"Story Samurai" is the sixteenth episode of Abbott Elementary and the third episode of Season 2.
The Story Samurai have come to Abbott and a nostalgic Jacob is invited to perform alongside them, completely unaware that his coworkers are eager to see him make a fool of himself. As this happens, Melissa struggles to manage her new combo class without any help.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Greg finds himself laughing at Ava's joke about Jacob having a "seizure" because of his ridiculous dancing.
- Be Yourself: The moral of the day is to accept who you are along with your flaws.
- Book Ends: The episode starts and ends with Mr. Johnson wearing Janine's stolen scarf.
- Continuity Nod:
- Melissa expresses how difficult it is managing her new double class.
- Ava has a photo of herself and Gritty (along with having poorly edited out Janine from the photo).
- Everyone Has Standards: Janine confesses to the camera that she finds the Story Samurais to be corny. And this is Janine we're talking about.
- Fantastic Racism: Greg is astounded to see Jacob using a tiger mascot to talk about racial discrimination.
- Friendship Moment:
- Barbara goes to Melissa and admits that she was wrong for hyping her up as a tough teacher who doesn't need help and encourages her to accept an aide to help with her new combo class.
- Realizing that she deprived her friend of something that genuinely made him happy, Janine immediately suggests that he participate with the Story Samurai while rallying the students in the assembly to encourage him.
- Genki Girl: Right off the bat, Ashley García is presented as an over-the-top and playful woman who lives to sing and is much too sweet.
- Hidden Depths: Jacob reveals that he used to be involved in the Story Samurai group, which involved performing plays based on the ideas of their child audiences.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: After Melissa assures Janine that she's doing fine with her class, she punches the head off of a samurai cut-out.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Clarence, one of Jacob's students, calls him Mr. C because of how corny he is. But he admits that he genuinely enjoys his class.
- Lying to Protect Your Feelings: At first, Janine tries to convince Jacob not to perform saying that he would "upstage" the other Samurai with his performance. It isn't until Ava intervenes does she resort to explaining the full truth to her friend.
- Malaproper: While asserting that she can be reliable, Ava uses the age old idiom of "a broken clock is right once a day".
- The Needs of the Many: Crudely invoked. After Jacob reveals that he's going to perform with the Story Samurai, Ava insists on livestreaming the spectacle using her and Janine's phones for the benefit of the world.Ava: It's our duty to spread this joy to the world y'all. It's tough times out here! People need the laughs!
- Only One Finds It Fun: While the Abbott staff mock the Story Samurai for being ridiculous and cheesy beyond belief, Jacob is the only one who enjoyed them. Especially given that he used to perform for the troupe in the past.
- Ship Tease: Gregory takes the time to talk with Janine about their respective school days.
- Shout-Out:
- Josh Gad was a former member of the Story Samurai and is still respected by them.
- The group also performed in a Bernie Sanders rally without his permission.
- During his performance, Jacob pretends to be a tiger who wants to sell cereal
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- Spanner in the Works: Ava catches on to how Janine talked Jacob out of performing/humiliating himself in the Story Samurai group so she intervenes by making a broadcast that forces him to perform early on.
- The Stinger: The last scene shows the Story Samurai hanging out at Abbott after their performance. Ava orders them to "Beat it!" which leads to them dancing like the King of Pop.
- Tempting Fate: During her confession, Janine is relieved that Jacob has moved from participating in the corny Samurai show. Only for her friend to reveal that he was given the opportunity to perform alongside them in the afternoon showing.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Melissa isn't very thrilled knowing what her new aide will be like.
- This Is My Side: Invoked. Melissa tried to separate her 2nd and 3rd graders using cardboard and ribbons across her room. It unfortunately isn't as effective.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Jacob is aghast when Janine compares him to Sandra Bullock from The Blind Side with her agreeing that she went too far.
- Woman Child: One time, Ava tried to get Janine to pretend to be her daughter so she could get a Happy Meal at McDonald's.
