ABC Flipped Abbott Elementary's Best Relationship On Its Head 4 Years Later

Nov 12, 2026 - 08:08

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ABC Flipped Abbott Elementary's Best Relationship On Its Head 4 Years Later

Quinta Brunson's Janine in Abbott Elementary season 5

Published Nov 11, 2026, 10:03 PM EST

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Abbott Elementary season 6, episode 6, “Competition.”

While there are a lot of pivotal relationships at play in Abbott Elementary’s titular setting, season 6, episode 6, “Competition,” just flipped one iconic dynamic on its head. Every sitcom lives or dies based on the chemistry between its cast members, but, even within this context, Abbott Elementary’s cast of characters is on another level altogether. The hit ABC sitcom’s rave reviews consistently highlight the impeccable performances of its large ensemble.

Although Abbott Elementary’s Mr. Johnson was quickly singled out as the show’s breakout character, Janelle James’ Principal Ava and Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Barb both give the wacky custodian a run for his money. Meanwhile, the dynamic between Abbott Elementary’s Gregory and Jacob proves that, like all the best workplace sitcoms, the show has ensured its platonic character pairings are just as funny and memorable as its romantic duos.

In fact, while Abbott Elementary’s Janine and Gregory love story is often singled out as some of the show’s strongest character writing, the sitcom deserves credit for another multi-season character dynamic that is often appreciated. Janine’s love/ hate relationship with her employer, Principal Ava, has changed substantially as the show has continued, and “Competition” proves this by taking the events of the events of season 1, episode 9, “Step Class,” and effectively reversing them in the sitcom’s latest storyline.

Abbott Elementary’s Step Class Comeback Highlights Janine and Principal Ava’s Changing Dynamic

Quinta Brunson's Janine Janelle James Ava and Lisa Ann Walter's Melissa stand in the auditorium from Abbott Elementary

For anyone who doesn’t remember, “Step Class” saw Janine set up an extracurricular step class at Abbott, only for her students to show little interest in the dance club. To Jeanine’s chagrin, the kids all started to participate enthusiastically once Principal Ava thoughtlessly took over the class, since the Principal’s looser, more playful teaching style was a lot more popular than Janine’s rules-based instruction.

While Janine was already annoyed by Ava taking over her class and proving to be a bigger hit with the students than her, she became truly furious when the Principal abandoned the class without explanation on the day of their first big performance. Janine got the worst of both worlds, getting no credit for setting up the class, while also being held responsible for the students when Ava seemingly forgot about them.

However, Janine and Ava’s Abbott Elementary relationship took an unexpectedly deep turn when Janine found out her boss was only missing the performance as she needed to care for her ailing grandmother. Ava’s refusal to be seen as sensitive meant that she didn’t want anyone to know, but finding out about this context made Janine more sympathetic to her colleague and “Step Class” ended with the pair coming to a détente.

Years after “Step Class” was the first time Janine started to see Ava as more than just an insufferable boss, “Competition” paid this off with Ava admitting before a performance that it is Janine’s pep and optimism that are pivotal to the step group’s chances of winning a major competition. Much like Gregory admitted he liked Abbott Elementary’s Jacob after years of pushing away his over-eager co-worker, Ava conceded that Janine’s teaching style has its perks in “Competition.”

Throughout this season 6 outing, the two teachers work as a team instead of fighting each other like rivals, and it’s a striking reminder of just how far their relationship has come since the first time they taught a step class together. Despite a disastrous ankle injury for their star stepper, Janine and Ava manage to coach Abbott’s team to victory precisely because of how much their dynamic has changed since season 1.

Abbott Elementary’s “Competition” Proves Janine’s Biggest Risk Paid Off

Tyler James Williams' Gregory and Quinta Brunson's Janine in Abbott Elementary

Watching “Step Class” and “Competition” back to back proves that Abbott Elementary’s two biggest storytelling risks paid off for the sitcom. In season 3, the sitcom sent Janine away from the titular school for an entire semester so she could take a fellowship at the school district while, in season 4, Ava’s temporary firing from Abbott Elementary forced the teachers to realize just how much they secretly relied on her.

Ava is comically, blatantly corrupt on a professional level, as well as being absurdly rude on an interpersonal level. Similarly, although Quinta Brunson’s protagonist is nowhere near as obviously flawed, she does have an unrealistically cheery outlook on life and an inability to tackle hardships that makes her a perfect comedic foil to characters like Ava and Gregory. Back in season 1, these character differences made Janine and Ava complete opposites.

However, Janine’s decision to return to Abbott after her fellowship and Ava’s triumphant comeback when the entire faculty recognized just how much they needed her set the pair in stone as two very different, but ultimately beneficial, collaborators, as opposed to rivals. Where Janine once believed that she or Gregory should be Abbott’s principal, she now knows that the school needs Ava’s pushiness, wiliness, and tenacity to succeed.

Abbott Elementary’s Step Class Storyline Set Up Season 6’s Biggest Moment

Janelle James as Ava in Abbott Elementary season 5

Of course, it was always going to be easier for the humble, understanding Janine to come around to seeing Ava’s value. What makes Abbott Elementary’s season 6 storyline so compelling is that, in “Competition,” Ava also starts the episode’s story by admitting that what she dubs Janine’s “Toxic positivity” not only has a place at Abbott, but is exactly what the school needs to win the step competition.

And win it they do, with Abbott’s troupe triumphing in the closing scene of “Competition,” and Melissa sardonically remarking that this victory was always inevitable since they were the only school with any rhythm to speak of. This means that Abbott Elementary is going to Disneyland, since the school’s step class and their teachers won an all-expenses-paid trip to the resort as their grand prize.

Since Gregory had to cancel his dinner reservations where he planned to propose to Janine not once, but twice during “Competition,” it now seems pretty likely that he’ll pop the question while the pair are chaperoning this trip together. Season 6’s Halloween episode already set up this proposal, giving the show a little head start when it came to the pivotal plot development, but an early December trip to Disneyland means that Abbott Elementary’s protagonists now have a perfect festive setting for the romantic moment.

Release Date 2021 - 2026-00-00

Showrunner Quinta Brunson, Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker

Directors Randall Einhorn, Jennifer Celotta, Jaime Eliezer Karas

Writers Quinta Brunson, Riley Dufurrena, Garrett Werner, Joya McCrory, Kate Peterman, Justin Tan, Brittani Nichols, Ava Coleman, Chad Morton, Rebekka Pesqueira, Brian Rubenstein