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Episode

"The Principal's Office" is the fourth episode of the second season and 17th overall of Abbott Elementary. It aired on October 12, 2022.

Description[]

After Gregory sends a disruptive student to the principal’s office, he’s dismayed to find out the kids actually enjoy spending the supposed disciplinary time with Ava. Meanwhile, Melissa invites Janine over to her house to teach her how to cook, but Janine becomes determined to reunite Melissa with her estranged sister.

Plot[]

Gregory is in the middle of teaching his class, when his student, Micah, interrupts him. He carries on with the lesson, but Micah continues to disrupt his class. This isn’t the first time the student has disrupted his class. Turns out that Micah is obsessed with a TV show called Bluey. Gregory has tried everything to keep Micah in line, but nothing works.

In the teachers’ lounge, Janine is preparing her breakfast and Melissa notes that the food she's preparing is like something out of prison. Janine explains that her mom never taught her how to cook. Melissa offers to teach Janine how to cook a cheap meal and invites her over to her place. Jacob overhears and invites himself over, too.

Jacob notices that Gregory is a bit down, so he asks how he’s doing. Gregory tells him about Micah and how he’s been disrupting his class. Jacob tells him that when a student of his gets disruptive, he sends them over to the principal’s office. Gregory is skeptical about the suggestion but decides to give it a try.

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Janine and Jacob in Melissa's house.

Later that night, Janine and Jacob arrive at Melissa’s place. Janine bought a shallot instead of an onion, so Jacob goes out to buy onions. Janine then asks Melissa if she can be creative with the ingredients when she cooks. Melissa tells her that she has to be specific about the ingredients and shares that her sister, Kristin Marie, used the wrong ingredient making their nana’s signature dish and brought that dish to her wake so she hasn’t spoken to her since. Janine then shares that she and her sister aren’t that close either because she moved to Colorado to get away from their mom. Janine tells the camera that she’s aware how quickly Melissa cuts off people, but she thinks it’s heartbreaking to cut-off her own sister.

The next day, Janine brings up Melissa’s sister and Melissa asks her not to. Melissa admits to missing her sister, but that her sister was wrong and never apologized. Jacob and Janine suggest that they mend their relationship. Melissa says is open to it, but her sister would have to make the first move, which, according to Melissa, her sister would never do. Janine decides to hatch a little plan to get the two sisters to reunite.

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Ava gives Micah an axolotl stuffed toy after returning him from the principal's office.

In Gregory’s class, Micah has once again disrupted the class, so Gregory decides to send him to the principal’s office. After a while, Ava returns Micah to his class and gives him a toy before she leaves. Micah’s classmates see the toy and declare that want to get sent to the principal’s office so they, too, could have a toy.

In the teachers' lounge, Gregory vents about how ineffective Ava was in disciplining Micah. Jacob tells him that Ava never disciplines the students but sending them to her helps with regaining control of the rest of the class. Gregory takes issue in this since it doesn’t fix the problem, but instead, it rewards bad behavior. He then asks Barbara to talk to Ava about the matter.

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Ava calls Gregory to her office.

Ava calls Gregory to her office through the PA system and the students taunt and stare at him. Gregory tells her that she’s doing a disservice to the students by not being the strong authority figure that they need and that she needs to discipline them. He asks to go since she’s embarrassed him enough. Ava points out that if it’s embarrassing to him, it is much worse for a student to make that walk of shame. She says that when students get to her office, they’ve got snot running down their face and are shaking like a chihuahua, so she doesn’t want to punish them. She adds that if he doesn’t agree with her approach, then he has to figure out how to get Micah under control on his own.

Later that night, Janine and Jacob are back at Melissa’s place for another cooking lesson. The doorbell rings and Janine answers the door. It’s Kristin Marie holding a container full of food. Janine tells the camera that she made the Schemmenti gnocchi, dropped it off at Addington with a note implying it’s from Melissa. Unfortunately, instead of making up, the sisters fight and trade insults. Melissa finds out about the gnocchi and kicks everybody out of her house.

The following day, Gregory practices his stern dad voice with Mr. Johnson. Barbara stops by to see how things are going. She asks if his dad’s dad voice worked on him. She tells him that working at Abbott as a young Black man, he is at a crossroads. She says that his students can either fear him or respect him, but it can’t be both. Gregory remembers how all that discipline made him feel as a kid.

Janine apologizes to Melissa for overstepping her boundaries. Melissa says she knew what she was getting herself into by inviting Janine to her house and that she did this to herself. Janine explains that she has been missing her own sister and that she can’t imagine not speaking to her just because of an ingredient substitution. Melissa reveals that it isn’t really about the gnocchi. She explains that Kristin Marie left her family high and dry when their nana got sick and that she was left to take care of their nana by herself. And after all that, her sister just brings a Tupperware "full of hot garbage" to the funeral which was the final nail to the coffin. Melissa then admits that she missed her sister and that it was fun seeing her. With that, she then invites Janine to another cooking lesson at her house, but uninvites Jacob.

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Gregory using Bluey in his lesson's visual aids.

In Gregory’s class, Micah is once again disruptive. This time, Gregory uses Micah’s obsession with Bluey to his advantage, making Micah excited to cooperate in his lesson. After school, he shares with Ava that he is now able to get the situation under control. He wants to submit off his discipline report to Ava, but she tells him to drop it off at her office. While in Ava's office, Gregory tries sitting on the principal’s chair. His phone rings with his father on the other line. He answers in a casual manner, but he immediately straightens up when he hears his father’s voice.

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Melissa gets emotional talking about her sister.

A drunk Melissa shows the camera various pictures of her and her sister. She reminisces about the time they used to get along. She gets emotional and cries off camera.

Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

  • Mark K. Lane III as Micah
  • Mikel Dawkins as Ryan
  • Cinai Leonard as Erin
  • JauniRae Jones as Annoyed Student

Transcript[]

Ratings[]

"The Principal's Office" was watched by 2.630 million viewers, earning a 0.49 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.[1]

Media[]

Episode stills[]

References[]

  1. Metcalf, Mitch (October 13, 2022). SHOWBUZZDAILY'S Wednesday 10.12.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated. ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved on December 12, 2022.

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