La Guerra de Aisha

La Guerra de Aisha is the seventh episode of Season 2 of Saved by the Bell (2020) and the seventeenth episode of the series overall. It was first released on November 24, 2021 on Peacock TV.

Synopsis
Aisha questions her cultural identity during a Spanish class. Jamie tries to prove he has a talent.

Full Summary
Mac calls an emergency spirit meeting to order. They're a month away from the competition and they still need 6000 hours. He asks them all to clear their schedules to help meet the goal.

Mac leads a group poorly building for Habitat for Humanity.

Lexi, Jamie, and Mac do used clothing, toy, and money drives.

Mac does a kissing booth. Daisy offers him a break, but he says they need more hours.

When the house is built, Daisy asks Mac how they did it. Mac admits that Ty Pennington did most of the work while they stood around.

They've met their hours requirement and are in the spirit competition. Daisy's impressed, but he's not done. Now he has to figure out how they'll win. Daisy never though she'd see him work so hard. Mac sees a kid going to put a can in the canned foods drive and stops him, saying they got enough hours. He takes the can for himself.

Lexi and DeVante finish their musical performance. At the side of the stage, Jamie poorly explains the term "Snake Eyes" to Nadia. Nadia says Lexi's really good. She and Jamie are dating the most talented kids in school. Mac agrees. He's been observing the students' bodies looking for the best competitors for each event. Jamie notices there's nothing for him. Mac says he has no talents or abilities. Jamie says he's good at a lot of things.

The Fish beats Aisha again but notes that she's improving. Slater calls her into his office.

In Slater's office, Jessie and Slater tell Aisha that when she was the quarterback of the football team, teachers were willing to let things slide. Jessie has learned that she was meeting her language requirement by taking Nintendo Studies, which Aisha says is kind of like taking Japanese. Slater approved it. Jessie says she needs to take a real language class. She agrees to take Spanish.

At The Max, Jamie asks Lexi what she thinks he's best at. He needs to figure out what skills he could use in the Spirit Competition. She says he's the best boyfriend and before that, he was a great friend. As they enter, Mac tells Daisy she has to do the Limbo at the Spirit Competition. Daisy doesn't want to. Mac tells her she has strong ankles. He's been trying to trip her all day and couldn't. Jamie says he could do the limbo, but Mac says he's too tall and clumsy. Jamie asks for a chance to prove himself. Mac says he can challenge Daisy and the winner will represent the school.

Chloe sees Aisha wearing a letter jacket and asks if she does sports. Aisha explains that she was on the football team, but not anymore. Chloe doesn't know much about sports and backs away when she senses Aisha's aggravation.

Mr. Johnson, in an exaggerated Castilian accent, welcomes Aisha to Spanish class. He asks Aisha to pick her Spanish name. She tells him she's Dominican and she's good with Aisha. He says she can't do that and suggests Juanita. Mr. Johnson has Nate, also known as Javier, choose a partner and he picks Aisha. They have to talk about music. Nate does so poorly and Aisha replies in fluent Spanish. Mr. Johnson stops and corrects her. She says that's not how she says it at home. He says they're at school and gives her a C- while Nate gets an A.

Aisha rants about Mr. Johnson to Daisy on the bus. She doesn't think it's fair. This Spanish class should be an easy A for them, but it's not designed for them. Daisy says it can be easy, but she has to do things Mr. Johnson's way.

Mac announces Jamie and Daisy at the limbo competition. Round one begins. Daisy falls on her first try. Jamie goes next and clears it. Mac admits his algorithm must have been wrong and congratulates Jamie. Jamie realizes it's too good to be true and the fantasy closes in on him.

Jamie wakes up on the floor of The Max. He slipped and concussed himself, then got up and fell even harder. Mac says he'll see Daisy for her training. Once Mac and Daisy are gone, Jamie says he used to think he was good at everything. Living a lie was better than this. He hates not being good at anything. She says she knows he'll find his thing. She has time.

Aisha practices Spanish Mr. Johnson's way. Slater comes in with her letter jacket, which he found in the donation bin. She says she doesn't need it anymore. She used to know who she was and now she doesn't. Slater says no one knows who they are in high school. He calls to a nearby kid, Philip Tyberius Gorpleman, to prove it, but Philip is self-assured. Aisha says last year, everything made sense. Now that's gone. And the one thing she thought she still had, being Latina, is now being challenged. Slater's not exactly an authority on this. He didn't learn Spanish until The College Years. Growing up, they never talked about being Mexican. His dad changed their name. He still sometimes doesn't feel Mexican enough. Aisha says he is Mexican. And she's Dominican and there are several other countries that speak Spanish. They're not all the same thing. No one can tell them there's only one way to speak Spanish. She thanks him and leaves.

