to the uneasy relationship between McMurphy and Dr. Richard while completing a mysterious mission of their own.
Director: Fred Gerber
Writer: Lydia Woodward
8.1/1033 votesLoading...#23 - The Gift
Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 4/23/1990
McMurphy finds herself under suspicion when a wounded G.I. she doesn't remember names her as his beneficiary. Lila has mixed feelings about an old friend who now outranks her and has arrived at China Beach to do a recruiting film about Army nurses.
Director: Michael Katleman
Writer: Josef Anderson
8.1/1032 votesLoading...#24 - Juice
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 11/10/1990
In 1972, Dr. Richard and his nurse take a romantic trip to Florida, where they run across a hard-livng McMurphy working at an orange-juice factory.
Director: John Sacret Young
Writer: John Sacret Young
8.1/1035 votesLoading...#25 - I Could Have Danced All Night ... But Didn't
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 6/4/1991
McMurphy meets a sympathetic drummer at a 1983 wedding and recalls the 1969 wedding of Lila and Sarge Pepper, as well as the end of her relationship with Dr. Richard.
Director: Michael Fresco
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of China Beach
Every episode of China Beach ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of China Beach!
Dateline: November 1967. Within klicks of Danang, Vietnam, sits a U.S. Army base, bar and hospital on China Beach filled with wounded soldiers and one...
Genres:DramaWar & Politics
Network:ABC
Best Episodes Summary
"F.N.G." is the best rated episode of "China Beach". It scored 8.7/10 based on 47 votes. Directed by John Sacret Young and written by Carol Flint, it aired on 4/16/1990. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Vets".