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"Fight" is the twelfth episode of the second season and 25th overall of Abbott Elementary. It aired on January 11, 2023.
Description[]
During a day of touchdowns and missed plays, the Abbott Elementary faculty find themselves learning lessons in teamwork. Two of Janine's students aren't getting along in class, leading her to seek advice from her colleagues on how to help repair their friendship. Meanwhile, Melissa and Ava plot to bring down Mr. Johnson in fantasy football.
Plot[]
Gregory is checking his mail and finds a flyer which he quickly folds up. Janine asks about it having seen his last name on it. Gregory brushes it off initially but later admits that it is a flyer for his dad’s landscaping company. The flyer features Martin Eddie, Gregory’s dad, posing with an actor playing his son since appearing to be a family business helps bring in customers. Janine is confused as to why his dad would hire an actor to play his son rather than ask Gregory, his actual son, to be on the flyer with him.
Janine is in the middle of her lesson when she notices two of her students, Zara and Joya, not in their assigned seats. They start arguing but Janine forces them to go back to their regular seats. Janine tells the camera that she’s aware that the two have not been getting along and lately it has been getting worse. Even so, she’s confident that she knows how to handle it.
Gregory in an at-ease military position while greeting his father.
In the teachers’ lounge, Gregory is observing as his father inspects the school garden which he has been tending the whole year. His father is in town for a big landscaping job and wanted to stop by to see where he works. Gregory is at the school entrance in an at-ease military position. Ava tries to talk to him, but he ignores her. His father walks in. Gregory greets him in a formal fashion and then offers to show him around.
In the lounge, Melissa is focused on crunching the numbers on her fantasy football squad to find out why Mr. Johnson had beaten her. She offers her observation to Ava that Mr. Johnson is always the first to claim a player on the waiver wire, which is why he’s been winning.
Martin and Gregory enter the lounge and Gregory introduces him to Melissa, but she tells them she’s busy. Jacob and Barbara are also in the lounge, and they greet Martin. Gregory introduces them to his father. Barbara introduces herself and Jacob as the caretakers of the “flourishing Abbott Elementary Garden.” Gregory awkwardly looks down as his father comments that he saw the plants getting protected from frost using a classic Eddie family method, except with a slightly improved design. Gregory lights up at his father’s comment that the design was “improved.” Jacob credits this to Barbara, which she denies saying that the credit should go to Jacob and his ingenious invention. The two go back and forth until they realize that Gregory has been secretly tending to the garden. Gregory finally admits to this, stating that he has been doing so the whole time. Martin compliments his son’s initiative and intolerance for incompetence, which Gregory happily accepts. However, Barbara and Jacob are indignant at the deception. Martin, on the other hand, is happy knowing that there was nothing that could keep his son out of the dirt.
In the cafeteria, Barbara is telling Janine about Gregory’s gardening deception, when she notices a skirmish developing between Zara and Joya. Janine explains that they weren’t getting along so she made them buddies for the week. She is optimistic that after spending some time together, they will develop a blossoming friendship. However, the opposite is now happening, with Zara throwing and stomping on Joya’s milk.
After school, the other teachers comment on the cafeteria incident. Janine tells them that the kids should be able to get along. She relates them to her experience with her mom and sister who used to fight all the time and she would mediate. Melissa opines that some people just hate each other and that’s fine.
The next day, Ava interrupts Melissa’s class to discuss the fantasy football championships. Ava shares that her pastor said that Christian McCaffrey might not play that weekend. With McCaffrey being Mr. Johnson’s best player, Ava tells Melissa that if she picks up Mr. Johnson’s backup first, he will have no chance of winning. The waiver wire opens at 2pm, so Ava proposes that Melissa distract him, and then she’ll pick up McCaffrey’s backup. Melissa agrees in exchange for 20% of Ava’s winnings and her shelf in the fridge.
Meanwhile, Janine shares to the camera that the buddy system was too surface level for Joya and Zara, so she thought of a project where they would trace one another and then fill it in with all the things that make their partner special. Later, she calls Joya and Zara to present their work and it does not go as she had planned. In her presentation, Zara shows Joya’s tracing filled with poop drawings, saying it’s because Joya is full of poop. Joya presents her drawing of Zara, which showed the latter to have smelly breath, smelly farts, and smelly pits because she stinks. Janine tells them that this is the final straw. She says that they need to find a way to settle their disagreement or else, they will be in the library while their classmates watch Toy Story on Movie Friday.
In the teachers’ lounge, Gregory receives a videocall from his father who tells him that he’s proud of his gardening method and that Gregory has continued their landscaping legacy. He asks Gregory to help him out on his job in the city and Gregory agrees. Barbara had just heard the whole conversation, and notices Gregory trying to mute a smile. Gregory shares to the camera that his dad had never asked for his input on anything before and admits that he’s happy.
Janine trying to separate Keke and Gabby's fight.
