"Desking" is the eleventh episode of Abbott Elementary's first season.
An online trend called "desking" has taken over Abbott Elementary and the staff is struggling to find the students promoting the trend. As they try to stop the trend, Greg gets some unexpected life coaching from Mr. Johnson in regards to his job situation.
Tropes
- Actually Pretty Funny: Melissa can't help but laugh at Janine's insistent hope that their students respect them.
- Answer Cut:
- After Melissa asks out loud if Zach's neck gets hurt by nodding to all of Jacob's stories, the janitor nods in agreement.
- And after hearing how Zach met Jacob, Ava mentions that she forgot that black people can be annoying. Janine then cheerfully asks what she said.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To everyone's surprise, Zach is quite efficient in getting Jacob to stay focused and not go on inappropriate ramblings. Though it's subverted in the end where he displays that habit.Melissa: Did he just stop Jacob from being... himself?
Ava: Can we put him in glass and break in case of emergency? - Continuity Nod: Greg is still bitter about losing his principal job to Ava.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Janine insists on doing the desking challenge saying that only a lame adult doing the challenge will make it uncool in the eyes of the children. This gives everyone the idea to have Jacob complete the challenge.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Janine uses a Kool-aid packet to entice her student into talking. Too bad she takes too long to insert the straw.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Averted. Ava makes two teams to make the children of interest sing. She has Janine go with Jacob (two good cops) while she takes Melissa (two bad cops).
- Hidden Depths:
- Zach, Jacob's boyfriend, is a total wiz when it comes to all things shoe-related.
- Mr. Johnson reveals to Greg that he did hundreds of other jobs in the days of yore before becoming a humble custodian.
- It Has Only Just Begun: Before leaving, the two kids boast that none of the teachers can stop the desking trend and how it'll keep going until Abbott is Number 1 across America.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone gets this reaction after Mr. Johnson explains that moving all the desks to the school gym has only created the "greatest desking arena ever known to man".
- Memetic Mutation: In-Universe. A new online challenge called "desking" has swept across the nation inspiring children of all ages to jump on their school desks. And to the dismay of the Abbott staff, it's taken effect in their classes.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Janine and Jacob's attempt at talking their kids out of desking only results in the class doing a desking challenge with their backs turned. This gets released online which only strengthened the power of the meme. And what's worse is that now it's infected Barbara's kindergarten class despite the trend being limited only to the upper grades.
- Later, Janine gets the idea to talk to the school board for help with their situation. It only results in all the teachers being forced to move their desks to the school gymnasium.
- No. Just... No: None of Janine's work friends like the idea of talking to their kids to explain the dangers of desking.
- Not Bad: Melissa admits to being a little proud at the two kids for not squealing.
- One of the Kids: Deconstructed. Barbara criticizes her coworkers for trying too hard to relate to the kids that it's only made their problems worse. Janine and Jacob trying to be their "friend" has made it easy for them to be disrespected while Ava's obsession with internet fads keeps her from doing her job as principal.
- Really 17 Years Old: Ava mentions how she set herself as "22" on all her social media accounts.
- Running Gag: Ava expressing lamentation over not keeping up with trends.
- Shadow Archetype: A rare inversion. Just like Greg, Mr. Johnson couldn't get an important job he wanted in his youth. Thankfully, this allowed him to take on a wide variety of jobs that gave him incredible work experience and valuable stories to share.
- Skewed Priorities: While Barbara is worried about a child getting hurt with desking, Ava is more upset that she didn't know about it even though she always keeps track of internet memes.
- The Stakeout: Mr. Johnson offers to watch over Ms. Teagues' class to capture the head desker in action. He even recruits Greg to join him so he can help watch while he enjoys a hoagie.
- String Theory: Melissa brings up a board of children that she and her team are responsible for the desking trend at school.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Greg insists that Zach must think of Jacob as a great guy, his women coworkers "agree" with him.
- Tempting Fate: In the beginning, Jacob hopes not to ask any questions out of fear of ruining the good vibes he's been receiving all week. Then Ava shows up to tell him that her auntie wants her dog's sweater back.
- That Came Out Wrong: Once Zach provides a reference of the perpetrator's shoe, Janine declares that they'll have to look at their children's feet. Thankfully she points out that that's something none of them should have to do.
- Totally Radical: At first, Janine and Jacob use outdated slang to get the kids to see them as cool. But then it's exploited by having Jacob perform the desking challenge so that none of the kids will find it fun anymore.
