Abbott Elementary is in crisis mode after a district audit forces them to hide their contraband.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Wednesday, March 19, episode, Ava (Janelle James) and her boyfriend, O’Shon (Matthew Law), break the news to the other teachers.
“The district got tipped off that something shady was going down at Abbott,” Ava says. “They asked [O’Shon] if he knew anything because he does IT here.”
Despite Ava cutting him off, O’Shon warns the others, adding, “They are coming to investigate tomorrow and we think it was Krystal who told them.”
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Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph), Jacob (Chris Perfetti) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) quickly give up on “the grift” with the local golf course. “It was a matter of time,” Jacob says before Melissa notes that, “All good cons must come to an end.”
Janine (Quinta Brunson), however, isn’t ready to give up — especially because she hasn’t received her bribe yet. She and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) convince their fellow teachers to fight the obstacles.
“They don’t have proof. They are coming here to find it,” Janine says. “Now that we know they are coming, we can prepare!”
Barbara isn’t too convinced since the school “is crawling with contraband.” Luckily, Janine suggests they put in some overtime to get ahead of the issue.
“Maybe we can stay after school today and hide all the stuff we have gotten,” she continues. “Then when they come to audit, there is nothing out of place and then we put all the stuff back after they leave.”
Abbott Elementary, which debuted in 2021, focuses on teachers in a Philadelphia public school. After premiering on ABC, the sitcom quickly became a success and picked up many accolades, including Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.
Since becoming a fan-favorite series, Abbott Elementary has surprised fans with lots of celebrity guest stars, crossover episodes and innovative story lines.
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“The writers and producers — we have distinct visions. So my hope is always that I’m not asking the actors to work overtime and they don’t feel the need to do anything but come in and act. Of course they have [insight into their characters that they share]. And it’s more them taking the material and performing it in a way that sometimes I don’t even expect,” Brunson, 35, who is an executive producer on the series, exclusively told Us in October 2024. “I’m like, ‘Oh wow, that unleashed a new layer. I didn’t see it that way, but the way you did it was exactly how that would be said.’ It’s a lot about how they say things and I think that’s really cool with our process.”
Brunson mentioned that Abbott Elementary‘s extended episode order would benefit season 4 since there are more episodes to look forward to.
“What’s fun about 22 episodes is being able to have multiple arcs throughout the season. I’m just so excited to return to having longer arcs that last six episodes long. But then also having some that only last two episodes within the 22,” she continued. “I am really pumped to be able to tell those kinds of stories again because with our truncated season 3, it was a little bit harder to do and minimized the amount of different arcs we would’ve done.”
Abbott Elementary airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu.
