Rebellious T.J. Detweiler is put on trial after an unsuccessful attempt of the gang to raid the kitchen's "good food", and is punished with no recess. Seeing how deranged he has become, the rest of his friends (including the sporty Vince LaSalle, the intellectual Gretchen Grundler, the rough-and-tumble Ashley Spinelli—referred to by her last name—and the sweet, naïve Mikey Blumberg) must try to break him out of detention by enlisting the help of the other students on the playground.

A military boy named Gustav Griswold (referred to as "Gus") arrives at school, and the Gang takes it upon themselves to show him around. Gus is touched by their kindness, but is soon labeled "New Kid" by King Bob, which means he is officially the lowest of the low in the school social order. The other kids organize a scheme to resist King Bob's ruling, but it's ultimately up to Gus to defend himself.

Butch (a mysterious kid who tells horror stories and urban legends about kid life) scares the playground with a story of seeing his older brother kiss his girlfriend and warning the kids that there will come a day where boys kiss girls (and vice versa) and they will like it. To prove this, the gang picks two people who will go through with the experiment, and things get worse when the two people turn out to be T.J. and Spinelli.

All of the kids love "Old Rusty", the jungle gym that's the center of the playground. When Principal Prickly announces that a new jungle gym will be installed in place of Old Rusty, T.J. climbs onto the structure to protest. He's soon joined by his friends and the rest of the students, leading to a massive peaceful protest that involves the whole town.

Gus is unable to speak after being jinxed by the Ashleys; he can only talk again if someone says his name, and the Ashleys work to prevent this from happening.

Mikey wants to become a safety ranger, which causes the gang to get help from others in order to make his dream come true.

Miss Finster's snitch Randall seeks revenge on Spinelli, and finds the perfect ammunition in her school record: her first name, which is unknown to the whole playground, is "Ashley". Things only get worse for the embarrassed Spinelli when the Ashleys, a clique of popular girls who all share the same name, decide that they must initiate her into their group with "Ashley-fication". The Gang decides to save the "old" Spinelli by enacting a clever, name-changing plan.

Miss Finster develops a crush on Hank the janitor and begins dating him. This distraction affects their usual job performance, which causes imbalance in the schoolyard.

When King Bob comes down with a bad case of tonsillitis, he appoints Gus as the temporary King of the Playground while he recovers from surgery. Soon, the power goes to Gus's head, and he starts bossing the other students around and demanding cookies.

Vince develops a reputation as a hero for defending some younger kids, but he modestly protests he's not nearly as cool as Chad, his older brother. Everyone shares fond memories of Chad, and are shocked when he picks Vince up after school and reveals himself to be a stereotypical nerd, which Vince doesn't seem to realize. When the Gang points out the truth, Vince fears that he too will become a nerd, but he soon discovers that Chad's geeky nature is cool in its own way.

When Gretchen gets a perfect score on a standardized test, Principal Prickly plans to send her to Oppenheimer Academy, a school for gifted children. Gretchen doesn't want to go, as she'll be separated from her friends, so the Gang hatches a plan to have her act stupid during a placement interview to trick the panel.

Speedy, the class hamster, dies, so the kids decide to throw a funeral, which does not go as expected when each of the classes revealed that the Speedy who died is not the same Speedy they had as a class pet.

When Ashley Q. outkicks Vince during a kickball game (without even paying attention), his spirit and talent are crushed. Vince vows to never play kickball again, and becomes a lonely shut-in obsessed with his "glory days" of the previous months. The Gang decides to use one of Gretchen's experiments to bring back Vince's confidence and skill.
NOTE: Some versions of this episode (specifically those in other countries) replace the part where Ashley Q. kicks the kickball all the way to China with a recycled shot of Vince's kickball landing in a dumpster to make it look like Ashley Q. kicked it there.

A stranger called the Peanut Butter Kid tries to follow the gang everywhere, and it drives them crazy after being convinced he brings bad luck.

Gretchen becomes increasingly bothered by Jeffrey, who has fallen head over heels in love with her.

T.J. is captured by the kindergarteners, depicted as wild "savages" with their own society and rules. As he spends time among them, he gradually regresses to a kindergarten mindset. Meanwhile, the Gang, led by Vince, go on a search and rescue mission to find T.J. before he becomes a kindergartener forever.