Gil tells Daisy he thought they were having lunch. She forgot because of the limbo contest. Gil says it's okay, but Daisy's sick of Mac pulling her into his schemes. Gil suggests saying no. Daisy says she does, but sometimes it's easier just to go along with it. Gil says she's not the type to take the easy way out.

Daisy finds Aisha, who is on her way to confront Mr. Johnson. Daisy's on board with her, saying Margarita is dead. Spencer overhears that and asks if they need someone to perform a song at her funeral. Aisha starts to tell her the plan, but Chloe interrupts and asks if she's busy. Aisha explains what they're doing and Chloe backs away again.

Mr. Johnson welcomes them back to class. Aisha volunteers for the daily oral quiz and chooses Mr. Johnson to be her partner, emphatically telling him her name is Aisha.

Mr. Johnson says the subject is The Mall. He starts the scenario. When she answers him, he tries to correct her again. She says she'll take whatever grade and asks him to continue. She continues what she was saying and he struggles to keep up and understand. She repeats her question and he answers with the Dominican word for whore. She tells him what he just called her. He sends her to the principal's office and goes with her.

As Daisy tries to follow, Mac stops her and tries to get her to go practice limbo. She tells him she's not doing it. She won't let him talk her into his schemes anymore. She brushes past him.

Mr. Johnson brings Aisha into Toddman's office, where he was talking to Slater. Aisha explains what was happening. Mr. Johnson says he was just trying to teach her to speak properly. Slater says her culture isn't a bad habit. Toddman tries to mediate between them. Mr. Johnson says he won't be grading on a curve because she grew up speaking street Spanish. Both Toddman and Slater react strongly to that. That's why Aisha is upset. Toddman says they don't tolerate racism, but Mr. Johnson says he can't be racist because he's gay. Toddman says he's also fired and tells him to leave. Once he's gone, Toddman promises to get Aisha a replacement who can teach her Spanish without disrespecting her culture. Slater offers to fill in until he finds someone. Toddman agrees.

Jamie tells Lexi he finally found something he's the best at: competitive eating. DeVante brings over a large tray of burgers and Jamie asks Lexi to time him as he starts eating. Jamie takes one bite and says he's full. He throws his bib in anger and leaves. Lexi says Jamie thinks he isn't good at anything, but that's not true. Mac comes in and says Daisy's lost it. She won't do the limbo and he asks what he should do. Mac wonders where Jamie is because he needs to talk about his problems while Jamie puts go-gurt in his mouth. Lexi says Jamie's the best at that. Lexi realizes that's Jamie's problem. He doesn't know what it's like to have himself as a friend. He needs to talk to himself. Lexi leaves to find him. Mac takes a burger off the pile, opens it, and asks DeVante if he can get 100 hamburgers without ketchup. DeVante says no.

Jamie fails to open a locker and then realizes it isn't his. Lexi approaches. She's dressed like Jamie and tells him he looks like he could use a friend. Jamie's the only person she knows emotionally sensitive enough to cheer up Jamie. He's the best at being a friend. It might not win him points in the spirit contest, but it makes everyone around him feel special. She gives him a power bar because Jamie would realize he hadn't eaten lunch. Jamie looks at it and says he's allergic to that kind of power bar. He thanks her anyway and kisses her.

Aisha calls out to Chloe in the hallway. Chloe's on her way to a memorial Spencer is throwing for his best friend, Margarita. Aisha says she was busy today, but she did want to talk to Chloe. Chloe says nothing was actually up. She was just trying to flirt with Aisha. Aisha is startled and backs away awkwardly, leaving her locker open. Chloe closes it and walks the other way.

Mac finishes the tray and says he's still hungry. Jamie comes in, as Lexi told him Mac needed help. Mac complains about Daisy. Jamie asks why it's so important to Mac that Daisy compete. He asks if it's because she's the best or because he wants to spend time with her. Mac denies liking Daisy. He's just annoyed because she's acting weird. She's changed. Jamie asks if that's true because the only thing that's change is that she's dating Gil. Mac says Gil's the problem so he needs to destroy Gil. He calls DeVante and asks to see a dessert menu. DeVante makes a face.

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

 * Bryan Safi as Mr. Johnson
 * Matthew Sato as Gil Vatooley
 * Mariah Iman Wilson as Nadia Coleman
 * Abraham Rodriguez as Spencer Buckley
 * Ariela Barer as Chloe

Co-Starring

 * Kellen Joseph as The Fish
 * William McMullen as Self-Assured Kid
 * Christian Weissmann as Nate

Trivia

 * This episode's title translates to Spanish word for "War of Aisha" in English.