Abbott Elementary – Costume Contest

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

It’s Halloween at Abbott Elementary, which means Janine’s (Quinta Brunson) students are coming to school in costumes. Some kids come in as Simone Biles and others push the envelope by dressing as Ice Spice or Jigsaw prompting Janine to make her students trade in their costumes for something more age appropriate. Janine explains she has a box of backups to ensure that everyone has fun while being something age and fear-appropriate for the costume contest. Last, but not least, Charlie (Pier Peters) surprises her by coming in dressed like the Black Panther.

Elsewhere, Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) is excited for Halloween because this year she’s in charge of the school-wide Halloween party. When Nina (Sharon Brathwaite), one of the parents, learns about Barbara’s plans she has a few objections. For starters, the PTA would rather the kids not bob for apples on account of germs. Plus, she’d prefer Barbara not give the kids cupcakes because they could have nuts or razor blades. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) claims she’s the one who started the razor blade myth after she pranked her cousin one year.

Later in the day we see more of the teachers’ costumes. Janine and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) are the mosquito in amber and DNA from the film Jurassic Park. Jacob (Chris Perfetti) on the other hand is Pat Sajak from “Wheel of Fortune.” (Jacob didn’t know about his politics before buying the costume.) Despite how much Janine and Gregory love their couples’ costume, Jacob doesn’t get it.

Ava is Blade, Miss Inez (Cree Summer) is the Cat in the Hat, Melissa is a guinea pig, Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) is Emo Jimmy Butler and Barbara is a cat who wears pearls. She is also still upset that the PTA nixed her handing out cupcakes and bobbing for apples. Jacob says he agrees about the bobbing because it’s unsanitary, but Barbara says she’s been having kids do it since she started teaching.  Now, she doesn’t have a main activity for the party, but after some debate Miss Inez agrees to read some spooky stories.

No one gets Janine and Gregory’s costume except for Ava. At first, Janine thinks it’s just because they’re not familiar enough with the film, but then Melissa shows that she’s a huge Jurassic Park fan. The problem, the group says, is that it’s too niche. Also, they say that Janine and Gregory are just headass, meaning they’re so obsessed with each other that they can’t tell what’s cool and what’s not.

Janine and Gregory decide to stick with their costume even though people continue being confused by it. When it’s time for the party the little ones aren’t scared by the scary story. So, Mr. Johnson starts to tell them a story about Vietnam circa 1971, but Barbara nixes it because she thinks it’ll be inappropriate. Then, with an hour and a half to kill (even though it’ll make the PTA mad) Barbara says they’re going to bob for apples. Unfortunately, much to her disappointment no one wants to bob because the kids think it’s gross.

At the school’s costume contest Janine and Gregory are still annoyed that no one gets their costume. To their surprise, though, Melissa dressed as Sweet Cheeks and Sweet Cheeks dressed as Melissa win for dressing up as each other. Everyone thinks it’s adorable. And no one gets Jacob’s Wheel of Fortune costume, which upsets Barbara because as a cultural staple. She feels like people should understand the reference. She makes the kids clap for Jacob’s costume and Melissa realizes that it’s deeper than a retired game show host and offers to buy her a drink later.

At the bar Janine and Gregory have ditched their misunderstood costume to be a PB&J sandwich. They just want people to get their concept and have people think they look good together. Barbara is unpacking why the bobbing for apples death bugs her so much and Melissa says it’s normal to be sad when a tradition ends. However, Melissa says they can always create new traditions. Jacob has to explain to a fellow bargoer that he understands that Pat Sajak is problematic, but by the time he figured that out he’d already handmade the wheel so he couldn’t let the costume go to waste.

Back to Janine and Gregory, they see a couple dressed as Ash Wednesday (Ash Ketchum and Wednesday Addams) and agree that it’s headass. Janine wants to go back to their original costumes because maybe nobody will get it, but they’ll get it. Plus, she likes their little relationship bubble. Then, Melissa and Barbara create a new tradition: Bobbing for Apple Schnapps.

As the night winds down, Janine and Gregory don’t win the costume contest. After so much schnapps Melissa mistakenly believes that she lost Sweet Cheeks, but in reality, she didn’t bring him to the bar. Ava’s Blade costume is a hit to the point of having a duel with some kids dressed as vampires outside. Barbara heads home and laments that the thing about traditions is that you never know how much they’re going to mean to you when you start them.