Abbott Elementary – Breakup

By starrymag | March 5, 2024

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

We open the episode with the realization that it’s been hard to find a permanent substitute teacher for Janine’s (Quinta Brunson) class. A buttoned-up man with a bow-tie named Ethan (Devere Rogers) comes in and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph), Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) immediately start taking bets about how long he’ll last. Gregory has faith in Ethan, but Melissa and Barbara think he’ll bail by the end of the day. The ladies win as Ethan walks into the classroom, is horrified by some unidentified smell and runs out of the school. The hunt for a substitute teacher for the second graders, it seems, will continue.

 

Later we learn that Gregory and Jacob (Chris Perfetti) have been bar hopping a lot lately. Melissa is surprised that Jacob has been such a social butterfly lately and quips that it reminds her of the time in her life when she used to stay out all night avoiding her problems.

 

Elsewhere since the first substitute bailed, we meet Cassidy (Sabrina Wu), the latest substitute. When Melissa introduces herself she tries to gauge their preparedness, but the substitute says they were a kid once so they can handle them. However, Melissa points out that this is more like trying to handle three dozen (ish) versions of their younger self. Then, Melissa is nervous when they say they got their “gift card” as opposed to a teaching degree.

 

In the gym Barbara is there with her choir as Ava (Janelle James) wraps up step team practice. We get to see Barbara’s church lady friends engage in church lady passive aggressiveness and learn that Ava is letting them use the gym to rehearse. The choir is preparing for a concert and Sister Sipp (Carlease Burke) announces that they’re going to be singing “”Shackles”” by Mary, Mary, a favorite among the group. Barbara wants to sing the song but gets passed over for Sheila (Jaxy Boyd).

 

At the bar later Jacob and Gregory drink and play darts. Gregory is about ready to call it a night, but Jacob extremely doesn’t want to go home. With a little prompting, he reveals that he wants his boyfriend Zach (Larry Owens) to be asleep before he heads home. Gregory wonders if they’re in a fight and Jacob responds that they’ve been fighting a lot lately. Jacob thinks that that’s just what happens after the honeymoon phase and is resigned to being with Zach anyway. (Remember during the Christmas episode when Jacob said his family was dysfunctional?) At any rate, when Jacob explains things have been bad for seven months Gregory suggests that if Jacob’s avoiding going home it might be time for them to consider breaking up.

 

 

In her classroom Barbara is tidying up and singing “Shackles” when Ava walks by. She notices that Barbara does a really good rendition of the song and says she was robbed of that solo. Barbara says Sister Sipp chooses the person she feels can perform the solo the best and that person just happens to never be her. Ava compares it to her sold sorority where if the mean girls don’t like you, you’ll never get ahead. Barbara isn’t quite ready to accept that Ava might be right, but Ava says what is a choir but a sorority for God? She then encourages Barbara to ask for what she wants at the next rehearsal and very reluctantly she agrees.

 

Melissa goes running to Janine’s classroom when she hears a lot of kids screaming. No one is injured, as it turns out, the substitute is just trying out tactics she read about. Melissa asks where she got her teaching certification and gets worried when she doesn’t say where. Melissa calls Janine and tells her that she doesn’t think the new substitute has their teaching certification. Janine questions if she’s sure because she doesn’t want to be weird about another substitute. Melissa is sure that something’s off, so Janine agrees to look into Cassidy the substitute.

 

The next day Jacob comes to school and tells Gregory that he “did it.” Gregory takes this to mean that he and Zach have broken up. On the contrary, Jacob has started the process of trying to get Zach to break up with him. He’s been doing things that Zach hates on purpose so that he’ll get so angry that he’ll end the relationship.

 

Later, after their morning conversation, Gregory goes to follow up with Jacob about what he’s doing with Zach. Gregory says he doesn’t think he’s going to feel good about it if his plan with Zach succeeds. Jacob says he already feels terrible, so, Gregory asks, why is he doing it? Because he loves Zach and if he breaks up with him he’ll be crushed and he can’t handle crushing him. And we learn that Jacob has never broken up with someone, he is usually the person getting dumped.

 

Elsewhere Janine and Melissa check in about Cassidy and Janine says that they aren’t in the system. Melissa feels vindicated and hopes Janine is heading down to bury the imposter. Janine says she’ll swing by when she can.

