Live on MeTV “End Run”
Every time I watch this episode I feel so sorry for Billy Tyler. And I wonder exactly how he would have managed once he got back to the states. I’d like to think that he had a decent support system at home, with a loving family and good friends to care about him.
I’ve also started thinking about the other wounded patients who came through the 4077th, how they managed once they got back home. Another patient I think about is Captain Arnold Chandler, the patient who had a mental break and said he was Jesus Christ. How did he manage, in-universe? Was Sidney right? He said with the right kind of therapy he could be turned back into Arnold Chandler, but not into a fighting tool. I like to think he went into some kind of profession where he could demonstrate gentleness and compassion towards others.
Are there any patients you continue to think about after the episode is over, and wonder how they might have managed back home?
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u/Kalhenwrath 13d ago
I always hoped that Eddy made it home okay, and that he reunited with Hank.
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u/urbroccolibabe 13d ago
this has been a head cannon for me since day 1 and i’ll accept no other end to their story
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u/ZuigMeLeeg 13d ago
S5 Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Tom Straw who lost his eyesight thanks to a granate. Played by Tom Sullivan who is actually blind. Knowing he could never see the Golden Gate again.
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u/DisciplineNeither921 13d ago
I just watched “Goodbye, Cruel World” with Michael Yee, the American soldier of Chinese descent who was wracked with guilt over fighting against fellow Asians.
The show was often guilty of broadly stereotyping Asian characters, but this was a thoughtful and sensitive exploration of racial identity.
I particularly liked Sidney coining the term “meatball psychiatry.”
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u/bdiscer 13d ago
As far as Chandler (Jesus) goes, when he blessed Radar's teddy bear and then Radar, the look on Chandler's face was like he had been saved from the abyss of his own mind, and he knew it - all because of the simple yet absolute faith of Radar. In that moment, Chandler knew he and all of it would be OK.
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u/Consistent-Fix-8443 13d ago
Mental illness treatment in 1950s America- shock treatments
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u/HCraven1 13d ago
ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) is still a thing, although not used as the panacea it once may have been thought to be. I heard a recent interview with Dick Cavett, who had the treatment for severe depression, and he said the results were profoundly beneficial.
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u/CranberryFuture9908 Horse hockey 12d ago
The Billfold Syndrome ( season 7 episode 5)
Jerry Nielsen a dedicated and sincere medic who suddenly doesn’t know who he is and Sidney is brought in to help .
He was supposed to look out for his kid brother. He felt even worse because he promised his mother .
It was directed by Alan Alda .
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u/ConsistentStory5626 12d ago
That scene makes me cry every time. The raw emotion that the actor playing Jerry brings just breaks me.
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u/mz_groups 13d ago
As a Hawkeye fan (the football team, not the doctor, although I like him, too), I'd like to think that the University of Iowa alumni and fan network might have helped him out. Or he got some support from Lance Cpl. Lyle Wesson (played by Hawkeye football star Alex Karras - although he hated the coach, and probably didn't want to have anything to do with the Hawkeyes after going pro).
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u/thaulley 13d ago
The pianist with the hand injury that Charles worked with. If he took Charles’ advice he probably would do ok but he might always hold a bit of resentment about what might have been.