Abbott Elementary – Winter Show

By starrymag | December 11, 2024

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

Janine (Quinta Brunson) is practicing with the school’s step team. If you need a reminder, two years ago Janine and Ava (Janelle James) started a step team and it’s still going strong. For the school’s Christmas show Janine says the girls are going to be stepping to “Christmas in Hollis” by Run-DMC. Since the song came out in 1987, to Ava, Jacob (Chris Perfetti) and Janine’s disappointment the kids have never heard of the song. They sing a few lines, and the kids are confused and want to sing an Ariana Grande song, but Janine insists they’re going with the Run-DMC song.

 

Elsewhere Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) is getting the kindergarteners to practice singing “Deck the Halls” and she’s excited because she loves Christmas. Then, a little girl named Khadija (River Blossom) tells her she can’t do the Christmas show because as a Muslim she doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Barbara apologizes to her for forgetting and admits that she’s been on autopilot and didn’t remember, but still asks Khadija to contribute a snowflake to the festivities.

 

Barbara isn’t the only person feeling stressed. In the teacher’s lounge we see that Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) has her hands full with Christmas dinner preparations. Jacob explains that she’s in charge of making Christmas dinner for her family and they’re a bit on the critical side. Speaking of complicated families, Jacob’s brother Caleb (Tyler Tomás Perez) is coming for Christmas. Jacob tells Gregory (Tyler James Williams) that Caleb is their parents favorite because he was popular and athletic. Jacob shares that not even Caleb’s teenage pregnancy scare made him lose favor with their parents so there’s always been tension.

 

In the gym the step team and the kindergarteners are practicing for the Christmas show. Janine is happy that the step team has settled on a routine. On the other side of the gym things are a bit less jolly. Two kids tease Khadija because Santa doesn’t bring her presents and doesn’t like her. When Barbara overhears this she makes them stop and apologize to their classmate and then asks Khadija if she’s okay. Khadija says she is okay, but she wishes she could be on stage. Barbara tells the cameras that the point of the show is to celebrate the holiday feeling together and that no student should be excluded.

 

Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) is trying and failing to fix the projector and suggests that Ava call O’Shon (Matthew Law) the IT guy. Ava informs Jacob that his brother is here. Caleb seems really excited to see Jacob, the enthusiasm isn’t returned. Apparently, Caleb wasn’t supposed to be here until the end of the week, but he couldn’t wait. Ava likes Caleb’s energy because it seems chaotic.

 

The step show has a successful run through of their performance; however, just as Janine is celebrating Barbara makes an announcement. She says there isn’t going to be a Christmas show, to be more inclusive, it’s now Abbott Elementary’s Winter show.

 

The next day, Melissa has commandeered the refrigerator on account of her dinner hosting responsibilities. Jacob brings Caleb to work, and he charms the entire teacher’s staff. He doesn’t make Gregory do small talk, Melissa approves of which football team he hates and he compliments Janine’s dancing history.

 

Tariq (Zack Fox) comes to school and informs Barbara that he has to yell at her. At first Barbara thinks he’s kidding, but the PTA isn’t thrilled that the Christmas show isn’t the Christmas show anymore. Barbara explains that they changed it so that all students could participate in the festivities. Before Tariq can respond Janine asks about non-explicitly Christmas songs they can step to. The only popular neutral holiday song is “Let it Snow,” but Barbara and Tariq agree that the lyrics are too adult. Barbara says the song has to be child and adult friendly and celebrate the holiday season. Janine points out that no one has written that song yet, so Barbara decides to create one.

 

Ava continues making changes for the Christmas show to become the Winter show when O’Shon swings by. She explains the changes and how it bums her out because she had a Christmas giveaway planned. He tells her it could be a Winter giveaway if she nixed the angels and swapped them out with snowflakes.

 

In Jacob’s class Caleb is observing while Jacob tries to teach the kids about Christopher Columbus and mass colonization, but his brother interrupts. The kids think he’s funny though and want him on their podcast.

 

Barbara did write a holiday song, but unfortunately the kindergarteners are struggling to learn it so quickly. Barbara thinks the song will be a classic and is happy that no one will be excluded for religious reasons. The kids tell Barbara they wrong their own songs, but she says this wasn’t a group writing assignment and isn’t wild about the lyrics they came up with. Janine needs an update because the step team has no music to step to, but Barbara needs more time.

 

Melissa continues storing her Christmas dinner food around the school much to Gregory’s annoyance. He wonders where he’s supposed to store his lunch, and Mr. Johnson tells him to worry about getting a haircut. Elsewhere, Jacob is annoyed that Caleb helped Janine with the step routine and more annoyed that the kids are having him on their podcast. He walks in on Caleb telling a story about him going to prom alone and he calls him out into the hallway. When it’s the two of them Jacob loses it, Jacob wants to know why Caleb came here. Caleb says it’s because he hasn’t seen Jacob in three years because he doesn’t come home. Jacob asks him to think about why that it and says he hoped it’d be different now that they’re adults, but Jacob says Caleb still has to be everyone’s favorite. Caleb says if that’s how he feels he’ll leave.

 

In the gym the kids still can’t learn the song and Barbara realizes she might have asked too much of the kindergarteners in such a short period of time. So, she decides she’ll have to sing the holiday song herself, which really disappoints the kids.

 

Back in the teacher’s lounge, Jacob vents to Gregory. He says all his life Caleb has been this constant reminder of everything he isn’t and it’s one of the reasons Jacob left home in the first place. Now, Jacob feels like everything he ran from is in his new home and he doesn’t understand why Caleb even came. Gregory takes that as his cue to play the rest of the podcast. Before Jacob snapped, Caleb was talking about how great he thinks Jacob is and that Caleb said he looked up to Jacob his entire life and knew he’d never be as smart as his brother was so he focused on being athletic.

 

Barbara is rehearsing but is starting to cough a little. Jacob invites Caleb to the Winter show and apologizes for yelling at him. He says that Caleb being around reminds him of a lot of things he tried to put behind him. Caleb says that wasn’t his intention. He’s proud of him for leaving, but he isn’t their parents. Jacob admits that he was in fact afraid to go to prom alone, but Caleb thought it was cool. Caleb adds that he’s around if he ever needs to talk.

 

It’s a full house for the winter show and Ava tells Barbara not to screw it up. Unfortunately, due to the constant practice Barbara has lost her voice. Tariq, who showed up just because, tells the kids the new plan is that they’re going to perform the song they wrote and the steppers are going to improvise. The kids sing a song about cold weather, snow men being scary (while they’re dressed like snowmen) and how hot cocoa gives them gas. The parents actually like the song and although it’s not what she planned, Khadija’s mother (Nimo Liré) thanks her for ensuring that her daughter could participate.

 

Gregory finally gets a haircut from a barber named Frank (Keith David). When he’s getting to know him, Gregory mentions he is a teacher. Frank says his daughter is the principal of a school. He struggles to remember the name and then realizes that the name is Abbott Elementary.