Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Abbott Elementary season 6, episode 4, “Halloween Party”
In Abbott Elementary season 6, episode 4, “Halloween Party,” Janine and Jacob begin to worry about Gregory’s activities, Gregory himself has a Halloween night to remember, and Ava’s attempts to throw the perfect ‘Grown and Sexy’ Halloween party are thrown into disarray, or perhaps saved, by her colleagues. Like Cheers‘ Sam and Diane, Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Jake and Amy, or The Office‘s Jim and Pam, Abbott Elementary‘s Janine and Gregory are a huge part of the workplace sitcom’s success.
The chemistry between stars Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams is on point, the shared cautiousness of their characters made their slow burn love story more endearing than annoying, and their eventual hook-up proved worth the wait in Abbott Elementary‘s season 3 finale. Moreover, as seasons 4 and 5 proved, Abbott Elementary‘s Janine and Gregory avoided one of the worst sitcom pitfalls of all.
Many iconic sitcom pairings, from How I Met Your Mother‘s Ted and Robin to New Girl‘s Jess and Nick to The Mindy Project‘s Mindy and Danny to even Friends‘ iconic Ross and Rachel, spend more time breaking up and making up than they spend actually happy together. This means that the show can dramatically reunite them in the series finale, but it also proves that the dynamics between these duos can end up feeling more frustrating than romantic upon a re-watch. Abbott Elementary season 6, episode 4, “Halloween Party,” proves the sitcom has avoided this pitfall.
Gregory’s Ring Nightmare Is A Truly Scary Abbott Elementary Halloween Plot
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Instead of repeatedly breaking up Janine and Gregory for the sake of cheap drama, Abbott Elementary has piled on the big relationship moments and milestones to ensure that the conflict between them feels earned and organic. No sitcom can be devoid of conflict, even between two reserved characters, since this drives the show’s comedy and drama alike. However, “Halloween Party” proves that Abbott Elementary‘s Gregory and Janine come across plenty of sources of believable conflict without aimless added in-fighting.
Take Gregory’s attempts to visit a near-empty strip mall outside the city to buy Janine an engagement ring. While Gregory shared this plan with Ava’s love interest O’Shon, he failed to warn Jacob about the strategy, and this soon came back to bite him when Janine and Jacob started their true crime binge. Not only was Gregory repeatedly stalled by a deranged sales person who refused to simply sell him the ring, but a true crime-addled Jacob and Janine became increasingly convinced that he was secretly cheating, or a serial killer, in his absence.
As Jacob and Janine convinced themselves that Gregory was up to something nefarious while they attended Ava’s Halloween party, Gregory grew increasingly beleaguered by this bizarre salesperson’s inability to accept the money for his ring. Compared to Janine and Gregory’s earlier Abbott Elementary Halloween stories, this was a particularly stressful subplot, but also a hilarious one, and a story with a fittingly happy ending that will be discussed a little later.
Ava’s Halloween Party Brings Back A Classic Abbott Elementary Story
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On the topic of Principal Ava’s party, the iconic Abbott Elementary scene-stealer had to learn a familiar lesson once again in “Halloween Party.” Ava initially refused to tell any of her coworkers about her planned party, as she hoped to keep the ‘Grown and Sexy’ event extremely exclusive and only invite attendees who she deemed sufficiently cool. Thus, when Jacob, Janine, Melissa, and Barb arrived, Ava was horrified to see them.
A hilariously oblivious Janine continued Abbott Elementary‘s funniest relationship by admitting that she wasn’t sure whether Ava was serious when the principal bluntly told her Janine wasn’t invited since she wasn’t cool enough. Meanwhile, Barb and Melissa outright ignored Ava’s complaints about their age ruining the party’s vibe, only for them to ironically end up saving Ava’s soirée on more than one occasion.
While Ava tried to keep the party from her coworkers, Barb and Melissa soon held court among Ava’s friends as the pair explained their strategies for building a lasting romantic relationship. The duo then ended up saving the entire party when the cops who came to shut them down turned out to be friends with Gerald and Captain Robinson, meaning they let the group off with a warning instead of making everyone leave.
While Abbott Elementary‘s Principal Ava has learned to appreciate her corny coworkers before, this is a lesson that she keeps needing to re-encounter. In much the same way, Janine’s romantic history with the comically terrible Tariq and her messy relationship with her inconsiderate mother mean that she struggles to trust even Gregory, who is arguably the most stable and reliable love interest in sitcom history.
Janine’s Abbott Elementary Season 6 Episode 4 Shock Subverts A Sitcom Cliché
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This justifies Janine’s concern that Gregory might be cheating, as does a comically ill-timed phone call where the gormless sales assistant insists that Gregory check out her “big natural pair” (of engagement rings, naturally). While the idea of Gregory cheating on Janine was never believable, this ridiculous phrase and Janine’s history of bad relationships makes her suspicions feel rooted in the show’s reality. Luckily, the conclusion to this storyline ends up being the episode’s heartwarming highlight.
Gregory tells Janine she has nothing to worry about, but also refuses to tell her where he was and insists that she simply needs to trust him. In a sweet twist on sitcom conventions, Abbott Elementary‘s heroine Janine decides that she and her love interest have enough history to justify this request, and tells him that she supports whatever his mysterious plan is. Speaking to the show’s in-universe camera crew, Janine excitedly assumes the couple are getting a puppy.
Then, when she tries to boast about this to her employer, Principal Ava accidentally reveals Gregory’s plan to propose to Janine. Stunned, Janine is speechless for a second, and it initially seems like Abbott Elementary is setting up a tiresome sitcom cliché where the protagonist worries about whether they’re ready to get married, even though it’s clear that the pair are destined to remain with each other for good.
However, “Halloween Party” subverts this setup when, instead of existentially spiraling, Janine is simply overjoyed by the revelation. Like so many of Abbott Elementary‘s best moments, it is a beat that takes a familiar sitcom routine and twists it just a little, offering viewers a fresh version of a trope they’ve seen many times before.
Abbott Elementary
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