10 Saved By The Bell Plots That Are Certifiably Insane

8. Jessie Is A Crazy Person. No, Not That Episode. The Other One.

(From "Running Zack") Ms. Wentworth returns to teaching...some variation of social studies? in this episode when she asks the kids to do family tree/geneology projects. Slater descended from a bullfighter in the only episode of the original series where someone realizes he might be Hispanic. Screech is Italian and speaks in a ridiculously exaggerated accent. Zack is part Native American. Lisa's ancestors were slaves who escaped as part of the creation of the Underground Railroad. And Jessie's ancestors were slave traders. Throughout the series, Jessie is a caricature of a number of different exaggerated liberal archetypes, usually feminists and environmentalists. Here, the episodes is about exploring her white guilt. She acts as if she personally committed an affront to Lisa and spends the whole episode hemming and hawing about how awful she feels and how she can make it up. Lisa honestly doesn't care and spends the entire episode telling her to stop because it had nothing to do with her. Jessie doesn't stop until Lisa threatens to beat her up. There's literally no moral to the story. It's all about Jessie being awful.