Review: Abbott Elementary, “Courtney” | Season 6, Episode 5
Abbott says goodbye to a beloved supporting player and hello to a new pilot program
If there’s one thing that’s impressing me most about Abbott Elementary’s sixth season, it’s how dense the episodes are. Last season it often felt like the show would come up with a compelling A-plot and then toss out basic sitcom storylines for the rest of the cast, like when Barbara and Jacob spent a week fighting over dishwasher etiquette or Melissa, Barbara, and Jacob watched an Avatar movie. This season, however, the show seems committed to giving each member of the ensemble something meaningful to do each week—to the point where it’s almost a little overwhelming to figure out which throughlines to focus on in these reviews, which is seldom a problem I have when writing about half-hour comedies.
For instance, this episode may be named for Janine’s ongoing friendship/mentorship with Courtney, but you could easily call Barbara and Jacob’s fight against the district or Gregory and Melissa’s attempts to fire Dom the main story of the week as well. And while Ava’s struggle to afford fancy new uniforms for her step team functions as a simpler B-plot, it still builds on one of the season’s ongoing throughlines while continuing to position Mr. Johnson as the MVP of Abbott Elementary. Plus, there’s time for check-ins on Gregory and Janine’s upcoming proposal and a bomb drop about Barbara’s potential plans to retire at the end of this year.
It's an impressive balancing act. So while I have some plot and logic quibbles with some of this episode’s choices—namely the way Jacob and Barbara seem to be able to launch a risky school-wide pilot program without even running it past Ava—my overall feeling towards “Courtney” is one of good will. This is an episode that offers four different, genuinely thought-provoking school-related dilemmas for our teachers to grapple with and that’s not nothing for a show that could easily be resting on its laurels this deep into its run.
