Abbott Elementary – Mother’s Day

By starrymag | May 15, 2024

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The episode opens with a game of telephone. Jacob (Chris Perfetti) asks Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) to tell Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) that he needs a spare key because he might’ve misplaced his keys. Melissa says he better not lose their house keys since one of her cousins just got out of prison. Unfortunately, by the time this info makes its way back to Mr. Johnson he gets the scrambled message that Jacob needs him to dress up as a member of a mariachi band.

 

Later we find out that it’s almost Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day has been a big deal for Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) since her mother died a few years back. She and Melissa are in charge of hallway Mother’s Day decorations. For Melissa, Mother’s Day meant doing just enough to stay in her mother’s top five. (She has a lot of siblings.) Jacob is going to a bottomless drag brunch. Mother’s Day is Janine’s (Quinta Brunson) mother’s least favorite holiday, so she’s spending the day with Jacob. Plus, her sister is spending the day with her father and stepmother. Janine and Ayesha have different fathers, but Janine doesn’t know who her father is. Ava (Janelle James) jokes that due to the height difference that Janine’s father is probably Kevin Hart.

 

As Melissa and Barbara check out each class’s Mother’s Day decorations they are frustrated by Gregory’s (Tyler James Williams) underwhelming display. When they question him about it, he explains he let the kids help. In response, Melissa says her brothers always slack off on Mother’s Day, too. Barbara asks if his mother would be happy with a display like this. The question forces Gregory to tell Melissa and Barbara that his mother died when he was nine. They wonder why he hasn’t ever mentioned it and he points out that there isn’t a casual way to share something like that. Barbara feels bad and wants Gregory to join them for Mother’s Day brunch at her house.

 

Janine has Kevin Hart on the brain and is seriously starting to wonder if he could be her father since he went to high school with her mom. When Jacob sees her pouring over pictures online, he points out that is likely a longshot. However, he suggests that Janine call her mother and ask about her father. Janine hesitates, but ultimately calls her mother (Taraji P. Henson) and via phone her mother tells her that she and Kevin Hart hooked up in high school.

 

Outside Gregory is praising his plants for growing and standing up straight. Barbara catches him and says the ones tended to grow the strongest. Gregory responds that overwatering and over-pruning can sometimes smother a plant. Barbara ignores this comment and invites him to the Mother’s Day brunch. He is reluctant but ultimately acquiesces to make Barbara happy.

 

Janine is more fixated on the possibility of Kevin Hart being her father than ever. So much so that she’s contacting him on all major platforms. And Jacob has set up a GoFundMe for a field trip, unfortunately it is quickly taken down because of Ava’s many scams. Melissa suggests that Jacob go to the PTA for help with funding. Melissa suggests that Janine should DNA test some of Kevin Hart’s hair, which Melissa can access through his barber whom she happens to know. In an interview Melissa explains that not knowing who his biological father was drove her brother Seamus to drink and she doesn’t want that for Janine.

 

Friendly reminder, Tariq (Zack Fox) is the PTA president. Thus, Jacob has to go to him for field trip funding. During the meeting he makes his best pitch, but Tariq says they don’t have the money.  Jacob points out that the catered sushi at the meeting doesn’t support the lack of funding explanation. Still, Tariq says they have to spend some money to make the PTA an appealing club to join. For the moment, the best Tariq can offer is volunteer chaperones, transportation and sushi.

 

On Mother’s Day, we go to Barbara’s house which is filled with family and chaos. We finally meet her husband Gerald (Richard Brooks), her cousin Alicia (Staci Lynn Fletcher), her daughter Taylor (Iyana Halley) and her niece (Taylor Leigh Edwards). It’s a smidge awkward because Taylor and Gregory dated, and the Howards are huggers. Still, Barbara says she couldn’t leave a fellow bereaved soul alone on Mother’s Day. Gregory insists that since it was over twenty years ago so he’s fine, but the family is undeterred.

 

Jacob, Janine and Erika (Courtney Taylor) are enjoying drag brunch, or at least trying to. Janine can’t stop checking her phone for DNA results. Inexplicably, Ava is there and she’s pleased Janine took her words to heart.

 

At Barbara’s brunch everyone is praying and trying to heal Gregory. Barbara insists on a Gregory-centered prayer, and it doesn’t help matters that Gregory’s mother’s name was Faith. This all makes Gregory uncomfortable, and he wants to leave. Barbara tries to stop him, but he leaves anyway since Top Golf is his way of dealing with Mother’s Day and being without a mom.

 

At the drag brunch, Janine gets her results and when it comes to 27-year-old Janine Teagues it turns out Kevin Hart is not the father. She’s sad, but Erika and Ava comfort her. Erika says she has no idea who her father is, and she turned out fine. Ava adds that it’s better to have no father, than a neglectful father. At the bar Jacob is invited to ShakesQueer in the Park which gives him the idea to go to Smith Memorial Playground.

 

After Gregory leaves, with Melissa and Taylor’s help, very reluctantly Barbara admits that Mother’s Day is hard for her. Later, she goes to Top Golf to meet up with Gregory. It’s empty except for him and Barbara apologizes, but Gregory says she reminds him of his mother because she always tried to make him feel included. Gregory says his mother was the best and he doesn’t need a specific day to remember to love her. Barbara says grief can sneak up on people, but just the other day a student did something her mother used to do and reminded her not to take life too seriously. With that in mind, she decides she’s going to golf a little with Gregory.

 

At the end of the episode Janine gets a call from Kevin Hart. He insists that although he slept with Janine’s mother, he isn’t Janine’s father. So, he asks her to quit harassing him online. Although, he does know Mr. Johnson and says hello.