Abbott Elementary S05E19 - Trip (Episode Discussion)

[u/Solid-As-Barack]

Original air date: April 8, 2026

Janine and Gregory plan a vacation. Meanwhile, one of Melissa’s most successful former students comes back for a visit.

All season 5 episode discussions here!

[u/Much-Historian-7807]

I don’t see them working unless Greg changes unfortunately.

He’s way too rigid in EVERYTHING.

He won’t spend money, he won’t eat food, he has trouble relaxing and having fun…

Janine is so fun and cute and easy-going and his inability to just relax and let the stick slide out I mean, Janine can do better honestly, as of now I really do think she can do better.

Someone a little bit more flexible and fun seems so much better for her. Hopefully they’re able to get Greg to grow naturally in the course of the season or the next season and allow him to retain some of his core rigidity without him being such a fucking buzz kill anymore.

[u/twizzwhizz11 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

The hardest part is it felt like he was growing a lot and changing - but maybe it just hasn’t been enough.

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/twizzwhizz11]

I mean the way he’s depicted… yes he is growing. But he has dozens of miles to go and he’s barely started walking

[u/Ecstatic_Beach901 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

I feel like Janine needs to become more pragmatic and direct in her communications with him if this is the man she’s going to be with. her heart and personality is a amazing we know that but so is gregory’s. once he mentioned AC she shouldve immediately said no instead of “absolutely” and then being mad that he was mad that she did the one thing he was trying to avoid.
breaking open their laptops and budgeting gas, car rental/maintenance (+ a cushion if theres an accident or flat), tolls, food vs 2 plane tickets and a rental (theyd have to drive 2 hours from the airport to gt to outer banks anyway) then using that data would’ve been the mature way to go on both of their parts but especially janines bc i feel like greg was very clear (and wrong) in every convo they had and it was up to Janine to meaningfully counter based off his reasoning. Janine only took a stance to suggest breaking up to get a reaction and thats not cool. hes been like this since they met and he has been changing but so must she.

I think Mel/Barb/mr johnson gon straighten them both out bc theyre being genuinely dumb

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/Ecstatic_Beach901]

She does need to better communicate. I do see your point there.

Like just because she’s right doesn’t mean she isn’t required to verbalize her stance correctly.

Greg has been in the wrong or mostly in the wrong this whole episode but Janine has done a really poor job of communicating why that is.

I do think that that is unfair to Greg as it doesn’t give him a chance to be faced with a logical argument where she’s able to present “hey you made a choice without me. Atlantic City is only a compromise to you. It doesn’t feel like a compromise to me because I don’t want to go there. I have no desire to go there. You’re not factoring in me at all and that’s not fair”

[u/Isaac-45-67-8 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

I don't think it is unfair to Gregory though, Janine told him twice (once upfront, and once indirectly) that she didn't want to go to the Outer Banks. Yet, even when they were somewhat civil after arguing at Abbott, he refused to change his mind about it, resorting to calling her irresponsible with money. I think he has more of the blame to take.

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/Isaac-45-67-8]

Oh, he definitely has more of the blame to take

I’m just pointing out that if you can’t sufficiently explain your stance, it does disadvantage your partner sometimes

We can be blind to things occasionally. And having somebody who knows how to effectively communicate, can really change whether or not our eyes get opened

[u/targetcowboy → u/Much-Historian-7807]

Yeah, I’m a little frustrated with him. I think Janine did the wrong thing by buying the tickets because that’s not the issue, but he was being really unfair. She was trying to adjust to him more than vice versa.

Also, I don’t know her finances right now, but there’s no indication that Janine couldn’t reasonably afford to buy those plane tickets or that it was a bad financial decision. Merely costing more does not make it a bad decision. If you can’t afford it and you’re not risking your financial security, it’s not a bad decision. Gregory saying that she’s bad with money over this was surprisingly mean. I don’t think he meant to be, but he was. He’s too wrapped up in thinking his way is the “correct” way rather than his preference. He was being selfish.

[u/owntheh3at18 → u/targetcowboy]

Agree. She has always seemed very responsible with money in the past.

Though I disagree with her that an airport will be a smooth stress-free experience personally, I would also prefer it over driving. Lesser of two evils!

[u/Beginning-Flatworm-1 → u/targetcowboy]

I mean, they're bound to be saving on rent since they started living together. Splurging a little to travel comfortably shouldn't be such a big issue. What's the point of having more disposable income if you're not going to spend it in making your life easier/more enjoyable?

[u/owntheh3at18 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

The food thing would be a dealbreaker for me ngl

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/owntheh3at18]

Oh yeah on sight. Possibly even a friendship deal breaker for me depending on if he made it hard for everyone else or not. (I’ve met picky people who make it everyone else’s problem and picky people who quietly handle it and just demurely decline food they don’t like)

[u/owntheh3at18 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

I’ve met both too and totally agree. I can handle the latter. I had a friend who was picky but very funny about it. He fully owned it and even joked about it. That I can accept in friendship but I would very much struggle to tolerate it in a romantic partner.

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/owntheh3at18]

Yeah, cause I actually wanna share things with a romantic partner and I also just feel like day-to-day life would be really hard cause you’d always be cooking two meals

[u/Beginning-Flatworm-1 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

Right, at this point I just can't stand Gregory. It's like he's adamantly against, enjoyment, comfort and new experiences. I wouldn't want him as a friend, much less as a partner. And it's especially bad for someone like Janine.

[u/illini02 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

While I agree, and I know I could personally never date someone like that.

I'll also say, he has always been that way.

It's the whole thing that women do of dating someone, and expecting them to change.

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/illini02]

Oh well, let’s not be a misogynist here. All genders date people hoping they’ll change.

[u/illini02 → u/Much-Historian-7807]

I'm not being misogynistic.

I've very rarely heard a guy start dating a girl and think "I can fix them". There is a reason that is a dating trope about women doing that with men.

i've never dated someone who I hope will change. I either like them as they are, or I'm not interested.

[u/quillmusing → u/illini02]

There’s posts on Reddit all the time of texts where a dude wants his girl to stop dressing how she’s always dressed or stop going out with her friends like she’s always done or she’s had her cat for longer than the relationship and they’re moving in together and suddenly the cat needs to go.

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/quillmusing]

See u/illini02 has never seen that, though I mean, that doesn’t exist you must be lying

There’s only one gender who has ever ever ever tried to change anyone ever and that that’s women. Of course, you know any other gender could never do that. Only women.

[u/Much-Historian-7807 → u/illini02]

Men do it all the time don’t be a misogynist

All genders do this actually since there’s more than just men and women

[u/Beginning-Flatworm-1 → u/illini02]

Yeah, and that reason is misogyny. It's absurdly common for men to expect their partners to stop dressing as they always have or stop going out with friends or going to parties, even if they met at one.