Abbott Elementary S4 Ep 9 Crossover w/ It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Recap

[00:00:17] Abbott Elementary Season 4 Episode 7 Volunteers is over but class is here in session at the Abbott Elementary a post show recap formerly known as a post show recap here on the Abbott Elementary Kickback. It's me Chappelle and I'm back again with my lovely co-host the principal or the president I don't know which one anymore of this podcast to talk about an incredible episode of Abbott that many people have been waiting

[00:00:41] on. It's our crossover episode Gia what's up? Hello Chappelle I am so excited for this I can't believe we're here I can't believe it's already happened there's just been so much build up to it and it did not disappoint I really enjoyed it as somebody that is a little more of a casual It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia fan it was great to see the crossover in real time. I have to say

[00:01:08] I was worried when this was initially announced because Chappelle as you could probably tell from this camera these are two very different shows with people on very different spectrums of moral alignment I will say let's let's just call it that but it was great to be back and see the It's Always Sunny cast because it's been a while since I've watched it's always sunny in Philadelphia episode. Yeah so for the listeners who are not familiar with It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

[00:01:38] you're in for a treat because Gia has seen some of it but I ain't seen none of it so we're all in here to learn today and we brought in some special guests from a podcast that I do adore two people that could tell us a little bit about It's Always Sunny from the Crying Laughing podcast. First I want to introduce Ariel because y'all might have already heard him when I talked about Grey's Anatomy. Ariel thank you

[00:02:00] and uh his co-host the lovely the doctor my favorite doctor of all time honestly top five dead or alive Dr. Amanda what's up? Oh hello it is I'm so excited to be here on the recap kickback in this zany crying laughing recap kickback crossover can the wholesome heartwarming recap kickback audience handle the gritty

[00:02:25] edge of crying laughing that is the question here thank you so much for having us yeah we heard you were looking for like volunteers of some kind we're not really sure what we're here to do but like I'm really happy to be here and help the children yeah for the listeners this is court mandated they had no choice but to be here and so they will be with us for the duration of this episode while we talk about what the hell just happened so uh Gia months ago you and I were like let's break the news there's a

[00:02:53] crossover episode coming and we were very excited but I didn't know what to expect uh and so of course we had to reach out to the crying laughing podcast to come and give us their insight Gia was it everything you thought of being more again so I might I might have been a little wrong here okay because I when this was announced when it was announced that there was going to be a crossover and we did not

[00:03:18] know yet it was always sunny in Philadelphia a lot of people had guessed it that that was what the crossover was going to be by virtue of they're both set in Philadelphia and Philadelphia is a pretty big character setting like pretty big factor in the show and I was like it's not going to be it's always sunny right like there's no way these are two very different shows with very different characters in it

[00:03:45] I just don't know how they would make it work with the Abbott Elementary crew and then they announced oh it is always sunny I'm like well fuck me I guess I guess we're just I guess we're just finding out as we go like I'm facing Cinta and Rob okay so I knew that you know like I had faith in them I was just confused on how it was going to be this episode was fantastic I loved the interactions we got and while

[00:04:15] I don't I have not seen every season of it's always sunny it felt very true to all of the characters um I do love Dennis so I'm very sad that we didn't get more of Dennis but I have heard a lot of people speculating that we are going to see more of Dennis in the it's always sunny episode like he will be more of the focal point of that I know he also is recording another show so I'm assuming part of the

[00:04:41] reason we did not see him um was due to those scheduling conflicts but other than that it was fantastic um Charlie Kelly you are a star just loved loved his interactions the most but everybody was great yeah a lot of people anticipated that this was going to be the crossover and a lot of people was me I was people I was on this immediately she really was it was annoying I was out on those streets because

[00:05:08] um there had been some social media exchanges between Quinta and Rob and you know I live in Philadelphia so like my spidey senses go off anytime anything Philadelphia related is happening um go birds so I anticipated that this was going to be the crossover and there has been a lot of speculation about how exactly they were going to do this this is like a two-part television event so

[00:05:34] we know that the second part of the crossover is going to be the premiere of always sunny's season 17 I'm a huge always sunny in Philadelphia fan I have seen every season so um season 17 is premiering this spring this is going to be the first episode and we do have confirmation um I think that this was an article that was in the EW that said that like the sunny episode is going to be

[00:06:02] like the sunny character's perspective on everything that happened during this episode so we're going to get like the whole week between the times that they're at the school I think this is where we're going to get a lot of the dentist story behind the camera and I agree Gia I love Glenn Howerton I love me a dentist it was probably smart for them to take like the sexual predator sociopath

[00:06:26] out of the main storyline it takes place in an elementary school so I see the wisdom there but I can't wait I can't wait to see what all he has going on I just want to see Ava's reaction to the dentist system because I feel like he is I feel like if he was the vice president of the school for the week that I genuinely think that like him and Ava could have had some evil schemes concocting by the

[00:06:53] end of it like Dennis is not writing thank you cards to anybody no no and it's funny that you mentioned that the the cast is different right like the Abbott Elementary is more wholesome and then apparently based on what I saw this is a cast of criminals on it's always sunny in Philadelphia but I don't know Ariel you're familiar with both shows I think there's a little bit of crossover in the cast even because I don't think Melissa's not you know yeah place here on it's always sunny

