Bob Brush won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for his work on scripting this episode.
Michael Dinner won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, becoming one of the few episodes to accomplish the directing/writing double.
Mr. DiPerna surprises Kevin at the door and pulls him aside, explaining that Mr. Collins had died over the weekend from a heart condition, something he was suffering from for a long time.
Kevin realizes that Mr. Collins had intended to give him a second chance to prove himself, and sees this as his opportunity to make amends with him.
Kevin proceeds to thoroughly apply himself on the exam, and when he hands it in, he confidently tells Mr. DiPerna, "You don't have to grade it, it's an A."
As Kevin leaves the classroom, he looks back at Mr. Collins' old desk, and sees a vision of his late former teacher in the chair with a look of approval on his face, and says out loud, "Good job, Mr.
Showrunner and writer Bob Brush said, "When we first came up with the idea of doing the math teacher, there was the premise of a three part arc from the beginning that I wanted to do.
I loved the episode, because I thought the whole arc was very poignantly about becoming a man and accepting the keys and responsibility to manhood from the teacher and the master.
[3] The episode also earned an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Editing for a Series - Single Camera Production for Michael Vejar and an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award nomination in the category of Best Edited Episode from a Television Series for Dennis C. Vejar.
Fred Savage was nominated for his second consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for this episode.