Abbott Elementary 2.12

Fight

Gregory's father tries to get Gregory to leave Abbott and come work for his landscaping business. Janine tries to get two of her students to stop fighting. Mr. Johnson is cleaning up in the football pool. Ava and Melissa team up to try and stop him.

Thoughts

Gregory's father was played by Orlando Jones. I know him best from MADtv which I watched very regularly when it first aired.

All three plot threads left me a little disappointed. Gregory's relationship with his father showed the most promise of the three but the abrupt ending to it was very anticlimactic. Janine's attempts to get two of her students to get along (including the way it wrapped up) did nothing for me. 

Abbott Elementary 2.11

Read-A-Thon

Janine bets Melissa that her class will read more books during the Read-A-Thon than Melissa's. Jacob and Gregory start a podcast club at Abbott Elementary.

Melissa discovers that one of her students has trouble reading. Jacob goes overboard as producer of the podcast when the students in the club don't create content that he want.

Thoughts

This was okay. Not great but I've seen worse.

Abbott Elementary 2.10

Holiday Hookah

School lets out for the holidays. Janine, Gregory, and Ava all wind up at the same hookah bar that night. Janine and Gregory dance together. Jacob crashes Melissa and Barbara's little holiday get together and brings the mood down by talking bad about everything related to Christmas.

Thoughts

Good but not great. Neither plot line really did it for me. It was a little weird having a story that didn't revolve around something school related.

Abbott Elementary 2.09

Sick Day

Ava removes everything from the refrigerator in the break room, including Janine's lunch. Janine eats her lunch anyway and calls in sick the next day. Ava can't find a substitute so she takes over Janine's class herself.

Barbara and Melissa enjoy the day without Janine. Jacob stands up for Janine. Gregory pushes Ava to act responsibly.

Thoughts

I thought that the Barbara and Melissa subplot was kind of ridiculous. I was kind of surprised to see them get so happy about not having to spend a day near Janine.

Abbott Elementary 2.08

Egg Drop

Mr. Morton, one of the 8th grade teachers, holds an egg drop event. Janine wants to get her students involved. It doesn't go well for Janine's class. She doesn't really understand science and wants to believe that all her students need is the power of positivity. Greg tries to teach her otherwise.

Jacob is convinvced that Mr. Morton doesn't like him. Barbara has a problem with the way one of the parents of her students dresses.

Thoughts

This was a very funny episode. I enjoyed all the different plot threads.

Abbott Elementary 2.07

Attack Ad

Legendary Schools, a charter school company, puts out an ad that uses footage of the teachers of Abbott Elementary to promote their charter schools. The teachers at Abbott are fighting mad. They track down the CEO of Legendary Schools, who turns out to be a former student at Abbott. He was in Barbara's first class at Abbott.

Tariq returns. He's back to get some stuff that he left at Janine's apartment. He has ulterior motives. Janine assumes the best, at first, but eventually is reminded of why she broke up with Tariq.

Thoughts

This was a good episode. It didn't blow me away but it also did not disappoint. There is some hint that Draemond, the CEO of Legendary Schools, will be back.

Abbott Elementary 2.06

Candy Zombies

Everytone dresses up for Halloween including the teachers and staff. One of the students steals the candy that is supposed to be held until the end of the day. That student is dressed up as Thanos. The teachers do their best to stop him but in the end it is a student dressed as Mr. Johnson who finds and stops Thanos.

Janine contemplates her plans for Halloween night. SHe changes her pans after talking to Barbara and Melissa.

Amber, the mother of a student, flirts with Gregory.

Thoughts

This was a very fun episode. I rate it as much better than average. I chuckled several times. There were some nice character moments involving Janine and Gregory.

Abbott Elementary 2.05

Juice

Janine gets the school to change the juice that the students are given each day. Barbara warned Janine not to do it. The new juice comes in larger containers with more juice which leads the students to have to use the bathroom more frequently.

Melissa has trouble with Ashley, her new teacher's aide.

Thoughts

They never really explain how it is that Janine got the school to switch juice. She urged the school to change the juice served at the school but how exactly did that translate to the school making the change?

This was a good one. It wasn't the best but it was solidly good.

Abbott Elementary 2.04

The Principal's Office

Melissa tries to teach Janine how to cook. Janine tries to fix Melissa's relationship with her sister. Gregory has a student who keeps acting up in class. He tries taking the student to Eva only to discover that it doesn't help at all.

Thoughts

Jacob, Barbra, and Mr. Johnson are also in this episode. 

This was a very good episode. I really enjoyed it. I really liked the two endings.

Abbott Elementary 2.03

Story Samurai

A small troupe of performers (Story Samurai) comes to Abbott Elementary. Jacob used to be a part of Story Samurai. He wants to perform with them once again. Janine tries to talk him out of it. Ava wants him to do it so that she can stream the performance on the internet.

Melissa, attempts to deal with having to teach both 2nd and 3rd graders at the same time.

