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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Medical > Nurses > Vietnam > TV > China Beach - Season 3 (1989 – 1990/Time Life/Star Vista DVD Set)

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



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