"Read-a-thon" is the eleventh episode of the second season of Abbott Elementary.
Janine and Melissa get into a heated Read-a-thon competition over which of their classes manages to read more books. Meanwhile, Jacob tries to start a podcast with students.
Tropes in this episode include:
- The Bet: To spice up the competition, the dueling teachers agree that whoever loses has to appear on Jacob's podcast.
- Cold Open: After returning from Winter Break, Janine and Gregory have a tough time interacting with each other without being awkward while Ava and Barbara spectate the disaster.
- Competition Freak: Melissa always takes the Read-a-thon seriously. But she kicks it into maximum overdrive when it looks like Janine has a chance at beating her.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ava tells Barbara that she saw Janine and Gregory hanging out in a club which is why they're so awkward now.
- Barbara still mistakes the names of actors. In this case, when referring to The King's Speech, she praises Colin Powell's acting. The name of the actor in the movie is Colin Firth; Colin Powell was an American politician.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Ms. Schemmenti loses her top three readers due to pink eye and has to motivate the rest of the class to try harder.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Melissa has no problem cheating with just about anything in life, but she draws the line when it comes to actual competitions.
- Janine is shameless in her gloating when she pulls ahead in the Read-a-Thon due to three of Melissa's best readers being sent home with pink-eye. However, she does pause to say she hopes the kids feel better soon.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Melissa says she will not be doing Jacob's podcast shortly before explaining to Janine the rules that indicate it really is her victory, not Janine's.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Feeling jealous over Melissa's championship belt, Janine asks out loud who would want to wear such a big belt. The camera then moves to her own big belt.
- Internal Reveal: Jacob learns about Janine and Gregory's dancing moment at the club in the last episode.
- It Was a Gift: Melissa confides with Mya that she also struggled with reading but had help from her teacher who gave her a book with tips and tricks on how to read. Melissa would pass the book to her to help her with her reading skills.
- Kick the Dog: As soon as Melissa's top readers are escorted out of the school, Janine takes a moment to rub it in her rival's face about her impending doom.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Realizing that she's pushing her luck by antagonizing Melissa and mocking her with a bad impression, Janine runs away before she gets her butt kicked.
- Loophole Abuse: The Do-Nuts Read-a-thon contest states that the winner is determined by which classroom has the highest reading score. And with Melissa's classroom being a combo of 2nd and 3rd graders, she gets a significant boost to beat Janine's class.
- Mama Bear: Deconstructed with Mya's parents. They refuse to listen to Ms. Schemmenti's concerns about their daughter having difficulty with reading along with not mastering reading comprehension. They think just taking her word on finishing the books is good enough and refuse to offer her any additional support.
- Noodle Incident:
- Ava's favorite club was forced to shut down because someone let a horse in.
- She also mentions that alot of people she meets have a nightmare where she's the one in the right. She calls it "A-va Vu".
- Oh, Crap!: Melissa has a silent one when she learns that Mya, one of her low-level readers, is reading more books then she can handle and doesn't even retain the story content.
- Rousing Speech: Melissa gives one to her class to inspire them to read more after her Top 3 had to go home sick.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Clarence and Raheem who signed up for Jacob's podcast quit after he purposefully censored their personal school stories. Gregory follows suit after confirming that he won't be paid if the club doesn't have any members.
- Serious Business: Melissa treats the Read-a-thon with absolute seriousness as she and her class have been reigning champions for years. She even has her own Read-a-thon pizza championship belt to show off.
- Shout-Out:
- The principal compares the Holiday Hookah club to a Disney Channel grinding fest.
- Barbara reveals that she always disliked Ms. Frizzle.
- The Stinger: The episode ends with Clarence and Raheem revealing that the former's mom saw Janine grinding with Greg at the club. Much to the two teachers' horror.
- Take That!: While assuring Janine that she'd never cheat, Melissa rhetorically asks if she's a UFC athletic director.
- You Remind Me of X: Mrs. Howard's disdain for Ms. Frizzle is in regards to her kooky outfits and her obnoxious can-do attitude. Cue Janine entering the room.