Ms. Finster, angry that her rules seem to be ineffective, devises a new punishment for children: "The Box", a square of chalk drawn on the ground (similar to solitary confinement). T.J. is the first victim of the Box, and discovers its power when it completely shatters his spirit and makes him into Ms. Finster's subservient "good boy". With help from Gretchen's Freudian knowledge, the Gang tries to get T.J. back to normal.

A dirt-clod fight among the whole school takes a turn for the serious when Randall claims that Spinelli threw a rock at him, which violates the "rules of war". King Bob demands a trial, with Gretchen forced into the role of prosecutor (via her intelligence) and T.J. as Spinelli's defense. Randall, Mikey, and Spinelli share their versions of what happened on that fateful day, and everyone gets a surprise when they determine the true culprit.

Intrigued by its secrecy, the kids try to find out what the teacher's lounge looks like.

T.J. and the gang finally accept Randall into their group, but could it be a trap?

A lengthy rainstorm leads to the dreaded indoor recess, complete with a box of old board games, puzzles with missing pieces, and Randall calling a game of Bingo. The Gang is sure that they'll survive, until Butch tells them the story of a class of kids who, after five days of being cooped up, became the "Zombie Class of '89" (which Miss Finster proudly confirms). Now the group must avoid the same fate, even if it means braving Mother Nature herself to do it.

Mikey is the only one in Miss Grotke's class who decides to collect cans for the annual Can Drive after the other kids drop out, not wanting to lose against the Ashleys again; this eventually results in a massive rivalry escalating between the classes over who collects the most cans.

When Principal Prickly discovers that Mikey sings like Robert Goulet (who portrays Mikey's singing voice), he has a beautiful, young music teacher named Miss Salamone (voiced by Glenne Headly) help him prepare for the school concert, and soon after working with her, Mikey starts to fall in love with Miss Salamone but is heartbroken when her boyfriend shows up to the music room and proposes to her. Will Mikey perform on stage?

A researcher named Dr. Quilty wants to research about recess. When she first tries it, she fails, and T.J. and the gang decide to help her out by making a documentary film about recess.

Spinelli is apprehensive about her parents attending Parent's Night and the gang must find out why.
Guest Star: Katey Sagal as Flo Spinelli.

Spinelli creates a pseudo-religious philosophy after she comes to the belief that fourth grader Swinger Girl swung over the top and never came back down.

The gang breaks up when T.J. can't decide whom he should write about in a school report about best friends.

A hypnotist who the gang thinks is hooey and bogus, inadvertently causes Principal Prickly to think he is six years old, and he takes to the playground to have fun. The Gang discovers "Petey's" new attitude and quickly befriends him, but things take a turn for the worse when Miss Finster decides to take over as principal until the trance can be broken. The kids are forced to find a way to bring the old Prickly back, despite Petey's protests that he wants to stay a child.

Spinelli, who secretly has a good relationship with Miss Grotke, inadvertently calls the teacher "Mama" to warn her of danger. Her tough reputation is soon in tatters as everyone calls her a "Mama's girl," and the bullying becomes so bad that she refuses to go to school ever again. The rest of the Gang tries to restore her confidence, with help from Miss Grotke, who refuses to tolerate bullies.

When Ashley A. forgets "Purple Day" (a holiday that commemorates the day the Ashleys first met), the other girls kick her out of their group. The lonely Ashley A. befriends Gretchen, who's been neglected by the Gang lately; the two actually develop a positive relationship, which makes both the Gang and the other Ashleys upset. Gretchen is soon caught between both the warring cliques and her own longing to be a "popular girl" for once in her life.

Note: This is the last episode to feature Ross Malinger as the voice of TJ.

A new craze called 'Ajimbo' sweeps across the playground, brainwashing all the kids at recess. Can T.J. resist and bring back his friends, or will he be swept in as well?

Note: This is the first episode to feature Andrew Lawrence as the voice of TJ.

A kickball falls into the mysterious back garden of a mansion and it is up to Gus to retrieve it.

