Saved By The Bell Foreshadowed Gil Twist In Season 2 Episode 3

Warning: SPOILERS for Saved By The Bell season 2

Peacock’s Saved By The Bell season 2 features a huge Gil twist — but it is actually foreshadowed subtly in episode 3. As junior year officially begins at Bayside following months of homeschooling, the cast of Saved By The Bell season 2 comes packed with a blend of familiar faces and new additions. One of the latter comes in the form of Gil (Matthew Sato). After the polite nerd is elected as student council Vice President, he and Daisy (Haskiri Velazquez) rapidly become close and ultimately form a romantic relationship, setting the scene for a dramatic revelation.

As the School Spirit Competition causes the rivalry between Bayside and Valley to heat up, however, Daisy learns that Gil isn’t as kind-hearted as he seems. After trying to recover a poorly conceived anniversary present from his locker, Daisy discovers that Gil is secretly a Valley student named Jake. Having infiltrated Bayside to undermine their efforts and guide Valley to victory, he confesses his more villainous ways. In the process, a range of flashbacks from across Saved By The Bell season 2 highlight several of his deceptive moments. It’s a brilliantly cartoonish twist that fits as much with the original Saved By The Bell series as it does the established tone of the revival. There was, however, another subtle and unaddressed clue to Gil’s true identity in Saved By The Bell season 2, episode 3, “1-900-Crushed.”

As Bayside works to raise the requisite 15,000 hours of community service for the School Spirit Competition, Daisy suggests reopening the teen helpline from the days of the classic Saved By The Bell. As well as giving Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Peña) and Lexi (Josie Totah) a way of settling their flaring disagreement, the idea allows Peacock’s reboot to poke fun at several 1990 cliches and touchstones. It even allows the Saved By The Bell reboot to reference the missing Mr. Belding. More importantly, however, it helps to foreshadow the Gil twist. As Principal Toddman trains the student volunteers, he says the words “a Valley student,” just as the camera knowingly shifts to a shot of Gil.

Saved By The Bell season 2, episode 3, “1-900-Crushed” also includes another subtle clue that isn’t among the revealing flashbacks in the later episodes. After Daisy is sent to detention, Aisha and Lexi make up and conspire to have Gil sent there too. When he arrives, Daisy mentions that she’s never been in detention before. “This may surprise you because I’m such a bad boy,” Gil jokily replies, “but this is my first detention too.” It was delivered in a sarcastic manner, in order to emphasize that Gil and Daisy are seemingly two peas in a pod. Retroactively, though, it takes on a foreshadowing edge in the context of the reveals in later Saved By The Bell season 2 episodes.

The same could also be said of the seemingly prophetic dream that Daisy’s grandmother had about her relationship. Though it comes true in different ways – and is equally revealed that the grandmother’s dreams are often nonsense or simply made-up – it could be construed that the serpent was Gil himself and the sting to the heart was Daisy’s first love being a lie. Whatever way fans choose to interpret those, there’s no denying that the writing on Saved By The Bell can often be surprisingly nuanced. As much as the show knowingly leans into overt silliness, it also packs in genuine poignancy. That is made most clear by the touching tribute to Dustin Diamond and Screech in Saved By The Bell season 2, as well as Daisy’s heartfelt reactions to Gil’s trickery. Equally, however, even the most cartoonish of twists on the Saved By The Bell revival are clearly crafted with the utmost attention to detail.

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