Abbott Elementary – The Deli

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

We open with a visit from Miles (Matt Oberg), the PGA golf course’s attorney, who comes to Abbott Elementary with a problem. He tells Janine (Quinta Brunson), Jacob (Chris Perfetti), Gregory (Tyler James Wiliams), Ava (Janelle James) and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) that some students from various schools are playing in the golf course construction course. The Abbott students are very influential, so if they stop playing there the kids from other schools will, too. Ava and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) think they can get the kids to find a new place to play for a price. Janine says they could use some new gym equipment for the students. Miles assumes they want lacrosse sticks, but the teachers need basketballs, dodgeballs, footballs and a parachute for the kids to play with. Miles has no idea what the parachute is for but agrees and goes on his way.

Later in the day Ava gets a call from Manny (Josh Segarra) from the school district. At first she doesn’t want to take it but then is pleasantly surprised when he praises her. Since Ava became principal at Abbott Elementary test scores have gone up and absences have gone down. Manny explains that the district was so impressed that they want her to give an “Edtalk” explaining how she got such results. Ava is flattered but declines the invitation when Manny makes it clear that it’s an unpaid gig.

Elsewhere a student named Chad (Marvin Winans III) goes to see Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) to ask to shadow him as a part of his social studies report. Mr. Johnson agrees to be shadowed, and the duo is off.

It’s lunchtime for Barbara and Melissa and they head to their favorite deli across the street and are upset when the owner tells them his lease might not be renewed. We cut away and when they get back to the teacher’s lounge, they explain it’s to make room for a smoothie place called Fruit There It Is. Gregory is excited about this because he loves smoothies and hates having to drive so far to get them. However, Jacob responds that gentrification is bad and Barbara and Melissa reiterate that the deli is an institution. Then Ava walks in and shares that she turned down the Edtalk at the district.

Ava tells Barbara she should reconsider for the school’s sake as well as her own. The district still isn’t thrilled about Janine rejecting their job offer and dislikes Abbott Elementary by proxy. If Ava does this talk it could put the school back in the district’s good graces. Plus, Janine says schools that are first in line for more resources are at the front of the district’s mind. Barbara says Ava will indirectly be getting paid and she’ll get to brag about herself. Reluctantly, Ava agrees to do the talk but not before threatening to take the time spent doing it out of everyone’s paychecks.

In class Janine is doing an activity where she’s getting the kids to say their names, ages and their favorite activity. It starts out pretty mild with a girl named Viv (JaBria McCullum) sharing that her favorite activity is singing in the car with her mother. Then, a little boy named Nate (Matthew LB McCollum) says his favorite thing to do is eat paper. At first Janine hopes he hasn’t eaten a lot of paper, but it turns out he ate the book Peter Rabbit.

In the principal’s office, Ava is working on her speech and calls in her secretary Dia (Pam Trotter) to tell her that she’s really glad the teachers talked her into doing this speech because she’s enjoying it. Dia is happy for her, but she’s also on the phone with her son’s doctor so she needs to get back to her desk. Ava tells the cameras that she feels validated. People may not always like her methods, but the district has decided that they want her madness.

Chad continues to shadow Mr. Johnson and is working with him in the teacher’s lounge when Jacob comes in. He tells Gregory, Melissa and Ava that he went to the deli and everyone there is so sad about the possibility of it closing. He wants to activate the neighborhood, canvassing and inform people about why the deli should stay. Gregory thinks it’s a bad idea, but Melissa is more receptive. She thinks they should go to the University City location to talk to them about a different location. Barbara agrees to go with her and Jacob resolves to go make some flyers and is excited about being the change. Mr. Johnson tells Chad that this will end in chaos and then says they’re heading up to sweep the roof.

Sometime later Jacob gives Gregory and Dia an update and shares that he put flyers in the stores that would allow it and spoke with the B.L.A.C.K.S. Gregory and Dia are taken aback at first, but then Jacob explains that it stands for Building Love and Creating Kids’ Safety is an activist group that protested the school last year. Gregory suggests that Jacob get in the habit of using the group’s full name. At any rate, the group is mobilizing but when Barbara and Melissa come in, they’re no longer interested in mobilizing. When Jacob asks about how their visit to the smoothie store went he’s disappointed to learn that they took free samples. Melissa says the smoothies are all good and maybe one less deli in this deli town won’t hurt. She and Barbara try to give Jacob his smoothie, but he throws it in the trash.