After his old victim moves away, school bully Gelman decides that Gus will be the new target for his abuse, making the smaller boy afraid to even step on the playground. After numerous schemes to protect himself fail, Gus talks to his military father for advice, and ultimately decides to stand up to Gelman once and for all. The other kids, moved by his bravery, join in the fight.

The school is going on a field trip, but when T.J.'s class's bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, T.J. and the rest of the kids on the bus must find a way to fix it.

Principal Prickly's brother (voiced by Martin Mull) is principal of a rival elementary school. The siblings square off over a bet based on a game of kickball with the gang playing off against their doubles.

The Gang volunteers for the "Pee Wee Pals" program, which will pair them up with kindergarteners, in exchange for passes to a local amusement park. Most of the group is able to find common ground with their smaller friends, but T.J. struggles to make a connection with his own kindergartener. As he quests to find a hobby they can both enjoy, he inadvertently raises the fury of the whole playground.

A mysterious substitute by the name of Mr. E takes over Miss Grotke's class while she is away. While everyone is impressed with the way he handles the class, T.J. wants everyone else to remember how great Miss Grotke is.

Gretchen longs to be good at some kind of athletic activity, and discovers that she has a hidden talent for the yo-yo. Encouraged by rumors of a former yo-yoing master (guest star Brian Doyle-Murray) living nearby, she becomes his pupil and works to become a true "master of Yo," eventually leading her to the statewide championships, but her desire for greatness causes Gretchen to alienate herself from her friends and she wonders if her new passion is worth it.

This episode aired on Brian Doyle-Murray's 53rd birthday.

In this deliberately monochrome send-up of film noir, Gretchen recounts the tale of how she fell in with the "seedy underbelly" of Third Street School in a quest to recover Galileo, a personal handheld computer she received as a birthday present. Her journey has her cross paths with the worst troublemakers in the halls, and she helps them with their pranks in an effort to get information about Galileo.

Vince "saves" Mikey's life by catching a baseball moving toward his head, and the bigger boy decides that he wants to be just like Vince to gain popularity and coolness. Mikey's habits soon grow into an obsession as he starts copying Vince's clothing, style, and speech patterns. Vince, none too happy about being mimicked, hatches a scheme to help Mikey remember his true personality and teach him a lesson about what it really means to be cool.

Mikey rescues Stuart, a stray cat, who wreaks havoc at 3rd Street School. When the gang loses Stuart, he's found by the Ashleys, thus starting a fight between the two groups over ownership of the cat.

King Bob orders the Kids of the Playground to make a monument in his name when he fears he won't be remembered after he leaves.

A scandal erupts at Third Street Elementary when "whomps" (a word T.J. uses to mean something that is unfair or unpleasant, similar to the slang meanings for "suck," "blow," "stink," and "bite") is accused by the school faculty and the administration for being a swear word.

Spinelli is forced to spend a weekend with Miss Finster while her parents are away.

T.J. discovers that while he was out sick, the school has undergone a currency implementation, Monster Stickers. At first, T.J. is broke, but through hard work and investments, he becomes the richest kid in school and goes mad with power.

All the kids at 3rd Street School have fallen ill after eating tuna fish tacos, leaving T.J. and the gang as the only students in school.

In a Christmas special, Mikey is ridiculed when it's discovered he still believes in Santa Claus. When his efforts to prove that the man in red exists fail, he loses his Christmas spirit and refuses to perform in a school pageant, much to the chagrin of the students and other teachers. A chance encounter with a friendly old man (voiced by James Earl Jones) helps renew Mikey's faith, and he appears in the pageant after all, and discovers that the elderly man has a secret of his own.
NOTE: This is the series' first half-hour special.

Mikey is given a bad haircut after getting gum stuck in it, and Vince and T.J. lie and say it is a trendy new cut. Soon, every boy on the playground wants their hair styled the same way.

When Spinelli is caught fighting in school yet again, Miss Finster calls her parents, and Mrs. Spinelli decides to enroll her daughter in a dance class to help channel her aggression. The friendly Russian teacher, sensing Spinelli's spirit, pairs with her "Mikhail", or Mikey, who reveals that he loves to dance but cannot find a partner able to handle his large size. Spinelli starts to enjoy the work, but when it's announced that the ballet class will perform before the whole school, she must choose between her friend and her "rep."

