Abbott Elementary – Girard Creek

By starrymag | February 5, 2025

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

The teachers are watching the news, which is covering the Septa strike. According to the report the city and the union have been negotiating for eleven hours straight. From Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) to Janine (Quinta Brunson), all the teachers are eager to see the strike end mostly due to the fact that remote teaching is hard, but Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) doesn’t mind it. As Jacob (Chris Perfetti), Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and even Gregory (Tyler James Williams) hope for an end to the strike Mr. Johnson explains that no kids at school means less trash to clean up which really frees up his schedule. He’s been using his newfound downtime to decorate, but the downtime is short-lived because Septa and the city have come to an agreement so the students will be returning.

 

Later, Abbott gets a visit from Miles Nathanial (Matt Oberg), the lawyer for the Girard Creek Golf Club, who comes bearing an invitation. He wants the teachers to bring their students to the golf course for a pre-opening sneak peek. Miles says there will be games and giveaways, and they’ll even pay for the transportation. However, the teachers are suspicious that the golf course is just trying to buy them off, but Miles insists that they know it hasn’t been easy to be the golf course’s neighbor during construction and this is just an olive branch. The teachers are still uncertain, but then Miles adds that there will be free food, and the staff agrees to go.

 

We cut to Janine being disappointed when she gets a notification that she’s officially got a reservation at the restaurant Valet’s Daughter. It’s a fancy new French restaurant and Barbara doesn’t understand why Janine isn’t happy and the reason is that her friend Erica was supposed to go with her, but she can’t. She really wants to try it, but she doubts she’ll be allowed to dine solo despite her ability to eat for two.

 

At Barbara’s urging Gregory suggests that he go with Janine to the restaurant which confuses her. Gentle reminder, Gregory is such a picky eater he doesn’t even like pizza which is why Janine points out the restaurant will have a lot of flavors and different ingredients. Gregory says he can find something he can eat, and Janine is excited. Barbara thinks this will be good for them, as she loves cooking and fine dining with her husband.

 

In Jacob’s class he tells his students that he’s glad that their remote learning era is over, but they have a lot of work to do to prep for the field trip to the golf course tomorrow. On an unrelated note, he tells R.J. (Logan Carter) that he hasn’t given up on finding him something that sparks joy. R.J. isn’t very optimistic, he thinks they failed but Jacob says he refuses to let down one of his students. He shares with the cameras that he won’t give up on R.J. or on teaching Janine to play Spades.

 

The next day Janine admits that the golf course looks nice but cautions Gregory that they should have an exit strategy should there be any Get Out scenarios. Jacob says he always does and once they’re all inside the kids are impressed. There is a personalized banner waiting to greet them, but the teachers are still wary. Nonplussed, Miles encourages them to sign up for the raffle, enjoy the games, and try the truffles he got from a remote location in Italy. Melissa is won over by the crab, but Janine is still unimpressed. She and Jacob see a photo of Charlie Sifford the first African American to play on the PGA Tour

 

What wins Janine over is the Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade) drinks.  On the other side of the room Gregory is struggling. He freaks out at a server who offers him tuna and Barbara says if he can’t handle tuna he will definitely not be able to handle French food. Gregory says that everything on the menu at the restaurant Janine wants to go to is untrustworthy, but Barbara says the ability to share a meal is important in a relationship and Janine loves to eat. She doesn’t want to pry, but she wants to know why he has such “unique” reactions to food. Gregory explains he dislikes flavors on the same plate or anything chewy. Barbara suggests exposure therapy and he says no at first, but acquiesces when she points out that the alternative is disappointing Janine. Then, she tries and mostly fails to get Gregory to try a Quayle egg.

 

Jacob tells Janine he was skeptical, but admits that the kids seem happy so he’s coming around. Janine is still uncertain, despite wearing course merchandise, but then is suspicious again when she sees one of the kids being interviewed on camera about why he likes the golf course. When she questions Miles about it he says they’re just getting feedback, but she doesn’t get seeking out feedback from kids.

 

Jacob checks in with RJ and learns that he really likes the golf course. He goes as far as calling it “great,” which shocks Jacob because that’s the most enthusiasm he’s ever worked up for anything.

 

Melissa and Ava (Janelle James) are enjoying the food and the truffles specifically. Ava says she’s to thank for all of this and says that blackmailing works. Speaking of the truffles, Melissa and Ava turn the conversation to the price of truffles ($4,000 a pound). Melissa wonders if anyone would notice if the truffles went missing and she and Ava agree to a truffle heist.

