GayTV Recap: Abbott Elementary (Ep. 2x14)

Episode 14 of the second season of the ABC comedy Abbott Elementary was appropriately titled "Valentine's Day," and found the faculty and students of the school dealing with various challenges with the holiday. The episode put some focus on the show's gay character, Jacob (played by Chris Perfetti) who began the episode paying a visit to his friend, leading lady Janine as she prepared to video chat with her sister on her birthday. He couldn't wait to meet Janine's sister, who was pleasant, despite Janine's repeated side comments about how awful her sibling's behavior is, causing Jacob to eye the camera as he realized Janine was inadvertently describing herself. 

Janine's sister Ayesha worked to end the call as quickly as possible while remaining pleasant towards her sister. After the call ended, Jacob looked to make a quick exit from the situation himself, only to be cornered by Janine as she continued to talk about her sister's bad qualities, including being unable to let people go from conversations. Jacob gave a side eye to the film crew as he knew he too was trapped. 

The faculty began the school day in the lounge, as the topic of Valentine's Day was on their minds. Jacob told them about how his boyfriend Zach surprised him with breakfast in bed that morning, which was something he figured only happened in movies. He then shared that it led to them doing other things that only happened in other kinds of movies, drawing annoyed looks from his co-workers as he referenced his sex life. He then told them that his relationship these days was sensational. This led to the others sharing how their current love lives and plans for Valentine's Day were seemingly up in the air. 

Meanwhile, Principal Ava got a visit from a seemingly disgruntled parent, causing her annoyance as she had flirtatious thoughts about him at first, until she realized he had come to issue a complaint. The man said that he was not happy that his son Paul was being taught about Black History Month by a white teacher, referring to Jacob. Ava tried to jokingly dismiss the issue, but seeing the man's annoyance, she said she couldn't do anything about the situation without observing it herself. With the man stern and unmoved, the lazy Ava realized she would have to actually observe the situation. 

Jacob began history class extremely nervous to see Ava sitting among the students, though she seemed preoccupied by her phone. He encouraged the students to behave as usual, despite the principal's presence. He began the lesson discussing the similarities and differences between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, which quickly engaged the students including Paul, surprising Ava with how interesting the discussion was. 

While Jacob told the camera crew in his interview segment that he was terrified about Ava showing up in his classroom to observe, he kept his cool and continued the discussion, bringing up the point that there were forces working against both King and Malcolm that tried to pit them against each other. He made the point that the students should always seek more answers and clarity on history. He even told them that they had a right to question people, including him as a white man, when it came to their history, causing Ava to become even more engrossed as she put her phone down to may more attention.

Jacob grew more unsettled later in the day when Ava appeared among the students in yet another of his classes. He noticed her furiously taking notes, which left him terrified that his job may be on the chopping block by Ava. Jacob spoke to the camera crew, saying that Ava had appeared in three of his classes, which made no sense given her usual lack of concern and care for education. The students noticed his shaky behavior and checked on him, but he covered saying he was totally fine. He then told the cameras that he was either the subject of a drawn out prank or he was definitely getting fired for teaching Black History.

Jacob's shaky demeanor in the class led Ava to interrupt with a question, surprising him. She told him a fact about Dr. King that she wanted to remind him to mention because she remembered it from his class earlier in the day but he hadn't mentioned it in the previous period. Jacob thanked her for calling out his oversight and when he suggested the class do some paired reading on the subject, he realized that they were one student short today. Ava then surprised him again by offering to fill the spot. Jacob was left confused that she wanted to do a reading assignment with a student. 

Later, Ava returned to Jacob's classroom to find his boyfriend Zach (played by Larry Owens) was the only person there. Ava wondered why there was no class happening and Zach told her that this was Jacob's free period. He was setting up a Valentine's Day surprise lunch for them. When Ava talked about being disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to sit in on another Black History lesson, Zach was surprised, noting that it sounded like she was enjoying Jacob's class. Ava disputed that instantly, saying that she's always hated school. She grabbed Jacob's filled glass and took his seat, annoying Zach.

Zach gave up and sat down with her and brought up passionate and engaged she sounded about the history class. Ava then revealed that she was never interested in school since it got in the way of college life. Zach surmised that maybe Ava was maturing and maybe that was leading to her enjoying learning. Ava admitted that was interesting, but quickly shrugged it off, demanding that he stop making good points. 

Jacob soon joined Zach in the classroom for his lunch surprise. He appeared to be enjoying Zach's gesture when Zach revealed that he actually had another surprise for him. A knock on the classroom door led Jacob to tell him to hold that thought. Ava appeared and Jacob grew instantly nervous again. Jacob begged Ava not to fire him while he's eating as he gets stress-induced IBS. Zach laughed it off, telling him that he wasn't getting fired. Zach told Jacob that Ava was the surprise. He urged her to share her big news. 

Ava was also nervous as she admitted to Jacob that despite everything she found herself actually paying attention in his class. She then told them she would never get through this if they were looking at her so she told them to turn away. Jacob & Zach complied. Ava then revealed to them that she had been inspired to enroll in night classes to actually get the credentials she's supposed to have for her job as principal at the school. She then revealed she was giving Jacob a raise, which got him excited, until she revealed that it was a raise on her personal teacher ranking list, which currently had him and Janine tied for last place. She later stood up for Jacob with the disgruntled parent, as his son also praised Jacob's class.