T.J. is made principal for a day, and the students are afraid that the power will change him.

Spinelli is entered into a beauty contest by the Ashleys as a joke, and Vince convinces her that actually competing and beating the Ashleys is the best way to get back at them.

The gang helps Gus (who has never had a picture day because of his constantly changing schools) stay clean so he can have a great school photo.

In this homage to Good Will Hunting, Gretchen finds herself stumped by a tough math problem and leaves it on the blackboard; when it is solved overnight, the Gang has a stakeout and discovers that Hank the Janitor is secretly a mathematical genius. He and Gretchen form a friendship based on their love of numbers, but when word of Hank's prowess gets out, he's courted by every major scientific institution in the world for his talent, forcing him to choose between them.

It's dodgeball season at Third Street, and T.J., determined to beat his rival Lawson, creates a major bet on a fourth-grader versus fifth-grader game. Gus is the only kid who refuses to play, and the Gang soon discovers why: at his previous school, he was a dodgeball legend named "El Diablo" who swore off the game when he accidentally injured a kindergartener. When history repeats itself on Hector, Gus's kindergartener friend, El Diablo finds himself dusting off his old poncho for one last round.

The Gang ponder on what they want to be when they grow up, and Spinelli fears she may not have a future.

The annual Kindergarten Derby, a race wherein kindergarteners sponsored by older kids compete to win a wish from the playground's current ruler, hits Third Street School. Mikey refuses to participate, citing exploitation, but befriends a heavyset kindergartener named Tubby who is determined to do well in the race. The older boy explains that he was unable to finish his own Kindergarten Derby, and decides to work as Tubby's trainer to prove that being big doesn't make people matter less.

T.J bets Vince that he can't go without winning every game he plays for one day.

Gretchen gets a letter from NASA, telling her that she will be involved in the next space shuttle mission, which makes T.J. jealous because he wants to go into space. Buzz Aldrin voices himself.

Randall becomes the playground comedian and gains popularity, but the gang isn't laughing when they find out that he is fat shaming Mikey.

T.J. comes in to school with a black eye and lies that he got it for doing something heroic and becomes the center of attention.

When T.J. breaks his collarbone during a kickball game, he's forced to stay in a room full of nerds, known as "Pale Kids," who don't go outside for recess. Over time, he bonds with the Pale Kids over their shared love of comic books, and even starts to enjoy their nerdy hobbies. When he returns to the blacktop and endures teasing, he's determined to stick up for his newfound friends, who come along for a single day of outdoor activity.

While playing football with the fifth grade boys, Spinelli develops a crush on a boy named Johnny "Baby Tooth" V and ends up being the laughingstock of the entire school.

It's Valentine's Day and T.J. (who hates the holiday) creates joke Valentines that every girl on the playground takes seriously.

T.J. and Vince become fans of "The Barnaby Boys", a series of children's novels that follow the adventures of two teenage sleuths, and get in over their heads when they try to uncover the mystery of the temporary janitor.

T.J. discovers an old treasure map in an outdated history book, leading the Gang on a merry chase across the playground to find the mysterious valuables left behind by the map's writers. The Ashleys, Diggers, and Randall are gradually drawn into the hunt, and greed soon gets the better of most of the kids as they scheme to hoard the treasure for themselves. A speech from T.J. reminds them that the hunt is supposed to be fun, and they all recover in time to find the treasure, favorite toys that belonged to the map's creators, a group which includes Principal Prickly himself.

A book report assignment sends the Gang to the library, where they share the tale of the mysterious "Library Kid," a girl who is rumored to live among the stacks. A quick hunt reveals the Library Kid, and they encourage her to go outside to experience recess. After some reluctance, the Library Kid soon goes "recess crazy" and plays completely out of control, prompting Gretchen to lead the Gang in an effort to help her before serious problems begin.

The Ashleys make up a ratings system to crush the self-esteem of the kids on the playground, leading to chaos.

T.J. finds out about the first Señor Fusion movie and vows to see the first show, but Principal Prickly (who is a fan of Señor Fusion) challenges T.J. to a trivia contest where Prickly will let the school go see the movie if T.J. wins.

