Abbott Elementary – Attack Ad

By starrymag | November 8, 2022

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

Jacob (Chris Perfetti) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) are starting the day with an elementary school pastime: red light, green light. While the kids freeze and unfreeze Jacob’s talking about seeing a student’s parent get arrested at a protest. Gregory is horrified. Then, Jacob adds that the cop was the person’s cousin so really what he witnessed was just her getting a ride home in a police car. Gregory looks really annoyed that he wasted the worry.

 

Janine (Quinta Brunson) is welcoming her students into the classroom and has to tell one kid once inside to stop yelling. A disapproving parent (Marcus Terrell Smith) comes up to her and chastises her for “yelling” at the kids “just like on TV.” Janine is confused because 1) she wasn’t yelling and 2) since when is she on TV? The confusion is short-lived because Erika (Courtney Taylor) shows up.

 

The Halloween party created a friendship, thankfully. Erika tells her she tried watching a show Janine recommended, but she couldn’t get into it. It seems Janine has the pop culture taste of a middle aged midwestern mother. Erika asks if she wants to hang out, but Janine can’t because Tariq (Zack Fox) is coming to get his stuff. Janine doesn’t think this is a big deal because they’re over, but Erika says they should meet on neutral ground and not in the apartment where there’s a ton of history.

 

If you’re curious, Janine is not the only person getting the side-eye from parents. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) has a mom (Charlene Westbrook) tell her to avoid taking kids to casinos, which confuses her. And one of Jacob’s students (Anthony Carr Jr.) tells him to hang in there because they all know he’s doing his best. Jacob doesn’t get it, but the student tells him the answer is on Hulu.

 

We cut away and Jacob goes running into the teacher’s lounge. He says there’s a commercial about them on Hulu saying that they’re all bad teachers. At first they don’t know how to find it, but then it’s Ava (Janelle James) to the rescue. She knows about the commercial and says it’s bad. She has it saved on her computer and plays it all on them. It shows a bunch of moments out of context that don’t paint the teachers in the most flattering light. In the commercial Janine is portrayed as being overly harsh for telling a kid to sit down, Gregory gets accused of stifling his kids for telling one kid to stop dancing in the middle of class, Melissa’s portrayed as a card shark, and Jacob’s accused of mocking his students’ culture for calling one of them “dawg.” It’s an advertisement for Legendary Charter Schools and the only person who doesn’t get reamed out in that commercial is Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph). Why is that?

 

The teachers are, of course, horrified and want to know how they can get the commercial taken down. How’d they get that footage? Ava admits that she let them in as she assumed they were all a part of the same documentary that the camera men are making. Melissa reiterates that she’s never trusted any of them from the beginning.

 

Tariq swings by hours early and Janine agrees to let him hang out in her classroom while she teaches. While she goes forward with the lesson Tariq plays with the kids. In the hallway Janine admits she was a little worried that seeing him would be awkward, but she fondly says Tariq makes it impossible to feel awkward around him.

 

So, about that commercial…. Melissa called in her lawyer friend to see how they go about getting that commercial taken off the air. Candace (Victoria Hoffman) says it’s all bad news after getting some details. Did they get their consent to film? Yes, the staff signed the release forms. Did they tell the staff what they’d do with the footage? They just said they were coming to get footage of them, which they did. So, technically they were vague and the staff didn’t push for answers so there’s not much Candace can do.

 

Later Janine and Tariq catch up outside. Things are going well for Tariq. He’s happy making music for F.A.D.E (this universe’s version of D.A.R.E) and he’s even in talks to play Nick Cannon’s next baby shower. He could be well booked for years if that’s the case. Once Janine gives him his boxes of stuff he suggests they have dinner. Janine agrees as they are friends now. So, what’s the big deal about having dinner with someone she dated for a decade.

