While reading an old history textbook, TJ discovers a treasure map. Wanting to have fun with his friends, he invites his friends on a treasure hunt. Along the way, however, they invite the Diggers, the Ashleys, and Randall, all of whom want to hoard the treasure for themselves.
Tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Played With: When Miss Finster informs him that TJ and his friends are trying to sneak out of the school, and that their plans involve dirt, Principal Prickly brushes her off. However, it should be noted that Miss Finster is also an adult, possibly older than Prickly himself, it's clear that she's paranoid, and Prickly knows all along what the kids are doing, since he helped hide the treasure they're looking for.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: A variation: while TJ and his friends are playing with the toys from the treasure chest, he discovers that one of them, a toy car, belonged to "Petey P." While TJ wonders where "Petey" is now, we cut to the principal's office, where Principal Prickly is phoning a childhood friend of his, revealing that he was among the kids who buried the treasure back in fourth grade.
- Bait-and-Switch: After being informed of the gang's counting paces and using dirt, Prickly seems to be implying that he's going to catch the kids in a trap. But in the end, we find out that the treasure is a bunch of old toys that Prickly had buried with his friends when he was nine years old.
- Children Are Innocent: T.J. sees the treasure hunt as just a fun adventure waiting to be had. The note that Gretchen reads also indicates the previous treasure hunters did similarly and donated their favorite toys to the chest in order to share them with other kids. The current Third Streeters take this to heart. Spinelli mentions that they can pass on the gift by burying some of their beloved toys as well.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: It is from Gretchen where we get a bit of Third Street School's history. According to her, one Eaton Quinn, the school's first kindergarten teacher, had a garden in the play area and eventually ended up in the nuthouse.
- Dated History / Science Marches On: In-Universe. TJ notes that the history textbook Miss Grotke gave him is so old that it says that "man will never walk on the moon."
- Deadpan Snarker: Miss Finster tries to warn Prickly by saying the kids are up to something involving dirt.Prickly: Kids and dirt on a playground. Yes, very suspicious.
- Foreshadowing / Chekhov's Classroom: The episode opens with Miss Grotke describing how "the barbaric Europeans stole this country from the Native Americans." This is a set-up for how greedy Vince and Spinelli become as they seek the treasure.
- Gold Fever: The kids searching for the treasure, most notably Vince and Spinelli, think that it's gold.
- Hypocrite: Spinelli chastises the other kids for to horde the treasure, which is what she was trying to do, as well.
- It's the Journey That Counts: T.J. says this when he yells at everyone for fighting over the chest. He says that this is just meant to be a fun adventure that bonds everyone over solving clues. The kids are ashamed to admit that they missed that part when the chest ends up containing old, beloved toys, and a note saying the whole purpose of the quest was to give fun to a future generation.
- Ludicrous Precision: Principal Prickly notes that it's been "40 years, six months, seven hours, twelve minutes, and 26 seconds" since the treasure was last buried.
- Not So Above It All: Prickly chastises Miss Finster for being paranoid, but he was just waiting for the kids to find the treasure. He phones an old friend to tell him the good news and then boasts that they really did hide the treasure real good.
- Oh, Crap!: The Diggers upon realizing the gang has caught the other kids trying to horde the treasure.
- Only Sane Man: T.J. is the only one not succumbing to greed, just seeing this all as a fun adventure.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For once Principal Prickly doesn't want to lift a finger in spite of the rampant destruction and rule breaking caused by the treasure hunt. Prickly knows exactly what they're looking after and he wants them to succeed.
- Politically Motivated Teacher: Miss Grotke has her students write an essay on how the settlers to America should have acted and explicitly stated she was grading them on their sensitivity.
- Soapbox Sadie: Miss Grotke's opening line in this episode says everything about her views of history:Miss Grotke: Now remember, class, please take this new history book with a grain of salt, since it focuses primarily on the history of white Western males.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: With TJ as the exception, who is focusing on the hunt itself, Spinelli and Vince think about how pirate treasure chests have gold and riches, usually enough to make one person wealthy. It turns out the rest of the playground does as well when they fight over the chest in the climax. What does the box actually contain? Old toys, and a note from the kids that buried it, thanking them for finding the treasure and asking them to bury it again for future generations to find. What, you were expecting a bunch of elementary school students in 1957 to have access to gold coins and jewels?
- Time Capsule: The treasure chest turns out to be a chest full of old toys, which was buried in 1957 by one Petey Prickly, future principal of Third Street School, and his childhood friends.
- Treasure Map: Or rather, instructions leading to the treasure.
- Wham Line: "Hello, Binky? It's Petey. They found it!"
- Wham Shot:
- The gang finds the buried treasure chest and open it to discover, not gold and jewels, but toys, which is what you would expect children to view as a treasure and have access to on and off the playground.
- The underside of the toy car reading "Property of Petey P."
- What the Hell, Hero?: T.J. when yelling at everyone for being greedy.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: "The treasure of Third Street School" turns out to be a collection of beloved toys left behind by students in former times (one of whom happens to be the principal of their school). However, the hiders of the treasure were, at the time, children themselves, who really would find such things precious, and really would be likely to play an elaborate game by "hiding" it as though it were treasure. (Who didn't do similar things as a child?)
