Bag of Money (Hey Arnold!)

"Bag of Money"
And we thought Sid and the others accusing their friend Arnold for revealing a fellow classmate's secret was already hard enough...
Series: Hey Arnold! Part of Season: 5 Episode Number: 5a Air Date: April 5, 2000 Writer: Steve Viksten Director: Christine Kolosov (animation) Previous episode: Big Sis Next episode: Principal Simmons

Bag of Money is an episode from the Nickelodeon show Hey Arnold!.

Plot

Arnold, Sid and Gerald find a bag filled with money, though they do not know what to do with it, so Arnold is selected to hold onto it for the time being. However, when Arnold inadvertently loses the money on the way home, his friends begin to believe that he actually stole the money, so he must work to prove his innocence.

Why It Really Stole 3,937 Dollars

1. Plot Hole: It was never explained in this episode who left a bag of money full of 3,937 dollars at the trash can at an alley or how it really got there in the first place.
2. This is a pretty mean-spirited episode, as after Arnold accidentally loses the money he, Gerald and Sid found, he gets accused of stealing the money by almost all of his friends (except Gerald and a few others), and they even made Gerald grow cautious if Arnold was telling the truth.
3. Sid is very unlikable and out of character in this episode, as he accuses Arnold of stealing the money, and even had most of the students take his side, and made Gerald cautious, and he even led his classmates that were with him to tie Arnold to the tether-ball pole, even though Arnold was telling the truth the whole time.
4. Most of the students that were with Sid and even helped him try to tie Arnold to the tether-ball pole are also unlikable, because they also didn’t believe Arnold and also took Sid’s side.
5. Sid and the classmates on his side (except for Gerald) were also making Arnold extremely uncomfortable during the time they accused him for stealing the money, which is very rude and disrespectful.
6. While Gerald is still likable for not being very mean to Arnold, he still grew cautious due to Sid’s story that Arnold stole the money, and him initially thinking whether or not Arnold was telling the truth almost ruined their friendship.
7. The most mean spirited part of the episode is when Sid and the students on his side were going to tie Arnold to the tether-ball pole to torture him.
8. Even when Gerald took Arnold’s side and said he would never lie or steal the money, the kids didn’t believe Gerald and continued to tie up Arnold until the police arrived to show the truth.
9. Arnold and/or Gerald never even think about telling the principal or teachers that Sid and the classmates on his side are accusing Arnold for stealing money nor told them that they try to tie Arnold to the tether-ball. Because of this, Sid and the classmates on his side never get punished or scolded for their actions, making them Karma Houdinis.
10. What this encourages is to jump to conclusions, when in reality jumping to the conclusion solves nothing.
11. Unusual ending: Even though Sid was apologizing to Arnold in the end Arnold and Gerald just walk away from him on the count he deserved it for manipulating and lying to everyone throughout the entire episode.
12. Sid and his negativity can get on your last nerve.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The episode started off good, with Arnold, Gerald and Sid finding the money, and also Arnold convincing his friends to take it to the police station and turn it in the next day. It was only when Arnold accidentally losses the money is when this episode went bad.
2. Some of the characters are still likable in this episode. Arnold, because he was being honest and telling the truth, and Gerald because while he was cautious, he wasn’t being mean to Arnold like the other students and even believed his best friend in the end, knowing he would never do something so bad. The old lady was also sweet and likable as she returns the money to the police station, gives Arnold his bus pass back which he also lost, and showed the kids the truth along with the police.
3. Gerald, Helga, Phoebe, Eugene, Sheena, Lila, Patty and many more students were the only students who didn’t participate in being mean to Arnold and tying him to the tether-ball pole because Gerald would never be mean to his best friend, Helga would never accuse her love of lying and would never go that far when bullying him to hide her feelings (even though she did in "Girl Trouble"), and Phoebe, Eugene, Sheena, and Lila would never be mean to Arnold either, while 5th grader Wolfgang probably has standards and seeing 4th graders being accused of lying by other 4th graders is too mean-spirited for him and the other 5th graders. Also, Olga's nice and was in college around this time. Finally, Patty would never try and bully Arnold all her life because she is very innocent and she will start beating up others whenever they make fun of her.
4. The part where Gerald stood up for his best friend and believed him was a pretty nice moment, as he and Arnold still have their great friendship and he was ashamed in everyone who was being mean to his best friend for not believing him.
5. The ending was good as the police arrived with the old lady, as she told everyone the truth about what happened, and gave Arnold his bus pass. Everyone who was mean to Arnold apologized to him, especially Sid who felt really bad for what he did to Arnold, and Arnold forgives them as he, Gerald and Sid take a walk together.
6. Georgia Engel (best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show) was the voice of the old lady.

Reception

The episode has gained a rather negative reception, and is considered by many fans to be one of the worst episodes of the show. Many fans criticized this episode for Sid's negative portrayal and hypocritical behavior (it is also usually agreed upon by the fans to be one of Sid's worst episodes), and Arnold getting unfairly accused by his classmates. The behavior of Arnold's classmates in this episode is also very peculiar, as they knew that Arnold is an honest and trustworthy guy, but it seems in this episode, they all (including Gerald for a while) somehow forgot about that and blamed Arnold for stealing all the money.

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