Abbott Elementary S02e01 Aiff May 2026

Janine Teagues (Brunson) arrives buzzing with ambitious (and doomed) ideas for the new year, including a “buddy system” for students that she’s already over-engineered. Gregory (Tyler James Williams), now fully hired as a substitute but still pining for Janine, tries to play it cool while secretly reorganizing her desk. Meanwhile, Ava (Janelle James) has turned the teachers’ lounge into a crypto-mining operation, and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) feud over a new, “woke” anti-bulishing curriculum. The episode’s central absurdist crisis arrives in the form of Mr. Johnson’s (William Stanford Davis) prized koi fish , which has died over the summer. The janitor—who may or may not have a secret past with the CIA—demands a school-wide memorial service. This bizarre plot thread is pure Abbott : it turns bureaucratic incompetence into ritualistic comedy.

Where to watch: ABC / Hulu

The Emmy-winning mockumentary returns with a simple question: What do teachers do before the kids arrive? The answer is chaos, camaraderie, and one very expensive fish. abbott elementary s02e01 aiff