Thoughts

This was a decent episode but it wasn't laugh out loud funny.

Abbott Elementary 2.02

Wrong Delivery

Some books get delivered to Abbott by mistake instead of Addington, a charter school that is just a few blocks away. Janine, Mr. Johnson, and the other teachers take the books to Addington and notice how nice it is compared to Abbott. 

Gregory wants to break up with Taylor but is worried that Barbara will get angry at him when he learns that he is breaking up with her daughter.

Ava holds a Shark Tank-like contest to determine how to spend the grant money. Janine wins the contest but then the school needs to spend the money on an exterminator because the school is infested with mice.

Abbott Elementary 2.01

Development Day

The teachers at Abbott Elementary prepare for the new school year. Jeanine is still adjusting to breaking up with Tariq. She has not been paying some of her bills (rent, parking tickets). She acts like everything is okay until one day she has a meltdown. Gregory is putting an extreme amount of preparation into getting ready for his first year as a non-substitute teacher. Barbara warns him that his plans will get upset.

Thoughts

This is a decent start to the season. There were a few laughs but it wasn't great. Hopefully there will be many episodes that are better than this one (and none that are worse) in Season 2.

Abbott Elementary 1.13

Zoo Balloon

The staff and most of the students from Abbott go on a field trip to the zoo. Janine's boyfriend (Tariq), Jacob's boyfriend (Zach), and Barbara's daughter (Taylor) help to keep an eye on the kids. Janine feels uneasy when she learns that Tariq wants them to move to New York after he gets a recording contract. A few kids have to stay behind at Abbott with Mr. Johnson.

Thoughts

I like the Breakfast Club references that Mr. Johnson brings to the episode.

Abbott Elementary 1.12

Ava vs. Superintendent

Ava needs to give a presentation to the board of education to justify the money that Abbott Elementary received in the past year. She doesn't know what to do now that her blackmail scheme no longer works. Janine and Greg help her prepare but at the last minute the superintendent makes it more difficult for Ava.

Thoughts

This episode was okay. There were some jokes that made me laugh. It wasn't bad but there was something lacking here. It didn't help that the outcome of the subplot involving Barbara and Melissa made it seem (in the end) as if Ava's presentation didn't really matter in the first place.

Abbott Elementary 1.11

Desking

The staff of Abbott Elementary tries to contain a new trend, desking, moving across the classroom by walking on desks. They get some help from Zach, Jacob's boyfriend, in figuring out who has been doing it. Ava doesn't understand how she's never heard of desking before. Janine comes up with more than one solution to the problem, the last of which works. Greg gets some advice from Mr. Johnson about job satisfaction.

Thoughts

This was a fun episode but I didn't love it. There were some good laughs.

Abbott Elementary 1.10

Open House

Janine turns to Barbara for help during the open house only to discover that Barbara's daughter is visiting from out of town. Gregory finds out that Ava got her job by blackmailing the school system's superintendent. Jacob plays cards with Melissa and Mr. Johnson.

Thoughts

This was a good one. The only problem I have with it is that I could see where things were going with the card game as soon as it began. I really like the last few scenes at the end of the episode, especially the scenes in which Janine interacts with Barbara and Gregory.

Abbott Elementary 1.09

Step Class

Janine teaches a step class after school to a bunch of students. Ava insists on helping to teach the class when she finds out about it. Ava quickly becomes the favorites step teacher and Janine gets pushed to the side.

Barbara, Melissa, and Jacob find out that Gregory doesn't like pizza. They can't believe their ears and give him a hard time over his taste in food.

Thoughts

This is a fun episode. It wasn't great but it was solidly good.

Abbott Elementary 1.08

Work Family

Janine gets upset when she learns for the first time that Jacob has a boyfriend who he's been dating for 2 years. Janine tries to get the other teachers to bond with her. Janine admits to the other teachers that she and her boyfriend have been together since 8th grade. Barbara and Melissa try to get Gregory to loosen up with his students.

Thoughts

This is a decent episode. It has a nice mix of serious and silly moments. It didn't blow me away but I like it.

Abbott Elementary 1.07

Art Teacher

Zahar, a friend of Janine, gets hired to be Abbott Elementary's new art teacher. Zahar is qualified but her approach brings her into conflict with Melissa who has her students doing an art project. Janine gets caught in the middle.

Jacob talks Barbara into joining him in starting a garden for the school where they can grow vegetables for the school cafeteria. Greg declines an offer to join them even though he has secret garden skills.

Thoughts

This was a fun episode, better than average. It wasn't hard to see where things were going or where they would end but it was still a fun ride.

Abbott Elementary 1.06

Gifted Program

Janine talks Ava into starting a gifted program for the more "intelligent" students. Janine gets Jacob to teach the program but everything doesn't go as planned.

Barbara notices that the guy who restocks the vending machine has a crush on Melissa. She encourages Melissa to ask him out on a date.

Thoughts

This was a good one. I liked both storylines. Nothing fell flat.