Still Finding New Ways to Teach

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TV SERIES REVIEW
Abbott Elementary: The Complete Fifth Season
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Genre: Comedy, Mockumentary, Workplace
Year: 2025–2026, 2026 DVD
Runtime: 22 episodes, approximately 8h 4m
Directors: Randall Einhorn, Matthew Pexa, Tyler James Williams, Jennifer Celotta, and others
Writers: Quinta Brunson, Brian Rubenstein, Brittani Nichols, Kate Peterman, Joya McCrory, Riley Dufurrena, Chad Morton, Rebekka Pesqueira, and others
Cast: Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, Sheryl Lee Ralph, William Stanford Davis, Zack Fox, Jerry Minor
Where to Watch: available October 20, 2026. Pre-order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: Five seasons is usually where a sitcom starts revealing exactly how much gas is left in the tank. Familiar character combinations get paired up again, old conflicts return in slightly different clothes, and the same locations start to feel more like sets than places where these people actually live and work. ABBOTT ELEMENTARY shows a few signs of reaching that stage during its fifth season, but what's impressive is how quickly Quinta Brunson and her writers seem to recognize the danger and start messing with their own formula. They literally move the school into a mall.

It's such a strange idea that it initially sounds like the kind of stunt a sitcom pulls when the writers run out of normal stories. Instead, temporarily relocating Abbott Elementary becomes one of the season's smartest decisions. The teachers are still teachers, the students still need them, and the same broken educational system follows everyone into their new surroundings. Changing the building doesn't change what these people are fighting against, but it gives the comedy a whole new playground.

Before getting there, season five spends its opening stretch reminding us why ABBOTT ELEMENTARY has lasted this long. The characters no longer need elaborate setups. Put Barbara, Melissa, Ava, and Mr. Johnson together at the DMV, and there's already enough personality in the room to build an episode. Let Gregory host game night or send the staff to a Phillies game, and the writers can trust years of established relationships to do much of the work.

That familiarity is both the season's biggest advantage and one of its minor weaknesses. Early episodes are perfectly enjoyable without feeling particularly essential. The jokes land, everyone behaves as expected, and twenty-two minutes disappear with little resistance. That's comfortable television, but ABBOTT ELEMENTARY has usually been better when something underneath the comedy interrupts that comfort. The mall does exactly that.

After problems force Abbott out of its regular building, the faculty returns from winter break to discover that an abandoned shopping mall will temporarily become their school. It's ridiculous enough to generate plenty of jokes, especially as classrooms and educational necessities are awkwardly forced into a space never intended for them. Yet beneath the absurdity is one of the ideas ABBOTT ELEMENTARY has always handled particularly well. Teachers are expected to adapt to almost anything. At the same time, everyone above them treats the impossible as another item on the schedule.

That has been part of the show's identity since the beginning. Abbott's teachers don't need speeches explaining that they're underfunded. The copier, classroom supplies, building problems, district decisions, and constant improvisation make the point for them. Season five understands that institutional failure is often funniest and most frustrating when everyone accepts another ridiculous obstacle because there isn't time to stop working and be properly outraged.

The mall storyline also prevents the fifth season from feeling too settled. Removing the characters from Abbott changes small things about how they interact, where stories can happen, and what problems they encounter. More importantly, it proves the show's identity was never completely tied to those familiar hallways. It's tied to the people walking through them.

Quinta Brunson's Janine remains the character most naturally suited to spotting a problem and immediately deciding she needs to fix it. Five seasons have softened some of her earliest extremes without sanding away the part of her personality that makes her funny. She has grown, but she hasn't magically become someone who knows when to leave something alone.

Tyler James Williams continues to make Gregory one of the show's best reactive characters. His restraint works particularly well because he's surrounded by people who possess almost none. A look from Williams can finish a joke someone else started, and Gregory and Janine's relationship has reached the point where their chemistry doesn't require the series to keep reminding us they're a couple.

That creates a new problem for the writers, though. Getting two sitcom characters together is often easier than figuring out how to keep their relationship interesting afterward. Season five occasionally pushes Janine and Gregory into conflict that feels designed to create movement because stable happiness doesn't naturally produce much story. Their relationship still works because Brunson and Williams work, but at times the machinery behind the conflict becomes easier to see. Thankfully, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY has never depended entirely on Janine and Gregory.

