Abbott Elementary – Season 2 Episode 19 “Festival” Recap & Review

Festival

In Abbott Elementary Season 2 Episode 19, all the teachers learn of the proposal to turn Abbott Elementary into Abbott Charter and decide to work together to prevent that from happening.

They try to get signatures from parents for their petition, but only one is truly interested, so they all gather after school to come up with a different plan. It’s Barbara who, out of desperation, suggests they trick the parents into signing. They then decide to throw a big festival for open house and make the parents sign the petition in order to get in.

Gregory worries about not being able to draw a big enough crowd, so Janine suggests inviting Tariq as a headliner. Unsurprisingly, Gregory isn’t a fan of that idea, so Ava comes up with a headliner of her own. 

Parents end up lining up for the open house, mainly because Ava advertised (as a trick) that Jazmine Sullivan would be there. When she doesn’t show up, the parents realize that they were just tricking them into signing their petition. 

Luckily, Gregory called Tariq to help them out. He gets up on stage and puts on a fun show, allowing Gregory to gather more signatures.

But Draemond unexpectedly shows up to give a speech about how the petition will hold Abbott back. His speech backfires, however, causing the parents to realize their kids might not even get to go to Abbott Charter.

After successfully booing Draemond away, the school celebrates. Draemond speaks to his former teacher, Barbara, and admits his loss.

The Episode Review

An exceptional episode of Abbott Elementary, “Festival” brings together the teachers (amidst all their differences) to stick up for no child being left behind.

Each character gets to have their moment in the organization against Legendary Charter (shout-out to Krystal, truly the best Abbott parent). And the fun reintroduction of Tariq not only sets an entertaining stage for Draemond’s appearance, but throws some sparks of jealousy into the mix of Gregory and Janine’s friendship.

I’ll admit–as much as I enjoyed the episode and its takedown of Legendary Charter Schools–it does feel somewhat anticlimactic to proceed with the rest of the season. The season has been carefully building up to this. So… what’s next?