Janine takes it upon herself to fix every problem when she notices a flicking light bulb in the hallway; Gregory asks Barbara for help talking to a parent, which leads him to spend his lunch period in an unexpected way.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": Ava screams this after the power goes out a second time while she's watching her show.
- The Chessmaster: When Greg asks Barbara for help persuading a mother to drop her son off at school's start, Barbara invites him to talk about it with her at lunch at her nail salon. He comes, but has to get his nails done to stay, creating more business for her favorite establishment. It's also the salon the mother comes to, but not immediately after Barbara and Greg get there, which means she has enough time to mentor Greg about how to talk to her.
- Cold Open: We find out the teachers start the day out watching Action News and having a laugh at whatever happens, all while giving different excuses for why. Barbara has a crush on the newscaster, Jacob loves the animal videos but says he's supporting local journalism, and Johnson admits it's 'cause it's when he can say whatever he wants and no one cares.
- *Cough* Snark *Cough*: Ava does this while calling Jacob a nerd when he starts to rant about climate change.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Melissa explains that she and many of the other teachers do feel impacted whenever they see their kids upset. But she elaborates saying that if they let themselves be impacted by every sad face, then they'd burn out and wouldn't have the emotional willpower to continue working.
- Didn't Think This Through: Janine uses a really tall ladder to reach the light bulb despite her crippling fear of heights.
- Double Entendre: Ava flirts with Greg by looking him in the eye and asking him if he likes to get sticky.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Averted. Ava is being inappropriate with Greg, her subordinate. While he doesn't feel comfortable enough to call her out, he is clearly taking solace from the film crew being present to document it, and will probably tell her off at some point.Greg: Y’all are getting this, right!?
- Establishing Character Moment: We meet Tariq, Janine's boyfriend. He's introduced rapping lamely in the car with Janine, taking her car for the day, having sold out a venue (of 15 people), joking that he doesn't get up until "noon o'clock", and having to be reprimanded about being late with rent and not looking at the budget change they need to do. Later in the episode, he texts Janine that she needs to gas the car up.
- In the same scene, Janine is shown making excuses for him, explaining that they've been together since childhood, and giving him her breakfast sandwich when he says he hasn't eaten.
- Extreme Doormat: Janine is shown to be this with Tariq. After giving him her breakfast, she even refuses to share Jacob’s food even though she could use it.
- Foreshadowing: After dropping off her son on time, Amber takes a moment to look at his teacher with rising interest.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Janine isn't the most well-liked faculty member based on the negative opinions of the lunch ladies and the school nurse.
- Granola Girl:
- Jacob mentions something about climate change and is unfortunately so unconvincing that even AVA manages to laugh him off.
- Later he justifies helping Janine as “I was trying to support a strong black woman.”
- Hidden Depths: Ava confesses to being a doomsday prepper and is always stocked on supplies when the heat gets turned up.
- Malaproper: Melissa warns Janine about opening up a "Panera's" Box of problems instead of Pandora.
- Mr. Fanservice: Greg is an attractive young man, and is unfortunately getting a bit more attention than he's comfortable with.
- Must Make Amends: Deconstructed. Janine feels terrible for causing the first blackout and wants to fix her mess. But as Gregory points out, she doesn't have the skills or experience to fix a technical problem involving power outages and her efforts in fixing the mess herself only make things worse for the school.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Janine's efforts in fixing the lightbulb only results in the school losing more power with each attempt she makes.
- Parental Neglect: Amber, the mother that Greg was having issues with, has shades of this as she'd rather take her son to school an hour late because it was convenient with her work schedule. It's only after Greg explains why this was harmful to her son's education does she make an effort to change.
- Rousing Speech: Janine asks how the older teachers manage to care enough to keep going.
- Schemmenti: We do care. We care so much we refuse to let ourselves burn out. If we burn out, who’s there for these kids?
- Rules Lawyer: When he has to get his nails done to stay in a salon, Greg tries to get his nails done clear, but the store doesn’t allow it. He settles for getting one small nail done in blue.
- Running Gag:
- Janine keeps refusing chances to eat. She eventually passes out from lack of food.
- Schmennetti keeps trying to save her fish as the power keeps going out.
- Shout-Out:
- Melina, Melissa's student, genuinely loves The Shining.
- Janine compares the hallway with flickering lights to be as scary as The Haunted Mansion.
- The power switches for the school are labeled with "Boyz II Men" songs.
Jacob: It's ironic, because I'm "On Bended Knee". - The Stinger: Amber brings her son to school on time just like she promised Gregory. She then compliments him and walks away looking at him with interest. Afterwards, Ava pops in to make Greg uncomfortable.
- Tempting Fate: When the lights go out, Greggo says the leaders just need to stay calm. Ava immediately comes around the corner freaking out and saying the world is ending.
- Worldbuilding: Janine mentions that Abbott Elementary was once a bomb shelter created during World War II.
- You Owe Me: Schmennetti grimly tells Janine that she owes her another fish.
