Dear Sigmund

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"Dear Sigmund"
M*A*S*H episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 8
Directed byAlan Alda
Written byAlan Alda
Production codeU-810
Original air dateSeptember 18, 1976 (1976-09-18)
Episode chronology
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"The Abduction of Margaret Houlihan" 		Next →
"Mulcahy's War"
M*A*S*H season 5
List of episodes

"Dear Sigmund" is the 8th episode of the

Hawkeye Pierce
on the show.

Plot

Sidney Freedman (Allan Arbus) is having trouble working after one of his patients, whom he thought he had helped, dies by suicide
. He believes "there's something special" about the 4077th, so he goes to a poker game there one night and decides to remain for several weeks, to work through his feelings.

During his time there, he writes a letter addressed to the deceased

air raid bunker
with water, coats the eyepieces of Colonel Potter's binoculars with black ink and enlists Sidney's help by having him shout "Air raid!" to lure Frank into the trap.

Revitalized, Sidney ultimately departs the 4077th, realizing that happiness is "like springtime at MASH. If you can't see it or find it, you just go ahead and make it", and he's "coaxing a little bud to grow" inside himself. As he drives off, he finds himself the latest target of B.J.'s jokes.

Production

Alda was a regular writer for the program, as well as a cast member. He had long been impressed by Arbus's acting skills as a psychiatrist, initially believing him to be a subject expert and turning to him for psychiatric advice. The pair's friendship continued past the end of M*A*S*H's run.[1][2]

When Alda first told producer Gene Reynolds about his idea for the episode, Reynolds balked, saying that "if you ask an actor to play depressed, it'll be depressing for the audience". As a result, when Alda wrote the script he made sure that Freedman was cheerful on the outside and that his depression remained beneath the surface.[3]

After the series concluded, Alda described the episode as one of his favorites.[1][3]

Reception

Alan Alda won two awards for the episode: the Directors Guild of America's Award for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series in 1976 and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 1977. Alda was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1977; William Jurgensen was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography. Samuel E. Beetley and Stanford Tischler were nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Film Editing in a Comedy Series and for an American Cinema Editors' "Eddie Award" in Editing.[4]

In a retrospective review in 2005, Alun Thorne of Birmingham Post praised the episode as the fifth season's highlight. Thorne lauded the "sheer blackness", fitting in with the series' themes of "the human condition and the horrors of war", and the "genuinely heart-breaking" letter to a deceased ambulance driver's family, as well as a "brilliantly written and beautifully delivered" joke in the opening scene.[5]

References

  1. ^
    ProQuest 421589533
    .
  2. ProQuest 1346974659
    .
  3. ^ a b Alan Alda on writing the M*A*S*H episode "Dear Sigmund" and the performance of Allan Arbus as M... YouTube. August 26, 2009. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  4. ISBN 0-7864-1701-3
    .
  5. ProQuest 323924975
    .

External links

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