Review: Abbott Elementary, "Sick Day" | Season 2, Episode 9

Principal Ava Coleman learns a lesson to trust the process

Photo: ABC

Sometimes, the funniest comedic beats are the most obvious ones. Going into this episode knowing that it was titled “Sick Day”—and that it was specifically a Janine sick day—as soon as Janine asked about her tuna melt in the cold open, it was quite clear just where things were going. Of course no reminder from Jacob about his “Zimbabwe tapeworm story” was going to stop Janine from eating that warm sandwich from the window sill. (“You know what? This is actually pretty good. The sun heated it up for me. Nature’s microwave.”) And in the aftermath of that decision, sick Janine also allowed Quinta Brunson to get to do something different with the character, the power of positivity unable to cure her of her intense food poisoning and all the “[stomach gurgling]” (as described by Hulu’s captioning) that followed.

Especially as this season has seemingly ramped up the trial and error formula of the character. Having a break from her being the one to make things worse before they get …