The BEST episodes of China Beach

Every episode of China Beach ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of China Beach!

The trials of a weary nurse, her friends and colleagues in a Vietnam War field hospital.

Last Updated: 2/11/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
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Hello, Goodbye (1)
star
8.89
9 votes

#1 - Hello, Goodbye (1)

Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 7/22/1991

McMurphy agrees to attend a China Beach reunion planned by Boonie and recalls her last day in Vietnam, and travels to Washington DC with the others to visit the Vietnam Memorial. Karen comes to terms with the ghost of her absent mother, KC.

Writer: John Wells
Watch Now:Amazon
How to Stay Alive in Vietnam, Part I
star
8.63
8 votes

#2 - How to Stay Alive in Vietnam, Part I

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/1989

Beckett and a civilian photographer temporarily join Dodger's patrol; McMurphy gets to know a wounded POW.

Directors: Fred Gerber
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Hello, Goodbye (2)
star
8.50
8 votes

#3 - Hello, Goodbye (2)

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 7/22/1991

Writer: John Wells
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Juice
star
8.50
8 votes

#4 - Juice

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/10/1990

In 1972, Dr. Richard and his nurse take a romantic trip to Florida, where they run across a hard-livng McMurphy working at an orange-juice factory.

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Dear China Beach
star
8.43
7 votes

#5 - Dear China Beach

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/4/1989

Dodger is left with an Amerasian baby that is supposedly his son; McMurphy makes a poor patient when she comes down with dysentery; and Holly badgers everyone into answering the letters sent by seventh-graders from Colorado.

Directors: Michael Rhodes
Writer: John Wells
Watch Now:Amazon
Warriors
star
8.43
7 votes

#6 - Warriors

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/14/1990

McMurphy is in an emotional and ethical turmoil when she delivers Vinnie's buddy from death but he falls into a terminal coma; and Frankie finds herself in charge of a squad of grizzled grunts.

Watch Now:Amazon
I Could Have Danced All Night... But Didn't
star
8.43
7 votes

#7 - I Could Have Danced All Night... But Didn't

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/4/1991

McMurphy meets a sympathetic drummer at a 1983 wedding and recalls the 1969 wedding of Lila and Sarge Pepper, as well as the end of her relationship with Dr. Richard.

Watch Now:Amazon
100 Klicks Out
star
8.43
7 votes

#8 - 100 Klicks Out

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/11/1991

The imminent fall of Saigon reunites KC with her daughter as she struggles to get the little girl out of Vietnam and safely to America and a waiting Boonie. In the 1980s, a cynical McMurphy tries to prevent further child abuse in New Mexico.

Directors: Mimi Leder
Watch Now:Amazon
Fever
star
8.38
8 votes

#9 - Fever

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/3/1990

In 1970, McMurphy returns home to Lawrence, Kansas to make peace with her mother and try to settle down into civilian life, but finds both goals beyond her grasp.

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Twilight
star
8.33
12 votes

#10 - Twilight

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/22/1989

Wayloo Marie's digging results in a medal ceremony for Boonie and an unwelcome investigation into his lost jungle patrol. McMurphy sees Dodger again as he prepares to go back into action. Frankie befriends a captured deserter.

Directors: Michael Fresco
Watch Now:Amazon
You, Babe
star
8.29
7 votes

#11 - You, Babe

Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/1990

In Saigon in 1967, KC gives birth with McMurphy's help and gives the baby over to a foster mother.

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Limbo
star
8.25
16 votes

#12 - Limbo

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/14/1988

McMurphy continues her vigil by Dodger's bedside as he stays in a coma. KC agrees to get Boonie some black market penicillin for a native hospital in exchange for his help in building her a beauty salon on base.

Directors: Dan Lerner
Writer: Carol Flint
Watch Now:Amazon
Through and Through
star
8.25
8 votes

#13 - Through and Through

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/16/1991

In 1985, an increasingly angry Colleen torments herself and her husband until she discovers she's suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and seeks help to deal with the memories of her final weeks in Vietnam.

