"Candy Zombies" is the sixth episode of Abbott Elementary's second season.
It's Halloween at Abbott Elementary, and everybody is dressed up. The teachers plan to distribute candy to the students at the end of the day, but when Ashley slacks off on guarding the candy, a student dressed as "Baby Thanos" takes advantage and distributes the candy into the kids' hands. The teachers must now wrangle the hyper children.
This episode contains examples of:
- Absurd Phobia: Melissa mentions that Gary doesn't like Halloween since every house offering candy to the kids essentially become giant vending machines.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first it seems that Ashely assumes Gregory is disguised as "Black" Frank Abagnale Jr. Only to reveal that she was talking to Janine who was next to him decked out in a basketball uniform and a thick beard.
- Butt-Monkey: Melissa briefly locked Jacob in her private safe just to show everyone how tight it is.
- Chekhov's Gunman: One of the students dresses up as Mr. Johnson. And it's thanks to him following Baby Thanos' candy trail that he's able to find the supervillain and talk him into surrendering.
- Cold Open: The Halloween episode begins with Mr. Johnson scaring Jacob with the tale of an old Abbott janitor who haunts the school on October 31st. Also Gregory shows up and no one has any idea who he's supposed to be.
- Continuity Nod:
- Amber from Episode 2 returns to make her move on Gregory.
- Janine is still dealing with her breakup with Tariq. This time how the breakup also influenced her having friends that aren't tied to him.
- Melissa brings up how they clarified that they're just "work friends" and not "friend friends".
- Didn't Think This Through: The adults try to lock the hyperactive kids inside the gymnasium without ensuring that another adult is inside to watch over them. Especially so they wouldn't lock them out.
- Dramatic Thunder: Befitting the episode, thunder frequently happens throughout the story.
- Epic Fail: Jacob opens a window to the cafeteria and decides to run on him to stop the out of control kids. His effort ends up in vain as he can't even get through the window properly.
- Evil Is Hammy: Baby Thanos is one theatrical little mastermind.
- Fan of Underdog: Gregory is a huge fan of Sully Sullenberger for his heroic endeavor.Greg: I will not rest until the world gives that man the respect he deserves!
- Found Family via Work: Deconstructed. Janine is very attached to her coworkers, and due to the show being a Work Com, her relationships with them get a lot of focus. However, she admits in this episode that since her breakup with her more social boyfriend, her coworkers are her only social circle. The other characters stress that she has to have a life outside work, which encourages her to go to a Halloween party with a high school friend.
- Freudian Slip: Melissa almost blurts out that she has a "human" sized safe that can be used to store the contrand candy.
- Halloween Cosplay: The students and teachers are dressed up for Halloween at Abbott. Several costumes reference Marvel Comics characters.
- Ava is dressed as Storm, complete with contact lenses that white out her eyes.
- Melissa is dressed up like Scarlet Witch. And much to her chagrin, Ashley has also decided to dress up as Scarlet Witch (albeit in a much less well-made costume).
- Mr. Johnson has a foam gem on his forehead for his minimalist costume as Vision.
- The "villain" is a male student dressed up as the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Thanos. The teachers call him "Baby Thanos". Several overt references to the character are made:
- He wears candy ring pops to emulate the Infinity Stones.
- He says "I am inedible" ("I am inevitable"), and when Baby Mr. Johnson asks him, "What did it cost?" He replies, "Everything."
- When Baby Thanos pulls a round yellow thing resembling a Mind Stone off Mr. Johnson's forehead (whom Jacob had mistaken for The Vision earlier), Melissa (dressed as Wanda) reaches out with an outstretched arm and shouts, "Nooooooo!"
- Halloween Costume Characterization: The politically-minded Jacob is dressed as a Blatant Burglar with a sack of money. Mr. Johnson immediately and correctly clocks him as "wage theft".
- Halloween Episode: It's Halloween at Abbott Elementary. Trope hallmarks include:
- Everyone dressed up in costumes.
- The kids trying to get their hands on candy.
- Mr. Johnson spooking Jacob with a story about a ghost in the basement.
- Ironic Echo: Earlier in the episode, Janine mentions having set up a camera to catch kids that would egg her house. Later, Melissa asks if she really wants to be a friendless old lady who spends her time trying to catch kids who egg her house.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Jacob and Greg go looking for Baby Thanos in the haunted basement while the ladies continue their search in the upper floors.
- Never My Fault: Ashely doesn't even try to accept that it was her fault for letting the candy bags be stolen from under her nose.
- Not Bad: Melissa commends Baby Thanos for being good at stealth.
- Old Friend: Erika, the aunt of Baby Thanos, was an old high school friend of Janine's. Though Janine admits that she wasn't as close to her in their youth.
- One Size Fits All: Despite Ava being One Head Taller and significantly curvier, her Marilyn Monroe dress fits Janine perfectly.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Greg points out how weird it is for a kid to share candy during Halloween.
- Pet the Dog: Ava gets two.
- First, she volunteers to stay in the gym and wrangle the sugar-high kids, pulling a You Shall Not Pass! so the others can go find Baby Thanos. She gets pretty roughed up for her trouble.
- Second, she loans Janine a beautiful costume (a replica of Marilyn Monroe’s famous pink dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) to wear to a party so Janine can look pretty and impress her new acquaintances. She even tells her she looks good... not as good as her, of course, but still, for Ava, that's huge.
- Pre-Approved Sermon: Barbara reveals that her church has a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show that's heavily censored to the point that it comes out in under 26 minutes. Apparently they do this every year with every Halloween classic. She thinks it's a hoot!
- Profanity Police: Janine doesn't approve of Amber, one of her student's parents, swearing in her class.
- Running Gag: Gregory is dressed as Sully Sullenberger, the captain who landed a plane on the Hudson River, but nobody gets the reference and everybody comes up with a different fictional pilot when they see him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Realizing how out of control the Abbott kids are, Ashely decides to run away like a yellow belly.
- Jacob wordlessly runs away from the basement after he sees a "ghostly" janitor.
- Sexy Whatever Outfit: Ava says that if Janine's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes costume doesn't work out, she has a "sexy Walmart greeter" costume as backup.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Janine usually dresses casually, so Gregory is struck dumb at the sight of her dressed up like Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
- Shout-Out:
- Several to the Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe; namely, Storm, Wanda Maximoff, Thanos and there are two students dressed as Thor and a Dora Milaje.
- When Baby Thanos is caught, he removes the foam gem from Mr. Johnson's forehead and Mr. Johnson screams, with the camera focusing on Melissa desperately reaching for him, referencing Avengers: Infinity War.
- There are also several students dressed as Disney and Pixar characters such as Buzz Lightyear, Aladdin and Jasmine, Moana, Raya, Ariel, Russell etc.
- At the end, Mr. Johnson also reveals he's had a fake '20s style picture of him made a la The Shining just to spook people.
- The Stinger: The episode concludes with Ava allowing Janine to borrow her Marilyn Monroe costume for the upcoming party. As the two of them along with Gregory leave the school, Mr. Johnson scares the audience with a Shining esque photo with him in it.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Before searching for the candy sharing criminal, Barbara calls onto the Good Lord to throw them a bone.
- Would Hurt a Child: Of the legal variety. Mr. Johnson is not amused with a child dressing up like him and promises to sue him for unlicensed use of his image.
