Emmy Catch-Up: Abbott Elementary

Abbott Elementary: Season 1, Episode 5 “Student Transfer” (B)

In the previous episode, we got to see Melissa teaching Jacob a lesson when he said something she didn’t appreciate, and she was more than ready to do that with Janine when she got too hung up on a bad review of her as a teacher. Courtney turned out to be the ultimate nightmare of a student, very much aware of what would most irk Janine and how to use it to her advantage to drive her absolutely crazy in class. Using permanent marker to write a curse word on the dry-erase board and introducing herself as Janine to the class and mimicking her were particularly egregious, and of course there was information in her file about her skipping a grade that Ava should have read but didn’t. Janine was so elated that Barbara had bet on her to succeed that it almost made the whole ordeal worth it, not that she’d like to recreate it anytime soon even if it has taught her something about not gloating the way she tends to when she thinks she has the upper hand. Having Jacob confront the fact that the students all made fun of him was a productive subplot, one that Gregory approached with a typical distance and coolness that made Jacob’s friend crush on him only grow. Seeing him give a thumbs-up to someone else, however, made him angry and resentful, and that’s a dynamic that Gregory is only going to continue to ignore and resent, which won’t be too helpful.