Review: Abbott Elementary, “Willard R. Abbott” | Season 3, Episode 6
Surprise! Abbott Elementary is named after a racist old dead guy
As I wrote on social media last night: “This is the best Abbott Elementary episode yet for the simple fact that it brings Bradley Cooper back to comedy.” I obviously have more to contribute to my review of this week’s episode, but I still have to give the series credit for doing such an important thing. Bradley Cooper may not be an Academy Award winner, but he will always be “the face of Alias.”
“Willard R. Abbott’s” plot is one of those inevitable and prescient stories, with the reveal that Abbott Elementary’s namesake—at the worst possible time, of course—was actually a very bad dude and a racist, like so many other historical figures. With the potential for Abbott to gain historical landmark status and be treated as “special” on the line, Janine decides to take matters into her own hands to both disassociate the school from such a figure and to make sure all of Philadelphia knows just how special Abbott Elementary really is. Things don’t quite shake out the wa…
