China
Beach - Season 3
(1989 - 1990/Time Life/Star Vista DVD Set)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: B Episodes: B
The
1989 television series China
Beach
hits DVD in this very collectible single-season edition issued by
Warner Brothers. Season
Three
explores the unlikely relationship between nurse Colleen McMurphy
(Dana Delany) and entrepreneur
K.C. Kolowski (Marg Helgenberger). These very opposite women must
forge a comradeship through the year as they face grave situations
together including imprisonment in the tunnels of Vietnam. Also
featured in this season is Ricki Lake as Holly Pelegrino, Jeff Kober
as Dodger and introduces Robert Picardo as Dr. Richard and Brian
Wimmer as Boonie Lanier.
Episodes
on this include The
Unquiet Earth
where McMurphy and K.C. take off in a jeep for a party at Da Nang
AFB. Captured by Viet Cong guerrillas en route, they're taken to an
eerie underground village where McMurphy is forced to operate on the
VC's wounded leader. Episode 2 is Skin
Deep
where McMurphy and K.C. try to prevent a soldier, disfigured by his
wounds, from killing himself. When a visit by Miss America falls
through, new Red Cross volunteer Holly challenges the nurses to
compete in their own beauty pageant.
Episode
3 is Dear
China Beach
where Holly pesters the base to answer a batch of letters sent by
American children. McMurphy contracts acute parasitic dysentery
after eating on some of the local delicacies, and Dodger tries to
cope with an abandoned Amerasian baby who might be his son. Episode
4 is Who's
Happy Now?
Dr. Richard worries about a craniotomy patient, Lila faces a vital
inspection, and K.C. is put in a difficult position when a visiting
colonel (guest star R. Lee Ermey) dies in her bed, prompting her to
ask Boonie and Hyers to help her find a way to dispose of the corpse.
Episode 5 is Independence
Day
as Boonie and Holly try to cheer up the base on a wet fourth of July.
McMurphy struggles with her feelings for Dr. Bernard and an
infatuated soldier. Episode 6, Ghosts,
is a little heavy where the men and women of China Beach are burdened
with their own private ghosts: Dr. Richard's broken marriage,
McMurphy's love affairs, Dodger's orphaned child, K.C.'s shattered
childhood, and Beckett's loss of his Vietnamese love.
Episode
7 is entitled With
a Little Help From My Friends
where Holly is upset when she thinks Hang's been using their
friendship to get information for the Viet Cong. McMurphy and
Bernard work at a civilian clinic. Episode eight is entitled China
Men
where McMurphy is uncomfortable with Dr. Bernard's sophisticated
friends, while a sexy Asian singer springs a surprise on Boonie. A
battlefield incident puts Dodger and Hyers at each others' throats.
Episode 9 is the first in a two part entry entitled How
to Stay Alive in Vietnam
where Beckett and a brash female civilian photographer, named Cat Von
Seeger, accompany Dodger's patrol. Part two, Episode 10, is where
Hyers faces a serious crisis. McMurphy befriends a wounded prisoner
of war, but when her new friend is taken away for interrogation, the
photographer Cat Von Seeger chases the story of his defection.
Meanwhile, Lila and K.C. are uneasy when a new commander, named Major
Otis, takes control of the base.
Episode
11 is Magic
where Lila struggles with the disappointment of losing command of
China Beach. McMurphy is stuck in a triangle with Dr. Bernard and
Vinnie, and Holly confesses her feelings to Boonie. Episode 12 is
Nightfall
where Major Otis refuses to investigate the death of a Vietnamese
prostitute, so a guilt-stricken K.C. sets out to discover the truth
for herself. Episode 13 is Souvenirs
where the memories of real-life Vietnam veterans match perfectly with
Dodger's dramatic efforts to conclude his tour of duty in Vietnam and
return home with the Vietnamese-American baby he is determined to
raise.
Episode
14 is Holly's
Choice
which my personal favorite, this entire episode runs backwards in
time as Holly's friends try to understand Holly's abortion and the
circumstances leading up to it. Episode 15 is A
Rumor of Peace
where Beckett and Frankie repeat peace rumors on their pirate radio
broadcast, setting the base to speculating. Episode 16, Warriors,
is where McMurphy saves Vinnie's buddy only to see him lapse into a
terminal coma. Meanwhile, Frankie finds herself commanding a squad
of battleworn grunts. Episode 17 is The
Thanks of a Grateful Nation
when Dodger returns home to the States with his son, he must confront
his feelings about Vietnam, especially when his high school buddy who
gets his draft notice decides to run. Episode 18 is Skylark
where a pair of ballroom dancers helps soothe McMurphy's relationship
with Dr. Richard while furthering a mysterious mission of their own.
Episode
19 is entitled Phoenix
and focuses on K.C.'s involvement with a military intelligence
mission lands her in jail with only McMurphy as her alibi. Episode
20 is F.N.G
and is a step back in November 1966 to take a look at Lieutenant
Colleen McMurphy as a fresh-scrubbed and idealistic 'F.N.G - Fairly
New Guy' at China Beach and her initiation into the hellish world of
Army nursing in Vietnam. Episode 21 is The
Gift
where McMurphy comes under investigation when she's named beneficiary
by two deceased soldiers. An old friend of Lila's comes to China
Beach to make a recruitment film about Army nurses. And finally
Strange
Brew
(Episode 22) has K.C. and McMurphy have a lost weekend when everyone
else is away at a USO show and enter a dreamscape with a Native
American guide, who helps them heal psychic wounds.
The
1.33 X 1 35mm shot picture and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio
are the best DVD can offer in standard definition recreating the
show's original broadcast quality. This set could definitely benefit
from a Blu-ray release.
Extras
include Interviews with Dana Delany, Nancy Giles, and John Wells,
Deleted Scenes, Episode commentaries, and Season 3 Gag Reel. All in
all this is a great release and definitely worth checking out if you
are a fan of the series. You can get the separate seasons of the
show like this one or The
Complete Series
set, all reviewed elsewhere on this site.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart
