Recap / Power Rangers Dino Supercharge S2E8 Riches and Rags

Ivan has just ordered a brand new training dummy to practice his fencing on while the others are away, but there is a mix up with the order; due to Ivan's limited knowledge on how deliveries work in the 21st Century, he didn't read the manifest on his delivery and ended up with an antique dress suit instead. Then the real dummy is delivered to Kendall, to her confusion, and she brings it down to the base to find out what is going on. To her shock, Ivan has ruined the suit without realizing, as in his time it wasn't something of value. She calls the owner, who reveals the suit was worth $2m and that if he doesn't get the money he was owed, he will take the museum as collateral.

Fury has a new plan, to use the remains of Spellbinder and Gold Digger to create a new hybrid monster - Spelldigger, whose enchanted coins cause anyone who touches them to turn greedy and hungry for more wealth. Heckyl likes the idea of having the rangers too busy to fight because they will be after the gold, and carries sackfuls off to give to the residents of Amber Beach. These coins end up at the cafe where an unhappy customer is complaining about the price of the food there, $6 for a burger and $2 for a drink. When he tries to pay and Chase takes one of the coins to inspect it, he is hit with the spell. Tyler, who had come to mediate the argument is also hit with it, and the pair head outside and follow Heckyl and Spelldigger to get more gold.

In the meantime, Ivan has been busy attempting to secure the funds to pay back the millionaire. His first idea came after a run in with Spelldigger, where he remembered he had a gold bar in storage from his time as a knight of Zandar. Unfortunately, rather than calling up Zandar to get the bar he instead walks into a random Amber Beach bank and attempts to get the bar instead. Naturally, the cashier doesn't believe a word he is saying, until he draws his sword and shows it to her, whereby she panics, thinking she is about to be robbed, and hits the alarm on the desk. His next attempt is to endebt himself into the millionaire's service to repay the debt, as a guardian, but he tells him that he doesn't need another assistant, as his bodyguard already does that. Lastly, his idea of using Spelldigger's coins once the spell fades backfires when it is revealed they are in fact 'fool's gold', and they disappear when Spelldigger is destroyed.

Kendall is busy working out how much the museum can afford to sell, but it just isn't enough to repay the debt. Trying to haggle with the millionaire fails as he is quite the greedy man and won't take no for an answer, insisting he be repaid or else. The rangers last hope is to defeat Spelldigger and retrieve his coins to repay the debt but this fails.

When the millionaire arrives to end the debt, Ivan implores him to be charitable and let them keep the museum, but he is having none of it. Fortunately, Ivan's escapade at the bank was brought to the attention of Zandar, and Prince Philip has arrived to settle the matter. Ivan did indeed have a gold bar in storage, and it has been accruing interest over his 800 years of imprisonment. It works out to be worth just over the $2 million they need to save the museum. When the shocked millionaire asks why he doesn't just keep the money and get rid of the museum, since he would be rich, Ivan responds that giving away the museum would deprive the community of a wealth of their own; plus he has to repay the debt he owes on his honor as a knight. Shocked by this moment of philanthropy, the guy tries to reject the cheque out of 'kindness' and a game of keepaway soon ensues between the two, each trying to give the other back their money.

On Sledge's ship, there is a new development with the villains. Fury overhears Singe talking to someone regarding Heckyl's location, and confronts him, saying that while he has everyone else fooled, Singe isn't fooling him.

Tropes:

• Artistic License – Economics: Works of art valuable enough to be displayed in museums are insured to prevent exactly this sort of scenario, where something gets damaged by accident and the museum (or its employees) end up liable for it.
  • We never see the gold bar, but one of the size commonly shown on TV is worth about half a million dollars in modern money. By the Rule of 72, after 800 years of compounding at any reasonable rate of interest, this would not be worth approximately $2 million; it would be worth billions.
• Big Damn Heroes: Prince Philip saves the day by informing the millionaire that the gold bar Ivan attempted to retrieve was secured in the Bank of Zandar, and has been accruing interest for over 800 years, thus the value in his 'account' is now worth $2 million, just enough to pay back the guy.
• Bodyguard Babes: Parodied with Miss Sandra. The oversized Femme Fatalons are just part of it.
• The Cameo: Two, first Prince Philip shows up at the end to save the day, and the millionaire's personal assistant is Keeper's suit actor.
• Chekhov's Gun: Halfway through the episode, Ivan attempts to withdraw a bar of gold he had deposited but runs off after causing the teller to think he's trying to rob the bank. At the very end, Phillip arrives to inform him that his gold had accumulated $2 million in interest and can pay off his debt.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Ivan doesn't know how smartphones and tablets seem to work, and has confusion when his finger allows him to sign for something; he walks into a bank to retrieve a gold ingot he stored there, with no identification whatsoever apart from his verbal claim to be a knight, and he even drew his sword on the cashier (to show her his identity, but she naturally presses the alarm) and finally believes that owing someone a life debt and being their servant/ slave is actually a good idea in this age.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Singe is in the employ of someone else, potentially the person Sledge was working for, considering their interest in the Energems...
• Money Spider: Spelldigger is this, generating gold coins that cause people to turn greedy. The rangers actually plan on using this to pay off a large debt that Ivan accidentally gained, guessing that the monster's destruction would also break the spell on the coins. It works, but only for a moment before the coins disappear as well.
• Oh, Crap!: Kendall when she sees the damage Ivan has done to the antique.
• Shown Their Work: A gold bar deposited by Ivan circa 800 years ago that since then accumulated so much interest that it was enough to pay off the millionaire, has some basis in reality. Interests existed in the medieval age, and the price of gold has spiked since the US did away with the gold standard in the seventies.
  • Unfortunately, they far understate the effect that 800 years of compound interest would have. See Artistic License – Economics, above.