Review: Abbott Elementary, “Picture Day” | Season 5, Episode 12

Logic is a weird thing on a sitcom. You have to be able to heighten things enough that they’re funny, but you’ve got to keep at least some connection to reality in order to ground that humor in something recognizable. So I see how Abbott Elementary got to the idea of doing an episode about picture day—that yearly ritual that causes so much stress for students and parents alike. The trouble is, this episode wants me to believe that picture day is also a major stress for teachers. And that’s where the logic started to fall apart for me.

Now, I’ve never been a teacher and my elementary school memories might be faulty, but even so, I never got the sense that it was my teacher’s job to make me look presentable on picture day. So using that as the initial story engine of this episode already feels a little odd. Sure, there are extenuating circumstances here—it’s a surprise picture day (rescheduled from September) and it happens to coincide with a major rainstorm that leaves half the kids sopping wet. I guess that probably would motivate the teachers to do a little more than they normally would to help their students look presentable. But “Picture Day” never quite sets up the stakes of why these photos matter so much.