Saved by the Bell Season 1, Episode 8 recap: Jessie, Slater, Kelly & Zack reunite

In the eighth episode of the Saved by the Bell reboot, the original gang reunites at The Max.

The eighth episode of Saved by the Bell starts with a celebration at The Max after the football team finally wins a game against Valley High. To cap off the night, Zack and Kelly show up to celebrate, and we finally get a reunion between Zack, Kelly, Jessie and Slater. But the old gang quickly realizes they don’t have as much in common as they used to, and things turn awkward.

I’m sure fans appreciate Kelly and Zack’s increased presence in the final three episodes after they remained mostly absent in the previous seven. In-character, it works because as the governor, Zack is scheduled to attend the big homecoming gala with Kelly by his side. After the weird meet-up at The Max, we skip to the married couple getting ready for the formal event and wondering why things felt so off-kilter between them and Jessie and Slater. Zack feels like Slater can’t talk about anything other than his workout regime, while Kelly got the impression that Jessie wanted her to feel intimidated by her many books.

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Before leaving for the evening, Zack checks in on Mac, who has been spending his time trying to devise the perfect prank to pull at homecoming. Pranking is the main way he and his father bond, so he feels intense pressure to perform. Unfortunately, Mac is suffering from a “prank block.”

As the gala begins, the original core four don’t find common ground any easier than they did in the opening scene. All the criticism from Kelly and Zack seems accurate as Slater boasts about his fitness routine and Jessie lays into Kelly for calling herself a doctor of optimism and wellness despite not having any real credentials. Their meeting comes to an awkward end when Toddman interrupts, and both Kelly and Zack make up excuses to get away from the table.

Trying to salvage their old friendship, Jessie proposes that she and Slater dig up their old time capsule to relive their old memories together. When they reach the spot where it’s buried, they discover Zack and Kelly already there and digging. For a little while, it works. The group goes through the box of stuff in an episode chockful of callbacks to the original series, including several more nods to Jessie’s prior caffeine pill addiction and more. Slater then finds a present to him from young Zack and opens it, only to be splattered in green paint — a classic prank.

Back at the gala, Mac consults DeVante for advice on why he might be prank-blocked, so to speak. It boils down to Mac having daddy issues because Zack is never around. DeVante calls him out on it, although Mac doesn’t want to admit it. The main reason DeVante is so curt is that Mac keeps interrupting him while he tries to chat up a cute girl named Nadia (Mariah Iman Wilson) at the gala. He even volunteered to work the mashed potato bar alongside her to get to know her, although DeVante can’t help but get tongue-tied in her presence.

Returning to Jessie, Slater, Kelly and Zack, the prank serves as the kicker, and the group starts fighting, accusing each other of being selfish. It continues until Toddman intervenes and calls all of them out for forgetting his existence. They all went to school with him, and not one of them remember! Of course, that’s not the truth in reality — John Michael Higgins was not on the original Saved by the Bell, but it’s hilarious to see the sitcom’s old footage with Higgins edited in as Toddman.

Toddman’s outburst serves to reunite the gang as they all feel guilty for completely forgetting about him. To ensure he’s telling the truth, they contact their old friend fashionista Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies), who now tends to supermodels abroad. I wonder if they reached out to her after she expressed her upset at not originally being asked back for the reboot? Lisa fondly remembers Toddman, confirming that the group might just be the worst.

After Lisa scolds the group for forgetting Toddman, they start cleaning up the time capsule and makeup with each other. Jessie confesses to kelly that her relationship with Rene isn’t going well, and Kelly asks Jessie how she feels knowing Slater is still in love with her. Jessie doesn’t believe her. But the two get on the same page again, just as Zack and Slater tearfully promise to be best friends forever outside.

To make amends with Toddman, they perform the old song “Friends Forever” and try to get him to take a group picture with them. The picture happens to correspond to Mac’s prank idea — to pour a bucket of gravy Carrie-style on his dad’s head.

Toddman and Zack switch places at the last minute, and Toddman gets coated in gravy instead of Zack. It seems like he might be mortified, but Toddman thinks the entire evening has been one big prank against him and loves it! Slater, Jessie, Zack and Kelly decide to go along with it, and all is forgiven.

Before Zack departs for the night, DeVante throws a potato at Mac from behind the mashed potato bar to encourage him to let his dad knows how he feels about wanting to spend more time with him.

“Hey, Dad? Do you think when you get back, we can do a prank together? I heard of this crazy one where you take a baseball, and I throw it into your hands, and you throw it into mine, and we do it until it gets dark, and then mom’s like ‘Come in for dinner, boys!’ And then we eat together. You know, as a prank?”

Saved by the Bell Episode 8 recap: Daisy & Lexi try to get more alumni funds.

Since it’s the annual homecoming gala fundraiser, Lexi has to recruit a volunteer to help her solicit donations from the alumni. Daisy offers her assistance, but Lexi doesn’t think her judgmental attitude toward rich people will be good for their cause. To get donations, they need to kiss a** and schmooze like nobody’s business; something Daisy isn’t the greatest at. She compares it to the adage when if you lay down with snakes, you’ll get bit. But as an overachiever, Daisy is determined to prove her wrong, so Lexi reluctantly lets her join.

Daisy gives her best attempt to be nice to the rich folks at the gala, but it doesn’t take long for her to reach her threshold, especially when chatting with a guy who previously worked for ExxonMobil and accused the ocean of diluting their oil. She calls him out for being wealthy yet only donating $30. Overhearing the conversation, he reluctantly donates more out of guilt, and Lexi realizes that getting money by guilting rich people might be more successful than being uber nice.

They succeed in earning enough money to meet the fundraising goals, but then Jade Huntington-Snell takes the stage and informs everyone that this year, they’re going to take the money and use it to reform and reopen Douglas High School. That means all of the Douglas kids will be shipped back to their old school and forced to leave Bayside.

As Lexi says to Daisy, “Oh my god, you were right. We laid down with snakes.” “And we got bit.”

What did you think about the rebooted Saved by the Bell Episode 8? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

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