[00:07:21] and even with like Ava Ava could get down with these people in a lot of ways we saw so what did you think about the crossover I loved it I mean like first of all we used to we used to build things in this country we used to make things and those things included crossovers and like it is such like a forgotten art and like that was part of the reason I was so excited to like honor the crossover by doing our own version of the crossover all of us and like I was excited I was nervous like that

[00:07:52] crossovers back in the day when you'd be like what those shows do they take place in the same universe that's crazy um so it was exciting I was nervous like some of you I'm like can they pull it off I know they could but will they and it makes so much sense to your question Chappelle that they would use the Miss Chementi like angle like she spends basically every episode at least 30 seconds saying I know someone who knows someone who can do that thing like she knows everyone she knows all the like

[00:08:17] the shady underbelly of Philadelphia so it makes so much sense she's like I think I know you from somewhere obviously playing on the like you're from a different show but like no I actually know you and your bootleg bar that is like horrible and the skeeviest she puts that sh sound on it the skeeviest bar I've ever been to I loved it and it's it was so funny all the little things that I'm excited like you already said excited to like get the other side of it and like the twisted versions

[00:08:45] maybe of the Abbott characters like I think there's a way in which like we got some of the like the the characters were all fully themselves but like maybe a little less edgy some of them some of the Always Sunny characters and I kind of am so fascinated to see like what the Always Sunny lens on an Abbott character will look like so they call them the skeeviest bar but I don't know anything

[00:09:09] about this bar Dr. Amanda please for the people who are new here who've never seen It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia me the people uh what is this show even about? Ooh um such a good question so I mean Always Sunny is about it's been on the air for 20 years the premise is that these the gang which is you

[00:09:34] know Frank Reynolds played by Danny DeVito uh Glenn Howerton plays Dennis Reynolds his twin sister D Reynolds is played by Caitlin Olsen um Rob McElhinney plays Mac and Charlie Day plays Charlie Kelly and they all grew up together and um and they go into business opening this bar together which is Patty's

[00:09:57] um what is Patty's pub like it's sort of a business in name only like I feel like the amount of times you see a patron who is not one of these five characters actually drinking at the bar it's like it's like they sprinkle it in here and there but this is in no way like a functioning business as much

[00:10:18] as it's a device for these five deranged sociopaths to hatch schemes and get into antics along the way it's a little bit confusing like Frank is being Dennis's dad but not really he's their stepfather he starts off as like a successful businessman but just like kind of becomes this deranged troll Cretan person who sleeps in the same bed as Charlie it's like very complicated um oh my god there's been

[00:10:48] a there's a lot of lore there's a lot of pieces to the puzzle um but the idea is like kind of that this is it's like a little bit like a Seinfeld-y premise where it's like they're terrible people and we just like watch them get into these crazy crazy shenanigans week after week oh yeah it is Seinfeld to the max like Seinfeld cannot hang with the illicit behaviors the illicit activities of the

[00:11:15] gang so let's talk about the shenanigans in this Abbott episode because we got a lot to discuss and so uh for one the Abbott storyline here is very simple you know Abbott is falling apart because the district really doesn't show Abbott the love that it needs class and this is true I mean as a parent of the Philadelphia public all of this rings a hundred percent true yes and so we see Ava make

[00:11:42] a phone call to the golf course all right it's a golf course they've been helping us out because um you know we might be taking a bribe here but when we need stuff they're helping us out to make sure that they keep their golf course development going uh sadly though they have joined a union boom boom boom boom we hate it we hate it another thing we used to do in this country right but look we need we love a good kickback here on the recap kickback and so we're trying to get a jumbo drive

[00:12:11] bribes too okay true look by the end of this episode we will see this union extorted because of some loggerhead striking so uh make no mistake we'll be back in in our uh in our previous actions uh soon enough throughout this episode but at first we need volunteers we need volunteers to come in and we get the gang from it's always sunny in Philadelphia so as y'all describe Frank Mac D

[00:12:38] Dennis and Charlie and I'm sitting here thinking hmm you know I don't know these characters so this is going to be my introduction until like like Amanda said um 20 years of lore and I want to see how these people fit within the Abbott community because we know like a lot of people aren't going to get along with Janine because she's very shiny she's very like you know like sunshine and rainbows this doesn't I mean it's always sunny in Philadelphia but it doesn't give off that vibe when these people

[00:13:03] show up and so I was worried about that but I was also really looking forward to what happens when they run into Melissa what happens so they run into Ava and I was not disappointed at all so how about we just take each character from his always study and just plop them into Abbott Elementary as we talk about this cast does sound good for you Gia yep it's perfect okay we will start with the one who had the least bit of content y'all mentioned him already uh there's a whole

[00:13:29] Vanderpump thing going on at Abbott and uh we're getting filmed all the time and uh Dennis is uh not necessarily okay with that he says nah I'm good I understand consent when it comes to the camera I'm not signing any waivers I want to be on the other side of the camera and he shuts this down Ariel what did we miss from Dennis because he's not in this episode essentially uh yeah I mean this is

