'Saved By The Bell' Ending Explained: Zack Morris has always been trash but does he redeem himself in the end?
Spoilers for 'Saved By The Bell'
The original series 'Saved By The Bell' aired from 1989-1993, and while the characters in the series were iconic to many '90s kids, we all know that Zack Morris was just a horrible human being. So, we weren't surprised that Peacock's revival of the series showcased the return of Mark-Paul Gosselaar's "trash" Zack Morris, now the governor of California. In a comment to TVLine Gosselaar even warned that his reprised role as Zack wasn't going to be too different, saying that the grown-up Zack is "a little offensive and sort of not being on the right side of things." If you remember the Funny or Die web-series titled 'Zack Morris Is Trash', then you know what we're talking about. The reboot of the series sees Zack on the wrong side of a political agenda when he cuts down on money for the education system, and moving the displaced kids to other well-funded higher-performing schools such as Bayside High.
Just a bit to jog your memory of the Zack in the original series, and how 'trash' he really was: he pretended to be dying so he could kiss a popstar, he charged people to kiss Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies), he pretended to be a college professor, he dated Slater's (Mario Lopez) kid sister, he betrayed Screech (Dustin Diamond) so he could hook up with Lisa, lost a baby after putting him in a gym and oh so much much more. In the reboot though, he's "grown" but somehow still stuck the attitude that he'd had as a young Morris. To be quite frank, Governor Zack's almost cartoon-like bleached hair does well for his narcissistic character. Although, while his son Mac Morris (Mitchell Hoog) thought his dad was the best, he finds out the many wrong things his father has done, at the end of the episode thanks to his mother, and Zacks wife, the lady of California Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen).
The end of the series sees the "Douglas" kids possibly being removed from Bayside high ruining their chance for a good education. While the Bayside kids along with the Douglas kids come together to stage a walk-out to protest the crisis, Mac hopes that his father, as the governor, could "fix" things. After speaking to his father at dinner, Mac was convinced that Zack would come to the walkout but many of his friends wouldn't believe it. Turns out that Zack does end up showing face only to reveal a "feel good do nothing mural" and walk away. Mac immediately realizes that his dad "sucks" and goes to beg him to fix it. As Zack rants about how things are "complicated" in politics when it comes to voters and how doing the right thing is easy when one is a kid. Truth is, he was just being his entitled narcissistic self as Daisy gets him to realize that he's only worried about being a "loser" because if he stood up for the kids' because he wouldn't be the governor with no helicopters, no parades, and no secret service guys calling him the blonde falcon.
Then he ends up having an epiphany and decides to do the right thing by signing an executive order putting a freeze on all school openings and closures until the committee can investigate the current state of public education and offer a workable plan for reform. Yes, that was verbatim what he did.
Did Zack Morris finally redeem himself? Well, in terms of the reboot, it really looks like he did because the Douglas kids get to stay at Bayside. But, you can always tune into the web-series titled 'Zack Morris Is Trash' if you ever forget how 'trash' he really was.
'Saved By The Bell' is now available to stream on Peacock.