Directors: Mimi Leder
Writer: Carol Flint
Watch Now:Amazon
The Unquiet Earth
star
8.22
9 votes

#14 - The Unquiet Earth

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/20/1989

McMurphy and K.C. are kidnapped by the Viet Cong and taken underground into a warren of tunnels, where their captors expect McMurphy to operate on their wounded leader.

Directors: Michael Rhodes
Skin Deep
star
8.22
9 votes

#15 - Skin Deep

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/1989

McMurphy uses a little guilt and a little blackmail to get a reluctant K.C. to visit a wounded soldier whose face has been badly disfigured. Holly, the new doughnut dolly, challenges the nurses on behalf of the Red Cross Volunteers to compete in a Miss China Beach beauty pageant. Frankie is assigned to the motor pool and runs into Sarge Pepper, who's not very eager to have her there.

Directors: Mimi Leder
Writer: Carol Flint
Watch Now:Amazon
The World, Part I
star
8.18
11 votes

#16 - The World, Part I

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/26/1989

Wayloo Marie prepares to return the world and a new job at BBC news. She's unexpectedly joined by McMurphy, who's returning to her unsettled family in Kansas following her father's heart attack.

Directors: John Wells
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A Rumor of Peace
star
8.17
6 votes

#17 - A Rumor of Peace

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/7/1990

China Beach reacts to the rumors of peace floated by Beckett and Frankie during their pirate radio broadcast.

Directors: Neema Barnette
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Souvenirs
star
8.14
7 votes

#18 - Souvenirs

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/17/1990

Dodger reaches the limit of his endurance and decides to leave Vietnam and faces a mountain of paperwork as he tries to get permission to take his Amerasian son home with him.

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The Always Goodbye
star
8.14
7 votes

#19 - The Always Goodbye

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/18/1991

The arrival in Bangkok in 1969 of a hard-drinking McMurphy and a young private disrupts KC's carefully developed new life and brings back unwanted memories.

Directors: Gary Sinise
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The Call
star
8.14
7 votes

#20 - The Call

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/8/1990

Frankie returns to Chicago in 1969 to try her hand at being a standup comic but runs into the tragically funny trial of the infamous Chicago Seven. Back in Vietnam, McMurphy tries to help Dodger convince some Montagnard tribes people to evacuate their homes.

Directors: Robert Ginty
Watch Now:Amazon
One Giant Leap
star
8.14
7 votes

#21 - One Giant Leap

Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/17/1990

In 1969, China Beach watches from afar as the first men land on the moon. McMurphy simmers jealously as Dr. Richard falls for a new nurse. Beckett entertains a group of USO singers in his G.R.U. hut. A disturbed Boonie meets with a tragic accident.

Watch Now:Amazon
Independence Day
star
8.13
8 votes

#22 - Independence Day

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/1989

China Beach celebrates a soggy Independence Day with Boonie and Holly trying to keep everyone's spirits up, McMurphy dealing with a love struck private as she tries to sort out her feelings for Dr. Bernard, Lila and the Sarge discussing the future and Beckett and K.C. quarreling over registering the dead to vote.

Directors: Mimi Leder
Watch Now:Amazon
China Men
star
8.11
9 votes

#23 - China Men

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/22/1989

Dodger and Hyers square off after a battlefield incident; McMurphy spends an uncomfortable evening with Dr. Bernard's sophisticated civilian friends; and Boonie gets a surprise from the sexy Asian singer all the men in camp are longing for.

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How to Stay Alive in Vietnam, Part II
star
8.10
10 votes

#24 - How to Stay Alive in Vietnam, Part II

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/6/1989

The wounded Cambodian POW befriended by McMurphy is taken away by the South Vietnamese for interrogation as the photographer Cat pursues the story of his defection and a new commander arrives to take over the base, leaving Lila and K.C. unsure of their positions.

Directors: Steven Dubin
Watch Now:Amazon
Cherry
star
8.00
13 votes

#25 - Cherry

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/1/1989

Wayloo Marie becomes intimidated by the war as its reality sinks in following Cherry's death. McMurphy tries to fight the bureaucracy to keep Dodger from going to Japan for more medical help. KC fights her heroin habit as she tries to locate Cherry's brother and prepares to accompany her body home to Iowa for burial.

Directors: Mimi Leder
Watch Now:Amazon