[00:13:55] lore wise this is a little bit more of an Amanda question but I think for sure like you are I think it was Gia right who already said like I'm so fascinated to see what that means and like what we get behind the camera like we get towards the end of the episode we get him like uh in the scene where um uh where it's the graduation he's kind of like texting on his phone and then he goes into a back door like we get like the smallest little crumbs of of something else going on uh but as far as the

[00:14:24] camera part and the lore and why he doesn't want to be like seen that's that's more of an Amanda question yeah if if Abbott Elementary is Vanderpump then Dennis is the Tom Sandoval of this music so Dennis when Dennis says I know a little bit about like cameras and consent like this goes back way to early days of Sonny and kind of has built into more and more of uh of a feature of Dennis's

[00:14:53] personality he's like a little bit of a um sexual predator type of guy known for like filming his dates without their consent he's like very he's he's done quite a bit of that across multiple seasons there's also this whole episode where um Charlie and Max moms move in together and Dennis like hidden camera records them and they kind of make this reality show out of it so Dennis is very very

[00:15:22] interested in being the behind the camera or tur and like maybe even exploiting and manipulating his subjects without their full knowledge and express consent okay so cool cool yeah yeah why are you in this school please it's scary it's scary maybe he has something to do with how uh I don't know how

[00:15:48] Frank ends up finding himself uh eating compost because Gia I need more information about this man no no that's just Frank um Frank needs no help with that um Frank is someone that in the Chappelle while I'm explaining this just look up the first episode title of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia just real quick just see what the very first episode title is of the show

[00:16:12] but Frank was once a millionaire or just a very rich man and real I see Chappelle finds what the first title of the show is but um I have no chill I should have muted oh go ahead Gia and realize it Amanda correct me if I'm wrong but like in the early seasons it becomes very apparent like as the seasons go through that Frank is just more comfortable and happier being

[00:16:38] a garbage person like financially he could move out of sharing an apartment um with Charlie like a very crappy apartment but Frank is just happier this way and who are we to question I mean we should question it but that is just who Frank is he's a hobo trapped in a millionaire's bank account like that's the Frank Reynolds that we know and love and um yeah I mean eating eating garbage and like

[00:17:08] sleeping in a cage in like a piss pelt is like not the craziest thing we've seen Frank Reynolds do not by a long long shot quite literally one of the moments that just is permanently embedded in my brain is um that because I don't think I've ever laughed longer for an episode like of any show is when Frank finds out

[00:17:32] that at this very fancy restaurant that he is not Dennis and Dee's biological father and they brought them there because he they thought he would not freak out during um and he does he does and it's a very big scene and it's so funny I love this show so much I'm so glad that we brought it back like this is just Frank is such a great character

[00:17:57] now Frank runs into Mr. Johnson in this episode and which is also match made in heaven match made in heaven that's what I'm saying like I was like they I know they're trying to say like the Abbott characters they're like there's a little bit more wholesome but all the Abbott characters got a little edge to them in a different way and I think Mr. Johnson was destined to meet Frank um he calls Frank a trash human

[00:18:21] and he calls and he calls Frank calls Mr. Johnson the sheriff of trash and I thought look is he wrong that is a janitor not the sheriff of trash Ariel isn't that by definition what he's doing I mean he has like oh it's like so fascinating the different like um spectrums of trash that these two characters inhabit like Mr. Johnson is like the uh the emperor of trash in a way right and like Frank just like is

[00:18:48] trash so like the way and like eats it and loves it and like sleeps in it so like the way in which like there's the Venn diagram of them but like Mr. Johnson would like never he respects trash but he would never eat it like he's like a human um so I just think it's so it's not a giant raccoon but he met a famous raccoon last week to have Mr. Johnson call Frank trash I think feel like feels like the ultimate insult like this is a man who deals in trash and he's like I know trash when I see it

[00:19:15] right did you catch the famous raccoon last spring joke like what that is actually a reference no what is that a reference to educate us yeah we after the Oscars last year they had been um advertising that the episode that aired immediately after the Oscars was going to have one of their nominees in the episode there was going to be like a celebrity appearance that ended up being another Philadelphia

[00:19:43] native that I love very dearly Bradley Cooper Bradley Cooper voices the raccoon character in Guardians of the Galaxy so that is the famous raccoon that he met last spring yeah amazing and he's like sir you are no raccoon I know I know a guy okay um yeah in this in this EW um article that I read it was like two of the producers of the shows were talking about like the process of crafting the crossover

[00:20:11] and they actually had built a whole backstory for Frank and Mr. Johnson where they went to high school together and dated the same woman and they had built out this whole thing and I feel like there's so much potential there but unfortunately like with all of the different plot lines it didn't fit but release the tapes I want to see this no I would watch a Tom and Jerry-esque show just around the

[00:20:37] exploits of Mr. Johnson and Frank wow just like that like that type of relationship throughout and just like we have been lobbying for this yeah we've been lobbying for the look no I'm saying we have been lobbying for Mr. Johnson to have his own show since episode one of Abbott Elementary and now we found the premise we found the premise bring in Frank um Gia I feel like it might have been a missed opportunity for Frank and Ava to come into contact a little bit more because it felt like they had like similar

