This Overlooked Abbott Elementary Season 3 Development Is Surprisingly Wholesome

Summary

• Episode 4, Season 3 featured a scene we didn't pay much attention to.
• Principal Coleman seems to know some details about Jacob's personal life.
• The two of them must have watched a movie together.
• Jacob and Ava may be the new friend duo at Abbott Elementary.

To be fair, Abbott Elementary has been a very wholesome show since its premiere in 2021. The mockumentary about the staff of the titular Philly school has entertained audiences with its hilarious portrayal of the life and work of typical teachers in the US. More importantly, the sitcom has also drawn attention to the many problems in the American educational system.

For example, the recent fourth episode of Season 3, currently airing on ABC, highlighted the problem of various forms of substance abuse – from smoking and vaping to drinking wine and experimenting with edibles – and how to prevent it among students. And while we laughed at the hypocrisy of the Abbott teachers and the way they tried to deal with the problem, we may have missed an important detail.

The Teachers' Vices

In Episode 4, the teachers at Abbott Elementary caught a student smoking in the school building, only to discover that there were no "No Smoking" signs. When the staff gathered to discuss how to solve the problem, they realized they had more serious vices of their own. Thus, Janine was revealed to be smoking weed 'every night,' Ava was confronted about her love of hookah and confessed to microdosing, and even the school's veteran teacher, Ms. Barbara Howard, turned out to be 'smashing bottles of Chardonnay.

Jacob, in turn, was a notorious vaper who annoyed his colleagues with his hideous habit. Unlike the rest of them, as Janine pointed out, he could vape anywhere. Headmistress Ava, for example, said he vaped all through Saltburn.

Saltburn's Controversy

Emerald Fennell's black comedy made a big splash at the time of its premiere thanks to the shocking, if obscene, story it told. Following two university friends, one of whom becomes obsessed with the other, the movie featured plenty of daring sex scenes, violence, and an amusing nude dance that seemed to bring Sophi Ellis-Bextor's hit Murder on the Dance Floor back to the charts. Clearly, it's not a movie to watch with your coworkers.

An Unlikely Friendship

Most of us probably missed this moment and didn't read between the lines. How did Ava know that Jacob was vaping throughout the movie? The only answer is that they watched it together. Since Saltburn isn't the kind of movie you'd casually watch with your boss, we can assume that Jacob and Ava have been hanging out as friends lately.

Sure, the two characters didn't really like each other during the previous two seasons of Abbott Elementary. But now that Janine has gone to work for the school district, Jacob has no work buddy and Ava has no one to make fun of. So maybe their loneliness has brought them together. And on a casual night out, the two watched Saltburn.

Hopefully we'll learn more about Jacob and Ava's relationship when episode 5 airs tonight, February 28th.