"As Time Goes By" is the 255th episode of M*A*S*H, as well as the last episode filmed. The episode aired on February 21, 1983 on CBS. As it was the final episode filmed they took a moment to pay tribute to the characters (except for Trapper John McIntyre) who had left the series before its conclusion. It also introduces the character of Soon-Lee, who would play a vital role in the series' final episode and the short-lived spin-off AfterMASH.
The episode is dedicated to Connie Izay, RN, one of the show's medical advisors, who died before the episode aired.
Although this was the penultimate episode of the series, it was the final episode produced, wrapping on January 14, 1983 at exactly 6:05 p.m. The series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", had been filmed earlier in the season's production schedule.
Synopsis
The episode opens in the Officer's Club, with Sgt. Rizzo sleeping at the bar. B.J. shouts "is the general's Jeep ready?", causing Rizzo to jump out of his slumber. Rizzo seeks revenge, and decides to get it using a dummy hand grenade he borrows from Igor. Winchester reads a story in the newspaper about a new skyscraper in Los Angeles that will have a time capsule placed in its cornerstone. Major Houlihan becomes enamoured with this idea and decides to place a time capsule to commemorate the 4077. Hawkeye also likes the idea, and volunteers to help Houlihan. Hawkeye later confides to B.J. and Winchester that Houlihan's time capsule would only represent the army side of their lives, and he wants to be sure to include something to represent "us malcontents".
Father Mulcahy helps a distraught elderly Korean couple board a transport headed for a refugee camp, separated from their daughter in the middle of the fighting. As they leave, Mulcahy tells them to ask the officials at the refugee camp for help. A shipment of wounded arrives, and one of the medics advises Colonel Potter of a helicopter that was sent earlier that day with a sniper victim. Colonel Potter tells the medic that the helicopter never arrived, and orders Klinger to have it reported as MIA. The medic tells Potter and Klinger that they managed to capture the sniper and produce a young Korean woman named Soon-Lee Han, who was found with an M1 Carbine rifle in the fields and is suspected of being the sniper. Soon-Lee claims her innocence, saying that she found the rifle as she was ploughing. Klinger is ordered to lock up Soon-Lee until Army Intelligence can interrogate her.
As work on the time capsule continues, Houlihan grows increasingly frustrated with Hawkeye's suggestions and throws Hawkeye off the project. Undaunted, Hawkeye soldiers on with his own time capsule. Rizzo decides to carry out his revenge when he goes into the shower tent, where B.J. is enjoying a shower. Rizzo begins playing with the dummy grenade, and pretends to accidentally pull the pin. Fearing for his life, B.J. runs naked out of the shower tent. When B.J. learns that the grenade was a dummy and this was all a prank, he vows to get back at Rizzo.
When Father Mulcahy hears Soon-Lee's story, they all become convinced that the elderly Korean couple are Soon-Lee's parents. Soon-Lee urges Klinger to let her go, but Klinger cannot. The missing helicopter finally arrives with the sniper's victim. The pilot puts his delay down to engine trouble, and his radio silence to a damaged radio. The sniper's victim tells the real story to Hawkeye and Houlihan. The helicopter took enemy fire destroying the radio and the fan belt, forcing them to land. This left the helicopter only able fly a maximum of 200 yards before the engine overheated. The pilot walked ahead 200 yards to find a safe clearing to land, and by the time he returned to the chopper, the engine was cool and ready to fly again. He repeated this "walk, return, fly" process until it was too dark to fly, and then began the next morning as soon as it was light. Hawkeye and Houlihan are touched by the pilot's heroism.
While the sniper's victim is in surgery Klinger has B.J. extract the bullet, which is too big to have come from the rifle Soon-Lee had. Now that she's free, Klinger, Father Mulcahy, and Soon-Lee drive to the refugee camp to find her parents. When they arrive, they are met with heartbreak. They are not Soon-Lee's parents. Rizzo and Winchester have an argument in the mess tent, and Rizzo uses his grenade prank to get back at him. Winchester throws Rizzo to safety, and then uses his body to smother the grenade. Winchester takes the grenade and says he will dispose of it safely, much to Rizzo's chagrin. When Rizzo is gone, Winchester signals to B.J., showing that they planned it to get back at Rizzo for what he did to B.J.