"Fire" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of Abbott Elementary.
A surprise fire causes Ava to chicken out and for Gregory to take up the mantle as temporary principal to help the school process the incident. He then has to use his new authority to get Barbara to open up about her personal problems relating to the fire. Melissa, meanwhile, has the time of her life as she fangirls over the visiting firefighters.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Blatant Lies: Mr. Johnson tells Chief Smokey Robinson that he lost three diamonds and a Ferrari to exploit their insurance policy.
- Career Not Taken: Melissa reveals she wanted to be a firefighter when she was younger. However, the gender politics of the time kept her from pursuing it.
- Chekhov's Gun: Melissa mentions that branches of her family have a legacy as professional firefighters. Jacob uses the Schemmenti name to convince the visiting department to let Melissa use their truck ladder. As it turns out, the Shemmentis are quite beloved among the firefighting community.
- Cold Open: The episode starts with Ava having a rough morning and Jacob trying to get his coworkers to eats his cookies. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked...
- Comically Missing the Point: After Gregory points out that Jacob's cookies look alive, Jacob accepts it as a compliment since they were made with pro-biotics.
- Crazy-Prepared: As part of his principal training, Gregory took on a variety of catastrophe courses to prepare himself for any sudden emergencies.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While explaining who the shawl and candle belong to, Janine makes the conclusion that someone tried to blackmail (frame) Barbara.
- Frame-Up: Defied. Janine deduces that someone used cashmere and Jesus to frame Barbara for the fire only for Barbara to admit responsibility for her actions.
- Friendship Moment: Melissa manages to get Barbara to open about why she's upset about the candle fire. And after learning that it was to pray for the health of her husband, Melissa assures her that it's okay to be afraid of things and how she doesn't have to bottle up her fears.
- Hidden Depths: Melissa admits that she once wanted to be a firefighter and is quite versed when it comes to firefighting equipment.
- In the Blood: She also confesses that her family has a rich history of fighting fires (as firefighters) and fighting fighting.
- Inevitably Broken Rule: During the surprise fire drill, Ms. Schemmenti tells the students to stay calm and not to run. Cue Ava running down the halls telling the kids to panic.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Melissa accuses Chief Robinson of being full of "fire machismo" based on how he silenced her as a woman. Jacob points out that there's a woman firefighter on his team.
- It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: "Acting Principal" Eddie proclaims to have the best day of his life after Ms. Janet informs him that there was no psychological trauma found in any of the students or faculty members.
- No. Just... No: Ava has this reaction after seeing Jacob's "carrot cookies".
- Obviously Not Fine: Despite holding herself responsible for the fire, Barbara's insistence in assuring everyone that she's fine shows that she's hiding some deeper feelings about the fire.
- Only Sane Man: Chief Robinson is not amused with the wacky and unprofessional antics of the Abbott staff while he does his presentation.
- The Reveal: The reason Barbara lit the candle was to pray to the good lord to watch over her husband who's been having terrible health problems.
- Running Gag: Jacob trying to get people to eat his carrot cookies.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Ava flees from the school as soon as she sees a fire in the teacher's lounge.
- Barbara goes on a rant about not being able to light her candles anymore and then leaves the presentation.
- Shout-Out: Ava compares Janine's round face to the Sun Baby from Teletubbies.
- The Shrink: Ms. Janet is a psychologist sent by the school district to help anyone, student or faculty member, who may have been traumatized from the fire incident.
- Skewed Priorities: Janine uses Ms. Janet's psychological services to talk about her personal problems and recent life affairs.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Growing up, Melissa was shunned for her dream of being a girl firefighter. It doesn't help that the concept of one was used as a cheap joke to make fun of them.
- Sticky Fingers: Firefighting fangirl Melissa went as far as to steal the keys to the firetruck.
- The Stinger: Jacob leaves his box of cookies in the teacher's lounge in the hopes that someone will take one. Melissa ends up trying it and is disgusted to learn how much she enjoys it.
- Tastes Better Than It Looks: Everyone is put off by Jacob's carrot cookies (Gregory even says they look alive), but when Melissa actually tries one, she's forced to admit that they actually taste good.
- Verbal Backpedaling: Melissa introduces the "jaws of life" as a great way to destroy a car. She immediately changes it to save someone from a car.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Still not wanting to deal with her personal drama courtesy of Gregory pushing the issue, Barbara wishes Ava was back as principal since she wouldn't make a big deal out of it.
- Wham Line: Barbara finally cracks to her fellow queen about the reason why she's so upset about the candleBarbara: Been dealing with Gerald's health. Had a prostate situation...
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gregory gets some backlash during the firefighting assembly after his comments towards Barbara come off as ageist.
- You Are in Command Now: Invoked. With Ava having fled the school, Gregory eagerly takes over as the "Interim" principal and manages relations between Abbott and the fire department.