T.J. tries to prank King Bob so he can win the King's old title of Prankster Prince.

Gus joins the Hustler Kid but causes trouble.

The gang make a friend of new kid James Stone (voiced by Jason Marsden) and show him all of their tricks. However, it's revealed that he's a spy.

After playing with a paper fortune teller, Gus is told the next day will be his last one.

The Gang notices that Mikey is frequently taken advantage of on the playground, but he shrugs off the abuse as part of his daily routine. The next day, though, all of the kids treat Mikey with deference, and the Gang soon discovers that a rumor about their friend pushing a boy into a girls' bathroom is spreading like wildfire. They do their best to hunt down the rumor's originator, and end up getting a surprise when they discover just who started the gossip.

A huge food fight breaks out in the cafeteria, and Gus is the only eyewitness to the person who started the mess. He wants to tell Miss Finster, as she's threatened to take away recess if no one comes forward, but the rest of the Gang tells him that the "Kids' Unwritten Code" will label him a tattletale if he spills the beans. When Miss Finster begins personal interrogations of the whole student body, Gus finds himself fighting to keep from cracking.

Continuing from "The Big Prank", King Bob becomes obsessed with pulling a prank on T.J.

Gus loses his glasses and becomes cool as a swingin' boy named "Guy".

Randall gets the gang to pretend to be his friends on his birthday after lying to his father about having friends.

The old King Morty's rules are reinstated after Vince and Lawson have a disagreement regarding a kickball landing in a dumpster.

Little Becky Benson idolizes Gretchen... or does she?

While trying to pick up a ball that rolled under a bench, Mikey rips his pants and his friends try to help him cover up the rip while they hide from Miss Finster who'll stop at nothing to find him and sew his pants.

Gus moves into Old Rusty at school after overhearing his parents' unfortunate plans to move again.

A school legend, T.J.'s idol comes back as a teacher.

After being ignored by the student body, Menlo and Randall join forces and start blackmailing the kids to do them favors and it's up to T.J. and his friends to put a stop to the duo.

Vince and Gretchen run against each other for class president. The episode mentions the 1912 United States presidential election, when T.J. remembers that Woodrow Wilson took advantage of the split in the Republican party to gain the presidency. He supports a third party candidate, Ashley Armbruster, to split the vote for the girls.

Spinelli lets off some steam by creating a chalk drawing and T.J. does everything he can to keep Miss Finster from erasing it.

T.J. finds out that Gordy is the only kid on the playground who doesn't like him, and sets out to make him his friend.

Gus gets left behind, along with Gelman and Miss Finster, when Gus's dad forgets to give him his permission slip to his first great state fair.

A.V. Kid must choose a successor because he's leaving Third Street for Portugal. T.J. and Vince would both like the position.

Gus is in charge of showing Yope, a Norwegian transfer student, around the school but begins hiding him from everyone when he realizes Yope doesn't know Gus is actually seen as a loser and lies to him that he's the school's "hot kid".

Spinelli takes the place of the Guru Kid. However, her advice to the playground begins to backfire.

The gang believe that Miss Grotke is a spy. But is she spying for or against America?

Miss Finster sprains her ankle and can't keep up with the kids during recess. At first, T.J. is thrilled, as he knows that he can finally get away with all of his biggest schemes. But upon seeing Muriel desperately trying to maintain order on the playground, he and the rest of the Gang realize that they can't truly enjoy themselves if she is in pain. This inspires a playground-wide truce of absolutely perfect behavior to give Miss Finster a much-needed break, at least until her ankle is fully healed.

Vince doesn't let Mikey join his five-a-side soccer team for the King Bob Classic, so Mikey becomes the goalie for Lawson's team.

T.J. and the gang build a makeshift fort called "Fort Tender", only to have Lawson and his gang ruin their plans and steal it from them.

Gus and Mikey are at war after Gretchen catches a cold.

Spinelli asks Gretchen to accompany her and her mother on a trip to a cosmetics museum so she can avoid boredom. While there, Gretchen inadvertently impresses Mrs. Spinelli with her vast knowledge and various talents, a problem that persists when she joins the Spinellis for dinner. Spinelli's parents repeatedly wonder why she can't be more like the polite and intelligent Gretchen, which leads the tomboy to swear off friendship with the brainy girl. Can Gretchen find a way to resolve the problem?

