Spoilers below for the shocking turn of events at the end of Abbott Elementary’s Season 5 installment “Trip,” so be warned if you haven’t yet watched on ABC or streamed it via Hulu subscription or Disney+ subscription.
When it comes to TV shows with game-changing “stop everything you’re doing” twists, Abbott Elementary isn’t usually in the conversation, for obvious reasons. That distinction has changed in Season 5, however, first with that wild midseason finale reveal that the staff and students had to relocate to an empty mall. And then in the episode “Trip,” which culminated in the most shocking, worst-nightmare moment yet: Janine and Gregory breaking up over some petty ol’ bulls--t.
Okay, maybe life finances aren’t petty, but couple’s specific argument over vacation funding seemed too small-time to incite a legitimate split. I know I’m not the only viewer who wants to rebel against that story shift, but star Chris Perfetti is not amongst that group. Speaking to CinemaBlend about that ordeal (and about his role in DTF St. Louis), the actor was not nearly as downtrodden as Jacob. He told me:
Article continues belowOh, I love it. I just love it. I feel like the luckiest boy in Puppet Land. I get to go goof around on America's number one sitcom during the day, and then I get to go be dark and twisted in Steve Conrad's world [on HBO's DTF St. Louis.] And they do really kind of inform each other. And so, yes, I love that Abbott is having a 'shock and awe' moment.
Well now I’m definitely going to hope that Abbott Elementary pulls off an episode in Season 6 (or in the remaining Season 5 eps) where all of the main characters are replaced by puppets, but still with real children as the students. A Jacob puppet would look ama-a-a-azing. From my lips to Quinta Brunson’s lovely and talented ears.
Perfetti continued, noting that he was pumped to play up this story angle, given Jacob's obsession with the couple and their ongoing survival.
As far as Jacob goes, and as far as it goes for Chris as an actor, like all I want to do is play the gorgeously heightened, baked-in circumstances of Jacob, which is he's so obsessed with both of them. They're his best friends, and I think he wants their relationship to work out more than he wants to even be alive on the planet. So I was so excited.
Jacob started the episode off all down in the dumps, revealing that he and Elijah's relationship was kaput. Which then led to him focusing even harder on Janine and Gregory, even if he was blind to all the cracks forming in the foundation. Jacob was back in good graces with Elijah by the end, however, which gave the text reveal even more of a bombshell status.
I think Quinta has a real knack for shaking things up at the right time. I'm so proud of the TV that we made in [Season] 5. It's really hard to make 22 good episodes of TV. I think especially given how fast and furiously we have to make the show...we get to make the show, rather.
For what it's worth, Chris Perfetti couldn't remember if viewers will actually see the text in an upcoming episode, and believes it was a plainly stated "'Gregory and I broke up." He also questioned why it was sent as a text and not shared via phone call. But so it goes.
Why Janine And Gregory's Break-Up Is Realistic
Chris Perfetti spoke to the idea that it would be ridiculous for viewers to watch these two characters only living in bliss year after year without any dramatic hiccups. As he put it:
I think if the instincts are in the right place, you can tell whatever story you want. And I think our instinct here is that as much as these characters love each other, and as much as Jacob certainly is rooting for them, it's not really realistic that their story of love would experience no hiccups, or that it would end where you thought it was going to end. It's very real that they would hit a bump at this point in their relationship, and yeah, I think we have an obligation to our audience to sort of subvert people's expectations.
To his point, had the couple not faced turmoil over the somewhat frivolous subject of vacation budgeting, then their next disagreement might have been even more of a spectacle. Easing the pressures of a relationship through smaller breaks is far more ideal than letting it all out in one go. So this kind of tiff was invevitable in order for them to (presumably) get back together and realize that their love is more important than where they spend the summer.
As Perfetti puts it, viewers should put their faith in Brunson and the writing team to make it over this hurdle with the right amount of dexterity.
I think we want you to simultaneously root for them, but trust us if we want to go somewhere else. So, yeah, it's a blast. I think the season is going to end with a bang once again, like Quinta likes to do, and it's just so fun for me. I mean, I feel like Jacob has already had just such amazing [writing]; given the circumstances; his ambition is through the roof, and his obstacles are aplenty. So as an actor, that's really fun to play. And now, if you take something as big as the Gregory/Janine relationship, and turn it on its head, it sort of takes care of itself.
I'm even more stoked about watching the follow-up episodes, also, as he shared a pretty big boast about what's coming:
Yeah we're gonna get a lot. I think there's a lot of fuel in in this. The next couple episodes, I think, are some of the best we've ever made. Hopefully, if you've done right by your audience, and you've created characters that they're interested in and relate to, when they're disappointed, you'll be disappointed. So I hope people will go with us on the next little journey we're going to go on. It was a freaking blast to film for.
Abbott Elementary already has quite a few all-time classics amassed thus far, and I'm eager to where Janine and Gregory's post-couple storyline goes. And, of course, just how much Jacob forces himself into a position where he can help bring them together again before the 2026 TV schedule is half over. For better, or for worse.
Abbott Elementary airs new episodes Wednesdays on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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