The Last Year Dance

The Last Year Dance is the first episode of Season 2 of Saved by the Bell (2020), and the eleventh episode of the series overall.

Synopsis
Daisy and Mac plan a dance to make up for all the events they missed in 2020; Lexi wants her second kiss with Jamie to be perfect; Aisha tries to get to the bottom of what happened with DeVante and Nadia.

Plot
On her reality show, Lexi recaps what's happened in 2020, including the pandemic.

Zack addresses the state, saying they have to shut everything down.

Lexi says that didn't stop her from finding love with the boy next door.

''Lexi and Jamie are on a video call. He tells her she looks pretty and she pretends the butterflies flying around her forehead aren't a filter. Toddman tells them to stop flirting when they're in geometry class.''

Lexi admits there was some drama.

''A masked Lexi argues with a woman named Dana and throws a drink on her. Her friends pull her back.''

Lexi says life is finally getting back to normal.

''Lexi is on a video call with Mac, Jamie, and Daisy. The schools are going to reopen in a few weeks. Jamie notices that Mac's at Kim Kardashian's birthday party and asks if he isn't scared. Mac says 40 is old for a woman, but he's not afraid of her. Jamie clarifies that he meant the virus. Mac says he got vaccinated a long time ago. His dad golfs with either Johnson or Johnson. Lexi asks Daisy if she's excited for school. Daisy says she is. She starts to talk about quarantine highlighting inequities, but her video freezes.''

Aisha and Daisy watch the clip of Lexi's show on Aisha's phone and Aisha tells Daisy she's famous. Aisha says she's over Jamie because it was a year ago, a quarantine year. They're both happy to be back at school. Daisy wants to pick up right where she left off, starting with becoming class president again because she got cheated out of 50% of her term before. She shows Aisha a campaign pin she had made up, with an overly wordy declaration. Aisha admits that it's bad, but says that doesn't matter. Before the pandemic, she united the school and people won't forget that. Daisy says she got people to care about important things, not just Bayside nonsence. Their conversation is interrupted by Toddman calling for Mac to let him down from where he's hanging on the flagpole by his underwear. Aisha says even Martin Luther King couldn't get everybody. Toddman begs them to help him because his doctor said if he gets one more wedgie, he'll die.

Slater is directing traffic in the parking lot. He tells people to keep it moving. Zack pulls up next to drop off Mac. Mac jumps over the door to exit the car at his father's prompting. As Mac goes to enter the school, Slater goes to talk to Zack. Zack says he's all right considering everything that's happened. It's been a rough year. The car behind him honks and the driver wonders what happened to "keep it moving." Slater says what happened is he ran into his best friend. Slater says he's sorry about the election. He would have voted for Zack, but he had to write in Chester Cheetah for a contest he was trying to win. Zack says it's fine and he doesn't regret keeping the Douglas kids at Bayside. It made a lot of rich, white parents mad. They didn't just vote him out; they got him banned from the NextDoor app. Slater says he did the right thing. It's not his fault Californians vote for whoever's the most famous. Zack agreed, but says Governor Prince Harry's doing a pretty good job. It doesn't matter anyway because worse things happened this year. Zack asks if he's going to the thing at The Max. Slater's not sure. Zack leaves and then Jessie walks up. Jessie asks how Zack is doing and Slater says he seemed down. Jessie says she spent the last year trapped in a house with a man she's divorcing. Slater didn't know that, but Jessie says it's fine. They haven't told Jamie yet and they're working with a therapist who specializes in conscious uncoupling. He also does unconscious recoupling, which she doesn't really get. Slater says he could never do therapy because he doesn't beleive in it. Jessie says everyone could benefit from therapy. Whenever he has a problem, he just gets his body moving. That's his therapy. Jessie says that's fine as long as he's not using exercise as a substitute for feeling his feelings. The driver, who is still waiting, agrees. Slater challenges him to a fight.

Aisha sees Lexi walking down the hall. Spencer asks her to take a half-step to the side becuase she's blocking Lexi's light. Lexi says she's waiting for Jamie because today's the first time in a year they can be withing six feet of each other and she wants it to be perfect. They've dated through the whole quarantine, but haven't had their second kiss yet. Lexi wants Spencer to stop being excited about it becuase it's making her less excited. Suddenly, Mac comes up behind Lexi and sprays her with silly string. He says it's a prank he's had in his prank bank for a year, originally intended for April Fools Day 2020. Lexi understands completely, but Daisy is still confused. Mac explains that he's trying to make up for the year they were apart, doing everything he would have done but couldn't because of the pandemic. He asks each of them to guess which monthy they would have hooked up. Daisy says never while Lexi guesses June. Jamie walks up eating a hot dog. He tries to kiss Lexi, but she stops him. She says she doesn't want to kiss in front of people because she's really religious now.

