"The Moose" is an episode of the television series ''
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.
The ...
''. It was the fifth episode broadcast and aired on October 15, 1972, and repeated May 27, 1973. It was written by
Laurence Marks and directed by
Hy Averback.
Guest cast is
Paul Jenkins as Sergeant Baker,
Virginia Ann Lee as Young-Hi,
Timothy Brown as
Spearchucker Jones,
Craig Jue as Benny,
Barbara Brownell as Lt. Jones,
Patrick Adiarte
Patrick Adiarte (born August 2, 1943) is a Filipino-born American theater, film and television actor and dancer, known for his portrayal of foreign or Asian characters in various roles in film and television. His roles have included Prince Ch ...
as
Ho-Jon
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 ...
.
Overview
Sergeant Baker stops by the 4077th with his "moose"; a teenage
Korean girl named Young-Hi whom he bought. Obsessed with freeing the girl, Hawkeye wins her from Baker in a card game, but now Young-Hi thinks she belongs to Hawkeye.
Baker agrees to trade Young-Hi for the debt he runs up. However, he explains to Young-Hi that she now belongs to Hawkeye, rather than that she is free, as was Pierce's intent. Pierce first attempts to get rid of Young-Hi by sending her on a truck to
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, but she gets off when the truck stops for gas and hitchhikes back to the 4077th.
Eventually Pierce, Jones and
McIntyre
McIntyre, McEntire, MacIntyre, McAteer, and McIntire are Scottish and Irish surnames derived from the Gaelic ' literally meaning "Son of the Craftsman or Mason", but more commonly cited as "son of the Carpenter."Scottish Clans: MacIntyre - Origin ...
decide to "demoosify" Young-Hi and teach her how to be a person who deserves to be well-treated and not subservient. They send for the head of Young-Hi's family and discover that he is Young-Hi's little brother Benny and that he immediately plans to sell her again. Initially, Young-Hi agrees with Benny out of loyalty to her family but then returns, having told Benny to "shove off".
In the end, Young-Hi is enrolled in
convent school
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
in Seoul. In the last scene of the episode, Pierce, McIntyre and Spearchucker Jones receive a letter from her.
The term "moose" derives from the Japanese word for daughter, "musume", and refers to female servants of servicemen, who may be treated almost as slaves.
Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moose (MASH), The
M*A*S*H (season 1) episodes
1972 American television episodes