8.4/10643 votes#1 - Bug Out
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 9/21/1976
When a rumor for a camp relocation turns out to be real, Hawkeye, Margaret and Radar volunteer to stay behind for a patient who cannot be moved.
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell
8.0/10563 votes#2 - Margaret's Engagement
Season 5 Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/1976
Margaret, calling from Tokyo, holds the camp in suspense until she returns with the news of her engagement to Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott. Frank Burns takes the news hard and arrests a Korean family as spies.
Director: Alan Alda
Writer: Gary Markowitz
8.0/10601 votes#3 - Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 10/5/1976
Hawkeye is temporarily blinded while trying to fix the nurses' furnace, and Frank finds a sure-fire way to win bets on baseball games.
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: David Isaacs, Ken Levine
7.5/10570 votes#4 - Lt. Radar O'Reilly
Season 5 Episode 4 - Aired 10/12/1976
Following an offer of promotion made by Master Sergeant Woodruff at a poker game, Radar is promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Finding this position awkward, Radar opts to return to his position as an enlisted man.
Director: Alan Rafkin
Writer: Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell
8.0/10649 votes#5 - The Nurses
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1976
The nurses go behind Margaret's back so that a fellow nurse confined to her tent can spend the night with her soldier husband who is paying her a surprise visit.
Director: Joan Darling
Writer: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
8.1/10630 votes#6 - The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan
Season 5 Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/1976
Margaret takes off in the middle of the night to help deliver a Korean baby. Nobody knows of her whereabouts, and Colonel Flagg is brought in to help investigate her disappearance.
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: N/A
8.0/10584 votes#8 - Mulcahy's War
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1976
Father Mulcahy, troubled by his lack of experience at the front, insists on accompanying Radar for an errand there.
Director: George Tyne
Writer: Richard Cogan
8.0/10590 votes#9 - The Korean Surgeon
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 11/23/1976
Instead of turning him in as a prisoner of war, Hawkeye and B.J. pull some strings to get a wounded North Korean surgeon a spot on the staff.
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: Bill Idelson
7.8/10559 votes#10 - Hawkeye Get Your Gun
Season 5 Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/1976
Hawkeye and Potter provide assistance at a Korean clinic, and run into an enemy attack on the way home. Meanwhile, Klinger begins posing as a Gypsy to help get his discharge papers.
Director: William B. Jurgensen
Writer: N/A
7.6/10564 votes#11 - The Colonel's Horse
Season 5 Episode 11 - Aired 12/7/1976
Everybody pitches in to save Colonel Potter's horse, who becomes sick while Potter is away in Tokyo. And Margaret asks Hawkeye, not Frank, to operate on her appendix.
Director: Burt Metcalfe
Writer: Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell
7.1/10585 votes#12 - Exorcism
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 12/14/1976
To save the life of an elderly local who rejects an operation because he believes bad spirits surround the 4077th, Colonel Potter permits a Korean exorcism.
Director: Alan Alda
Writer: N/A
7.5/10553 votes#13 - Hawk's Nightmare
Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 12/21/1976
Hawkeye starts sleepwalking and having horrific nightmares. He begins to think that he may be starting to lose his "war against the war."
Director: Burt Metcalfe
Writer: Burt Prelutsky
7.6/10517 votes#14 - The Most Unforgettable Characters
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 1/4/1977
Radar becomes an aspiring writer after ordering a flier from a comic book, and Hawkeye and B.J. give Frank a surprise birthday present that only he will appreciate.
Director: Burt Metcalfe
Writer: David Isaacs, Ken Levine
7.6/10534 votes#15 - 38 Across
Season 5 Episode 15 - Aired 1/11/1977
A fouled radio call for help on a crossword puzzle leads to a senior officer coming to the 4077th to help with a supposed serious medical problem.
Director: Burt Metcalfe
Writer: Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell
7.4/10518 votes#16 - Ping Pong
Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 1/18/1977
The 4077th hosts a traditional Korean wedding, much to Frank's objections. And Colonel Potter runs into an old friend who has put his troops in jeopardy so that he could receive a promotion.
Director: William B. Jurgensen
Writer: Sid Dorfman
7.6/10541 votes#17 - End Run
Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 1/25/1977
A former star college football player suffers a severe leg injury in combat and must deal with the consequences, and Major Burns goes behind Colonel Potter's back to set up a boxing match between Klinger and Zale.
Director: Harry Morgan
Writer: John D. Hess
7.1/10576 votes#18 - Hanky Panky
Season 5 Episode 18 - Aired 2/1/1977
B.J. falls off the fidelity wagon while trying to provide consolation to a nurse whose marriage has just ended. But will he confess his infidelity to his wife?
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: Gene Reynolds
7.5/10560 votes#20 - The General's Practitioner
Season 5 Episode 20 - Aired 2/15/1977
General Korshak wants Hawkeye to be his personal practitioner, despite his constant snottiness. And Radar helps take care of a soldier's half-Korean baby after he is shipped back home.
Director: Alan Rafkin
Writer: Burt Prelutsky
8.5/10718 votes#21 - Movie Tonight
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 2/22/1977
Colonel Potter hopes a Western will be the cure for the 4077th's morale problem. But during the show, the staff of the camp is forced to make its own entertainment during the frequent film breakages.
Director: Burt Metcalfe
Writer: Don Reo
7.4/10530 votes#22 - Souvenirs
Season 5 Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/1977
Hawkeye and BJ try to stop a chopper pilot from selling souvenirs derived from war materials derived from locals facing danger getting them, and Klinger becomes a pole-sitter in his latest attempt to get a Section Eight.
Director: Joshua Shelley
Writer: Burt Prelutsky
7.5/10535 votes#23 - Post Op
Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 3/8/1977
The 4077th is deluged with patients and their individual medical histories. Then they run out of blood and everyone is donating at 48-hour intervals.
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: N/A
8.1/10571 votes#24 - Margaret's Marriage
Season 5 Episode 24 - Aired 3/15/1977
Pressured by Frank, Margaret decides to marry Colonel Donald Penobscott at the 4077th. When Donald arrives in camp, he is treated to a bachelor party and a practical joke while the nurses give Margaret a bridal shower.
Director: Gene Reynolds
Writer: Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell
The Best Episodes of M*A*S*H Season 5
Every episode of M*A*S*H Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of M*A*S*H Season 5!
The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in,...
Genres:War & PoliticsDramaComedy
Network:CBS
Season 5 Ratings Summary
"Bug Out" is the best rated episode of "M*A*S*H" season 5. It scored 8.4/10 based on 643 votes. Directed by Gene Reynolds and written by Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell, it aired on 9/21/1976. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Margaret's Engagement".