Randall, tired of King Bob not taking him seriously, discovers the playground's ruler in a compromising position at the mall and blackmails him with photographs. As part of the deal, King Bob is forced to declare Randall a prince and go into exile, and the snitch soon begins a reign of terror. The Gang, determined to save the playground from disaster, encourages King Bob to come forward with the truth, and share their own embarrassing stories to win the other kids over to the exiled monarch's side.

Vince feels left out of the loop when everyone on the playground begins quoting lines from the latest screwball comedy, Nitwits 3, and sets out to see the film, despite Vince's parents forbidding him because of how crude and immature it is.

Note: This is the only episode where Vince's parents have a speaking role.

T.J. and Gretchen are finally partners for a project. Will it work?

Vince becomes one of the greatest chefs in the history of the playground with his newfound restaurant Chez Vince.

Mikey is declared the first-ever poet laureate of Third Street School, and is chosen to recite an original composition at a special ceremony honoring him. Determined to write his best work ever, Mikey turns to Menlo, a master of organization and time management, for help in becoming more focused. But when Menlo's advice accidentally transforms Mikey into an efficiency-obsessed drone, the organizer teams up with the Gang to restore the daydreaming poet to normal.

Mikey signs the kids up to visit a retirement home on the same day as "Señor Fusion Fest", and the Gang reluctantly agrees to the plan, hoping to leave early to go to the festival. As Mikey fails to impress the senior citizens with his singing, the other kids discover the amazing stories some of the other residents – including a doctor who worked on the Manhattan Project, a female boxer and former merchant marine, and a retired baseball player from the Negro leagues, have to offer.

T.J. has a mysterious friend that appears to be Menlo.

The gang try to find the school's back-up water valve on the hottest day of the year.

The Ashleys approach Spinelli to give her six tickets to an upcoming wrestling show, and don't ask for anything in return. Spinelli, suspicious of their intentions, rallies the Gang to determine what the popular girls might be up to. As they continually investigate, they run the risk of missing the actual show, prompting Gus and Mikey to take the tickets as an act of good faith. The search ultimately leads Spinelli, T.J., Vince, and Gretchen to the Ashleys' clubhouse, where they discover an unfortunate surprise.

Mikey and Gus want to join the Woodchuck Scouts.

After a mysterious figure drops an envelope containing a hundred-dollar bill outside of Third Street School, T.J. picks it up and shares the happy news with his friends, who all plot to buy extravagant things with their "fortune." But when Gus points out that someone must have lost the money, T.J. leads the Gang on a quest to determine the rightful owner. Their journey takes them through all of Third Street and to the mansion of Thaddeus T. Third V, who reveals that the whole scenario was a test of people's morals. Pleased with their honesty, he gives the Gang an even better reward.

When Gus's father finds out that Cornchip Girl's father is his archenemy from high school who works for the Navy, Gus and Cornchip Girl are not allowed to see each other anymore, but they decide to share a secret friendship that their fathers will not know about.

Gretchen and Galileo perform a test to determine how tall the Gang will be in the future. Mikey's answer is the most surprising: according to Galileo's data, he will grow to be fifteen feet tall! At first, everyone is pleased with the idea, but Mikey later has a nightmare wherein he grows into a monstrous Giant that terrorizes the whole city. Determined to keep the world safe, he locks himself under a jungle gym and swears to never come out again.

The kids think Vince is getting special treatment when he becomes Prickly's golf partner for a golf tournament against his older brother's school.

The gang tries to find out who removed all the balls from the playground.

Lawson is upset when the Gang yet again wins honor and praise from King Bob and the rest of the playground. The bully abandons his old friends to form a new crew of counterparts to the group: himself for T.J., Randall for Gus, Skeens for Vince, Swinger Girl for Spinelli, Menlo for Gretchen, and Kurst "the Worst" for Mikey. Lawson's new group seems to be far more efficient at helping others, pulling pranks, and even protesting the administration's decisions. This puts the Gang into a depressed state, and makes them fear that they no longer have a place on the playground. Mikey points out that despite everything, they are still best friends, and the group takes solace in the fact – which comes in handy when they're called to solve a problem not even Lawson's gang can fix.
NOTE: This is the series' second half-hour special.

