Recap / M*A*S*H S4 E15: The Price of Tomato Juice

After seeing Colonel Potter get excited over a rare treat of tomato juice, Radar goes on the lookout for more with Hawkeye and B.J.'s help - and learns quickly that it's hard to come by.

Attention all personnel! Corporal O'Reilly has requisitioned the following tropes:

• Aerosol Spray Backfire: Hawkeye sprays BJ in the face with a flit gun while they're trying to clear flies out of the Swamp.
• Brick Joke: At the start of the episode, "Insect Officer" B.J. has a fly in his coffee. At the end, Radar finds a fly in the tomato juice that would have been Colonel Potter's.
• Call-Back:
  • Klinger spending his R&R in Tokyo in the company of General Barker (who was expecting Major Houlihan) seems like this, but General Barker's profile on the M*A*S*H wiki suggests that this is a coincidence, noting that the Barker mentioned here is Bradley Barker instead of Wilson Barker and that Margaret knows two General Barkers.
  • Potter mixes this trope with an Actor Allusion when he says that Klinger dresses a lot like his wife, given General Steele mistook Klinger for his wife.
• Chain of Deals: Radar has to go through several personnel in the camp (and all the way up to a general!), making favours all the way, to get tomato juice for Col. Potter.
• Character Check: Radar tries to get Potter to sign something without really looking at it, which he hasn't done since Henry Blake's time....and we're instantly shown why he hasn't when Potter sees right through it.
• I Have This Friend: After denying that he wants to give a pair of nylons (requested in exchange for a tomato juice order) to Margaret, Frank claims he wants them for "one of the nurses who's performed well in the O.R."
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Frank Burns, as usual.
  B.J.: Major Burns wouldn't give a drowning man a glass of water.
  Radar: Should you give a drowning man a glass of water?
  B.J.: Major Burns has no heart.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: B.J. refers to this trope when Radar brings up that he wants to get more tomato juice for Colonel Potter. Radar should have paid attention.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: They finally get the tomato juice for Potter, only for him to refuse it after the previous glass reminded him that he's allergic.
• Squick: In-Universe. After being told by B.J. exactly what escargot is, he reacts with disgust, saying he'd never eat a snail.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: In spite of the fact Klinger has persistently been attempting to break out of camp, Colonel Potter is convinced to give him a two-day pass upon learning from Radar Klinger is in an emotionally rough shape.