[00:21:06] conspiracy theories kind of vibes going on because Frank's like oh no these batteries are food for the aliens and stuff like that you know or for the robots I was like Ava can get down with that Gia I feel like if he had brought in Ava to fact check she would have been absolutely like this makes perfect sense here like listen to this man Ava's time was spent with Mac with dealing with Mac the whole week

[00:21:31] their community service hours early and I actually am really glad that this is the duo we got even though I'm dying to see Ava and Dennis interact I think Mac is like the perfect guinea pig for Ava to appoint as the vice president of the school white vice president that's important he's a white vice

[00:21:53] yes his her white vice president very yeah and he and basically have her have him do her bidding amounting to at the very end having him be black male a golf course in here I think like this is right up max alley here I think he would make a great vice president a great white vice president of

[00:22:17] Abbott elementary he wants like a permanent gig because you need one you really need one I remember Ariel's journey into Abbott elementary and watching him be like who is this Ava woman and then 30 seconds later be like I would die for this lady uh Ariel same Ariel Mac just doesn't he doesn't get Ava you know he just doesn't understand her doing her bidding is what she requires from her employees this is not

[00:22:45] gonna get you out of work no it's so fascinating too to like watch what could have been like from the commercials before I watched the episode it seemed like there was gonna be like some kind of romantic maybe uh spark between them and like he was gonna be he was gonna be like challenging her in that way and it was more just like no you're another person that I can use to get what I want it's so

[00:23:08] funny um I think that it's it's nice that they like come to get I love the scene of him like steaming her clothes in the background she's like get up to that no you can't stay in that room uh it's like I wanted to see Ava interacting with everybody but like it's just so hard to manage I would love to see right like the I'm sure I hope and I pray that there are deleted scenes that maybe they can release

[00:23:36] at some point and I would love to also hear just like all the different ideas for the character interactions that they had that they didn't even follow through on like it's it's also fascinating yeah like uh Mac I love this there was a New York Times article about this episode and they described each of the study characters and they called Mac the dim boyish hunk um so I think yeah I think that like I mean maybe like at least 20 years ago he was I think he still is but um no no he still is

[00:24:07] like Dennis is the alpha of the always sunny gang and Ava is the alpha at Abbott Elementary obviously um so I like I do think that they could have been a natural pairing like Dennis would not have written thank you notes like Dennis would not have just like capitulated and tried to kiss up to Ava he would have had like a second level game going on but like Mac is often the second in command who steps in

[00:24:31] when Dennis is not like leading the pack and so this made sense I think Mac is like more eager to please a little bit more naive like he can hatch a scheme and he thinks his scheme is smart but it's always like a little bit less smart than he thinks it is um couldn't be me I can't I can't wait to see the Mac side of everything that's going on because I think that it's a little bit too straightforward

[00:25:01] for Mac to just be trying to do a good job to get out of community service early and also the Mac that I know cannot follow through on simple tasks as successfully as we've seen so like for example when Mac goes to get the car detailed there is something wrong with that car okay like where did he go what did he do with the car what did he do in that time like I need to know what happened

[00:25:26] like with that car detail because there is no way he just got the car detailed and came back there's no way and I know we got cinnamon rolls but like how did he get those I would not eat those cinnamon rolls I don't know what is good what the rest of that story is yeah I'm glad you brought that up because because I don't know these characters and Dennis is not on the episode essentially I figured Mac is in charge right and so he's got his like it's him and the crew and they're off doing their side missions but his goal is to get them back to the bar no matter what we got to get out of here

[00:25:55] this school we can't be here doing this volunteer stuff and so he's realized okay I'm gonna just you know pull all the strings of bribery that I have right like everything that I can do is this good enough can we go I washed your car let's get out of here like he just he has bigger fish to fry but even when he says oh yeah uh I'll do anything I was like anything what are you insinuating to anyway and they was like oh good detail my car and I'm thinking don't give this criminal your car what are you doing but then he comes back and it's fine it's obviously it's not

[00:26:24] fine it's not it's not fine oh yeah see that's that's the kind of energy I needed because I was wondering how this even how does Ava find the one of all these criminals who can actually be competent you know like he was doing exactly what she asked him to do so good to where she kind of was thinking about keeping him on until she found out about those thank you letters uh Gia we know Ava's not going for that she keeps these uh these teachers in line with fear and intimidation nope she's running this

[00:26:49] school like the navy okay they don't navy does not get thank you cards I'm sorry yeah they run on insults here insults go birds raccoon pelts you know uh standing you're you're in you know they know what they're doing um okay so I want to talk about D but you kind of have to you but I don't know so I want to leave I want to leave yeah let's do D let's do D because I'll leave the Charlie storyline

[00:27:14] because I have a lot of questions Charlie storyline is by far my favorite for many reasons but I'm very excited to talk about D and Janine first yeah so D starts off as hey look at this character who might be normalish she does make a couple statements like oh is this a school is that what this is you know like she's a little snarky but we don't get any bad behavior from D right off the bat she's in

