Abbott Elementary – Season 2 Episode 14 “Valentine’s Day” Recap & Review

Valentine’s Day

In Abbott Elementary Season 2 Episode 14, Janine wishes her sister Ayesha a happy birthday. Janine complains to Jacob about how intense she is, but the things she complains about are actually Janine’s own traits.

It’s Valentine’s Day, which means it’s also Black history month. One parent takes issue with the fact that Jacob is teaching Black history, and he requests that Ava hire a Black teacher for the subject instead.

Ava decides to sit in on Jacob’s class to see what the problem is. It makes Jacob sweat, thinking he’s going to be fired–but Ava actually gets really involved in his lessons and learns more than she knew before.

When Zach comes to the school to surprise Jacob with a Valentine’s Day lunch, he notes how passionate and engaged Ava seems in Jacob’s lessons. It surprises her too that she’s become interested in learning.

Ava eases Jacob’s concerns by letting him know she’s not firing him. In fact, he’s inspired her to go back to school and enroll in night classes. The parent is angry with Ava that she didn’t do anything about his concerns, but Ava calls him out for only starting to pay attention this month. In fact, Jacob teaches about Black figures year-round.

Meanwhile, Jeanine deals with a student who has a crush on her. She asks Melissa’s advice, causing Jacob to overhear and assume she’s talking about Gregory. He then accidentally clues her into the fact that Gregory likes her. But Janine doesn’t believe him.

Janine asks others for advice on how to know if someone likes you, and Melissa, Barbara, and Mr. Johnson all tell her it’s obvious that Gregory likes her… and that she likes him. Janine denies this, as she’s with Maurice, but they assure her it’s possible to like two people at the same time.

Gregory asks Janine’s advice on a gift for Amber, which assures her that he doesn’t like her. But when Janine tells Jacob this, she almost sounds sorry.

At the end of the day, Maurice gives Janine a Valentine’s gift as Gregory gives one to Amber. It’s obvious, however, that the women covet each other’s gifts. And as Janine and Maurice head off to their date, Gregory looks back at Janine.

The episode ends with Gary coming through for Melissa when she thought he would forget about Valentine’s Day. He fills the vending machine with a message spelled in chocolates that he loves her, and the two kiss.

The Episode Review

Did I spy Ayo Edebiri in this episode’s opener? It looks like we have some interesting family dynamics to look forward to when it comes to Janine and her sister. It’s clear that Janine’s frustrations with Ayesha are misplaced, but why does Ayesha look so exasperated with Janine, I wonder?

I guess that’s a question to be answered another day. For now, I’m interested in Janine and Gregory–and Jacob’s hilarious elementary antics. Writers are doing an excellent job teasing the teachers’ feelings for each other–but I think it may be quite a while before either one admits they have any.