"Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?" was the 82nd episode of the ''
M*A*S*H
''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker.
Th ...
'' television series, and the tenth of season four. The episode aired on November 7, 1975. "
Quo Vadis" is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "Where are you going?" and is a reference to a conversation recounted in the
apocryphal Acts of Peter
The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Christianity, dating to the late 2nd century AD. The majority of the text has survived only in the Latin translation of the Codex Vercellensis, under the title ...
in which Peter, fleeing his ministry and the threat of crucifixion in Rome, meets Jesus on the road, who has risen. Peter asks Jesus "Quo Vadis?," to which Jesus responds that he is going to Rome to be crucified again. This gives Peter the courage to return to his ministry in Rome, where he ultimately ends up crucified upside down.
The scriptwriter, Burt Prelutsky, credited the episode with revitalizing his career. The episode was nominated for a
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...
, but lost to another M*A*S*H episode.
Plot
Among the latest batch of wounded brought to the 4077th is a pilot, Captain Arnold Chandler (
Alan Fudge), who believes himself to be
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. Majors
Burns and
Houlihan believe he is faking battle fatigue to earn a medical discharge, and set to prove this with the help of Army intelligence officer
Colonel Flagg (
Edward Winter). With
Colonel Potter
This is a list of characters from the ''M*A*S*H'' franchise, covering the various fictional characters appearing in the novel '' MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors'' and its sequels, the 1970 film adaptation of the novel, and the televisio ...
's approval,
Hawkeye and
B.J. call on
Dr. Sidney Freedman (
Allan Arbus
Allan Franklin Arbus (February 15, 1918 – April 19, 2013) was an American actor and photographer. He was the former husband of photographer Diane Arbus. He is known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the CBS television series ...
) to evaluate Chandler.
Freedman concludes that Chandler's delusion is an internal response to his guilt over killing people who had never harmed or even met him. Freedman believes that while prolonged psychiatric therapy may restore Chandler's sense of self, he will never again be an effective member of the military.
Near the end of the episode, company clerk
Radar O'Reilly
This is a list of characters from the ''M*A*S*H'' franchise, covering the various fictional characters appearing in the novel '' MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors'' and its sequels, the 1970 film adaptation of the novel, and the televisi ...
asks Chandler to bless his teddy bear. Chandler blesses the bear and also blesses Radar, who reveals for the first time in the series that his first name is actually Walter.
References
External links
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{{M*A*S*H episodes
M*A*S*H (season 4) episodes
1975 American television episodes