Content Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Season three premiere of Abbott Elementary.
While students in New York City Public Schools are celebrating their 100th day of school, students at Abbott Elementary celebrated their first day of school on Wednesday, Feb. 7. That’s right, the ABC sitcom about teachers who work in a Philadelphia public school is back on television screens, making their return with an hour-long episode.
The last time we saw the Abbott Elementary teachers, they’d just finished their field trip to the Franklin Institute, where Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) discussed their feelings for one another, and Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) had to calm the minds of her kindergarten students and assure them that she isn’t an alien. A lot has changed at Abbott since that field trip. In the season premiere, audiences were caught up on what we missed over summer vacation and the first few months of the school year.
Over summer break, Principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James) had a change of attitude after getting her degree at Harvard over the summer (she sat on their campus while getting her degree from an online university) and now is actually acting like how a principal should. Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) and her boyfriend, Gary (Bruno Amato), grew closer, which became a problem later in the episode. However, the most shocking change over the break: Janine is no longer a second-grade teacher at Abbott and works for the school district now. Before the school year started, Abbott Elementary was visited by district representatives who approached Janine after hearing the great ideas she had for the school such as hosting a career day, and offered her a fellowship at the district. This was a hard decision for Janine to make, torn between leaving what she loves to do, teaching, or being able to make a difference in the school as an administrator.
After encouragement from other teachers like Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti) and the promise from the district to be able to visit Abbott Elementary, Janine took the fellowship and implemented her first event as a member of the school district: Career Day. On career day, employees from a variety of fields were paired with different classes: Mr. Eddie got a botanist, Mrs. Howard got a cosmetologist, and, as requested, Mr. Hill got the janitor, Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis). Ms.Schemmenti’s dreams came true when she was given someone from the Philadelphia Eagles’ marketing team who was able to pull together a Zoom call with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce, and defensive end Brandon Graham. With the help of Ms. Teagues and the other members of the district, they were able to hook up the Zoom calls in all the classrooms, so all the students were able to talk to some of the players of their favorite team. The only downside to this virtual visit from the Eagles was when Gary decided to propose to Melissa with the help of the athletes, to which she declined, saying she didn’t want to get remarried.
Overall, it was an eventful return to Abbott Elementary with lots of changes. I’m looking forward to seeing what else creator Quinta Brunson has in store for the rest of the season and especially excited that the sitcom was just recently renewed for a fourth season.
You can watch Abbott Elementary on ABC Wednesday nights at 9 P.M. Eastern time or streaming on Hulu the next day.