Review: Abbott Elementary, “Jungle Classroom” | Season 6, Episode 1

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Given that Abbott Elementary is a show about teaching, it feels thematically fitting to assign a little homework. So I’d highly recommend starting this season by reading the fantastic, unexpectedly honest interview that Quinta Brunson gave to Entertainment Weekly at the start of September. In it, she admits: “Season 5 felt like the first time where we were, in a lot of ways, doing a filler season. I think we still did great work, but it felt like we were just kind of meandering. In 6, I really wanted to come in with a more direct energy. Like, ‘I know I want these characters to be here by the end of season 6. I want these major things to happen.’ And having that direction makes it easier to write, and to create compelling work. That’s why I’m really excited about 6, because we have a lot more direction this time. More purpose.”

It's both refreshing and rare to hear a showrunner discuss their series so honestly, especially while it’s still airing. That put me in an optimistic mindset heading into the season six premiere, “Jungle Classroom.” Without that context, I’m not sure if this Development-Day-centric half-hour would have felt like a truly purposeful fresh start. With it, however, it’s easier to appreciate how this episode is trying to stick with what has long worked about the Abbott formula while adding some new notes into the mix too.

Easily the most exciting development here is Gregory’s promotion to Assistant Principal. It’s a shift that moves him into a different role on the series (at least until he winds up having to pull double duty by stepping back into teaching). More importantly, it unlocks a whole new buddy comedy dynamic between him and Ava. One of the biggest weaknesses of season five was how often it sequestered Ava into her own isolated storylines where she was either dealing with her boyfriend or just doing something zany on her own. Giving her someone else in the main cast to bounce off of immediately makes her feel like a more central part of the show again.

In fact, Ava’s larger-than-life personality and Gregory’s straight man neurosis are such natural buddy comedy archetypes, it’s remarkable it took the show this long to think to pair them together. He’s a rule follower, she’s never met a rule she didn’t want to break, and his befuddled response to her elaborate plan to “Project Sweeney Todd” Interim Superintendent Collins to get some new air conditioners helps ground her wackiness in a way the show struggled to do last season. While I initially had some quibbles with how easily Gregory swoops in and immediately does her job better than her (I almost wondered if the show was about to make a point about how sexism affects leadership roles), the fact that she’s able to spot an AI deepfake he misses suggests their influence is going to go both ways. He’s book smart and she’s street smart, and there’s value to both in education administration.

While the power of the Ava/Gregory dynamic comes from how different they are, Abbott serves up another kind of classic sitcom double act for Melissa, when she meets her match in new second grade teacher Ms. Hardaway (Katy Mixon). With a career that includes Eastbound & Down, Mike & Molly, and American Housewife, Mixon is sitcom royalty and she slots in nicely as a former Bates Academy teacher who’s basically Melissa’s Wario. Instead of butting heads with her opposite, Melissa essentially butts heads with herself, which opens up all sorts of comedic potential for the season—as does Ms. Hardaway’s unexpected crush on Mr. Morton.

Unfortunately, the one comedic pairing that doesn’t work in this premiere is Jacob and Barbara—not because there’s anything wrong with their dynamic (there’s actually a lot of buddy comedy potential there too), but simply because their storyline falls back on the hackier comedic impulses Abbott leaned into to its detriment last season. From the moment Barbara arrives late to the Development Day planning meeting, it’s clear she was the one responsible for the car collision that’s left her disheveled. Yet the episode basically just repeats that same beat over and over again until the truth comes out, without ever heightening or deepening the joke. Even the video evidence of how the accident actually happened doesn’t land as physical comedy because it's so contrived.

In fact, it feels like the show is increasingly struggling to balance the prim and proper Barbara we first met with the goofier “glamma” she’s become in these later seasons. This premiere doesn’t immediately solve that issue, although there are enough jokes around the margins that it’s not a massive problem. Her “could an injured person do this?” belt really made me laugh, as did her attempt to perform an empowering song about Black women that Janine immediately calls out as AI. (Barbara is exactly the kind of person to fall for AI.)

That leaves just Janine without a main buddy comedy partner this week and while I initially worried that was going to leave her storyline feeling a little inessential, her attempt to turn her classroom into a TikTok-inspired jungle-themed wonderland winds up serving as a touching statement of purpose for the season. Seven years into their careers, a lot of teachers would lose the whimsy and ambition of their early days. Most of Janine’s colleagues plan to just throw down a colorful rug or two and scoff at Janine’s plan as either too time consuming or too impractical. Yet some encouraging words from a perfectly deployed Mr. Johnson inspire Janine to keep up her decor anyway. She’s rewarded when her new students are delighted to walk into such a magical space on their first day—even if they accidentally start knocking down parts of it as soon as they arrive.

It's a metaphor for what Abbott itself is trying to do this season. It would be easy for a show this deep into its run to lose its whimsy and ambition and just settle for keeping the lights on. Yet Brunson understands there’s value to delivering something bigger and better than the bare minimum—even when it’s harder to do so. While this premiere didn’t totally sell me on the idea that Abbott will be able to fully overcome all the issues that plagued its uneven fifth season, the fact that it wants to try is reason to hope.

Stray observations

• Philadelphia 76ers Tyrese Maxey, V. J. Edgecombe, and Jaylen Brown show up for a cute cold open where Jacob is nearly scammed by some fake Sixers and then accidentally sends away the real thing.
• I think the implication is that Ava planted Gregory’s AI deepfake replacement to force him back into the classroom, but I’m not entirely sure.
• O’Shon told Ava about Gregory’s plan to propose to Janine, but that seems like a storyline the show is going to slow-burn throughout the season rather than rush into right away.
• We actually don’t get a ton of Janine and Gregory together this week, but her little half-joking “give me special treatment” flirtation was very cute.
• Other throughlines for this season to explore: Jacob is now officially operating as the 51st District Board of School Commissioners liaison; Melissa has a new role as a union rep (call her Jimmy Hoffa); and the school hires a trigger-happy new crossing guard played by comedian Tahir Moore.
• The idea that the school is overheated would have landed better if half the characters weren’t wearing jackets, sweaters, and long-sleeve shirts.
• Ava on why the teachers need to finish their classrooms on their own time rather than relying on student help: “The district’s been getting on us about child labor practices… again.”