During lunch, Zara and Joya are seated next to each other and Janine is delighted to see the two getting along. Suddenly an older student pushes Janine, mistaking her for another student that she’s supposed to beat up. Another student comes, also looking for someone she’s supposed to beat up.
Janine has trouble stopping the fight so Ava steps in and tries to separate them. Barbara also steps in and pulls them off each other. Turns out, the two older students are Keke and Gabby, Zara and Joya’s sisters, respectively. The younger girls had agreed that their sisters would fight each other to settle things on their behalf.
A few minutes before the waiver wire opens, Melissa asks Tasia, one of her students, to take a tub full of dirty paint water and empty it out in the sink in the bathroom. Melissa reveals that it is all part of Operation Splash Interference. Tasia comes back telling Melissa that she had spilled all over the bathroom. Melissa quickly texts Ava who calls Mr. Johnson via P.A. system to go to the bathroom to clean up the mess.
Melissa and Ava watch as Mr. Johnson enters the bathroom. The said bathroom is a dead zone for cell service, so they hurry up to claim Mr. Johnson’s fantasy back up. As Ava is about to do so, she discovers that Mr. Johnson had already picked up the backup. The two are at a loss at how their plan failed.
Elsewhere, Gregory is with his father, helping with the landscaping job. Martin opens to Gregory that he’s been thinking about adding an “and son” to Eddie Lawn and Care. Gregory is skeptical about working for his dad as when he does, his father always pointed out his flaws. Martin says that he’s not asking him to work for him, but rather that he works with him. He adds that he wants to be able to leave their family business to Gregory when he retires; he just needed to know that he could carry his own weight, which he now knows he can. He tells Gregory that he’s never seen him more confident, which puts a smile on Gregory’s face.
In her classroom, Janine is looking at Joya and Zara’s drawings when Barbara walks in. Janine shares that she’s upset with herself for how things turned out with Zara and Joya, and how all her solutions just created more problems. Barbara tells her that the two just don’t enjoy each other’s company, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Janine says that people not getting along makes her uncomfortable. She realizes that this feeling stems from her mom and sister’s relationship and how she was put in the middle of their squabbles. Barbara says that she needs to become comfortable being uncomfortable because this whole thing is about her. Sometimes two people just don’t like each other, and she needs to accept it.
Gregory is teaching his first-grade class how to germinate seeds. Jacob comments on how Gregory is embracing his roots. He asks how things went with his dad. Gregory admits that his father had asked him to run the company with him, but that he declined the offer. His dad had noticed how confident he seemed, and he told him that it was because he was at Abbott. It was the first time he’d been at a place he loved, doing something he loved. He surmises that his job gave him confidence. He never liked gardening before, but he likes doing it in school.
It is Movie Friday. Zara and Joya are now seated away from each other. Janine finally accepts that the two do not like each other. The two stand up at the same time to get some tissues and Janine gets worried that they’ll have another fight. However, Zara offers Joya some tissues and Janine is thrilled with the latest development.
After school, Janine sees Keke and Gabby walking together towards her classroom. The two are there to pick up their sisters. They reveal that after they were fighting, they were able to talk and find out that they had a lot of things in common, so they’ve become friends. This encourages Janine to call her sister, Ayesha, asking her to come and visit, promising not to tell their mother when she does.
In the teachers’ lounge, Mr. Johnson is flaunting his fantasy winnings to Ava and Melissa. Ava asks how he was able to pick up his backup when he was busy cleaning the bathroom. Mr. Johnson hands Jacob his cut on his fantasy winnings, revealing that Jacob had picked up the backup for the janitor. In spite of his moral objections to the NFL, Jacob says that he will do anything to see Mr. Johnson smile.
Starring[]
- Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues
- Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie
- Janelle James as Ava Coleman
- Lisa Ann Walter as Melissa Schemmenti
- Chris Perfetti as Jacob Hill
- William Stanford Davis as Mr. Johnson
- Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard
Guest Starring[]
- Orlando Jones as Martin Eddie
- Jordyn McIntosh as Zara
- Miranda Lark Winans as Joya
Co-Starring[]
- Madison Griggs as Keke
- Kayden Grace Swan as Gabby
- Solmiya Issaka as Tasia
- Tremarri Limbrick as Marcus
- Naqui Darby Jr. as Quahir
- Abraham Jayson as Andrew
- Dillion Blake Allen as Tiniest Kid
- Kendrick Owen White as Richie
Note: While this is his first credit in the show, Abraham Jayson, who plays Andrew, makes his first appearance in Pilot.
Ratings[]
"Fight" was watched by 2.940 million viewers, earning a 0.51 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.[1]
Media[]
Episode Stills[]
References[]
- ↑ Salem, Mitch (January 12, 2023). SHOWBUZZDAILY'S Wednesday 1.11.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated. ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved on January 13, 2023.