The government officially cancels recess as part of an experiment, but things go wrong when the kids become slow-minded and depressed as a result.

Principal Prickly's wish of being a middle school principal comes true, but his replacements are an evil man named Dr. Slicer and his assistant Gilda, who are even worse. Tim Curry is the voice of Dr. Slicer.

A statue of Thaddeus T. Third the Third, Third Street School's namesake, is to be installed on the front lawn of the building, but the Gang inadvertently destroys it while using it as a new climbing structure after one of the workers fails to secure it. They are labeled the "Destructive Six" by the media; initially the six are punished by being made to do chores, but that changes when the mayor announces a severe plan to send the kids to six individual schools, which shocks even Miss Finster as cruel. The kids must defend themselves in court to avoid this fate, and get help from a surprising source. This episode pays homage to both the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz and the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket.

Some bad kids from school trick Gus into shoplifting Beanie McGum bubble gum from Kelso's.

Jared Smith, a new kid, comes to Third Street and isn't as average as the gang hopes when he's better than all the students at the things they are good at.

Spinelli borrows Vince's lucky marble to pass a math test on the day Vince needs it most.

The Diggers have a fight and split up; the gang tries to get them back together.

In this homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Principal Prickly installs a new supercomputer called the SAL 3000 to run the school. At first, the kids love SAL, as he is able to procure recess equipment and change the temperature of the drinking fountains at a moment's notice. But when SAL gradually becomes more autocratic and takes control of the entire school by imprisoning the teachers and the students, it's up to Gretchen and the rest of the gang to escape to the school's basement to power him down. The episode ends with Prickly advertising the SAL 4000 to Finster with each kid getting a restraint bracelet.

Gretchen does other people's homework in order to get the money for a new bike.

Mikey's tenth birthday is coming up, and his mother inadvertently triggers a massive fear of becoming older. He gradually regresses to an infantile state by obsessing over "Bonky the Dragon" (a parody of Barney the Dinosaur). The rest of the Gang, concerned with Mikey's babyish attitude, does their best to break his addiction and remind him of what it means to be an older kid.

In this tribute to Tales from the Crypt, Butch tells viewers three terrifying tales of Recess.

• "Children of the Cornchip": Cornchip Girl eats some untested potato chips and finds herself turning into a werewolf at will. Gus leads the Gang on an investigation to track down the mysterious beast, who plans to transform the whole school into werewolves as well. Can the group protect Third Street from this monstrous fate?
• "When Bikes Attack!": In a homage to Maximum Overdrive, Mikey's bike Pegasus comes to life when he leaves it out during a thunderstorm. Pegasus soon begins a reign of terror against the school, and the Gang goes through all manner of traps to try to stop the crazed two-wheeler. When they finally free themselves, they discover that all of their bikes have become sentient, and flee onto a passing school bus, which may not be the safest place after all.
• "Night of the Living Finsters": Lawson dares Vince to spend the night in the Diggers' latest hole, and the rest of the Gang tags along. While underground, they discover a secret passage that leads to the "Finster Family Crypt", where all of Miss Finster's ancestors are buried. They get a terrifying surprise when the ancient Finsters rise from the dead to hunt them down, and flee to the school in an effort to battle the evil teachers.
  NOTE: This is the series' third and final half-hour special.

Mikey discovers a surprising friend in Kurst "the Worst", a heavyset girl with an appetite that matches his and a mean attitude that doesn't. As they bond over sharing massive lunches, a true relationship begins to bloom, which upsets both the Gang and Kurst's group of fellow "bad kids". When it seems that Kurst is behind the theft of the cafeteria's huckleberry cobbler dessert, Mikey is forced to choose between defending his new friend or siding with everyone else.

Randall recruits the Tylers, the Ashleys' little brothers, to help him snitch on the other kids during recess.

Bad boy Mundy becomes very popular after he stops a ball from hitting a kindergarten girl and his friends blackmail the gang to help them restore Mundy's bad boy reputation.

T.J. loses his confidence after a series of failed plans and refuses to lead the group.