Janelle James continues turning Ava Coleman into something far better than the joke she could've remained. Ava is still wildly inappropriate and can make almost any situation about herself. Five seasons of tiny glimpses beneath that surface have given her enough dimension that the ridiculousness no longer feels empty. Her growth hasn't required the show to suddenly make her responsible all the time, which would probably ruin the character anyway.

Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter remain one of the ensemble's strongest combinations. Barbara and Melissa are funny individually, but their history and ease make even casual conversations feel established. They're veteran teachers who've seen countless educational initiatives arrive with great promises and disappear without fixing the basic problems in front of them.

Chris Perfetti's Jacob remains intentionally exhausting, and the show understands the difference between laughing at that quality and fundamentally disliking him. William Stanford Davis has also transformed Mr. Johnson from what could have been an occasional background punchline into someone who can steal scenes simply by entering them. By season five, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY can rotate these characters through different combinations and usually find something funny.

That's why the occasional weaker episode stands out. When a story depends too heavily on a recognizable character trait, the show can briefly feel like it's impersonating an earlier version of itself. Jacob becomes extremely Jacob, Ava becomes extremely Ava, or Janine's determination reaches exactly the level needed to create that week's problem. Those moments aren't disastrous, but they remind us that long-running sitcom characters can become collections of their most recognizable behaviors if the writers aren't careful. Season five flirts with that problem without fully falling into it.

The better episodes keep introducing small complications that reveal something instead. A debate over homework isn't simply an excuse to divide the faculty; it raises questions about what teachers expect from students outside the classroom. A phone-free school day gives the writers plenty of easy comedy while also addressing something educators are actually dealing with. The show's ability to take current education issues and fit them into sitcom stories without turning each episode into a lecture remains one of its biggest strengths.

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY also shows important generosity in how it approaches teachers. They aren't saints. They become petty, tired, competitive, and irritated with students, parents, administrators, and one another. Sometimes they're wrong. Allowing them to be imperfect is exactly why the show's respect for educators feels sincere rather than promotional. Teaching is their profession, not a magical personality trait that makes everyone infinitely patient.

Season five's 22-episode length helps enormously. So many modern comedies disappear after eight or ten episodes, barely having time to establish a seasonal story before wrapping it up. ABBOTT ELEMENTARY still operates like traditional network television, where an episode can simply be about picture day, Valentine's Day, April Fools' Day, or everyone going out for the evening. Not every installment needs to change someone's life.

That breathing room is particularly valuable with this cast because some of the funniest episodes come from watching characters deal with relatively minor problems. Something is refreshing about a comedy that still spends an entire week on a silly situation and trusts audiences to follow these people.

At the same time, 22 episodes make unevenness unavoidable. The middle and later portions of the season don't always build momentum cleanly, and certain ideas disappear almost as quickly as they're introduced. Some stories could've benefited from another episode rather than being resolved, because the calendar needs everyone moving toward the next situation.

The mall itself almost proves this point. It's such a fruitful disruption that I'd happily have spent more time there. As the season starts exploring the bizarre possibilities of running a school in an abandoned commercial space, the story has to keep moving. Wanting more from one of the season's major ideas is considerably better than wondering why it existed.

Five seasons in, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY also hasn't forgotten Philadelphia. The city isn't interchangeable background, and episodes involving the Phillies, neighborhood events, and the characters' local connections keep Abbott rooted in a specific place. That specificity has always helped separate the series from workplace comedies where everyone seems to exist exclusively between their home and the office.

Even the DVD release feels appropriate for a show committed to an increasingly rare style of television. ABBOTT ELEMENTARY: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON collects all 22 episodes just as season six begins, continuing physical releases for a network sitcom in an era where plenty of television disappears completely into streaming libraries. Having every season available on physical media feels particularly welcome for a show that built its audience the old-fashioned way, one school year at a time.

Season five isn't ABBOTT ELEMENTARY reinventing itself, and it doesn't need to be. Signs of age show up in a handful of stories that resolve too quickly and moments where familiar character traits become predictable. Those issues keep this from being the show's strongest year. More importantly, I still wanted to spend time at Abbott after 22 episodes.

The mall experiment demonstrates that Brunson and company know familiarity can't become complacency, while the ensemble remains strong enough to make even an ordinary episode enjoyable. Five seasons into most sitcoms, I'd start wondering how much longer the formula can survive. With ABBOTT ELEMENTARY, I'm more interested in what ridiculous problem the teachers will be asked to solve next. Class is still very much in session.

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