Spoiler Alert – I review the plot. Skip down to the last paragraph to get my take on the episode but avoid reading the detailed plot summary.
This episode involves a suitcase full of counterfeit hundred-dollar bills that is left on Ralph’s bus. A gangster left it on the bus because of a cop he saw. The mobsters can’t claim the suitcase because it would have to be opened and that would expose them to arrest. Knowing that after a month the bus driver would be given the suitcase, they bide their time until Ralph is given the case by the bus company. When Ralph gets home with the unopened suitcase, his mother-in-law is talking with Alice. She insults Ralph several time about the impoverished state of their apartment and is thrown out by Ralph.
Ralph begs Alice and then Ed Norton to lend him some money to pay his back dues at the Raccoon Club. But Alice refuses him and Norton has no money. Right after this Ralph opens the suitcase and goes insane with the desire to spend the money. He buys a new wardrobe, has telephones installed in every room including the bathroom and fire escape, buys a whole new set of kitchen appliances and negotiates to buy a boat with three propellors. And to top it all off he insults his boss and quits his job at the bus company. When his mother-in-law finds out about the money she tries buttering him up by calling him “sonny boy” and claiming he’s her favorite son-in-law. It succeeds to the extent that Ralph gives her $200 for her and her husband to go to Florida so he doesn’t have to see them. When Alice finds out about Ralph’s reckless spending, she warns him that something is very wrong with the whole situation and all this spending would lead to disaster.
Naturally everything comes crashing down when he finds out the money is counterfeit. In order to avoid arrest Ralph puts the remaining money in the oven and burns it. Immediately afterward the gangsters show up at his apartment and demand the cash. But before they can shoot him for not having the money, Ralph’s mother-in-law shows up with two policemen to arrest him for giving her counterfeit money. Ralph and the gangsters are arrested and brought to the police station. Ralph is able to convince the police that he had nothing to do with the counterfeit money other than finding it and so the mobsters are jailed and Ralph is freed.
The episode ends with Alice berating Ralph for how he went crazy and spent the money. Ralph defends himself by saying that no harm was done and for a few days he got to live like a millionaire. Then she reminds him that he has quit his job and the episode ends with Ralph realizing Alice was right and he was in deep trouble.
Review
This is a very odd episode. Now, granted, in many cases the actions from one week don’t seamlessly continue into the following episodes. But in this adventure Ralph pretty definitively quits his job followed by calling his boss a “bum.” That’s kind of hard to ignore in the next episode. And there is a sort of pointlessness and unlikeliness to the action in this episode. But in defense of it, we do get to see Ralph’s ego given full rein. It does show that if he actually had money, he would be a free spender so it does give us an insight into his true nature. And there are a few good zingers thrown between Ralph and Alice’s mother. But all in all, I’d say this was a minor episode.