Abbott Elementary Season 3 Catch-Up: Everything You Need to Remember Ahead of Season 4

School’s back in session! Abbott Elementary Season 4 will be premiering on October 9th on ABC. The new season will air 22 episodes and is also rumored to feature a potential crossover episode with another notable show, as teased by creator Quinta Brunson. 

Abbott Elementary Season 3 aired in the Spring of 2024. The season consists of 14 episodes and was shortened due to the Writers’ Strike. Since Season 4 will have the usual 22-episode run, it will leave the door open to plenty of opportunities for more heartwarming and hilarious stories with our favorite teachers and students.

Everything you need to remember about Abbott Elementary Season 3: 

Janine’s Job

The main conflict of Season 3 is Janine’s new job. On Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episodes 1 & 2, “Career Day Part 1 / Career Day Part 2,” Janine reveals that she now works at the school district that Abbott Elementary is part of. Instead of working alongside the familiar cast of teachers, she now works with district people like Manny. 

While she is initially excited to work at the district and make a big impact, Janine quickly realizes that district life might not be what she expected it to be. Her new co-workers approve and praise her ideas.

Implementing them, however, is much harder as she has to jump through a ton of loopholes. For example, on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 3, “Gregory’s Garden Goofballs,” Janine faces logistical obstacles when trying to get an ASL interpreter into Jacob’s classroom.

Another example comes from Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 7, “Librarian,” when Janine debuts a librarian program but has a hard time getting Barbara’s positive review to get the program the support it needs to be implemented. 

Because Janine is determined, she manages to do her job at the district rather successfully. Towards the end of the season, on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 9, “Alex,” Janine reveals to the Abbott Elementary staff that she plans to work at the district full-time.

However, we see that she struggles to officially commit to the job. Janine ultimately realizes that she wants to be at Abbott because she misses her students and comes back as a teacher. She announces her return on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 10, “2 Ava 2 Fest.” 

While Janine’s time at the district is interesting to watch, I’m sure we’re all as excited as the students at Abbott for this wonderful teacher to return to school full-time. 

Gregory and Janine

Janine and Gregory’s will-they-won’t-they romance has been at the forefront of the show since the very beginning. Although Janine works at the district during Season 3, her relationship with Gregory has plenty of notable moments.

There are little moments throughout the season where Janine and Gregory get to meet when Janine visits Abbott. These moments, like on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 4, “Smoking,” when they talk about the tense situation at school, all keep Janine and Gregory shippers on their toes. 

Gregory, in particular, goes through a lot of emotional turmoil. On Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 11, “Double Date,” Gregory agrees to go on a double date with Jacob, but at the bar, he sees Manny and Janine together.

Assuming that the two are on a date, he becomes instantly jealous and spends the whole night paying more attention to Janine than his actual date. The tension disappears when Gregory realizes that Janine isn’t dating Manny, and Janine makes a cute comment about stopping by Gregory’s garden at school to pick some flowers. 

Everything accumulates on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 14, “Party,” when Janine throws a party at her apartment. Gregory debates whether to tell Janine about his feelings and confides in Jacob.

Things like a power outage foil several of Gregory’s attempts to talk to Janine. However, Gregory returns to the apartment after the party leaves and finally kisses Janine. 

With Janine working at Abbott again and both of them being more certain that they want to be in a relationship, Season 4 will hopefully bring more exciting antics as we get to watch their romance officially blossom. 

Other Teachers at Abbott

While Janine and Gregory experienced lots of growth this season, the other teachers at Abbott have also learned a thing or two while teaching. 

Barbara learns to adapt to new systems, even if reluctantly. She’s used to old traditions, as shown on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 7, “Librarian,” when she opposes Janine’s new library system idea while everybody else really likes it. 

On Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 5, “The Breakup,” Jacob breaks up with his boyfriend. Although he’s heartbroken, this leads to him moving in with Melissa, who’s also going through a breakup.

We see their friendship bloom on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 9, “Panel,” when they discover that they have similar interests. Jacob and Melissa have an unlikely but wholesome friendship, and hopefully, we will see more of their antics during Season 4. 

Other Things That Happened on Abbott Elementary Season 3

• Keegan-Michael Key makes a guest star appearance as Superintendent Reynolds. Even though the show is a comedy, it’s odd seeing Key, the resident goofball, play a semi-serious character.
• Lana Condor also makes a guest appearance on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 11, “Double Date.” Unfortunately, she’s the girl that Gregory ignores all night in favor of Janine. 
• As a miniature model enthusiast, I enjoyed watching Jacob and Melissa bond over building a miniature model together. 
• Somehow, Tariq has ended up as the president of the PTA. 
• Mr. Johnson randomly drops mysterious facts about his life, like when he supposedly hangs up on the “Nigerian prince” on Abbott Elementary Season 3 Episode 3, “Gregory’s Garden Goofballs.” 

Abbott Elementary airs Wednesdays at 9:30/8:30c on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.

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