Abbott Elementary – Fire

By starrymag | February 21, 2023

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

It’s a rough morning at Abbott Elementary. Ava tells Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Jacob (Chris Perfetti) about how she broke her phone trying to take a picture of a stranger’s bad haircut. Jacob is trying and failing to get someone to try his carrot cookie but no one’s interested. Ava (Janelle James) is disgusted at the thought of trying the cookies and walks off.  The fact that he tells everyone that they were made with carrots and carrot juice doesn’t help his case. Janine is saved from having to hurt Jacob’s feelings by the fire alarm. At first Jacob, Janine and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) believe it’s just a drill, but then when Ava comes running down the hallway saying the fire is very real. The kids and teachers evaluate and while they’re standing outside they see Ava zooming off in her car.

 

The fire department comes and when everyone’s allowed back inside the teachers try to figure out what happened. They ask Jacob if this was a baking mishap, but he says his cookies are no-bake. We learn that Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) really wanted to be a firefighter when she was younger as most of her family were firefighters. Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) suggests it was probably shoddy wiring. Then, Fire Captain Robinson (Mike O’Malley) comes into the lounge and asks to see their principal. They explain Ava is not coming back, so Gregory opts to fill in as principal. Also, he has done catastrophe training.

 

This isn’t going to be a drawn-out mystery: Barbara started the fire. Not on purpose, of course, as she lit a candle and her shawl was next to it. Barbara is surprised but apologizes for the inconvenience all the same. Melissa takes her kids out to look at the fire truck and her firefighter dream died hard.

 

Elsewhere the school district sent a trauma counselor named Janet (Shalita Grant). She doesn’t want to try any of Jacob’s cookies either. She’s there to check in on everyone’s emotional well-being, meaning kids and teachers. When she gets to Barbara’s class Barbara tells her she’ll let her know if any of the kids are upset, but she’s fine. She then goes on a tangent about how fine she is…because people who are fine say it repeatedly over the course of three minutes.

 

Janine is totally up for talking to Janet; however, it is about everything else going on in he rlife. Janet points out that she’s here to counsel people about the fire, but Janine tells her about her last date with Maurice and her disagreement with her sister. Then, she talks to Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) who thinks it was arson. Outside Melissa is still showing the kids the ins and outs of the fire truck.

 

Janet swings by Gregory’s room and there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that most of the kids and staff are fine. The bad news is Barbara is extremely not fine. Gregory is shocked by this because Barbara is the most together person he’s ever known. Then, Barbara swings by to tell Janet again that she is fine and not a pyromaniac. In fact, Barbara says that she doesn’t even listen to songs about fire. She walks off and Gregory now sees what Janet was talking about. Janet has seen people through a lot of traumatic events and she says fires can really shake people up.

 

Gregory tries to check on Barbara, but it doesn’t go well. Barbara says again that she’s fine. Still Gregory says that he’s around if she needs to talk to him in a friend capacity or as acting principal. Barbara says he’s not really a principal and that he is but a child. Gregory brushes off the slight and adds that he’s also here to tell her about the fire safety meeting. Barbara is resistant to going because what happened was an accident, but Gregory reminds her it’s mandatory.

 

It’s been hours and Melissa still has her kids out by the firetruck. The kids are cold and bored and the firemen want Melissa off their truck. They ask if there’s anything Jacob can do. Back inside the meeting is starting and Janine and Gregory talk. Gregory tells Janine that he’s worried about Barbara because the counselor said she’s not processing what happened and he agrees. Janine questions Janet’s assessment because, after all, Janet thought Janine needed therapy. Gregory decides not to touch that and just says they should keep an eye on Barbara.

 

Fire Captain Robinson tries to walk the teachers through fire prevention and fire causes. The meeting devolves pretty quickly though. Melissa interrupts to say that she could run this meeting in her sleep. She comes from a long line of firefighters, but she tells Jacob that sexism crushed her dream of joining the rest of her family. That is when Captain Robinson tries to talk about the cause of today’s fire but gets interrupted again. Janine and Gregory jump in and say that the shawl and candle fire could’ve happened to almost anyone. They’re trying to help, but they just make everyone (especially Barbara) uncomfortable. Captain Robinson gets frustrated and just says no more open flames in school. Barbara asks if that includes candles and Captain Robinson says yes because they cause fires. This upsets Barbara who says she’s been lighting candles for twenty years and the one time an incident happens they’re taking something that calms her away. It isn’t fair she says, and then storms out of the meeting.

 

Melissa goes after Barbara and asks her what’s wrong. Barbara admits that her husband Gerald has been having some health issues. Today he was supposed to get some test results. She was stressed waiting for them so she took out her candle to pray. Then, the phone call came and she answered it and didn’t notice that the candle fell over. However, Barbara says that’s just life and she can’t go around blabbing her problems or she’d be like Janine.

 

Jacob comes up with a way to get Melissa to stop holding the fire truck hostage. He tells the firefighters all about Melissa’s family history and they go along with his plan. He tosses his frisbee onto the roof and Captain Robinson lets Melissa use the ladder to get it down. She thanks him for letting her do that, but he says he wishes he’d known who her family was because they’re legendary.

 

Barbara seeks out Janet who is wary because she thinks she’s in for another speech about Barbara being fine. Instead, Barbara is a little more open to talking after comforting a student who was scared by the fire. She admits that the fire started because of how worried she’d been about her husband. Janet thanks Barbara for sharing that with her and makes Barbara an offer. She says she can write Barbara a note for the day off. Barbara balks at it because she only takes days off when she’s sick or on vacation. Janet explains that Barbara’s husband is a valid reason. Technically, Janet tells the cameras, she’d typically just authorize a mental health day but she knows Barbara would never go for that.

 

The next day Janine brings flowers and is surprised to find a substitute teacher at her desk. Gregory had the same idea and shares in the shock. When Ava walks by she tells them that Barbara is spending time with her husband and she offered to send her to the spa she was at yesterday. Janine and Gregory are a little annoyed that Ava ran off during the fire and went to the spa.

 

In the teacher’s lounge Jacob is still trying to get someone, anyone, to try his cookies. Melissa says it’s a lost cause. She advises that next time he should try chocolate chips. Once he’s gone he tries one and is shocked that they’re really good. She then looks at the cameras and tells them to erase the footage.