[00:27:41] Janine's class and they are bonding because they both went to Penn now Janine is very excited about this D kind of seems like oh yeah like she's she's dropping names and stuff like that so so it seems like she's at least been to the school I wasn't I wasn't concerned yeah but then the D-ism starts to slip out a little bit and uh she meets Gregory for the first time and her eyes light up and like uh like pop out of her head and she is very into Gregory and she even has to look over at the

[00:28:10] one white child in the school and be like hey what's his deal when she said hey white kid I lost it when she said white kid I had to pause I had to pause yeah um so Dr. Amanda hmm is D acting like D in this episode did she actually go to Penn oh look look these are my girls we all went to Penn together we were there we were on Locust Walk we went to Smokey Joe's okay

[00:28:38] um we look it's not a state school it's not Penn State it's an Ivy League school not a lot of people know that um yeah so D and Dennis did go canonically go to the University of Pennsylvania they're twins Chappelle they're twins and they and the thing about D and Dennis is like they were like they were raised

[00:29:00] rich they went to good schools they can present like a normal person for about 10 minutes and then it immediately goes off the rails like Frank and Charlie they kind of show you who they are right away like even Mac has trouble being normal like despite what you see in this episode but D and Dennis can like

[00:29:22] put off an initial good impression but do not let that fool you they are crazier and more unhinged than anybody in this show in the universe and I love D I love D with all my heart I think Caitlin Olsen is a comedic genius yeah um and nobody is pettier nobody is more selfish nobody is going to like she loves to

[00:29:49] compete with a woman she loves to get into a petty fight she loves to make it all about her um this was a brilliant pairing it's not necessarily the one that I saw coming I sort of thought that like Ava and D would have a very funny clash potentially but it makes so much sense to like pair her with Janine who

[00:30:11] like Janine is not up for this kind of like petty feud and like she's not she's not used to this game and now she's in she's in D's world and D is going to pull out all the stops she is going to flirt with a man while she is wearing a wig with a gray receding hairline and insane eyebrows like it's nobody's

[00:30:34] business um I thought that this was so much fun yeah so we saw through Janine's eyes basically D and her had a normal-ish interaction she was so kind to her hey everybody look at your teacher she's a genius you should only be so lucky but when we kind of compare notes with the other teachers Barbara says is she the one who came in my classroom asking if she could light up in here and I said wait the same

[00:30:58] lady so I knew there was more than meets the you know that meets the eye but Ariel oh my god when she saw Gregory and she just decided oh no not only am I going to flirt with this man but I'm going to get the students involved in it as well they're going to do valentine's day cards in January did you see those shoulders I thought about you Amanda when she went to the shoulders it's so funny I have

[00:31:24] seen of the little of I love that we're like all along we're all all four of us are in a different space on the spectrum of our uh always sunny as far as like uh always sunny um lore familiarity and like context but like I have seen the episode where like she is where D is trying to like break up uh it's not a marriage but it's like they're yeah they're engaged and she's like literally like just

[00:31:50] doing everything she can to get this man so it's like this is her this is her bread and butter this is what she's best at and you see it in this episode it's like laid out so clear that like nothing would make her happier than to compete for this man even though even though the right even though the man could not be any less interested in her even like before she's even kind of like talk spoken like full sentences to him but she loves him Ariel I love you do you love him because I

[00:32:23] you know what they say about abodexious women okay they're ready to fight for what they love D is my favorite D is my favorite I just want to say that and like I agree with Amanda Caitlin Olsen is just so good like I'm watching her like mid ABC 7 show called uh high potential yeah and it's like she has more like mid potential but I love you Kayla Olsen you're so good and she's she brings it every time um Gia she's prepared to go toe to toe with

[00:32:53] Janine and those are big toes Gia enormous feet Gia just two big-footed women fighting over the American dream fighting over Gregory Eddie who is probably just terrified that any of this is even going on it's just it's perfect it's absolutely perfect and I am I I also love D I love D and

[00:33:18] Dennis when they are just like peak siblings together I just feel like it is like the perfect combo and it's always sunny um and this was this was even better especially because like Janine is not prepared for the level of crazy that she has welcomed into her classroom because any other person hearing that Gregory is taken by the woman standing in front of you would be at least at least

[00:33:44] pretend to not be interested after that right not D this just only makes him want her want Gregory more and the idea that she is going to have to fight for him and that he's not even that interested in her just makes the chase all the more fun that is that's the D I know that's the D I remember yeah and

[00:34:10] Chappelle you should know that like in always sunny like they're they're always making fun of D for having huge hands and huge feet and they call her a bird so like all of these things kind of just got like very like lightly sprinkled in and that was very very fun yeah oh yeah that was smooth because I didn't I didn't pick up that that was a running joke because it's kind of a running joke for Janine too honestly dunking on Janine is a running joke which brings me to my next question Gia I keep doing

[00:34:35] this and maybe I've just come around to thinking ultimately maybe Ava should be on it's always sunny in Philadelphia because I would why didn't we get Ava and D yes why did we not get Ava and D because Ava's not gonna put up with that like you you're telling me that if Ava uh if D was uh playing this act with Ava's man that they weren't gonna fight in two seconds like Ava's about

[00:35:01] that life Janine is not about that life in the same way that's what we missed out we missed out if you think D is petty meet Ava you know what I'm saying like I mean well I would love I would love on the always sunny episode for Ava to show up at Patty's pub and like and like see what happened then because Ava is like I mean look D talks a big game and she acts tough but D is always

