Jacob must evaluate his student teacher, Zach, but struggles with confrontation. His inability to give honest feedback leads to increasingly awkward situations.
The Blu-ray of S01E08 includes a commentary track (often with Quinta Brunson and the directing team) that reveals how this episode—where Janine tries to prove she and her work friends are a "family" during a tense budget meeting—was almost cut entirely. Why? Because it's the episode where Ava’s inappropriate humor and Gregory’s deadpan delivery clash the hardest, and test audiences initially found Ava "too mean." The commentary highlights how Brunson fought to keep Ava's unhinged one-liners, arguing they ground the mockumentary realism. abbott elementary s01e08 bluray