Review: Abbott Elementary, “Volunteers” | Season 4, Episode 9

Myles here. I don’t know that anyone had a synergistic crossover between this set of Philadelphia-set TV shows on their bingo card, especially since Disney doesn’t even produce one of the shows in question, but here we are. In light of the oddity of the moment, I figured it was only fair to invited our Always Sunny reviewer Dennis Perkins to offer his own thoughts on this episode of Abbott Elementary alongside LaToya’s typical review, and we’ll do the opposite when the other half of the crossover airs later this year.

LaToya: In the pantheon of “wacky” television crossovers, the much-anticipated Abbott Elementary/It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossover isn’t all that absurd. Obviously, it helps that both series are comedies set in Philadelphia, even though their approaches to comedy are vastly different. However, when I was flipping through my own mental Rolodex for the best comparison pieces for this particular crossover, I couldn’t help but think about the works of David E. Kelley. To be fair, I’m always thinking about the works of David E. Kelley.¹ But upon watching Abbott Elementary’s “Volunteers” and reading interviews about how this (and the subsequent Sunny Season 17) episode came together, my mind went straight to two specific Kelley examples: the Picket Fences/The X-Files crossover-that-mostly-wasn’t in 1994 and the Ally McBeal/The Practice crossover in 1998.

In terms of the former, the proposed (and shot down) crossover between Kelley’s Picket Fences (a CBS series) and Chris Carter’s The X-Files (a FOX series) would’ve seen Special Agents Mulder and Scully investigating strangeness in Picket Fences’ Rome, Wisconsin, with both series’ episodes taking place from the perspective of their respective characters. Here in “Volunteers,” we see the Sunny gang not as regular observers of these criminals’ daily lives but from the perspective of our (relatively) normal Abbott crew—the implication, of course, being that we’ll end up seeing things from the gang’s (or even just documentarian Dennis’) perspective once their part of the crossover finally airs. As for the latter, while there was the singular voice of Kelley behind things and the united existence as Boston-set legal series, the Ally McBeal/The Practice crossover had to contend with the tonal struggles of mixing the world of comedy and drama. Again, both Abbott Elementary and Sunny are comedies—with quite passionate fanbases—but there’s still a world of difference between the two, on multiple fronts. I’d even argue that, despite the conflicting genres, Kelley had an easier task on his hands melding Ally McBeal and The Practice than Quinta Brunson, Rob McElhenney, and company had melding family-friendly Abbott Elementary and unapologetically-crass Sunny. Because what a tightrope both shows have to walk here, in terms of staying true to both shows’ characters and tones, without betraying, watering down, and/or sullying any of that in the process.

While there’s been plenty of understandable praise for “Volunteers,” I admittedly found it difficult to write about the episode as a whole—since it’s technically not a “whole” in the first place.2 Dennis’ presence in the episode—or lack thereof—is clearly set-up for the follow-up Sunny episode, but it also tracks with Glenn Howerton taking something of a step back from the show in recent years. And with Dennis on the outside looking in, that thrusts Mac into more of a leader of the gang role that essentially has him playing the straight-man of the gang in their interactions with the Abbott crew. While there are undoubtedly ulterior motives on Mac’s end—being on his best behavior to try to get out of community service as quickly as possible—I was surprised the other shoe never dropped. Because it’s not exactly normal for the gang’s schemes to actually work for both them (getting out of community service, though it only finally happens because Ava is also a terrible person) and the people who end up in their vortex—especially not this cleanly. But maybe that’s the Abbott touch working in both parties’ favor here.

Plus, it would’ve been difficult for this episode to leave things open-ended or too messy (as the gang is wont to do), considering there wouldn’t be a chance of a satisfying conclusion until the Sunny episode finally airs, whenever that is.