Kelly Morris (née Kapowski) is one of the main characters in Saved by the Bell. She is the daughter of Carol and Frank Kapowski. She was the head cheerleader and captain of the volleyball, swim and softball teams at Bayside High. A popular girl in school, she remained a good student and a role model to other students, despite the numerous times she found herself punished with detention.
During the later years of her high school career, she became the love-interest of lead student Zack Morris, and after an on/off relationship, the two eventually married. She is portrayed by Tiffani Thiessen.
History[]
Early Life[]
Kelly is one of seven children. She has a younger sister, Nikki, who develops a crush on Zack; and two younger brothers: Billy, an infant during her freshman year; and Kyle, who dumps water on Zack after a date with Kelly. Kelly says in the episode "Zack's War" that she has three older brothers. In the episode "House Party", Kelly says her brother Kenny Leonard can burp his whole name. In episode 13 of season three, "The Wicked Stepbrother (Part 1)," Kelly says her brother Bennett blew out his 19 birthday candles with a mouthful of Diet Coke. An additional brother is never named.
Season 1[]
At the start of her freshman year in Saved by the Bell, Zack had been trying to go out with Kelly ever since she can remember. For a while, a feud began between Zack and fellow student A.C. Slater about who would be her boyfriend, which caused her great stress but also great fun. During Kelly's sophomore year, A.C. conceded defeat to Zack, she and Zack began dating, and A.C. pursued his interest in Jessie Spano.
Season 2[]
The following school year marked the end of their relationship. Zack wanted to go steady with Kelly, but she wasn't sure at first. She thought it over but by the time she decided to accept Zack's offer, he had become infatuated with a young school nurse. That turned out to be a dead-end, but when he tried to apologize to Kelly and get her back, she brushed him off. However they were back together soon after as evidenced in the following episode ("Breaking Up is Hard to Undo"). Kelly began working at the Max as a waitress and fell for her boss, Jeffrey Hunter (Patrick Muldoon), much to Zack's disappointment. This caused her and Zack to break up. Kelly dated Jeff for a while, until he was caught at an 18-and-over club (The Attic) with another girl.
Season 3[]
Kelly and Zack became closer friends, though they dated other people. While vacationing in Palm Springs, California for Jessie Spano's father's wedding, Zack and Kelly flirted with the possibility of getting together again but ended up remaining friends.
Season 4[]
In their senior year, Zack once again pursued Kelly as a prom date. They got back together. Both Kelly and Jessie would participate in an overseas education program that had them doing much of their senior year away (see notes). As graduation approached, Kelly said she could not afford to go to an out-of-state university and instead would attend community college. She and her friends graduated from Bayside High in 1993 and went their separate ways.
College[]
In Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Kelly was on the waiting list for California University. She receives the call and arrives joining Zack, A.C. and Sam “Screech” Powers as suitemates a few days after they have already begun classes. . She also became the new roommate of Leslie Burke and Alex Taber. Kelly would later confess to being overwhelmed by Cal U, and her families financial conditions often factored into her decisions to be more frugal and was very nervous about that. She wanted to pledge with the sorority Kappa Theta, but was turned down. She and Alex would both pledge with the sorority Pi Si.
Classes Kelly is known to have taken at Cal U include PreMed Studies, Karate, Cultural Anthropology, and Chemistry. She also begins working at the Student Health Center as an intern. She would at one point assist Screech when he becomes assistant manager at the Student Union, as a waitress. She would quit when Screech let the power go to his head.
At one point, Kelly is considering PreMed studies, but is not given the support she needs at first from Zach. She begins to slack off in class, and takes a waitress job at a local pub and makes very good money there, but ultimately finds her footing academically and goes in for her PreMed ambitions.
Kelly had a relationship with her anthropology professor, Jeremiah Lasky; however the relationship is short lived when Zack pursues Kelly and convinces her of his interest to a committed relationship - something Professor Lasky was not comfortable with in public. The two get back together for good but comes into question once more when Kelly is accepted to go on a Semester on the Sea program through the Mediterranean for three months. Concerned that Kelly may meet someone else during the trip, Zack proposes to Kelly. Kelly expresses her love for Zack but is worried over their age and how to support themselves during a marriage. Kelly decides reluctantly to proceed with the trip, while Zack is upset at her decision. However, before the ship leaves the dock, Zack surprises Kelly with a bouquet of roses and apologies for his behavior at her initial decision and confirms he would wait for her to return. Before the ship departs, Kelly stops Zack and while still concerned about the concept of marrying so young, she accepts Zack’s proposal and the two run off the ship before it leaves.