[00:35:26] in her flop era she is always calling her face so if you had to stand up Ava to D I have like my money on Ava every day of the week and it would definitely be hilarious yeah exactly uh Ava Ava grew up poor as far as we know so she is ready for you know like she she is about that life she will scuffle when need be so I just I think it's not a fair fight for D and maybe that's kind of what D deserves but

[00:35:56] also like this was the battle that we needed and Janine was was getting ready to stand up for her not the best at articulating it but she is absolutely going to be like 10 toes down in her relationship here so I do love that for her especially with how comforting Gregory was afterwards Gregory is not equipped to be handling two women fighting over him at once okay I'm sorry

[00:36:23] this is not this is not a lot of women yeah see see here's a lot of foot a lot of foot maybe I'm toxic because Gregory steps out and tells Janine like you have nothing to worry about like obviously I want to be with you if I wanted to be with her and I clearly don't want to be with this lady like you would know but like I want to be with you I'm committed to you and that's the type of thing that Janine needs to hear he's no stranger to being sexually harassed by women especially petty

[00:36:49] women because we watched Ava sexually harassed this man for seasons right in front of Janine Ariel you could look at the vision okay D coming in and being like Gregory's my man Ava being like girl you don't want to do this and leave him just going lower and lower and taking it to hell bring her on both shoulders I'm saying she needs to be a recurring character at least oh I would love her to be a recurring character on it's always sunny yeah yeah she won't show I mean I'm sorry

[00:37:16] Gregory though this is just the plight of a man with such a tight shoulder game like your shoulders are that on point you know the women are going to be flocking D loves the way that Gregory like stares at the camera and gives like the dead eyes when he's like annoyed about something there's just something about it that just brings her to life yeah the more committed she heard about this

[00:37:38] relationship the more she was in on it okay I love him I love him it's crazy okay it was the best part of the world do you love him because I love him right but but also Gia as two people who I'm talking about we were the first I don't care what nobody says we were the first Janine and Gregory shippers in existence episode one okay let's just think pioneers did you think Janine was going to say

[00:38:08] it though because she hasn't said it that she loves no no no no they're normal people these are normal ish people in this relationship okay there there is no way Janine was going to drop the I love you that I think Gregory is going to say it first actually oh I know I did I know and I think it's going to be an accident I think like he means it but he's going to say it and not realize that he said it's going to be their little awkward dance that they always do that they gotta be they gotta be

[00:38:37] awkward they have to they gotta be awkward that's just how that's just how those two baby birds are um we love them when it came up when it came up between them and they were like saying the l word and Gregory shows up I'm like oh my god is this how it becomes awkward like we didn't say and it didn't you know like the will they we did the literally three entire seasons of will they won't they and now we're like we gotta do the do they love they not they or whatever yeah um that's the thing they she says it to Janine she kind of like just throws the question at her and Janine is caught

[00:39:06] off guard because one why does this woman care also why is she saying that she loves him but Janine starts stuttering and I thought oh this is I think this is where it starts area this is where we get to like oh are we gonna say it eventually you know it is a really good way for the show yeah to like pick this thread up later just add it without these characters and it's like this happened we do have valentine's day coming up yeah I'm sure a very special valentine's episode

[00:39:31] it's almost a month away so I'm singing I think that you know it could be a discussion that comes up in the future but I did not expect it to come up during this episode either I mean I think it's like a testament to what a really good job both creative teams did with like merging these stories together because if you're if you just know Dee you're like this is exactly the kind of unhinged

[00:39:56] thing she does and I've seen her do it a hundred times before but if you're watching like as an Abbott fan you're like oh my gosh she's gonna go there and Janine hasn't said that yet so I like I feel like this show was so smart at like finding places where it works from both perspectives and it kind of melds together perfectly I love him shut up Ariel you should have made Ariel should have made his

[00:40:21] headline I love him um we're talking about how smart this episode is so I guess we have to talk about Charlie um I was so happy about this storyline oh I do not know this man I've never seen this man before in my life I've only I've only seen you know the commercials for always study I've never seen an episode of minute I didn't know what to expect from this man I did not know that he would be

[00:40:49] graduating as one of the new readers from Abbott elementary yeah I was not prepared for the step up graduation that they did for Charlie here I know I scrumpt when positively scrumpt yeah I just don't know where to start not to admit at the beginning of the next season of it's always

[00:41:17] sunny will it now be canon that this man can read tell me how well this is 20 let's not get ahead let's not get ahead of ourselves they play basketball against ghosts we still got a ways to go okay um yeah uh Charlie Day portraying Charlie Kelly in this role he is a national treasure I love this man I

[00:41:41] love this man from the depths of my soul with all of my heart um this like this is the character that I think fits the best in the Abbott universe because like oh he's the only like he's the always like they can all be kind of like sympathetic and like sincere but Charlie is like a sweetheart even if he's

[00:42:05] extremely dumb and does criminal things like you usually see where he's coming from you can you can empathize with him he's almost a child like not only intellectually but also like emotionally he's very sweet and um it's been like it's funny like this show sort of started with Charlie being the dumbest one and then it's like the Homer Simpson vacation of a character like as the seasons go on