Aisha sees Nadia walk in and calls out to her, but DeVante stops her. Toddman calls everyone's attention to him and welcomes them all back. He knows the last year wasn't easy, but they made it work. He reads the headline about him doing a "passable job at distance learning." Jessie says there will still be some challenges, so it's totally normal if they're overwhelmed. She's extending her office hours for anyone who needs to talk. Slater interjects, saying he'll be offering an alterntaive solution: Pump the Pain Away with Coach Slater. No one in the audience is interested, so he quickly slinks away. Next, Toddman announces the Southern California School Spirit Competition against Valley, their bitter rivals. It's designed to gauge a school's pep and enthusiasm. The winner gets a tiny spirit stick with a tassel. Daisy doesn't like the sound of that because things like that always get foisted on Student Council. Toddman confirms that it'll be student council's responsibility. Daisy thinks it'll be a complete waste of time and it's not what people need right now. Just then, Yasmin jumps up and says it's exactly what people need right now: a return to fun. That's why she's running for president. That and because Rick Singer said she had to or she wouldn't get into Stanford. Daisy calls a timeout and tells the audience that it's not going to work. Yasmin didn't even mention hard work. Yasmin starts firing t-shirts into the audience. Toddman asks for a women's XL.

Aisha asks DeVante about him and Nadia. He says things just kind of fizzled out. Aisha thought they were serious. He says Nadia ghosted him. Aisha wants to go to Nadia about it, but DeVante tells her not to. Aisha says she can keep her opinions to herself, but quickly proves that's not true when Colt passes in the hallway and she comments that he looks like a stretched out Bruno Mars.

Mac's phone chimes and he tells Amber that that's the end of their time together and she can send in the next girl. There's a long line of girls waiting. Daisy skips the line and slides into the booth across from him. Daisy asks Mac if he thinks she could beat Yasmin in the student council election. He doesn't think so, even when she points out her pre-pandemic success. People just want to have fun now that they're out of their houses. Daisy's not fun. She's upset because she missed out on time because of the pandemic. That's why he wants to throw all of last year's parties. Daisy suggests throwing one big party that's every party they missed all in one. He likes the idea, but wonders where they'd do that as Toddman won't let him do anything at the school. He once tried to rent the football field, but Toddman said no. Daisy promises she'll get Toddman to sign off. She'll be throwing the party with him.

Posters around the school advertise for the Last Year Dance. Jamie tells Lexi people are still getting used to being back in the real world. He wonders if they really used to wear these hard pants, but Lexi considers him lucky he didn't have to wear a bra, which is a joke because she doesn't need one either. Jamie likes the way Lexi smells. He tries to lean in for a kiss, but she stops him. accidentally hitting him in the face with a lock door. He grabs his nose and walks away. Lexi doesn't want him to go to the nurse because she's too sexy. After he's gone, Daisy asks Lexi why she won't just kiss him. Lexi wants the kiss to be perfect becuase she's waited a whole year for it. Mac comes up with a question about the party, but then thinks up a solution on his own. Lexi asks if they're really doing all the missed events. Mac says everything but the Date Auction, because Daisy said it was human trafficking. Lexi says the Sweetheart Dance is the most romantic event of the Bayside school calendar. It'll be perfect for their second kiss. Spencer is excited, but Lexi says he's not part of it.

Slater asks if Jessie told the kids not to go to Pump the Pain Away because no one showed up while she has tons of kids waiting to see her. Jessie says this generation is more emotionally mature than they were. They understand the value of processing difficult things with other people. It could be a friend instead of a therapist. Slater then says he's not going to The Max tomorrow. She has her way of dealing with things and he has his. He does lunges on his way out.

Nadia notices Aisha looking at her and asks her about it. Aisha denies it, but then says it's because Nadia ghosted her friend. Nadia says no, DeVante cheated on her. Aisha doesn't believe that because DeVante won't even cheat when they play Scrabble even though she cheats the whole time. Nadia says when they hung out, he was really shady with his phone. He kept getting messages from a girl whose number wasn't saved in his contacts. Aisha says it might not have been a girl. Nadia knows it was a girl because of the emojis she was sending. After that, she never heard from DeVante again. Aisha didn't know and apologizes. Nadia says Black women surf enthusiasts need to stick together. Aisha says what she's making isn't a surfboard. She was trying to make a coaster and got carried away.

