Review: Abbott Elementary, “No Homework” | Season 5, Episode 17

The mockumentary format has become such a default sitcom aesthetic these days that it’s easy to forget that Abbott Elementary is nominally supposed to be a documentary about teachers navigating the education system at a struggling Philadelphia public school. For the first time in a long time, however, Abbott finds a topic that genuinely feels like it would make a great subject for a documentary: Should schools get rid of homework?

It's a debate that’s been floating around educational spaces for the past decade or so, with different studies offering both pros and cons for whether or not it’s helpful for school work to continue after school hours. This week, Ava’s impulsive decision to compete with her old college nemesis Crystal by eliminating all homework at Abbott seems tailor-made to anchor a mini version of that debate. In fact, the episode’s first act somewhat thrillingly unites the whole ensemble around a complicated real-world topic that should let a whole bunch of different educational perspectives bounce off one another.

Unfortunately, that’s not exactly what ends up happening here. Though “No Homework” throws a few bones to the idea that teachers could handle homework differently, it pretty quickly establishes that all its teachers are pro-homework while Ava is only against it for pure Crystal-rivalry reasons. That makes this episode less of a thorny debate than a familiar story about the teachers uniting to talk Ava out of her latest delusion. While that’s not a bad premise for some classic Abbott comedy, it’s ultimately much less interesting than the discussion it seemed like we were originally going to get. Instead of delivery something truly fresh and relevant, Abbott falls back into its comfort zone.