Abbott Elementary: Willard R. Abbott.

March 10, 2024 8:01 PM - Season 3, Episode 6

Abbott Elementary is being designated a historical landmark. "We're going to be a historical place? Ka-ching!"

Bradley Cooper wandered in for hoagies. "Cooper Trooper" is a thing?
"He was in Oppenheimer."
"I'm not in Oppenheimer."
"Are you sure? Everyone was in Oppenheimer."

The whole bomb shelter thing reminded me once again how much this reminds me of Michael Schur shows.

This is your principal. "If you're learning, stop."

Willard R. Abbott "famously crawled these halls in a historical manner."

Of course someone yells out that Abbott was a racist. "Now I guess we know what the R stands for." Apparently he was a city planner who planned for segregation. "And none of you thought to background check this guy."

"This is the nature of history. It's not all good."

Good idea: digging up an activist descendant of WRA with the same name.
Bad idea: finding out he's a flat earther as he gives a speech.

posted by jenfullmoon (8 comments total)

I will note that I probably missed whatever was supposed to be going on with Mr. Johnson and that photo--is he in it or something? It was on for a second and I can't run it back live.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:02 PM on March 10

Ava was a character that originally made it difficult for me to get into this series but now she's absolutely my favorite. I cackled at so many of her zingers this episode. Just when I think I'm getting tired of the Janine short jokes, "What if she needs to reach a book on the middle shelf?" slayed me.

As for the photo, it was part of an exhibit compiled by W.E.B Du Bois for the 1900 Paris Exposition.
posted by paisley sheep at 10:13 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Re: Mr. Johnson and the photo. Do you mean when he asked Janine if she was trying to take his job? If so, he just meant for her not to straighten the photo because doing so is part of his job,
posted by cooker girl at 8:13 AM on March 12

No, I mean the last shot of the episode did a big close-up of the photo and zoomed in on one guy's face in particular and I couldn't figure out why. I'm probably just crazy.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:58 AM on March 12

I felt like he was just pleased with the addition to the school?
posted by ellieBOA at 6:28 PM on March 12

I think it was just as paisley sheep noticed: it was a cool historical photo that they wanted to highlight. I don't think the interaction was particularly clear, as I also had an "am I missing something?" reaction.

I agree that Ava is best this season. I think her slow character growth is also a Schur-ish aspect to this show
posted by Acari at 7:01 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]

I half-expected to see Mr Johnson IN the photo, which is a joke we've seen before I think.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:00 AM on March 13 [1 favorite]

I rewatched the episode and took a shot of the photo. I dunno, man. But see the next episode?
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:25 PM on March 15