 

During choir practice we witness more church lady passive aggressiveness over Barbara’s ear piercings. Barbara stands up for herself and tosses her hat in the ring for the solo. She explains that she has been in the choir for a long time, so she deserves a chance. To audition Sister Sipp asks her to sing, but she only sings a few words before being turned down. Ava is there for the entire ordeal and while Barbara says she understands Ava says she doesn’t. But Barbara pulls her away and says she tries so she wants Ava to leave it alone.

 

Jacob continues to try to annoy Zach into breaking up with him. He’s been doing everything that Zach hates including leaving without saying goodbye, not putting things away and leaving crumbs all over the kitchen. Then, we get to see Janine and Melissa confront Cassidy. Janine explains that they’ve been found out and she knows they don’t have their teaching certification. Cassidy says they’ve subbed all over Philly, but Janine says if that were true they’d be in the system. However, when they look on the board Melissa and Janine realize they have spelled Cassidy’s last name wrong. As it turns out Cassidy’s teaching style is just a little unconventional.

 

Gregory goes to see Jacob again and Jacob excitedly tells Gregory that it’s finally going to be over soon with Zach. Zach texted Jacob and said they needed to talk, so he thinks Zach is coming to school to dump him. Zach shows up and before Gregory can leave the room Zach suggests he and Jacob go to couples counseling. Unable to keep it in any longer Jacob blurts out that he wants to break up. Not being able to handle the awkwardness, Gregory makes a run for it.

 

This leads to what starts off as Zach and Jacob’s amicable breakup. They agree they haven’t been happy for a while but that their relationship ending sucks. Zach admits that he just brought up couples counseling to prolong the inevitable. He tells Jacob he respects his ability to be brave enough to put them out of their misery. But, Jacob doesn’t think he deserves that and admits he’s been doing things to try and drive Zach crazy, when Zach pieces together all the things Jacob has done on purpose he’s pretty angry. So Zach tells Jacob his fun facts were lame, that he doesn’t care about composting, and that Jacob was a liability at trivia night. It goes without saying this breakup is no longer amicable. After Zach’s exit Gregory comes in to check on Jacob and Jacob tells him that Gregory was right. He should’ve been upfront with Zach about what he was feeling from the beginning.

 

Later we see Ava give Barbara a key to the gym and say they can let theirselves in so that Ava doesn’t have to be around them. Barbara thanks her for the key and they talk a little about Barbara’s predicament. Ava says she always knew why her sorority sisters hated her, but why doesn’t the choir like Barbara? Barbara explains that she’s too modern for them nor Christian enough because she wears “loud” lipstick and has piercings. Plus she goes to Jazz nights with her husband and has secular friends. This prompts Ava to wonder why she remains in the choir considering the church ladies’ low opinion of her. Barbara explains that despite them, when she’s singing she feels close to God. Then ,Barbara admits that when her children were younger she found it difficult to balance being a teacher, a mother and an active church member so she stopped going to church for a while. This led to a crisis of faith until the day she heard “Shackles.” Barbara shares that this song brought her back to the church and then Ava surprises her by quoting The Bible to her.  She takes this as a sign that God wants her to persevere and tell her story.

 

The next day Jacob having a rough time of it. Zach is still pretty mad that Jacob tried to goad him into dumping him and has been getting revenge. This has included shrinking his clothes on purpose and writing a one-man play about him. Long story short, Jacob needs to find a new place to live and a new apartment soon. Gregory offers to go out with Jacob and Janine that night to help Jacob drown his sorrows.

 

On the substitute front, Janine goes to visit Melissa and shares that she apologized to Cassidy, but they are still filing a complaint with the school district. Melissa apologizes for roping her into this situation, but Janine is pretty forgiving. Melissa admits she doesn’t know what got into and concludes that she’s been bored considering the breakup and having fewer kids to teach.

 

Back to Barbara, when Ava checks in with her she tells her she pled her case to the choir and they were unmoved by her testimony. Ava figured they wouldn’t budge, so she came up a surprise for her. Barbara is going to sing her solo, but in front of the kids instead of at the church. She really enjoys singing “Shackles” and a bunch of other choir songs until Ava finally has to tell her to let the kids go because she’s performed a setlist worth of material.