Without much support from their families, Zack and Kelly had planned to get married in Las Vegas in Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. The couple managed to bring A.C., Screech, and Lisa Turtle with them for the event. Just before they exchanged vows at the ceremony at a cheap wedding chapel, Zack's parents showed up and stopped the wedding. They told Zack and Kelly that they would give them the wedding of their dreams. A few days later, Zack and Kelly had an elaborate outdoor wedding in the Las Vegas area. Lisa and Jessie stood as bridesmaids while Screech and A.C. stood as groomsmen. The newlyweds then went on a honeymoon.
When Zack and A.C. made a joint guest appearance on Saved by the Bell: The New Class a few years later, A.C. asked Zack how "the Mrs." (meaning Kelly) was doing, Zack replied, "Good."
Toasting to Screech[]
When Screech died of unknown causes, Kelly met with Zack, A.C., Lisa and Jessie at the Max to toast to his memory with the new menu item created in Sam's honor, the spaghetti burger.[1]
Career Fair[]
Kelly came to the Bayside career fare to talk about her Dr. Happy brand. She told her friends that she'd had multiple offers to buy her business from her. During the fair, she and Lisa decided to help Jessie try to hook up with someone new after her separation. They dressed Jessie in some old clothes and watched as she went off to flirt with a firefighter. When things went south, they rushed her away. When Jessie expressed her dismay that she didn't have more figured out like she thought she would, Kelly admitted that she didn't either and had been consider going to medical school. After the career fair was over, they all went back to Jessie's for a party.[2]
Studying for the MCATs[]
While Jessie and Kelly were having lunch together, Jessie asked if Kelly had figured out how to tell Zach about the MCATs. Kelly said she never had to because when she went to register, the website was down for maintenance, which she took as a sign not to do it. She firmly believed in fate and took everything that happened as a sign from the universe and used those signs to make decisions about her life, from marrying Zack to what to name her son. When Jessie told her that those things weren't fate, Kelly started to panic that she'd made the wrong decisions in her life. To try to get Kelly to start believing in herself again, Jessie set up a scenario where Alber pretended to be choking and in need of a doctor, but Kelly saw through her ruse. Kelly confronted Jessie about it and Jessie said she'd make the decision for Kelly and told her she wasn't going. Kelly immediately said she wanted to and then realized she'd made the decision. When Daisy interrupted this conversation to say she needed the combination to Gil's locker and learned he had the same locker Kelly had had in high school, restoring Kelly's faith in magic and fate.[3]
After deciding to take the MCATs, Kelly threw herself into studying. One day, she went to the library to study to get away from Zack, who was overenthusiastic about helping her study. While she was there, Jessie came in and told her she'd kissed A.C., which Kelly found exciting. Jessie said that it wasn't exciting because A.C. had shut it down and said it was a terrible idea. The two of them then agreed she should tell A.C. he was wrong.[4]
Personality[]
Kelly is the all-American type of girl (She's the "perfect" girl, with a clean slate for the most part). Kelly is very caring, at least most of the time. When Zack finds out that Kelly was cheating on him with Jeff, she apologizes and shows that she is genuinely sorry. Kelly can also be stubborn and a bit of an airhead sometimes, but she is mostly smart and is a straight A student. Though many boys are interested in Kelly because of good looks and personality, she shows she’s the only true to her real crushes.
Relationships[]
Romantic[]
Zack Morris[]
Family[]
Mac Morris[]
He is her son who she named MacGyver Marathon Morris.
Friendships[]
Appearances[]
TBA
Notes and Trivia[]
- Both Elizabeth Berkley and Tiffani Thiessen, as well as Jennie Garth, auditioned for the role of Kelly. Thiessen and Garth would later work together on Beverly Hills 90210 as unfriendly rivals Valerie Malone and Kelly Taylor, respectively (the actresses became best friends in real life).
- Playboi Carti's song "Kelly K" is named after Kapowski.
- She used locker 141 at Bayside, the same one Gil Vatooley later used. The combination is 36-3-14.[5]
- Along with Elizabeth Berkley, neither of them had a full season commitment on their contracts when the final season rolled along, so the decision was made to have the duo's characters partake in a semester at sea program in order to cover up for their 'absence' for those parts of the season.
Gallery[]
 Kelly Kapowski has a photo gallery.
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References[]
[[Category:Saved by the Bell: The College Years Characters]]