Observations Watching "Saved by the Bell" as an Adult (Part 2)

It's time for round two of my thoughts seeing "Saved by the Bell" in new light as an adult. This time, just one lengthy hypothesis:

They Might Be Serial Killers

Remember Max, the delightful, prescient, magician-waiter-owner of The Max? If you've been watching the later seasons as I have, you might have to jog your memory a bit, because he suddenly disappeared with no explanation. In an early Season Two episode, the gang throws a telethon to raise money for Max, who is in deep doo-doo over back-rent owed. If he can't come up with $10,000, he's done and dusted. The gang miraculously saves Max, and in turn, save The Max. They get to keep their hangout spot and their cooky friend. All is well... and then he's never seen again.

That's pretty suspicious timing. Why ditch a character early in the season without explanation? They could easily have an episode where Max says, "Hey kids, I'm gonna chill as owner and hire a full crew of waiters and management. It was nice knowing you!" A big deal is made about how he is saved so he can continue serving and entertaining the kids, and then he is just gone in the blink of a 29.97fps drop-frame. The actor didn't bail between seasons; there is no reason to not have an exit for the character on-screen.

If it was just him, I could chalk it up to behind the scenes politics or budgeting issues. However, he is not the only character to suddenly disappear. This happens time and time again. A big two-parter is dedicated to Jessie's new stepbrother moving to town, being a douche, and then redeeming himself so well that Jessie begs him to say. He agrees to stay at Bayside, now to be Jessie's best buddy brother and a permanent member of the gang...and is never seen or mentioned again. Zack and Jessie spend an episode fighting for a girl's right to be on the wrestling team, ending in a romantic relationship between her and Zack. She's never seen again. Violet Bickerstaff, Screech's nerd-mate played by Tori Spelling, pops up in a few episodes to date Screech, and is never seen again. They never break up, it's never mentioned that she moved away or any other explanation given. She simply disappears. Speaking of Tori's, there's character Tori, who swoops into Season Five to replace out-of-contract and missing actors Tiffani Amber-Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley. Tori becomes an integral part of Season Five and the gang; she's billed in the main title sequence! She's with the gang all the way through the second to last episode in which they write a school song before they graduate to leave for future students...and then suddenly she's not a part of graduation.

While it's normal in sitcoms for guest stars to pop up for an episode or two and then disappear, this is different. We're talking about a high school. If you're a student (or in the case of Max, a worker adjacent and tied to the school), you will be there and around the gang five days a week, nine months out of the year, until you graduate or move to another school. Too many times students are established in the series and then never seen again. This is impossible if they are still going to the school. And that's precisely what the show sets up: that they are permanent students at Bayside!

Too many disappear without explanation. Something fishy is going on at Bayside, and I think I've cracked it. Our beloved gang are serial killers. They are such a strong, tight-knit, hexagonal group of six that can't possibly function with any lasting intruders. People can come for a brief time and be a part of or influence their gang, but they can't stay. The purity must be preserved. So they kill any threats to the group. Max was getting too close, Jessie's step-brother was going to ruin the harmonic balance, the hot wrestler threatened Kelly and Jessie's dominance, Lisa couldn't have Violet around depriving her of sadistic rejections of Screech, and Jessie and Kelly rid the gang of their replacement Tori as soon as they got back from their mysterious absence. They all had to go. And since there are no investigations, the rest of the school must be helping them. The rest of the student body always bows down before our gang; they are pretty much idols to everyone else. Hell, even Belding worships the kids. They must be all in on it, because that's how insanely influential and powerful this gang is! Man, I can't ever think of these kids the same way again...