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"Juice" is the fifth episode of the second season and 18th overall of Abbott Elementary. It aired on October 19, 2022.
Description[]
Janine is thrilled to help introduce a new beverage to the cafeteria, but it ends up causing unexpected consequences for the students, teachers and school plumbing system. Elsewhere, Melissa clashes with her new aide, Ashley, who brings more disruption than help to the classroom.
Plot[]
Janine joins in on the annual lunch crew meeting.
Janine joins in on the annual lunch crew meeting which discusses new menu options from the school district. This year the meeting is about juice. She discusses the new juice among the other teachers, such as being two more ounces than the juice the kids are currently drinking while having less sugar. She strongly believes that they should switch from their old juice. Barbara, however, does not think they should switch since the kids aren't complaining and Melissa agrees. Janine tries to persuade Barbara, but the latter says that she has been here a long time, so Janine should just trust her. However, Janine is adamant about getting the new juice.
During lunchtime, the kids are already drinking the new juice and Janine happily gloats about it to Barbara. She finds out that Barbara did not opt to get her class the new juice which bothers Janine.
Meanwhile, Melissa is having trouble keeping order in her class. Her new teacher's aide, Ashley, is causing the disruption. She tries to help Ashley be more organized by giving her a to-do list, but the aide loses the list. Melissa goes to Ava to have Ashley removed, but Ava tells her that she can't just fire her aide without a paper trail, so she'll monitor her class to see for herself.
In Janine's class, her students all need to go to the bathroom. They all go out and see that the line to the bathroom is very long as other classes have also gone to the bathroom. Mr. Johnson tells them that it's due to the new juice. With all the students using the bathroom, all the first-floor bathrooms break so they all have to use the second-floor bathrooms.
Gregory interrupting Barbara's class so his student can use the kindergarten bathroom.
Gregory and Janine ask Barbara if they can use her classroom's bathroom for their students. Barbara agrees but only for emergencies. Sometime later, Ashley and some students line up to use Barbara's kindergarten bathroom and her kindergarteners get distracted. When one of Barbara's students need to use the bathroom and Ashley complains. Barbara gets annoyed at how she is made to pay for the other teachers' "juice mistakes." She tells everybody that they can no longer use her bathroom and that they need to use the upstairs bathroom.
Ashley disrupts Melissa's class with her unconventional way of teaching the class about bones.
In Melissa's class, Ava comes in to monitor Ashley. Ava notices that Ashley is wearing her clothes that she sold in her Depop page. The two end up disrupting Melissa's class and Melissa tries to contain her anger. During lunch, Melissa goes to Ava's office to discuss getting rid of Ashley once again. However, Ava takes a liking to Ashley, even calling Ashley her "mini-me." Melissa finds out that Ashley has been doing chores for Ava instead of preparing for her class.
Gregory and Janine are leading their classes to the bathroom and complain about the hassle to the second-floor bathroom. They realize that Barbara has her free period, so they decide to use Barbara's bathroom while she is not there. A while later, Barbara walks in her classroom and finds the long line of students using her bathroom and she grows livid. A student comes out of the bathroom and tells them that the kindergarten bathroom is broken, too. Mr. Johnson inspects it and discovers that the kindergarten toilet took down the second-floor bathrooms with it, so only the third-floor bathroom is available for use now.
In the teachers' lounge, Melissa finds that Ashley has finished packing Ava's deliveries for her, but somehow failed to work on her to-do list. Jacob observes that it might be because unlike Melissa, Ava actually engages with Ashley.
Students falling in line to use the third-floor bathroom.
On the third floor, Janine apologizes to Barbara for ruining her day. Barbara says that she tried to tell her no, but she would not listen. She adds that she does not have the time to explain her reasons for saying no to a bunch of 20-year-olds. Janine argues that they need to know the why so they can learn how to solve the problems.
Janine then expresses her frustration towards the district who won't come until the following week to fix the bathroom because they still had one working bathroom left on the third floor. Barbara comes up with a plan and asks Janine to watch her kids as she leaves to retrieve something.
Melissa finally gets Ashley to help her in class.
Back in Melissa's classroom, Ashley is teaching the kids the "Grindin' beat." This time, instead of shutting it down, Melissa engages Ashley to a conversation and actually asks Ashley to teach the kids stuff like this every week because of how much the kids love it. Melissa, then asks Ashley to prepare for the student's Math test, which Ashley does right away. Barbara suddenly enters Melissa's room and asks to borrow her baseball bat, which Melissa gives her.
Barbara with a baseball bat.
Barbara returns to the third-floor bathroom carrying the baseball bat and proceeds to whack the bathroom's pipes, effectively putting the school's last bathroom out of commission. She then instructs Janine and Gregory to inform the district that their bathroom situation is officially an emergency so they can finally have their bathrooms fixed. Barbara then offers Janine to a one-on-one, one-hour monthly session for when Janine ever needs any help on how to handle her work problems. In return, Barbara asks Janine to get rid of the baseball bat used to destroy the bathroom.
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[]
- Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Ashley Garcia
- Reggie Conquest as Devin
Co-Starring[]
- Nikea Gamby-Turner as Shanae
- Thaddeus Faustin as Barbara's Student #1
- Jayden Skelton as Barbara's Student #2
- Zylen Arnaud as Gregory's Student #1
- Jaycee Rogers as Gregory's Student #2
- Zara Noelle Ndukwe as Janine's Student #1
- Ramiya Witherspoon as Jessica
- E-Jade Orekoya as Melissa's Student #1
- Dillion Blake Allen as Tiniest Kid
Ratings[]
"Juice" was watched by 2.544 million viewers, earning a 0.48 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.[1]
Media[]
Episode stills[]
References[]
- ↑ Metcalf, Mitch (October 20, 2022). SHOWBUZZDAILY'S Wednesday 10.19.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated. ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved on December 12, 2022.