[00:42:32] they've just made him dumber and dumber and dumber and at like some point probably around like season four or five they revealed that like he can't read and that's been like a running thing so it it's just it's such a good plot to make this be something that that Miss Howard like discovers and like wants to help him with and I thought like they did a pretty nice job of making it funny while also like treating the issue with like the seriousness like you know they didn't they didn't diminish the issue or make fun of

[00:43:01] adult illiteracy but like they played on you know the funny things about the character of Charlie um so Charlie can now read at a kindergarten level and and maybe we'll see him like sounding out words in season 17 of Always Sunny like I look forward to that I have to say one thing I thought was like very cute and funny is the way he's like trying to show off to Mac at the end of the episode and he's like I'll pick one of those sentences from the end of the book like

[00:43:33] sir please get back to the story about the birds because that's how they do it they start with the easy sentences in the in the story and then they work their way up to the really hard ones at the end uh so as someone who did not know who this person was I was very confused for a long time okay because because it starts off because you know

[00:43:57] we don't know he can't read right so he comes in and he's like helping with first first of all I'm sorry I can't even skip to the classroom Gia what is duck work why did he agree to it Charlie's experienced in it he knows a lot about duck work this is this is the type of from my experience with It's Always Sunny this is the type of uh very random niche topics that

[00:44:26] Charlie is well versed in so him saying he's experienced in duck work not duct work um is very on brand I can't off the tip of my tongue think of any duck specific storylines right now but yeah in there he's like he's like a an expert in bird law go birds yeah milkshake is a milkshake is a

[00:44:51] often quoted joke in there it's his favorite food he's like a he's a self-taught kind of person so it's like he sort of follows his own threads and he has like oddball interests like so it's not hard to imagine that Charlie would like be like oh like get like follow a duck one day and then like you know come up with something around that so he's like and and he's you know and like he's just kind of

[00:45:20] generally got a very vague impressionistic idea of the world almost like a child like the way a child would hear duck to work and be like there can't be two words that sound like that they must be talking about a duck he comes in and Jacob poor Jacob now I don't know if Jacob needed this they you see they remove Charlie from Jacob very quickly they're like all right let's get into some more

[00:45:44] experienced educators Jacob was stressed yeah because the duck work seemed like it was working out right um like that happened very quickly but then Charlie decided you know with his infinite wisdom that he should be teaching the class as well and so he just looks over at this overhead projector and starts saying words that are not on the screen and it happens so quickly innovative where

[00:46:10] innovative where took me down because I I had to rewind it I said wait that there's no way that was out there and he's and he's really talking about how ironing is a myth it doesn't work and I'm like wait ironing is a myth actually I do sterling also endorsed that ironing is a myth it's not a myth but you just steam it's much faster and like it's dangerous but like just throw your clothes in the dryer your fire yeah yeah yeah look he was making points so again I thought maybe he's just derailing

[00:46:38] the conversation because he wants to talk about fashion but as he's pointing to the overhead more Ariel it's just like he's just he sees letters and he just skips and guesses what everything else so you know he's like I know the first letter and that's it he's like he's trying to finish he's like a oh I'm that thing of like we're trying to finish each other's sandwiches no sentences like you got it wrong it's like so so close but not at all uh and he and you can just tell like

[00:47:06] he walks around the world and he has to like be able to fill in the blanks somehow and he uses as much as much information as his brain and eyes can actually take in yeah and he's like and it's to your point Shippel it's not like completely off it's just you think it's not at all accurate yeah he's the king of that clearly yeah and it's funny because now they realize at this point in the episode

[00:47:33] they've realized that these people are criminals but Abbott ain't turning around no criminals especially if they need help with adult literacy it it's hard to say no to free yeah yeah for sure uh enter Barbara Howard educator as she introduces herself uh yes it's me Barbara Howard I will be helping you today I've never felt more hopeful for anything in my entire life yeah um doc you pointed out that

[00:47:59] you know Abbott doesn't really make light of the situation of Charlie not being every they don't make fun of him they more like point out the funny aspects of what he's doing and then turn it into almost like I hate to say a teachable moment but really uh Melissa steps up and says like hey maybe he's dyslexic you know like these things matter Barbara talks about how difficult it is for adults to learn how to read yeah yeah it's it's funny because I think only Abbott can do something like

[00:48:26] that right like find the ridiculous moments and these kids getting educated and then also turn it into something that is very wholesome it makes you go oh yeah I think I think it's like I think it's a real strength of the show and people who've listened to like crying laughing know like how much for me like my soapbox issue is that like the traditional half hour comedy is important and protected at all costs and

[00:48:53] like and you know it should be acknowledged in award shows and all of that and I think that this is like a little bit of the magic of that is like you can be watching this story that is very funny and very engaging and have this heartwarming moment where it makes a real point and people think about like oh you know adult dyslexia and illiteracy and these are issues and it's still funny and you know always sunny is not the show that is

[00:49:20] going to do that storyline about Charlie learning to read like that will not hit the same way so I think that this is like I'm one of the things I'm so excited about this crossover potential and I think that the Abbott episode really shows that is it like uses the strength of both shows to tell different kinds of stories and I think that like this is going to be the episode like that's going to be important

