"Goodbye, Radar" - Was Radar out of character?

[RJ]

The second part of Radar's swan song is on the Hallmark Channel right now and it got me to thinking: was Radar out of character in these episodes? Not being able to get the generator, getting so angry at Klinger about being company clerk, talking back to Hawkeye, etc. We saw a handful of examples of Radar getting angry in earlier episodes (his memorable outburst in "Fallen Idol" perhaps the most famous) but he was never one to be so moody. Granted, his Uncle Ed had just died, but watching it again tonight just makes me think.

I suppose it could be Burghoff being so tired with the character but I doubt it. I doubt he would bow out of the series without giving it his all. So it was probably mostly the writers. Were they trying to show the mental hoops Radar was leaping through trying to come to terms with his situation? Or was it an attempt to hit the viewer over the head with the fact that Radar had finally grown up -- to tie in with Hawkeye, BJ and Potter finding Radar's teddy bear?

Thoughts?

[Lisa]

I am only up to watching season 6...what season is this in? I gotta buy the next few! I crave more mash!

[amanda1020]

In my honest opinion, it could have been a combination of both reasons you've stated, RJ. I mean, you realize that when you lose someone close to you (and you love them so much), your head is filled with all of these different emotions that you can't grasp together. It's just that some people choose to take on this role in a different scenario. Most people would stay alone for a few days and cry into their pillow at night. In the case of the episode, it was a luck of the draw type scenario where things weren't going exactly the way the 4077th wanted them to go and almost everything was put onto Radar's shoulders.

On the other hand, he's also realized that he's now the man of the house. But as I'm sitting here typing out this response, I can see the writers trying to put the idea of Radar growing up and becoming this persona that you hadn't seen before (minus Fallen Idol). He knows that both the camp and his mother need him around but he finally gives in and leaves at the end of the episode, leaving the teddy bear behind (significant in the time capsule episode).

[RJ]

Lisa, Radar left at the start of Season Eight. Pace yourself, or you will run out of "new" episodes before you can say abyssinia.

Amanda, there was a scene in "Goodbye Radar, Part II" where Radar finds a picture of his Uncle Ed. I think whatever his reaction was really sums up how he was feeling vis-a-vis Uncle Ed's death. He was crushed -- but he knew that the camp needed him. It just took him a little while to realize that his mother needed him just as much, if not more.