From Curse to Worse

From Curse to Worse is the fifth episode of Season 2 of Saved by the Bell (2020) and the fifteenth episode of the series overall. It was released on November 24, 2021 on Peacock TV.

Synopnis
When West Beverly bans a trans girl from the Soccer team, Lexi tries to solve transphobia by putting on a play.

Full Summary
Daisy starts the student council meeting. They have a lot to cover, so she asks for no interruptions. As she sits down, Mac comes in to rally people for the Spirit Competition. Gil tries to get things back on track, but Mac ignores him and says he went undercover at Valley. to do some digging. He learned they'd already reached their 50,000 spirit hours while Bayside isn't even halfway there. Bayside is losing. He appoints himself Spirit Czar. Daisy says no. She's in charge of that and it's on her list. Mac says she can be Spirit Czar, but hopes she doesn't regret it. A delivery man brings in 10,000 pounds of hourglass sand and is looking for the Spirit Czar to sign for it. Mac points to Daisy. Daisy has to sign individually for each pound of sand.

Lexi talks about the play she and DeVante are going to be in. She notices people are staring at her and wonders if her sex tape leaked. Jamie comes to the table and says some parents at West Beverly High are suing the school to get a trans girl kicked off the soccer team. They all look at Lexi, but she assures them she's fine. She wants them to be normal. If they don't, she'll sit BTS's fans on them. Mac suggests to Daisy a way to collect more hours. Daisy doesn't want his suggestions.

Slater and Toddman meet Lexi at her locker. Slater benched one of his players so Lexi could play soccer.

In English class, Ms. Mandrake asks Lexi to educate them on the history of trans rights.

At lunch, Yasmin asks Lexi she eats fennel because she learned Joey Soloway does.

Spencer tells Lexi he'll never know why his parents decided to do IVF in the same lab where they breed animals for the San Diego Zoo or who his real mother is. Chloe interrupts and hands Lexi a flyer for Prism, the LGBT club. They're planning a sit-in at West Beverly High and Chloe invites her to come. Lexi declines the invitation. Chloe says they have weekly meetings if she ever needs help dealing with things. Lexi doesn't have time for that, but Chloe says if they don't stand up to hate, it'll keep happening. As Chloe leaves, the soccer team approaches Lexi and says Slater told them she's their new captain and they have to carry her to class. Lexi lets them do it.

Gil asks Daisy if she'd want to go on a real date with him, just to The Max. She'd love to, but she hasn't told her mom about him yet. He told his mom because he kind of thought she was his girlfriend. Mac interrupts their conversation with yet another idea to get hours. She shoots it down. Daisy tries to go back to their conversation, but Gil gets shy. Daisy says she's going to tell her mom about them.

Lexi is in Jessie's office. She usually prefers to get advice from her psychic, but he's in the Maldives. Jessie wants to know if she's really fine or just pretending. Lexi says she was fine until Chloe made her feel guilty for not going to the protest. Jessie says no one can tell you how or when to take a stand. She'll find her own way to fight back. Even small protests can make a difference. Lexi takes that to mean something huge can solve the whole thing. She thanks Jessie for helping her and leaves.

DeVante rehearses. Lexi interrupts. The drama teacher has been standing in for her in her absence despite DeVante insisting they could wait for her. Lexi says the musical is cancelled. Instead she's going to write a show so powerful that it solves transphobia or even all prejudice. And it opens this weekend. The drama teacher is excited to be part of a play that changes the world.

Ana Jiménez quiets Hector, who is playing a video game, saying Abuelita is sleeping. Daisy comes in and tells her mom she's dating a boy. Ana says she's not allowed to date until she gets to the Supreme Court. Then she can date another Justice, chaperoned. She's too smart to let a boy distract her. Daisy says she really likes him and thinks her mom would, too. She tells her mom about Gil and she looks him up. She likes what she sees. She agrees to let Daisy keep seeing him as long as it doesn't affect her school work. If her grades slip, it's over. Daisy agrees and goes to do her homework, but Abuelita wakes up and tells Daisy the boy she loves is cursed.

On the bus, Daisy tells Aisha that she told her mom about Gil. It went great until Abuelita told her about the curse. Aisha doesn't believe the curse is real. They're both startled by a bird hitting the bus window, followed by more.

At school, there is toilet paper draped everywhere. Mac tells them Valley kidnapped their mascot and doesn't understand why Daisy doesn't care. He accuses her of being a mole. Toddman stops him and calls them both to his office.

Daisy tells Toddman she's fine. Toddman's actually more worried about Daisy's lack of school spirit. The competition is very important to Bayside and they'll never win if Daisy doesn't get into it. Mac and Toddman start explaining the history of the competition to her. She's the president, so she needs to care about it. She agrees to try.

Lexi presents the play she wrote in one night. There's a warning for epileptics and non-pregnant women. The drama teacher encourages them to start. Lexi starts reading stage directions. After a moment, DeVante calls her to the side and asks if she's sure she wants to do this. He understands what she's going through because random Bayside kids kept checking in on him during the protests of 2020. Having a spotlight on you that you didn't ask for sucks. Lexi brushes him off.

