Abbott Elementary – Party

By starrymag | May 29, 2024

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The last day of school has arrived at Abbott Elementary and Janine (Quinta Brunson) shares that she loves the last day. According to Janine the last day of school is a goodbye with a promise that you’ll get to say hello again. It also provides a good opportunity to reflect and the chance for Janine to try and persuade Alex (Mason Renfro) not to become an elementary school dropout. Janine gets him to pinky promise to come to school every day next year.

 

Janine adds that the last day is also a good chance to reflect. Since she wasn’t at Abbott for most of the year, she’s really happy she followed her heart and returned. Now, she’s planning to celebrate by throwing an end of the year party. But first, it’s time for kindergarten graduation. Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) says goodbye to her former students and Janine points out that Gregory (Tyler James Williams) is technically meeting his future students.

 

While the future first graders are walking across the stage the teachers talk a bit about Janine’s party. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) wonders if Janine will change her mind and take Barbara up on her offer to have the party at her house. The reasoning is that Janine’s apartment is too small to comfortably host a party, but Barbara’s house is the right size. Still, Janine says she has it covered and has enough room.

 

At Janine’s apartment, Melissa and Barbara show up early and Janine says she planned it that way. Janine says she left her kitchen a mess so that Melissa and Barbara could feel like they were saving her from herself. Then, she shows that she has everything from board games to a movie room to make sure everyone is having fun.

 

When the party starts Ava (Janelle James) thinks she’s arriving late, Jacob (Chris Perfetti) brings beverages and Avi (Karan Soni), Gregory brought himself and Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) is exited to play dominos. Plus, Janine’s district friends Emily (Kimia Behpoornia), Manny (Josh Segarra) and Simon (Benjamin Norris) were invited. Gregory says he’s happy Janine is still on good terms with her district friends, but it doesn’t sound convincing. Ava wants to bail, but then Janine introduces her to her handsome cousin Kwame (Anthony Quinn Williams). Janine is oblivious to Gregory’s annoyance and tries to set up her friend Erika (Courtney Taylor) with Simon.

 

Before talking to Simon, Erika puts things on pause to check in with Janine about how things are with Greogry. Janine says that their jobs come with rules so they can’t risk things getting romantic. The conversation is cut short when Janine gets a call with Mr. Morton (Jerry Minor) saying the bouncer won’t let him inside. At first, Janine is confused because she doesn’t have a bouncer. It turns out that Mr. Johnson has anointed himself the bouncer and she lets Mr. Morton in and sets him up at the puzzles table.

 

Also, Janine invited Zach (Larry Owens) which worries Jacob. Janine explains that Zach is her friend too, which is something that he encouraged. Not only that, but she knows that not being on speaking terms with Zach bothers Jacob. She’s hoping they can patch things up and become amicable exes. Speaking of that, Avi invited Olivia (Lana Condor), his partner that Gregory ignored to fixate on Janine. Janine was going to find Olivia a section at the party, but she’s interrupted by a Sum 41 song, which Ava wouldn’t play. So, she goes to investigate and finds out that Ava ditched her DJing duties for Janine’s cousin.

 

Things are getting increasingly chaotic and out of Janine’s control. Melissa and Barbara are drunk and therefore no longer cleaning. The partygoers are no longer staying in their assigned sections, which stresses Janine out. Plus, Olivia could really use a phone charger. Janine is feeling frazzled but is determined to be a good hostess. So, near the DJ booth she plugs in Olivia’s phone. Unfortunately, due to all the things that are plugged in, this causes a blackout.

 

The good news is that Mr. Johnson says he can fix the problem, so Janine goes to her room to grab a flashlight. While there she gets startled by Gregory and explains that situation. When he asks her how she is, Janine is upset because everything was going so well. Gregory gently says that parties can be fun without rules and protocols. Then, they talk about their respective summer plans. Gregory plans to host a summer Garden Goofballs program. He explains that a few days a week he and the kids will be tending to their garden with his grant money. They talk about how much they’ve both grown, but then Mr. Johnson comes in and tells them the problem is solved. When he notices how cozy Janine and Gregory look on the bed, they both brush it off. Janine leaves with Mr. Johnson so he can show her the fuse box.

 

When Mr. Johnson is walking Janine through the inner workings of the fuse box she wonders if she needs to plug fewer things in. Mr. Johnson says no and that she should plug as many things as she wants in because if it blows out, he’ll just fix it again. Janine asks Mr. Johnson how he just goes around doing whatever he wants to do. More specifically, how does he not constantly worry about all the things that could go wrong? He explains that regrets are harder to live with than consequences.

 

But what if the consequences are really bad? After Mr. Johnson makes it clear that he wouldn’t snitch on her if she killed someone, she explains the situation with Gregory. Janine really likes him, but she really likes Gregory. Mr. Johnson says that jobs will come and go, but whether he has quit or been fired he’s never regretted walking away to live his life to the fullest. With that, Janine goes to enjoy the party.

 

When the night is over, the partygoers congratulate Janine on a party well thrown. While she’s cleaning up, Janine says if Gregory had stayed, she would have told him how she feels. Outside, Jacob, Erica, Avi, and Gregory are walking. Jacob tells Gregory that Janine wanted him to stay, but Jacob thinks Manny is still inside. Except that they see Manny leaving and Erica says that Janine turned him down.

 

Inside Janine decides to go after Gregory, but there’s no need because he came back. And he fixed her flickering light for good measure. He comes inside, kisses Janine and closes the door on the cameras. The next morning, we see hungover Melissa, Barbara, Jacob and Mr. Johnson outside the school eating hoagies and a headstand contest.