In the control room, the picture of General George Patton appears on the screen. Otto explains that he was "One of America's all-time greatest generals". Tuddrussel can't wait to meet the guy, while Larry would rather sit this mission out.
In WWII era Washington D.C., George Patton is making a speech to his army in front of a giant American flag. There are a few problems here; He's wearing gardening gear and his "army" are actually two teenagers and an old man that help him run his flower shop. The speech he's giving them is about trying to encourage them to sell flowers in a sense that it's their patriotic duty to do so. But his employees don't have a care about that.
The Time Squad zaps into the room as Patton verbally abuses one of his teenaged employees. Patton's salesmen persona lights up, happy to greet the potential customers. Larry is thrilled to be in such a well maintained floral business and he and Patton strike a mutual friendship over gardening. Tuddrussel is less than thrilled to find out that Patton isn't on the battlefields as he expected, and when he comments on the "stupid flowers", Patton punches him out cold in retaliation. Patton apologizes to Otto about it but adds that nobody is going to badmouth the floral business on his watch. Otto tells him, "That's okay, uhh...General?", only to have Patton correct him that he's not a General at all. Larry complements Patton over his shop, claiming that's one of the best he's ever seen. Patton tells him that that may be the case, but not everyone feels that way. He pulls Larry over to the window to show him that the flower shop next door, The Floral Emporium, has been trying to drive his shop out of business for months due to competitive prices. But Patton is hopeful that with the big sale coming up for his shop, he and his loyal staff will carry on as normal.
They turn around to see that his "loyal" employees are now wearing the Floral Emporium uniforms, they tell him that they've all excepted jobs there because they pay fifty cents more and they have had it with working under such an un-agreeable and abusive boss. Devastated by the turn of events, Patton calls upon the Squad to help him run his shop, promising that by the end of the week they're going to be trained florists to his liking.
He trains the guys as if for war on the frontline; teaching them how to properly clip bonzai trees, wrap bouquets, and pull weeds in the garden. Larry and Otto excel at all these things, but Tuddrussel is constantly getting yelled at and disciplined for his misconduct. By the time the big sale at Patton's shop comes around, everything is ready and Patton is pleased with what he'd managed to accomplish with the Squad. The customers at the store admire the flowers and floral arrangements, complementing them over the Floral Emporium's "impersonal" style. When out of earshot of Patton, Otto tries to tell Larry and Tuddrussel that they need to figure out how to solve the mission. But Larry is too busy having fun selling flowers in Patton's "flower army" and Tuddrussel is too distracted over a thorn in his finger to be of any help. So it's up to Otto to come up with a way to get Patton to the army. But he doesn't quite know how and considers the fact how the shop is so well maintained and the prices are reasonable, and wonders how it could possibly fail.
But then Patton gets asked by a teenage boy if they had any roses for sale, as he wanted to by one for his prom date. Patton screams at him, telling him that that occasion requires a corsage. He orders his customers run laps and do pushups for the minor infraction of trying to buy the flowers that he finds inappropriate for the occasion that they're suggesting. The customers run away and go to the Floral Emporium, dooming his floral shop now.
Patton seems to accept defeat, leading Otto to finally ask why he decided to run a flower shop in the first place. Patton explains that all his life he wanted to command and lead, and was always in some way a leader; from being the head scout leader as a child, to captain of his football team in high school, to graduating at the top of his class at West Point, and knowing about his gift for command and strategy he knew where his destiny lay: the floral business.
Otto reasons with him, telling him that with his leadership skills, brutal tactics, and lack of human compassion, there can only be one place for him to be in this world. Patton asks where could that be, and Otto gladly points out the U.S, Army recruitment office across the street. Patton laughs about not even noticing that building there in the first place, or else the idea of joining would have crossed his mind earlier.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Bad Boss: Patton is an amazing general, but a terrible boss for normal civilians.
- Boot Camp Episode: In a weird twist, with 'Drill Sergeant Nasty' General Patton forcing the guys to under go intense militarized training as if they were going off to war.
- Chest of Medals: Patton's character designer cleverly replaced military badges of honor with hand shovels and rakes.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Unsurprisingly, George Patton, who in this timeline is running a small flower shop that he's running like a boot camp and treats his employees like new recruits.
- Lack of Empathy: Patton.
- Predatory Business: The Floral Emporium is a huge corporate floral shop next door that's taking up Patton's potential clients.
- Real Men Wear Pink: What Tuddrussel finds to be abhorrently un-masculine, the tough and brutal George Patton actually loves gardening and is quite passionate about keeping an upstanding shop.
- Serious Business: Patton's love of flowers is treated as such.
- Slipping into Stink: Tuddrussel ends up getting catapulted into a pile of fresh cow manure meant for General Patton's flower beds- he lies there completely covered and looking emotionally defeated.
- That's an Order!: Patton screams this phrase to Tuddrussel in particular.
