The 4077th are concerned when Col. Potter visits a sick friend in Tokyo and returns sullen, cranky, and decidedly non talkative.
Attention, all personnel! Col. Potter is expecting the following tropes to arrive from his lawyer, and he'd like you to remember that curiosity K.O.ed the feline, be sure to take nose of that!:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Potter's in a sour mood when Klinger wakes him up in the middle of the night for a call, angrily saying this had better be very urgent or else. He's immediately troubled to learn what it's about, leaving him quietly making plan for a trip to Tokyo.
- Berserk Button: Do NOT starch Colonel Potter's shorts!
- Friend to All Children: Most of the staff look after various children visiting the camp and playing with them in-between medical work.
- Friendship Moment: Potter invites the main staff to hear his story and share a drink, due to how much they mean to him.
- I Have This Friend: Winchester theorizes that this is the situation, and Potter is himself seriously (possibly fatally) ill. He quickly asserts that he hopes he's wrong, and is later proven so.
- Last of His Kind: Potter becomes the last surviving member of his unit from the First World War after a friend dies in Tokyo.
- "Not So Different" Remark: While reflecting on his current troubles, Potter talks to one of the children about being young and looking forward to glorious times. He's certain the child will have
- Old Soldier: A veteran of three wars, and the last one standing from his first unit.
- Rage Breaking Point: Potter immediately deduces why the children are reacting badly to the shots, saying it's a result of eating horse meat. When the staffers make the requisite quips, Potter proceeds to rant about how horses are noble creatures undeserving of treatment and how the cavalry deeply respected them. He gets pretty far when he notices everyone staring at him. We later learn this is the result of the last of his old cavalry unit dying.
- Shout-Out: Klinger names the little girl he looks after Rita after his favorite actress.
- To Absent Friends: In 1917, Potter and four others once found some bottles while hiding out in an abandoned French chateau. After drinking the rest, it was agreed the last survivor would get the last bottle and drink a toast to the others. That ends up being Potter. He invites the main staff to hear his story and share a drink, though he makes the first toast solo out of respect to his four friends.Potter: Here's to you, boys. To Ryan, who died in WWI: the War to End All Wars. To Gianelli, who died in the war after that. To Stein, the joker of the crowd. And to Gresky, my best friend, who just passed away in Tokyo. You were the friends of my youth. My comrades through thick and thin and everything in-between. I drink to your memories. I loved you, fellas... one and all. [takes a sip]
- Tontine: A rare example where the participants didn't all try to kill each other. The prize being a bottle of whiskey that the last-remaining survivor would use to toast his fallen friends.
- Trauma Button: Klinger tells Rita the story of the Three Little Pigs, but she starts crying when he gets to the part of the Wolf going down the chimney. The noise he makes sounds too similar to a bomb being dropped.
- True Companions: Potter regarding his old First World War unit to be his true companions, and later recognized that his fellow officers at the 4077th had become just as important to him now.
- Wrong Assumption: After receiving their invites, the rest of the staff discuss what could be bothering Potter, with divorce or tax problems being the tops of the list. Charles suggests I Have This Friend in regards to a terminal diagnosis, and the others admit his reasoning makes a lot of sense. They're all wrong, as Potter turns out to be reacting the death of an old friend.
- You Are Not Alone: When they meet with Potter, Margaret spontaneously hugs him, and the rest of the team assures him that they all want to help him.Potter(after Margaret hugs him): What was that for?
Hawkeye: I'd do the same if I didn't think you'd slug me.
