There's a hidden M*A*S*H reference in one of the most popular video games of the past year

Did Henry Blake somehow end up in the Wild West?

Henry Blake loved to fish. He was a fishing fanatic. As the commanding officer of the 4077th M*A*S*H unit in Korea, he often wore a bucket hat covered in fishing lures. (Though, that fashion choice did cause him pain once when he saluted and put his hand into a fishhook.) He was even known to kick back at his desk and tie fishing flies.

Margaret once called him a "mealy-mouthed, fly-fishing imposter," to which Hawkeye clarified Henry was a "genuine mealy-mouthed fly-fisher."

His fishing fanaticism made his demise all the more tragic. When Henry Blake leaves M*A*S*H at the end of the third season, the view expects him to head to a retirement filled with casting lines in creeks. Instead, he perishes in a plane crash. Would he have run a bait and tackle shop had he retired?

Well, the makers of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 think so.

Rockstar Games, the publisher behind the massively successful and influential Grand Theft Auto series, released its Western epic Red Dead Redemption 2 a year ago, in October 2018. The cowboy adventure has since become one of the best-selling console games of 2019. Some consider it one of the greatest video games ever made. 

And there is a M*A*S*H reference hiding in it.

Saint Denis is the largest city in the world of Red Dead Redemption. Hats off to Reddit user kpcnsk, who shared a discovery of a "H. Blake Fishing Tackle Maker" shop in Saint Denis.

Rockstar Games

If you think this is mere coincidence, consider that the first Red Dead Redemption, released in 2010, featured a character named Charlie Mash. Here he is:

Rockstar Games

Charlie Mash? H. Blake Fishing Tackle? Some Rockstar developer has been watching classic television.

Watch M*A*S*H on MeTV!

Weeknights at 6 PM, Sundays at 7 PM

*available in most MeTV markets
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
Close

3 Comments

J4heels 62 months ago
There is also a comment In Red 2 by Bill who says he was fixed up in a medical camp by Charlie (he does not mention his last name Mash)
RobCertSDSCascap 62 months ago
Yeah, yeah.
THIS one came with a M*A*S*H t-shirt!
Moody 62 months ago
A little clarification is needed here. Henry wasn't retiring but being discharged after accumulating the required points. He was most likely going to return to his civilian medical practice in Illinois.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?