| Episode |
"Sick Day" is the ninth episode of the second season and 22nd overall of Abbott Elementary. It aired on November 30, 2022.
Description[]
Janine is out sick for the day; but with the substitute teacher shortage, Ava grows desperate and must step in herself to help out. She starts the day in an unconventional fashion, disrupting the students’ typical routine as well as neighboring classrooms. Meanwhile, Barbara and Melissa revel in the quieter-than-normal teacher’s lounge.
Plot[]
The teachers' lounge's refrigerator filled with Ava's eye masks.
Janine is looking for her tuna melt sandwich inside the fridge but finds it filled with Ava’s eye masks that she’s selling online. She has moved all the fridge’s contents to the windowsill, including Janine’s tuna melt. Janine goes to eat her sandwich even though Jacob advises her against it. Melissa enters the lounge and confronts Ava for using up all the printer paper to make fliers for her eye masks. Meanwhile, Janine is enjoying her sun-exposed sandwich.
Ava is reading the product reviews for her eye masks on her phone but is interrupted by Janine facetiming her. Janine calls in sick due to food poisoning and asks for someone to substitute for her class. She tries to tell Ava to use her binder which she has prepared for a substitute teacher to follow in case she was out. However, Ava ignores her and asks her assistant, Venus, to find her a substitute. Venus informs her that unfortunately, there was a county-wide sub shortage, so she needs to have a back-up plan.
In the teachers’ lounge, Melissa and Barbara are reveling in the quieter-than-normal teachers’ lounge, when they realize that it’s because of Janine’s absence. Tasha, another teacher in Abbott, enters the lounge and sits in Janine’s usual spot. She reveals that she used to love sitting in that spot until “a certain Cathy got a little too chatty” for her tastes, clearly pertaining to Janine. Jacob defends Janine from Tasha’s remarks, while Melissa and Barbara agree with her.
Janine's students wander off to Gregory's class.
Elsewhere, Ava is going around Abbott, looking for a substitute teacher to cover for Janine. She even resorts to Mr. Johnson, but he refuses due to a “janitorial emergency.” With Janine still confined in her house and with no substitute teacher, Janine’s students are left wandering outside their classroom.
Ava substitutes for Janine.
Unable to find a suitable substitute, Ava takes it upon herself to cover for Janine. She rounds up the kids and decides to stay in the room to watch over them, letting them do whatever they wanted to do. She sits on the designated story time chair, so the students follow her and get ready for story time.
Janine facetimes Ava after learning from Gregory that she was covering for her. Janine instructs Ava, once again, to retrieve the binder, which has everything she needs to get through the day. Janine adds that since it is Friday, Ava needs to give the students their spelling test. Ava noncommittally answers that she’ll do it, but Janine emphasizes the importance of having the test on that day because her students studied for it. She reiterates using the binder for guidance before Ava hangs up.
Back in the teachers’ lounge, Melissa is making coffee when she is scalded by the coffee maker. Jacob notes that if Janine were there, she would have already fixed the coffee maker and given Melissa some aloe for the burn. However, Melissa and Barbara add that before actually fixing the problem, Janine would be finding more problems and would be making it worse. Tasha reiterates her position that some things should be left for others to solve, in this case, Mr. Johnson fixing the coffee maker. Melissa and Barbara agree and invite her to lunch, something they never did with Janine.
Meanwhile, Ava is finally checking out Janine’s binder. She reads the instructions and finds them tedious, so she barely follows any of the instructions. In Step #8 of the binder, Janine instructs to play music while the students draw. Ava, however, puts on her music and lets the students take their spelling test instead.
The music in Janine’s classroom is blasting so loudly that it disrupts Gregory’s class. He goes to Ava to ask her to keep it down. Some students pass their papers, but when Ava checks them, they are filled with drawings and scribbles. It turns out, the students did not take the test, but instead drew on their papers because Ava was playing music, which meant that it was time to draw. The students ask Ava when Janine was coming back and tell her that she’s not doing well in subbing for Janine.
Ava leaves the class to deal with the negative reviews and refund requests for her eye masks. Gregory notices her leaving, with Mr. Johnson going in to take over. Gregory confronts her about quitting. Ava tells him that it isn’t her problem anymore, but Gregory makes her realize how important it is to at least make the kids retake their test so that they can see their progress. He adds that every day matters in school, if not the students will fall behind. Ava finally understands and goes back to Janine’s classroom.
Ava revisits the binder and starts to follow the instructions, step by step, starting with putting the date on the board, which she previously did not do because she thought it was dumb. She then pulls up the story time chair and begins to read a book to the kids.
Back in the lounge, Jacob is discreetly trying out Ava’s eye masks when Barbara, Melissa and Tasha enter to get some coffee. They find the counters crawling with ants. Tasha sees the problem and says that there is nothing they can do about it, so she leaves the two to fix the problem themselves. Jacob sees this and tells them that it’s okay to admit that they wished Janine was there.
Ava is finished reading to the kids and remembers that she needs to print new test papers because the kids doodled on the previous ones. She goes to the copier and realizes that she used up all the paper, so she uses the back of her fliers to print the tests. She returns to the classroom and gives the kids their spelling test.
That Monday, Janine returns to school and Melissa and Barbara tell her that they missed her. She sees that the coffee maker is broken so she immediately works to fix it. She finds Ava and thanks her for covering for her while she was sick. Mr. Johnson then passes the lounge pushing a cart full of printer paper which Ava ordered. Ava tells the camera not to read too much into it because she did it for herself and because she did not want to be put in that position ever again.
In her office, Ava is shredding the remaining eye mask pamphlets. Jacob comes in revealing freezer burns under his eyes. He asks for reimbursement for the topical gel he bought for the burns. Ava refuses, denying any liability and sends him away.
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[]
- Taylor Garron as Tasha Hoffman
- Bella-Rose Love as Trinity
Co-Starring[]
- Erika T. Johnson as Venus
- Lennox Simms as Eli
- Peyton Turner as Nia
- Miranda Lark Winans as Joya
- Max Woods as Gregory's Student #1
- Skyler Simmons as Jason
- Nirine S. Brown as Substitute Teacher
Ratings[]
"Sick Day" was watched by 2.561 million viewers, earning a 0.48 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.[1]
Media[]
Episode stills[]
References[]
- ↑ Metcalf, Mitch (December 1, 2022). SHOWBUZZDAILY'S Wednesday 11.30.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated. ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved on December 12, 2022.