On this week’s Abbott Elementary, the teachers and students kick off a fundraiser for a school field trip. However, it creates some friction between Ava and Barbara. Meanwhile, things move forward with Janine and Maurice, and Jacob and Mr. J become cat parents.
Chocolatiers
The episode begins as Melissa stands near a box of donuts and rattles off impressions as people go to take them. Her repertoire includes lines from Taxi Driver, The Godfather, The Terminator, and Seinfeld. Jacob eventually can’t stand it anymore and tells her she’s bad at impressions.
In other sweet news, Barbara and Jacob tell the kids about a fundraiser in which they will be selling chocolate (you know the ones) to pay for a field trip. A bit later, Janine is outside selling with her class when Maurice shows up. He turns down a kid until Janine confirms it’s her class. He purchases some chocolate before asking Janine on a date. She says yes.
Rollin’ in Dough
A student, Henry, goes to see Ava for some new pants, as his are too short (again). While he’s there, Ava asks him about the chocolate. Henry gives his very sad sales pitch and says she can help. Meanwhile, Barbara updates the fundraiser’s total and it’s not nearly enough. She thinks they may have to cancel. Ava shows up with a box devoid of chocolate and full of cash, thinking she can increase sales. Barbara agrees, but when she sees Ava’s tactics in action, she isn’t pleased.
Dates and Cat Dads
Janine and Gregory run into each other, and Janine tells him that she and Maurice are going on a date. She’s pretty excited, but Gregory not so much. He tells her to be careful, going on to say that if something happens, he doesn’t want it to blow back on him. Janine assures him that no backs will be blown.
In the teachers’ lounge, Mr. J and Jacob are arguing about what to feed a cat that Mr. J found. Meanwhile, Janine tells the others about the date, Gregory still included. Jacob brings up how Maurice bought chocolate, and Gregory seems very uncomfortable with everything.
Expanding Empire
Ava has Barbara read a special announcement stating that they met their fundraising goal. Ava thinks they should keep going, landing them at the mall to sell more chocolate. Unfortunately for Barbara, Delisha Sloss is there. She throws some shade at Barbara when a young student asks Sister Sloss if she wants to buy chocolate for $1. This leads to the revelation that Henry has been selling for $2, but he won’t verbally confirm it was Ava who told him. Barbara is once again livid at Ava, who doesn’t really see a problem. Barbara avoids Ava at school after that.
Back at Abbott, Jacob and Mr. J are also arguing, this time over who gets custody of the cat. They make their cases, and Melissa says Jacob can keep the cat, and Mr. J can see it every other weekend. They later discover the cat belongs to a student. Mr. J is distraught.
Gregory hands out the rest of the chocolate. Jacob points it out and flounders around before he mentions that Gregory seemed jealous about Maurice. Gregory tries to get out of the talk, but Jacob stops him. He asks if Gregory likes Janine, but Gregory avoids answering and leaves.
Making Amends
Ava confronts Barbara about what happened, explaining how Henry always needs new pants and just wanted to help him make some extra money. Barbara knows about many of the kids’ situations but still doesn’t think they should lie. Ava says that ultimately it didn’t hurt anyone, and Barbara is only mad because she didn’t have to do something similar when she was young; Ava did. With a new awareness, Barbara goes to apologize to Henry. She then asks if he wants to help with her church’s bake sale and he can keep a portion of the earnings. Ava overhears and promises to give Barbara the whole story next time. She starts by telling Barbara that she took her ID to get free pancakes because principals don’t get them.
Elsewhere, Gregory wishes Janine well on her date. He also adds that she probably shouldn’t get the ribs because she can get aggressive with them. On the date, Maurice has just opened up about something really deep. Janine thanks him for sharing, while chowing down on ribs, of course.
Abbott Elementary airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. Keep up with our recaps and other coverage here.
