Saved by the Bell Season 1, Episode 1 recap: Bayside High gets a big shake-up

Bayside High undergoes a huge shake-up when Governor Morris closes the underfunded schools in the Saved by the Bell revival premiere.

Bayside’s back baby and better than ever. In an age of revivals and reboots, it’s hard to find one that does it just right — but Saved by the Bell fans shouldn’t fret, because this is one reboot that hits all the right notes. After decades of being off the air, the new series tackles a group of new characters while still catching up with Zack, Kelly, and more of your favorite characters.

Straight off the bat, the new Saved by the Bell establishes a cheeky sense of humor as we learn that Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) became an out-of-touch trial attorney. And as TVLine points out, the episode even begins with a reference to Gosselaar’s stint on the TNT legal series Franklin & Bash.  And from there, he becomes governor, which is where the show’s central conflict begins.

During his tenure as governor, Zack closes a bunch of low-income schools which results in many students being pushed into some of the wealthier districts. The first episode revolves around the introduction of several new students being ushered into Bayside High School after Zack closes multiple underfunded schools.

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And while you’ll be seeing plenty of the old cast, the main focus here is on the newcomers to usher in a new generation of Bayside High students.

We begin with a focus on Daisy Jimenez (Haskiri Velazquez), an ambitious sophomore who intends to run for class president only to discover their school has been shut down.

“Unfortunately this isn’t a high school anymore I mean the state will probably rent it out so that TV shows about high school can shoot here, but it’s not an actual high school. No need to panic, you can learn everything you need on the internet.”

During a press conference, Zack is hounded by the journalists about his plans for students that attended the schools he’s just closed. Zack admits to not knowing how to handle it, so he just googled what they did last year and repeated it. “None of you guys have made a ten billion dollar mistake before?” The press asks why the students from the old schools can’t just go to schools in the higher-tax brackets like Bayside and thus an idea is born.

Of course, the parents of students from both schools are upset about the proposed merger. At Bayside, we get to see Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkeley) return as the school’s guidance counselor. Jessie says they’ve come up with the idea of a “Bayside Buddy” where they pair an older student with a new student to help them navigate the new school.

Also among the staff of Bayside now is A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) who now serves as the P.E. teacher. At least Slater is pumped at Douglas High students coming to Bayside, their football team is way better.

Saved by the Bell Season 1, Episode 1 recap: The Douglas students start at Bayside.

On Daisy her best friend Aisha’s (Alycia Pascual-Peña) first day of school, they’re paired off with Jesse’s son Jamie (Belmont Cameli) and Zack’s son Mac (Mitchell Hoog). While Aisha is immediately lovestruck by Jamie, it’s obvious Daisy and Mac are from different planets. Also, like Zack in the parent series, Daisy often breaks the fourth wall. Their other friend DeVante (Dexter Darden) is paired with transgender cheerleader Lexi (Josie Totah) and the group meets up at the local sit-down restaurant Max before and after school every day. As Daisy notes, “Isn’t that expensive?” and Mac responds, “Yeah.”

At school the next day, DeVante notices just how different the two schools are. “There are more people signed up for the Artisanal Bath Bomb Club than football.” Slater hears DeVante utter the word football and slips out from the shadows to give him a pitch about joining the team. But DeVante isn’t buying it.

After discovering she needs an iPad to get all of her textbooks electronically, Daisy laments to Aisha that they’re being set up to fail at Bayside because they don’t have smartphones and money. However, Aisha has a different perspective and is actually enjoying their new school and all of its perks. As for Daisy, she decides to channel her student council dreams into Bayside so that the Douglas students can have someone vouching for them in charge. (Also, in another ode to dear old Zack, Daisy has a big brick cell phone like him).

Daisy goes to chat with Mr. Toddman (John Michael Higgins), whose busy arguing with Mac about his parking spot war with Lexi. If she can get her posters hung up before homeroom the next morning, then she can enter the student council race.

Racing home, Daisy rushes out to pick up her brother and is repeatedly met by obstacles in getting her posters made, from out of order machines to not having enough money to pay for them at a  local copy kiosk. But one of the customers mistakes her for a single mom with little Hector by her side so she manages to skate by without the full amount and gets her posters made in time for the next day.

The only downside is that Mac and Lexi are now running for student president so they can end their parking lot battle once and for all. They’ve got poster guys and people like LeBron and Rob Kardashian (“Hey he’s still in the family!”) on their side and Daisy can’t hope to compete. Lexi and Mac check on Daisy after seeing how upset she gets over the poster debacle.

Tearfully, Daisy expresses her frustration at their privilege and how she would have made a great president if given the chance, especially since she genuinely wants to go on to Washington for the Student Leadership Conference over spring break. When she leaves, Mac and Lexi realize they need to make things better because something Daisy said deeply affected them —  there’s no way they would spend their spring break in Washington.

Saved by the Bell Season 1, Episode 1 recap: Daisy takes her spot at the table.

During lunch, Slater tries to get through to DeVante again, this time by actually listening to him. DeVante says that because he’s Black, people always assume things about him, that’s up to no good, plays football, or is related to Montell Jordan (which he is but only through marriage).

Slater realizes things have changed since he was in school, when he had a problem, it could usually be fixed by some vague inspirational speech, not so much anymore, even though he has a good one in mind. He tells DeVante that people will always make assumptions, but he shouldn’t let that stop him from doing something he’s really passionate about. It turns out that thing he’s passionate about is music, and he shows up at the fall musical auditions (and he’s really good!) while Aisha heads to football tryouts (so is she!).

As for Daisy, Mac intentionally loses the race and Lexi pretends to be Daisy during the announcements to give a speech that would make anyone vote for her by promising a Lizzo performance and micropigs. Daisy wins by default, but she tells the principal she can’t take the job because it wouldn’t be right. He tells her that if there’s one thing the kids at this school do right, it’s not feeling guilty for taking their seat at the table and this time, it’s Daisy’s turn. if she doesn’t, how else will they make this school fairer for everyone?

Mac and Lexi anticipate that Daisy will let them have her presidential parking spot but she says no. She’s taking it and using it to make a new bus stop much closer to the school.

What did you think about Saved by the Bell Episode 1? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

All ten episodes of Saved by the Bell Season 1 are now streaming on Peacock TV.