"The Principal's Office" is the seventeenth episode of Abbott Elementary and the fourth episode of Season 2.
One of Gregory's student is starting to disrupt class with his obnoxious behavior leaving him unsure on how to handle the disciplinary side of teaching. Elsewhere, Melissa decides to teach Janine how to cook for herself who ultimately becomes invested in fixing the estrangement between her and her sister.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Melissa and Barbara are grossed out when Janine fills her ramen cup with pork rinds and peanut butter. It's deconstructed when it's revealed that she never learned how to properly cook and she used to rely on Tariq to cook for them both.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Micah, Greg's student, has a habit of blurting out things in the middle of class (usually related to Bluey, which he's a big fan of) that disrupts his whole lesson. It's gotten to the point that the other kids find him unbearable too, which Greg notes is a feat in of itself considering how hard it is for six-year-olds to be annoyed by anything.
- I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Melissa states this feeling just before inviting Janine to her house for a lesson in cooking.
- Cold Open: The episode kicks off with Barbara celebrating one of her student's birthdays in class only for her to get carried away with the singing.
- Dissonant Serenity: Melissa admits that she still misses Kirsten and actually enjoyed fighting with her. She even has photos of her and her sister with a wacky backstory behind each one.
- The Dog Bites Back: Along with getting a better handle of his discipline problem, Greg makes a witty comeback to thwart Ava's sexual harassment, which impresses Barbara.
- Dramatic Irony: Gregory credits having a restrictive and joyless childhood as the reason for how he became the respected, well-adjusted adult he is in the present.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After a conversation with his mentor Ms. Howard, Gregory realizes something about the way he grew up.Greg: It's possible what I had forgotten what all that discipline did to me as a kid. I'm starting to think that maybe I didn't grow into the man I'm proud of because of it... Maybe I did in spite of it.
- Friendship Moment: After the disastrous reunion between the two Schemmenti sisters, Janine openly apologizes for her behavior and how it was wrong of her to meddle. Melissa accepts her apology and allows her to come back to her house to continue her cooking lessons.
- From Bad to Worse: Greg was having a hard time teaching thanks to Micah's disruptions. But things get worse when he comes back from the principal's office completely unchanged and with the other kids deciding to act out so they can get a free toy like him.
- Get Out!: Melissa orders everyone to leave after she figured out that Janine tricked Kirsten into coming back home using her less-then-stellar dish.
- Innocently Insensitive: Janine worries about comparing Melissa's sister drama with an episode of The Sopranos.
- Kick the Dog: Along with refusing to actually discipline Micah while telling Greg to deal with it himself, Ava makes an announcement saying that Mr. Eddie will be returning to class so that the student body can gawk at him during his walk of shame.
- Immediately after, Mr. Johnson appears behind him chanting "Shame! Shame!"
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Janine's attempt at reuniting the Schemmenti sisters with her own cooking only makes their bad blood worse. Especially after she presents her a meal under Melissa's name.
- Noodle Incident:
- Ms. Howards often gets carried away with singing during special events in her class.
- Ms. Coleman mentions how she has beef with every children's entertainment center in the Philadelphia area.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Melissa brings up how her sister Kristen desecrated their grandmother's recipe by using a different ingredient which led to their sisterhood falling apart. Later, she explains that Kristen couldn't handle seeing their grandmother in her final days and ultimately ran away leaving Melissa to take care of everything alone.
- Precision F-Strike: Melissa says the f word after Janine and Gregory refuse to close their eyes while inside her home.
- Psychological Projection: Janine's reason for wanting to fix Melissa's relationship with her sister is because of her own strained sisterhood.
- Shipper on Deck: Mr. Johnson cheekily comments on Greg and Janine having a fight with each other.
- Shout-Out:
- Micah is a huge fan of Bluey, and frequently disrupts Gregory's lessons with references to it. Gregory later figures out a way to deal with Micah's disruptions by putting pictures of Bluey and Bingo on the board and using them in a story problem to engage with him.
- Kirsten calls Janine "Bilbo Baggins" after greeting her at the door.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: While safe in the sanctuary of her house and not having to worry about censoring herself for the sake of the students, Melissa is free to swear like a sailor.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Greg is able to control Micah's behavior by using his interest in Bluey in the science lesson. He even makes a wisecrack at his amorous boss without fear. But then he gets a phone call from his father who sours his mood.
- Tranquil Fury: Barbara warns Ava to turn on the television or there will be another national emergency.
- Two Roads Before You: Barbara explains to Greg that he's at a crossroad when it comes to discipline. He can either have his students fear him or respect him. But he can't have both.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gregory calls out Ava for her unwillingness to do her job and discipline the kids who come to her office.