Elsewhere Janine and Gregory talk about Nate and his paper-eating problem. Gregory says last year he had a girl in his class that ate glue, but it was a one-off. Unfortunately, Janine says Nate has been eating paper all year and she doesn’t know how to stop it. He’s not just doing it for attention, he really likes eating paper. So, she isn’t sure how you stop that? Janine wonders if it’s an anxiety thing, but Ava says some kids just like eating weird stuff. She says she used to eat crayons, but eating Kit Kats and pretzel sticks broke her out of it. For Nate, she suggests giving him the cookie-flavored paper used on cakes to ween him off of it.

When it’s lunchtime again Gregory, Melissa and Barbara are expecting a lecture from Jacob about the smoothie shop. They’re confused about all his outrage being gone, but then they realize he not only tried the smoothie yet dug it out of the garbage can and loved it. Chad, who is having lunch with Mr. Johnson, says the chaos seems to have been averted but Mr. Johnson says this isn’t even the tip of the trash can.

Manny meets with Ava about her speech and has concerns. Most of them revolve around Ava’s talk, which has many themes of schemes, intimidation and withholding pay as motivation. Ava doesn’t see a problem with it, but Manny points out that a lot of things she describes are against district poly or illegal. After she admits to renting out the gym to church choirs and the occasional drug dealer he comes to a decision.

An unspecified amount of time later, Janine bumps into Ava and asks if she’s excited for the Edtalk only to learn that it was canceled. When Janine asks what happened, Ava says Manny is worried that Ava’s Edtalk might encourage the other principals to act like her. Ava thinks Manny thinks she’s “too hood” and it’s not new for her to be considered too much for the job. Janine asks to see her presentation and when she looks it over, she admits that it’s pretty bad. Janine adds that Ava does many things that range from questionable to illegal, but that’s not all she does. Janine says that Ava makes uniforms for the low-income students, puts on fundraisers and somehow understands her teacher’s needs. For Janine, personally, she admits that although she didn’t enjoy Ava’s numerous comments about her clothes it did lead to her deciding to dress better because she deserves better. Ava’s approach might be chaotic at the best of times, but she does get results. She advises Ava to focus on the positive results as opposed to her more questionable methods. Janine resolves to get Manny to change his mind because he owes her a favor.

Jacob is dismissing his students when he hears a ruckus outside. When he goes to the windows, he sees people protesting the future smoothie place and says, “Oh no, it’s the B.L.A.C.K.S.” He tells his shocked students that it’s not what it sounds like and dashes outside. Now that he’s a fan of the smoothie place, he hates that this is the one time his canvassing worked. Across the street, Chad sits with Mr. Johnson impressed that his prediction that there would be chaos came true.

When Jacob takes in the scene he tries to defuse the situation, but it’s hard to unwring a bell. Melissa and Barbara come outside and are annoyed at Jacob for causing all this because they really like the smoothies. Barbara tries to get the crowd to direct their anger elsewhere but to no avail. Melissa just hopes the protest doesn’t go anywhere, after all, people protest the Chiefs all the time and they’re still a team. Tommy (Raymond Ma), the owner, comes outside and asks if they’re protesting him only to be told no as the flyers were just a bit vague.

After making some changes to her presentation, Ava’s Edtalk is back on. She tells the cameras that the district hates Janine a lot, but Manny is grateful that she taught him how to ride a bike. Also, he’s really happy with the emphasis on creative solutions when you’re working with a limited budget.

In the end, Tommy gets a call from the landlord who didn’t realize kicking him out would anger so many community members, so he gets to stay. Most of the crowd is happy, except for the teachers. Gregory is extremely disappointed, and Barbara and Melissa just blame Jacob.

Chad goes to see Mr. Johnson and tells him he finished his report and thanks him for allowing him to shadow him. He tells Mr. Johnson he learned a lot and gifts him with a new pair of gloves. Mr. Johnson says he doesn’t need them, but he hangs them up with a smile anyway.

Janine gives Nate the edible paper and it makes him want to have real cookies. Janine admits that Ava can be a lot, but she can also surprise you. The presentation in question goes well and the principals and Manny are very receptive. Although Ava is still a bit annoyed that she worked for free so one of the attendees tells her she could get paid for speaking at private seminars. Back at school, Tommy wanted to thank the Abbott teachers by adding smoothies to the menu, but they’re terrible.