Daisy welcomes people to the party and hands out pins. Mac picks up a pin, reads it, and says it's good. Mac warns Daisy to cover her ears, then puts on his own headphones and blows an airhorn, signaling that it's luau time.

Aisha confronts DeVante at the party for cheating on Nadia. She's annoyed with him for throwing a good thing away for a side chick. DeVante gets a text and Aisha asks if it's the girl. DeVante tells her to mind her own business. When DeVante won't tell her who it is, she dials the number on her own phone. It rings nearby and Aisha looks around. She sees Toddman pull out his phone and answer it. Aisha hangs up and asks if he cheated with Toddman. He says no. He told Toddman he was worried about getting his grandma sick, so he ended up staying with Toddman. He sent sexy emojis because he doens't know they're sexy. He just didn't want to tell Nadia about it. He didn't want to tell Aisha either. Toddman is still talking into his phone, thinking it's his alma mater calling.

Daisy is getting overwhelmed by the party. She asks Mac for no more jarring theme changes. Lexi comes up and says she's been waiting for the Sweethearts Dance. She wants Mac to switch to it with no advanced warning. Mac says that'll be tough, as they have other events scheduled before it. Lexi tells him to do it now and he does.

Lexie pulls Jamie onto the dance floor. She tries to kiss him, but he pulls back and says he's been getting weird vibes from her all week. He feels like she doesn't want to kiss him, despite the fact that she's trying to kiss him. She tries to kiss him again, but he pulls back again. The airhorn blows for Mac's birthday party.

Mac explains that his birthday theme was supposed to be Escape from the Haunted Carnival.

Lexi tells Jamie to kiss her and it'll stop being weird. A clown jumps out near them and Jamie says he's leaving.

Mac says it's time for the lock in.

Aisha tells DeVante that she knows she got into his business, but it's because he's her friend. Friends don't let friends make mistakes. He says she's upset about him and Nadia is because of Jamie and Lexi. She reluctantly admits that he's right. He's doing the same thing. He's letting Nadia get away because it's easier than being vulnerable. She doesn't want him to make the same mistake she did.

Jamie finds Lexi and says she looks rough. She says he was smart to leave when he did because the clown won prom king and then puked on everyone. She asks if they can talk. He sits down and she apologizes. The situation is weird. They've been long-distance dating for a long time and it's a lot of build-up. She put too much pressure on their second kiss. She's thought about it for her whole life and she doesn't want to mess it up. She apologizes for making him think she didn't want to kiss him, because she does. He says he does too and they kiss. Spencer pops out of a trash can to tell them it's perfect and they both tell him to leave.

Mac comes to help Daisy, who is cleaning up after the party. Nearby, Slater is examining the floor, wondering how they made so many scuff marks. Daisy asks Mac if he knows how to clean. He says he does, but doesn't know the name for a sponge. He uses it standing up on its side. He tells her she could still win, but what she really wanted was for everything to go back to normal, to pick up where she left off and pretend last year didn't happen. But she can't. Becasue last year did happen and they lost a bunch of things they can never get back. They'll never have another sophomore year. And there are people they'll never see again. They can't just instantly be okay. Mac wonders what they do and Daisy admits she doesn't know. Just then, Jamie and Lexi come in and offer their help cleaning up, followed by Aisha and DeVante. As others come in, they start cleaning up together. Aisha tells Daisy she did change the school and they didn't forget it.

Slater goes to see Jessie and tells her he's ready if she wants to go to The Max. She was right. The only way through hard things is together. She offers to do ten pushups with him before they go, which he says will help him a lot.

Lisa, Jessie, Slater, Kelly, and Zack laugh together in a booth. Max comes up and tells them about the new addition to the menu: Screech's spaghetti burger, which Kevin delivers to the table. Slater tries the burger, which he says is weird but great. Kind of like Screech, Lisa says. They share memories of Screech from over the years. They toast to him with their burgers.

A montage of Screech plays.

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

 * Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle
 * Ed Alonzo as Max
 * Mariah Iman Wilson as Nadia Coleman
 * Abraham Rodriguez as Spencer Buckley
 * DeShawn Cavanaugh as Colt Cassidy
 * Alyssa Jirrels as Yasmin

Co-Starring

 * Jesse Mackey as Dad
 * Aris Alvarado as Evil Clown

Uncredited

 * Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris
 * Tiffani Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski-Morris

Notes and Trivia

 * This is the first episode in the Saved by the Bell Franchise to be released after the death of Dustin Diamond, who played Screech Powers in the original series.
 * This episode ends with a montage of Screech scenes from the original series.