The Peacock revival of Saved by the Bell has a more mature Kelly Kapowski reconsidering an impulsive move she made more than 25 years ago in the spinoff series Saved by the Bell: The College Years: Giving up her dream to become a doctor after Zack Morris proposes marriage.
A scene during the revival's Season 2 has Kelly in conversation with old friend Jessie Spano, recounting that turning point. "So romantic, right?" Kelly says.
Tracy Wigfield, showrunner of the revival and avowed fan of the original series and characters, told TVLine, "I remember even as a 12-year-old being flabbergasted that that was how they decided to end that season." The moment of Kelly's decision came near the end of The College Years' sole season in 1993. "She wanted to be a doctor!" Wigfield said. "And she was going to to on a semester at sea program, and then Zack asked her to marry him, and so she just picked that instead, and we were supposed to feel good about it for her? Even as a kid, I was like, 'What? Why? She's never going to be a doctor now! Why does she keep doing things like that?'"
Throughout the original 1989-1993 run of Saved by the Bell, Zack and Kelly were a power couple, continuing their romance into The College Years, TV movies Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas, and the revival. Today, Zack has become governor of California and Kelly the state's first lady, but Wigfield said it still made sense to re-evaluate Kelly's choices as a teenager and for her to realize that her decisions since stem from that big one.
In the scene from the new series, Jessie points out, "Kelly, that wasn’t fate. That was your boyfriend going to a place he knew you'd be and continuing a conversation from earlier…. You could have talked to him on the phone every day and married him when you got back." Kelly then ponders, "If fate didn't make the decision, then who did? My dumb ass?"
Wigfield said, "It felt like in this show, where a lot of what we do and what we mine comedy from is looking at the old show and reevaluating it through a 2021 lens, it felt like it was time to give Kelly her due, and let her have some of that ambition that I think people were excited [to see] in The College Years that she had at first and it kept getting waylaid by Zack and Professor Lasky," Zack's occasional rival. "She just couldn't catch a break."
Seasons 1 and 2 of the new Saved by the Bell are available to stream on Peacock.
Source: TVLine