Spinelli has to spend the weekend under Miss Finster's charge. During this time, she learns that Miss Finster is not really a bad person.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": Mikey's reaction to hearing that Miss Finster's babysitting Spinelli for the weekend.
- Connected All Along: It's revealed that Miss Finster is actually a long-time family friend of Spinelli's family; she's been friends with Spinelli's maternal grandmother, Aggie, since at least 1952, when they entertained troops in Guam, and is on a first name basis with Spinelli's mother and father.
- Continuity Nod: Gretchen mentions the events of "Mama's Girl".
- Cool Old Lady: By the end of the episode, Spinelli discovers that Miss Finster is a Cool Old Lady.
- Cosmetic Horror: Spinelli's reaction to Miss Finster wearing a facial mask and hair curlers.
- Demoted to Extra / Out of Focus: Spinelli is the main focus of the episode, so the rest of the Recess Gang is shown only at the beginning and towards the end.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Unbeknownst to Spinelli, Miss Finster overhears her calling her "boring" while phoning TJ. This distresses her into wondering if she's "gotten boring."
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: Miss Finster asking Spinelli to put her dentures in a glass full of water, much to Spinelli's disgust.
- Fan Disservice: Miss Finster may have been a looker in '52, but now... not so much, to say the least.
- Hidden Depths: It turns out Miss Finster is in good shape for her age, loves to do hula dancing, and is nice when she doesn't have to deal with kids' tomfoolery.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Miss Finster mentions that she and Spinelli's grandmother Aggie entertained the US troops in 1952, and there is a photo to prove it.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Miss Finster has a cat flap on her front door to let in stray cats.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: All of Spinelli's friends agree to this when they see Spinelli having fun dancing Hula Hula with Finster.TJ: (obviously shocked and slightly embarrassed) Guys, let's promise never to talk about this.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold / Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Miss Finster, all the way. She is genuinely kind to Spinelli, even when she comes across as boring, then, towards the end of the episode, they bond over hula dancing.
- Odd Friendship: Spinelli learns Miss Finster was good friends with her grandmother and thus is a longtime family friend.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When she's not at school, Ms. Finster is revealed to be this since Spinelli genuinely doesn't cause any trouble.
- Stock "Yuck!": Horse liver with lima beans and brussels sprouts.
- Teachers Out of School
- Truth in Television: In-Universe. Out of the other five members of the main six, Gretchen's the only one to accept that there's at least some truth in Spinelli's story, as teachers are human too and therefore must do things like go shopping, just like their parents do.
