The Evans were IDIOTS in this episode! No, just NO! :/

[Janice Johnson]

In "Rich Is Better Than Poor.... Maybe, JJ wins The Lottery, and the Evans celebrate and talk about things they could buy with the $2,500 Lottery win. They do this right in front of Edna, a Juvenile Delinquent who has already been in jail before... IDIOTS! She unsurprisingly leaves and cones back with her Sister and they both point guns at The Evans Family. Edna sends Roz to go to the bank with Florida to get the $2500 withdrawal. Willona ends up being held hostage when she inadvertently walks into a hostage situation. Florida and Roz come back with the $2,500 and Thelma, JJ, and Michael trick Roz by telling her Edna said she planned to cheat Roz out of her share of the money. Edna claims she didn't say that at all. Roz shows doubt as Edna has cheated her out of money Multiple times before. They fight over the money enabling JJ to step in(He slaps the money out of Roz's hand )and Willona gets a hold of the gun and points it at Roz and Edna. Thelma calls 911 and tells Edna she is going to go back to jail for the get rich scheme she just pulled. Edna sniffs her wrist and says,"At least I'll smell rich." The scene where she sprays Willona's expensive perfume on herself is cut out from many syndication airings, leaving this line REALLY weird.

WHY would the Evans celebrate and talk about the things they could do with the $2500 in front of Edna? They know she has a Criminal Past, they should have kept their mouths shut until after she left...

[hch]

This shift in season actually makes the Evans family's behavior even more baffling. By Season 4, they have already experienced several traumatic incidents that should have made them more street-smart:

Cumulative Trauma: They had already survived the harassment from "The Windfall" in Season 2 and seen James struggle with the consequences of honesty. You'd think they would have learned that broadcasting "found" or "won" money in the projects always leads to trouble.

The Loss of James: Season 4 is the first season without James Evans. With the "protector" of the family gone, the fact that they were so loud about the $2,500 while a known delinquent like Edna was in the room is even more reckless. They were physically more vulnerable than ever.

Thelma’s Role: Since Thelma was the one tutoring Edna, she knew firsthand about Edna’s unstable home life and probation status. Her failure to read the room or at least signal the family to be quiet is a major "idiot" moment for her character specifically.

The Perfume Line: As you noted, that "I'll smell rich" line from Edna is one of the most chillingly poetic lines in the series, but without the cut scene of her spraying the perfume, it loses its punch. It highlights the vast gap between the Evans' "wealth" and Edna's total lack of anything. To Edna, $2,500 wasn't just a lottery win; it was a target.

The Evans family often suffered from "sitcom amnesia," where the harsh lessons of one episode were forgotten for the sake of the next plot, making their lack of caution in Season 4 feel like a betrayal of their own history.