Abbott Elementary – Alex

By starrymag | April 16, 2024

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

It’s the morning and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) is pretty distracted, so much so that he doesn’t have time to tend to a little girl (Jabria McCullum) with a loose tooth. She’s wondering if she should swallow it, but Gregory is coloring for a good cause. He explains to the cameras that he’s finetuning a proposal that will hopefully lead to more funding for his gardening program.

 

Shortly after the latest substitute (Desmond Hayes) for Janine (Quinta Brunson) comes in because Alex (Mason Renfro), one of her students, only came to school twice last week. He shares that Alex has been missing so much school that he’s two absences away from being held back. Gregory taught him last year and said being chronically absent isn’t like Alex. He promises he’ll look into it.

 

At the district offices Janine gets a visit from Superintendent Reynolds (Keegan-Michael Key) who has come bearing good news. He starts by praising her for the librarian program and then says he wants to offer her a permanent position at the district post-fellowship.

 

Back at Abbott Jacob (Chris Perfetti) is giving his students a crash course in artificial intelligence. Specifically, he’s showing off software that can check the students’ essays for any AI usage. Jacob goes through the papers and shows ones with a lot of AI use or none at all. Then, he arrives at emails sent by Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) in response to his newsletter and finds that they’re entirely AI-generated. He doesn’t take this well because he puts a lot of effort into his weekly newsletter.

 

When he confronts Barbara and Melissa say they were just testing out the software because they need to know when students are abusing it. This is of little comfort to Jacob though and he storms off angrily.

 

Elsewhere Gregory goes to the office to call Alex’s house and he gets Alex’s grandmother (Gail Everett-Smith) on the phone. He tries to talk to her about Alex’s absences, but she doesn’t seem particularly concerned because Alex doesn’t like school. Gregory tries explaining that he’ll be held back, but this doesn’t make an impression. However, Alex’s grandmother does tell him that Alex misses his teacher. When Gregory hangs up the secretary tells him Alex lives across the street from the school.

 

Later there is a meeting in which Janine tells her Abbott coworkers that she plans on taking a full-time position with the district once her fellowship is up. Barbara, Mellissa, and Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) are happy for Janine. Jacob feels a bit emotional about the idea that Janine is leaving, and Ava (Janelle James) is really excited to replace her.

 

Melissa and Barbara feel guilty about not reading his newsletter, so they go out of their way to show Jacob that they’ve been reading it. But he’s still pretty annoyed. He feels like they don’t respect the effort he puts into putting together his email. Melissa and Barbara apologize and promise no more AI emails and agree to try to read his newsletters more.

 

We learn a bit more about Alex and Gregory says that he’s the kind of kid who gets excited when it rains during recess so him missing this much school isn’t like her.  He calls Janine and he explains that his grandmother says he won’t come to school because he misses her. It’s against district policy, but Gregory is thinking of going over to Alex’s house because he doesn’t want him to have to go to truancy court and be held back. Janine agrees that after school they’ll pay Alex and his grandmother a visit.

 

There’s a brief montage of Ava trying to find Janine’s replacement and the qualifications revolve around being nothing like Janine. Speaking of her, Janine and Gregory go to see about Alex. They try explaining again that Alex could be held back a year, but his grandmother doesn’t feel like watching “The Price is Right” will hurt him. They try to encourage her to send Alex to school, but his grandmother doesn’t see the point in making him go somewhere he hates.

 

Upon seeing Alex through the window Janine asks if they can go inside. Alex’s grandmother agrees and Gregory and Janine talk to Alex. When asked what’s been going on he says that Janine doesn’t have to go to school, so why should he? Janine explains that he has to go to school whether she’s there are not. Alex asks when she’ll be back as his teacher and Gregory tries to reassure him by saying soon. Unfortunately, Janine has to tell Gregory and Alex that she decided to take a full-time position at the district.

 

After a quick sidebar with Janine, Janine and Gregory tell Alex that teachers will come and go but he needs to go to school. When Alex still isn’t sold Janine asks him what he wants to be when he grows up. Alex says he wants to be on “The Price is Right.” Gregory and Janine explain that he’ll need to learn Math and communication skills for that to happen. Janine adds that he wouldn’t stop watching Plinko if Drew Carey left, so he shouldn’t give up on school just because she isn’t there. So, he reluctantly agrees when they ask if he’ll be at school tomorrow.

 

When they leave they wonder how they can keep Alex in school and Gregory suggests that maybe being a part of his gardening program could make him feel less alone. A part of the program, Gregory says, is that the “goofballs” hold each other accountable.

 

Ava introduces Mercedes as Janine’s replacement. She is a Penn State grad with a lot in common with Ava. Then Melissa and Barbara feel vindicated because Mr. Johnson has a newsletter too and Jacob doesn’t read it. But Melissa and Barbara did read it, and when asked why they pointed out that Jacob’s newsletters are weekly but Mr. Johnson’s are quarterly.

 

Later Jacob reads Mr. Johnson’s newsletter and apologizes for being dismissive. Additionally, Jacob apologizes because he thinks he might’ve overdone it with the emails. Still Melissa and Barbara agree to start reading his emails. The next day Janine gets a call from Gregory and shares that Alex came to school. Also, he introduces Alex to the other boys in his gardening programs and it seems to be a good fit.

 

When Janine is given the paperwork for starting a job at the district, but when she looks it over she seems a little hesitant.