For anyone who was born in the ’90s, hearing the words, Saved by the Bell would bring a bunch of childhood nostalgia. After all, it was every kid’s favorite form of entertainment. Produced by Peter Engel, this NBC sitcom had its premiere in 1989 and was a huge hit among its audience. So much that it had four successful seasons. The show essentially tells the tale of a group of friends who are in high school. In simple words, it is a scope into their lives, how they attended school functions, dated around, solved young adult problems, and so much more. In order to celebrate its impact, here is a list of the best episodes of Saved by the Bell, ranked.
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6 The Mamas and the Papas (Season 2, Episode 12)
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Students in high school typically have to be taught how to take care of an object, such as a sack of wheat, or a life-like baby doll, in order to grasp the responsibilities of parenting. However, Saved by the Bell goes a step beyond that by having a student learn about the maturity needed for marriage for one of their class projects. As bizarre as it may sound, it truly happens in the episode where Zack and Kelly, Screech and Lisa, and Jesse and Slater are put in pairs. The audience has a great time watching, as it has frequent marriage jokes, which seem even absurd coming from a bunch of high schoolers.
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Saved by the Bell in its classic fashion also accentuates responsibilities and issues in marriages and gender roles, such as who will do the cooking if both of the partners have careers. Despite being from the ’90s, the show seemed progressive with its mindset because when Slater thinks it’s a women’s job, he is called out on it. The best scene in this episode has to be when Jesse says she won’t take her husband’s last name and is keeping her own. Seeing such progression from the ’90s feels rejuvenating. Many sitcoms don’t age well, but this episode surely did like fine wine.
5 Home for Christmas (Season 3, Episode 24)
Strangely, Saved by the Bell usually stayed away from festive episodes. Therefore, producing a two-part episode for Christmas was a noteworthy occurrence for the audience. Not only this, but because of what is ingrained in the episode, it is one of the best episodes out there. Frank, a single father who was struggling to raise his teenage daughter, was at the center of the story. Frank is found unconscious by Zack and Screech, who rush to save him. Through their conversation, the boys uncover that he is homeless at this point. In addition, it turns out that the girl Zack had a crush on is actually his daughter.
This episode seeks to highlight how homeless individuals aren’t merely drug addicts, but rather people who are having financial difficulties. Given that Frank is a representation of every young adult struggling to support their family, and make ends meet, it can be relatable to many viewers. The true spirit of the holidays is demonstrated when Zack and his mother welcome them into their house and assure them that they can stay there until Frank is well again. The episode’s warmness will radiate out of the screen and will definitely melt the audience!
4 Pipe Dreams (Season 3, Episode 11)
This is a perfect episode to highlight the need to be conscious of the environment. Initially, when oil is discovered beneath the football field, it makes many people dream of a better life. Not only adults, but even various students, particularly Zack, start daydreaming of making profits from this oil. However, perspectives shift when an oil spill contaminates the pond that is outside their school. Unfortunately, it was the place where animals they formed bonds with, used to be. The scene where Zack is struggling to simply scrub the oil off Becky the duck is extremely heartbreaking for the audience to see. Sadly, none of the animals make it out alive.
This was a significant episode with a very powerful message. Many believe it was inspired by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which caused the instantaneous deaths of 100,000 birds and other animals. While this incident happened two years prior to the release of this episode, it was still a hot topic of discussion for several years. Thus, making this episode quite an eminent way to talk about it.
3 Rockumentary (Season 3, Episode 22)
This was quite an experimental episode and was extremely unbelievable. Casey Kasem is narrating the rise, and fall of the band called Zack Attack, which has Zack, Screech, Slater, Kelly, and Lisa as its members. It demonstrates how the band rose to fame from being a mediocre garage band to selling tons of albums.
In pure Saved by the Bell fashion, it has subliminal messages hemmed beautifully of how important it is to remember the people who helped you reach places. The audience may feel like going through whiplash as they left the gang in a very different setting in the last episode. This is the fun part of this episode, as so much is happening to the point the audience won’t take their eyes off the screen. However, the best part of the episode is at the very end, when we get to know all of this is nothing, but Zack’s dream.
2 The Last Dance (Season 3, Episode 1)
This is the episode that shattered a million hearts. This is because everyone’s golden couple, Kelly and Zack, breaks up in this episode. Kelly begins her new job and ends up developing feelings for her boss, despite being in a relationship with Zack at the time. The breakup in this episode is done quite dramatically to pull the strings of the audience’s hearts. While Slater and Jessie are singing “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” Kelly finally tells Zack.
The way both acted in this scene is unparalleled, especially Zack. While he doesn’t say a lot, his eyes and all his words are full of emotions. The best moment in this episode has to be, after hearing it all, he asked her for one last dance, which is enough to make all the shippers tear up.
1 The Prom (Season 2, Episode 1)
The prom is the best episode of Saved by the Bell to exist for various reasons. For starters, it has the iconic moment where Kelly chooses Zack over Slater, which made the audience and all the shippers scream with pure joy. When Kelly tells Zack she can’t go to the prom as she doesn’t have the money, he makes their own little prom. They have an adorable candlelit dinner outdoors. This episode beautifully comes full circle as the theme of the prom was “dancing under the stars,” and the show’s golden couple does it, quite literally!
This episode is quite special for other relationships as well. As the audience gets to see Slater and Jessie bond for the first time while they set up for the prom. Not only this, but Lisa finally agrees to go out with Screech, but to the audience’s surprise, it is he who rejects her later. It is bewitching and has everything in a classic Saved by the Bell episode format, from humor to the subliminal message that is capitalism. It is sewn between the episode so well, and remarkably highlights the suffering of capitalism’s victims, without being too on-the-nose about it. At the same time, the audience will finally get to see growth and development in the relationships of the characters they were rooting for, making it deserve the throne for the best episode.
