Review: Abbott Elementary, “Cheating” | Season 5, Episode 2

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There are disadvantages to being a long-running workplace sitcom—namely the fact that it can be hard to generate stories that feel truly fresh and new. But there are advantages too. All the time we’ve spent with the characters of Abbott Elementary creates opportunities for the sort of deeply lived-in dynamics you don’t have when a show is just starting out. And Tariq expecting that his girlfriend’s son Nick will get VIP treatment in Janine’s classroom is a perfect example of that.

Where the Barbara/Jacob dishwasher squabble could exist in any workplace sitcom, the quirky specifics of the Janine/Tariq/Gregory/Ava throughline are the sort of thing you only get when a show has had years to let its characters and their relationships to one another truly grow and evolve. Like last week’s premiere, this is a pretty soft start for Abbott Elementary’s fifth season—even if it does open with an adorable scene of the whole school doing the “Macarena” together. But stuff like Janine and Tariq figuring out their new parent-teacher dynamic suggests Abbott still has some gas in the tank. (It helps that I actually find Zack Fox way funnier as an overeager dad than I ever did as a freeloading boyfriend.)

There’s obviously no threat of an actual love triangle here, but I like that Tariq thinks he has to reassure Gregory and that Ava reveals she only put Nick in Janine’s class for the drama. (“I have the only second grade class,” Janine counters. “Y’all the reason I don’t have to steal anybody’s password to Peacock,” Ava later brags.) The whole thing could’ve built to a stronger comedic climax; Tariq ultimately just realizes that it’s better for Nick to be treated fairly than to get VIP treatment. But at least we get to see four seasons of character growth actually pay off. Plus, I did laugh at Ava booing the “short ass seasons and terrible finales” of her real-life reality TV, which feels like a fittingly meta capper for this gentle storyline.