Gil talks to Daisy, but she's too focused on her Abuelita's vision. Max welcomes them and gives them bread start with. A prank snake flies out, startling her. Daisy explains to Gil what Abuelita said about him being cursed. He understands her hesitance. Just then, Mac walks in wearing a dog mask and carrying a dog under his hoodie, fulfilling another part of the prediction. Mac says Belinda the bulldog is Valley's mascot. Daisy thinks he's taken things too far. He hands her the dog and tells her to figure out what to do with her.

The Prism Club arrives at the play rehearsal. Chloe says DeVante showed them the script and some of it could be offensive, like the Pope being trampled by a cow in act two. Lexi says the cow represents Harvey Milk and the Pope represents Olivia Pope, who is played by Kerry Washington who shares a last name with slave-owning George Washington. Chloe's worried this could do more harm than good if it's people's first exposure to trans lives. What's happening at West Beverly is scary and solving it won't be easy. Lexi says her play needs to reach a broader audience. She decides to call E! and ask them to film it as a special episode of her show. The drama teacher decides to quit. Lexi blames DeVante and says she's giving his role to Spencer, who says he's not comfortable playing Martin Luther King, Jr. and quits. DeVante tells her to let them help. She says he can do lights if he wants to help and she'll do all the roles herself.

Aisha asks Daisy how her date went. It was good, she says. Aisha then asks about the dog under her desk. Daisy's just holding onto her until the exchange. The curse isn't getting to her. Their assignments are returned and Daisy has a B. She says her Abuela was right. She was stung in the heart by a B.

Daisy goes to her mom and tells her she got a B, like Abuela said. She's prepared to break up with Gil. Ana says Abuela has lots of dreams. When she was in high school, Abuela had a dream that if she wore a crop-top, Satan would steal her belly button and put it on his "altar of skanks." Daisy still feels like she has too much on her plate. Maybe there's not room for a boy. Ana says the real curse is having to balance everything. Abuela comes in and tells them about another dream she has had.

Lexi rehearses her play, playing both characters in a scene. Jamie questions her doing it all by herself. She admits that it's hard doing it by herself and hearing about this terrible stuff all day every day. DeVante understands how one alert on your phone can ruin your entire week. She asks if the play is a dumb idea. Jamie says it's just 3000 years ahead of its time. Lexi just wanted to stop the bad news cycle. Sometimes she feels so alone. Jamie says maybe it would be easier if she had someone help lift her up. Jamie might not be the best fit for the job. Sometimes you want to talk to someone who gets it, like DeVante when there's a new Verzuz battle.. Principal Davis passes by and asks DeVante if he saw Stevie Wonder versus Lil' Kim. It was a weird pairing, DeVante says, but he was there for it. DeVante suggests that Lexi go to the Prism Club. He and Jamie offer to go with her to support her. Lexi has to call E! to cancel the special.

Daisy tells Gil they need to talk. She tells him about the B. He understands her panic immediately. He's okay with her spending more time on school even if it means they can't be together. Daisy says she'll find something else to give up. She'd like to be his official girlfriend. He'd love that as well and leans in to kiss her. He asks her what she's going to give up. Belinda starts to pull on Daisy and she sees the Spirit Competition tracker, where Mac is standing. She offers to let him be Spirit Czar. She knows he'll do a bad job, but it doesn't matter to her. She hands him Belinda's leash and says the consequences will be his if he screws up. She's sure he'll let her down.

Lexi, Jamie, and DeVante come into the Prism Club. She tells them she's not doing the play. She wants them to start by singing Same Love. Chloe asks her what she thinks they do there. She thought it was like AA. Chloe says they did a bad job explaining. Shouldn't have let Spencer handle their PR. Lexi starts to realize maybe she does belong. They're doing a lip sync battle. If they stopped the party every time something bad happened, they'd never have fun. And queer and trans joy is a form of resistance in herself. Lexi finds it kind of nice. She takes the microphone away from Spencer and starts lip syncing.

Main Cast

 * Haskiri Velazquez as Daisy Jiménez
 * Mitchell Hoog as Mac Morris
 * Josie Totah as Lexi Haddad-DeFabrizio
 * Alycia Pascual-Peña as Aisha Garcia
 * Belmont Cameli as Jamie Spano
 * Dexter Darden as DeVante Young
 * John Michael Higgins as Ronald Toddman
 * Elizabeth Berkley Lauren as Jessie Spano
 * Mario Lopez as A.C. Slater

Guest Starring

 * Ed Alonzo as Max
 * Matthew Sato as Gil Vatooley
 * Ariela Barer as Chloe
 * Abraham Rodriguez as Spencer Buckley
 * Selenis Leyva as Ana Jiménez
 * Rodney J. Hobbs as Principal Davis
 * Sam Pancake as Drama Teacher
 * Rose Abdoo as Ms. Mandrake
 * Alyssa Jirrels as Yasmin
 * Yvette Cruz as Nana

Co-Starring

 * David Miranda as Hector
 * Matt Kaminsky as Delivery Man
 * Molly Rose Meredith as Soccer Player
 * Brett Hoyle as Valley Student