 

Back inside Melissa tracked down the root of the commercial and the man behind Legendary Charters: Draemond Winding (Leslie Odom Jr.). He’s big in the New York charter school scene. When Barbara hears the name her attitude changes. She says they should just ignore the whole thing as it’s not like it’s the first time someone’s bad mouthed Abbott Elementary. The other teachers wonder if it’s because she wasn’t negatively portrayed in the commercial. Barbara says no and that they just need to take the high road.

 

Outside Tariq runs into Gregory who is tending to the garden, while pretending to not be the one almost single handedly keeping the garden alive. Tariq says hello and asks him for advice. He talks about his impending dinner date with Janine and is considering proposing a movie night for afterwards so he wants to know what her favorite movie is. Gentle reminder, Janine and Tariq have known eachother since middle school. Gregory is a little shocked that Tariq could not know something so basic about a woman he was with for over ten years, but says he’s not sure.

 

In Jacob’s class we see how much of a toll the commercial is taking. One of Jacob’s kids is being transferred to Addington, the charter school down the street. It seems a handful of parents have decided they want their kids in a charter school since the commercial aired. Jacob is sad to be losing kids, but Ava is just bummed out about all the paperwork.

 

Later Melissa, Jacob and Ava agree that even if Barbara is not on board they’ve gotta do something. Melissa has the number of the man in charge, so they’ve going to call him. Jacob considers himself a phone person, so he decides to take the lead. He calls and is shocked when Draemond not only answers but says he can swing by Abbott Elementary this afternoon.

 

Gregory goes to Janine and tells him about his run in with Tariq. He thinks it’s a bad idea. Janine still says it no big deal, but even if it was it’s kind of none of Greogory’s business. He takes the hint and backs off. He says he was just trying to look out for a friend. And Draemond arrives. The staff is on the offensive, but he treats it like a friendly visit. Then, there’s a revelation: Draemond went to Abbott Elementary thirty years ago. In factm he was one of Barbara’s first students. He says she was the best teacher he ever had.

 

Melissa and Ava get some background. Barbara taught Draemond back in kindergarten and he was a sweetheart. Unfortunately, he had a pretty rough homelife. Back then Barbara just felt for him and wanted to offer him some stability. Melissa gets it, but he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a CEO who’s trying to bring down Abbott. Then, she goes to Draemond and tells him his ad was completely unfair. Draemond says they just aired what they shot and the teachers didn’t exactly make it tough. He says the conditions of the school are abysmal, he thinks the kids deserve better. And he thinks Barbara is the only good teacher left and then Barbara calls him into her classroom for a chat.

 

In between the charter school vs. public schools war happening Janine is cleaning up a mess mostly made by her ex. He drew in permanent marker on one of her desks and it’s not coming off. He ate half of her lunch and then left her a message saying he needs a ride. It looks like she’s remembering the downsides of being with Tariq.  Later she tells him that they should cancel dinner. Tariq says that’s fine as he’ll just have dinner with his new girlfriend – who he never mentioned to Janine. Talk about dodging a bullet.

 

Barbara starts by telling Draemond that she is proud of him. Not for the commercial, but because she knows how little support he had and he surpassed everyone’s expectations. Draemond says she helped him a lot back then, but what also helped was a charter school. He was shuffled around from public school to public school, but a charter school gave him direction and changed his life. Barbara knows how hard things were for him, but she says it’s not accurate to blame all the bad parts of his childhood on the public school system. He says he wants to make the school system better for the Barbara Howards of the world. But Barbara says what he’s doing hurts teachers like her.

 

The good news is that Draemond agreed to take the commercial down and the teachers all celebrate. But this might not be the last we hear of Legendary Schools. Later in an interview Draemond says he’s bummed that Barbara doesn’t get that he’s trying to help. But that won’t stop him from helping her. The next school he turns into a charter school will be Abbott Elementary.

 

On their way out Janine and Gregory talk. She mentions that she and Tariq won’t be going out after all. Gregory looks relieved, but is trying not to show it. Janine knows it’s for the best and says she’s just going to have a quiet night with her favorite movie. Gregory says she’ll be watching Jumanji. He knew her favorite movie the entire time.