Abbott Elementary – Season 3 Episode 3 “Gregory’s Garden Goofballs” Recap & Review

Gregory’s Garden Goofballs

Episode 3 of Abbott Elementary starts with Tariq making a comeback. After he and Janine broke up, he has been around less. In this episode we see come to drop off a student in Barbara’s class. He has been dating that student’s mother for about seven weeks now.

He still hasn’t grown up from his childish behavior, refusing to understand that the student would have his own name and continues to call him Tariq Junior (we later find out his real name is Nick) and refers to himself as the stepfather. Barbara is anything but stunned to see Tariq. When she tells him that Janine is off to the district, Tariq thinks Janine is off to the country’s capital.

Janine gives an upbeat description of her time but in reality we see it is the complete opposite. She does not have people to talk to and is constantly keeping busy with work. She attempts to get an ASL interpreter in Abbott Elementary for a hearing-impaired student in Jacob’s class. Manny and team give her some ideas and she launches into an active pursuit of paperwork to get an interpreter.

At Abbott Elementary, Gregory loses out on his alone time during lunch as a few eight grader students come and sit in the class with him. They crack their jokes and try to talk to Gregory. Later, we see Tariq dropping by during lunch. He swapped his lunch with Nick’s. He keeps calling Nick as “junior” which annoys him.

Janine takes us through the process of paperwork needed for hiring the ASL Interpreter. Since it is a small scale request, she would have to do everything by herself. After going office to office, she is lead to one particular office for help which turns out to be her own!

In her office, she finds Ava. Ava keeps on referring to Janine as her mole at the school district office. She demands a company card but when Janine rejects the demand, she sees herself out but not before dropping a zinger. On the other hand, we see Gregory visit Jacob and discuss about the students in his class during lunch.

Jacob infers that the students see Gregory as the cool teacher. Shortly after, we see a student named Javon discuss his dating life. Gregory tries to keep away from the conversation but gets involved anyway. He advises the bunch to work on their future rather than date at this age.

Janine is trying to get an interpreter, but given the limited scope of pay and benefits, no one is truly interested in the position. Manny and Simon check in on her but their comments on the matter are anything but encouraging.

At Abbott Elementary, Tariq comes by to drop Nick again. Tariq feels dejected with Nick does not gel well with him. Barbara offers him some advice. But Tariq being Tariq adds his own spin to her words. Jacob and Janine catch up over lunch. Jacob consoles her that his student will be fine. Janine finds it difficult to push through and gives up searching for one after listening to Jacob.

At school, Jacob is talking to a few students when Ava drops him. She puts him down in front of the students. Imani, Jacob’s student who needs an ASL interpreter is a little late to catch up on the conversation. Ava finds this concerning. Gregory joins Jacob in the hallway.

As a result of Gregory’s advice, Javon breaks up with his girlfriend. She goes crying to Gregory and calls him a bad teacher. Melissa and Barbara come to her rescue and try to console her. No one likes what Gregory did and they leave.

At lunch, the students return after finding a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on Gregory’s classroom door. But Mr Johnson pays no heed and walks in. Melissa storms in reprimanding Gregory for breaking up Javon and Farrah. He says the students find him cool which makes Melissa and Mr Johnson laugh. Gregory justifies his stance of keeping his distance as not wanting any more responsibility than just teaching the students. Melissa zaps him that she is there for the kids regardless of the grade they are in.

Ava visits Janine at the school district office again. She reminds Janine that she needs to find an ASL interpreter because Imani is missing out on classes. Janine justifies her stance and says she has other things which demand her attention more. She reminds Janine what all they do for the kids. As she leaves this time, she demands two assistants but Janine rejects it again. She walks away but not before mentioning Tariq.

In the next scene, we see Barbara seeing the kids off for the day. Tariq address Nick by his real name but calls himself as Nick Senior now. He is also free loading off his girlfriend like he did with Janine. Barbara asks if he would be visiting everyday to school to drop and pick up Nick. Tariq confirms.

She is not happy with the idea of seeing Tariq every day but she makes her peace with it. Janine is working late at the office when Manny drops by. He more or less gives her an idea to go out of the way to get the ASL interpreter for Imani. At school, Gregory welcomes the students back in his class but puts a few ground rules. Janine has the idea to talk to Imani’s parents.

It is revealed that she asks them to tell the district they would go to the local news if an interpreter was not provided. The district office relents and hires an interpreter. Everyone is now seemingly happy and adjusting to this new development.

In a short epilogue, we see Tariq approach Ava with the idea of starting a PTA aka Parent Tariq Alliance. Janine pops up just then, and Tariq and Ava leave no stone unturned to be sassy with her. As she heads her way, she rejects the idea of the PTA.

The Episode Review

Tariq, as much as one can find him to be unique and comical, is quite an annoying person up close. He is a man child through and through. Despite breaking up with Janine due to similar reasons, he falls back into his old pattern with his new girlfriend as well. If you ask me, any moment with Tariq on screen was not a fun one.

Ava’s zingers are always just the right mix of rude and comical. They are just enough to elevate the tension. Those eyerolls were not missed, Janine! In all her flaws and dense ideas, Ava does care for her students. Overall, the episode showed us more of Janine’s work at the district office and it is not a cakewalk as it initially sounded to be!