 

Miles is getting the Abbott students and staff together for a picture, but things get weird when he moves Jacob, Melissa, and Charlie to the back of the crowd. RJ wonders if he’d be able to find cheap golf clubs, but Jacob gently points out that golf and cheap aren’t often used in the same sentence. When R.J. asks Miles if he could ever join the club, Miles says that he can come back in a few years and work as a caddy. Miles then brings out a three-legged dog to be a part of the photo and tells them he’s the club’s mascot.

 

Janine talks to Melissa and Ava and says the photo opp was weird, but they don’t see what the big deal is yet. Also, they’re in the middle of their truffle heist so they care more about that than the picture. With that in mind, Ava gets everyone’s attention on her by promising to do a complicated gymnastics move. While she explains it Melissa stuffs a lot of truffles into her jacket.

 

Barbara is continuing to try and expand Gregory’s pallet, but it’s a hard battle. She says he’ll never know what he likes until he tries it. At her urging, he tries to try another food, but freaks out again and runs away.

 

Janine and Jacob are talking and although Jacob is happy that R.J. is finally excited about something, he wishes he didn’t like a sport that is so exclusionary. On Janine’s part she wants to just say a win is a win because the kids are happy but something seems off. Enter Ava who is making plans to sell the stolen truffles when she comes across the club’s social media. On it they’re using the Abbott kids as proof of how committed to diversity and charity they are. When Janine and Jacob see it they resent being called “charity.”

 

When the teachers confront Miles he is unapologetic because of all the blackmail. Still, Janine points out the unethicalness of using the kids and the dog, that is a stray, to look good to their white members. The conversation is stalled as she is strongly considering taking the dog home because she finds him adorable.

 

When Janine and Jacob clue in the rest of the teachers, Janine says she knew better than to trust someone with two first names as a name. But, Ava points out that Gregory Eddie has two first names and Jacob is surprised they stooped so low. Melissa agrees and then Janine wonders about what she has in her jacket and she deflects. Back to the club, Ava is still bothered by being called a charity case and Jacob doesn’t like that the kids were used. But, as the photos and videos are posted what can they do? When he sees R.J. swinging a golf club Jacob says they should force them to make good on their promise.

 

Barbara finds Gregory sitting on the couch and brings him some buttered noodles which Gregory happily accepts. Going back in time, when Barbara asks about his food issues, when he was growing up in a Military family everything was basic, bland and never touched. He admits that since they had the same meals every week he was never exposed to new things. Then, Barbara suggests he look at his plate and there are truffles among the noodles. Gregory is shocked that Barbara Julia Childs him because he doesn’t like truffles but she pointed out he’d never actually tried them. Still, it might not’ve been intentional but he ate him and this gave him hope.

 

Melissa, Jacob, Ava and Janine find Miles and have a proposition for him. Since the club likes giving back so much, they want the golf course to fund a golf club for Abbott.  When Miles asks why Girard Creek would do this, Jacob says because he has seen students light up playing golf in a way they haven’t before Miles isn’t moved. So, they point out that the program would be tax deductible, but Miles says they have plenty of tax breaks. Since carrots aren’t working, Janine chooses the threat of violence and calls in Gregory who she pretends is willing to fight parents. Miles points out this would be an assault charge, but Jacob says they’re not afraid of an assault charge and tells Melissa to “hit him.” She does, just not with her fists when she reveals the truffles. This freaks Miles out because they need the truffles for the grand opening event next week. He finally folds and agrees to the program when Gregory threatens to eat all the truffles and shocks everyone by biting one. After the truffle showdown, Janine demands to know what’s in the Arnold Palmers that makes them so good. Since she’s so wired by all the sugar the teachers take her away.

 

The next day the teachers observe R.J. talking to other kids voluntarily because they’re excited about the future golf club. Melissa, Gregory, and Barbara commend Jacob for not giving up on helping R.J. find something to be excited about and Janine says she’s proud of him. Jacob tells the camera that he’s happy for RJ, but he knows that his issues won’t end with the golf club and every kid at Abbot has something going on. He can’t give every student at the school the one-on-one attention they need, but he wishes he could.

 

Gregory and Janine go to dinner and Gregory tries wine and salad dressing for the first time. At first, he says he’s enjoying the flavors, but then admits that he doesn’t like it when Janine says she can’t finish her own meal and wants to leave. Gregory says he only likes truffles and when he asks if they can find more Janine says they can talk about it, but reminds him that they’re very expensive.