[00:49:46] in both of the show's lore like the episode where Charlie learns to read it's like we've had this character for 16 seasons has been illiterate and it's been a punchline but like this is a real issue and we can take this character that people love in Barbara Howard and like show that you know it's not too late for people to learn to read like it's and and it's such an important thing so I thought that that was a

[00:50:10] beautiful beautiful moment also shout out to the kid in Jacob's class who after uh after he sees that Charlie can't read he's like this school man because why is he teaching the class him not reading is one thing but this man is in front of the class Gia why is this criminal teaching the class how to read and he can't even read I think the issue of him being a criminal is more of like

[00:50:37] like a side issue at that point this man has no idea what he's talking about his uh his felony status is uh complete non-issue at this point remember they had uh the tire and iron guy uh um teach them at one point when they were talking about strikes like that that was important teach classes yeah

[00:50:59] yeah yeah Gia eventually Charlie will graduate graduate from being able to read um his step up to the streets graduation I'm so sorry I just it kills me that they're like after what like five days of Charlie being there that like Barbara and Melissa and Jacob like well obviously we are throwing

[00:51:27] him a graduation for this a random man this random criminal that has been volunteering at the school for five days not even probably um it kills me that this was like oh yes we absolutely need to take class time away to hold this ceremony make it an occasion put on a special outfit like yeah we love to celebrate our accomplishments yeah show these kids show these kids that it's never too late and

[00:51:55] that we should celebrate like small wins I mean huge wins but it's like a kind of like a midway point of a huge win so it's fine we'll take it I love the potential of like maybe now that Charlie can read like what will happen in the always sunny universe like he'll be like like once he can actually like he's emboldened with this superpower like all of this information comes flooding at him what is he's gonna be like oh my god docked work I understand yeah because he can read on a

[00:52:25] kindergarten level but uh you know there are other way to go yeah yeah exactly so much more well-versed in bird law now he can actually read the bird law books go birds yeah yeah go birds Gia before we wrap we normally give out like a gold star to like the student of the week here and you know the kids are the heart of the show Gia but uh how is Charlie not the student of the week I was about to say that

[00:52:51] because Charlie was technically a student this week yeah right yeah he had a little graduation he learned how to read he got the support of the kindergarten class it was great yes um I do think is that other white kid named Charlie as well they're all named Charlie you can call his name I think we have learned his name but I and I think it's I can't remember but the white the other

[00:53:18] white kid I feel like is uh just for being having to put up with just being known as white kid uh I do think he could also be a contender for student of the week but I think Charlie is miles ahead of him and the other kids at this point yes also we have to highlight one of our rising characters as well who's been in the background a little bit lately Gia you know we like Daya what is why is she here is she the one that says I'm drowning at the beginning of the episode

[00:53:46] wait so she's the one that Dennis hits on and let like no no that's somebody because I was like who are these these people that teacher was uh like a one-time character before in um an episode where Janine was sick she kind of hates Janine and um it's a little bit of a gossip diva we love her um not as much as though obviously but Daya is slowly becoming a reoccurring character that is Ava's

[00:54:15] secretary so when you see her like calling for somebody to be like answering her phone or anything like that that's Daya we love Daya she has been suffering more than most characters in this show and still it comes to work every day and uh it still has this like diva queen aura about her so

[00:54:39] we're just obsessed yes and um the one the one pairing we really didn't address in this uh episode is Ava and Charlie they don't really ever see like that doesn't seem like that's going to be a theme she comes in she sees that he's struggling with reading but Ava Ava's too savvy to even care she's this girl romantic she's like that's under my radar what she hears is a story about an endangered

[00:55:06] bird and this information about the Shrike is what will lead her to go and take Mac and they will extort this golf course again so that they could get a jumbotron or a scoreboard whichever uh you know for Abbott elementary and I love that so much because it's so true to form for Abbott for Ava to kind of like there's shenanigans going on but she's got her own side mission because from episode one people

[00:55:33] were questioning is Ava even fit to do to do anything with this school and she will go above and beyond and find a way to make sure these kids have what they need even if it means teaming up with some criminals from the other side of town uh crazy she's an educator it's that kind of out of the box thinking that you need to um to like you know I said you know I'm a parent of the Philadelphia public school system the system does not work so you need to work outside of the system if you want

[00:56:00] to get things done and Ava more than anything understands that fact and I I applaud the ingenuity yeah yeah you know I don't have kids but if I did and they went to a school system I would like to know that my teachers my children's teachers are breaking a few laws maybe black blackmailing a few corporations for the good of the children have the supplies that they need through the day that they

[00:56:25] are getting the education they deserve yeah as we wrap up we learned that Gregory is gay and Mac has turned the school around single-handedly Frank got to work to he got to work to land eat some fiber and Charlie can read so all of this means that community service is great and crime is worth it crime is worth it I love it my gold star in here now yeah my gold star goes to uh goes to D for

[00:56:50] recognizing that Gregory is gay and that's happening in the short one being an ally she's such an ally in that moment she sees him for who she is this was hilarious I love him in quotes forever oh can we also just acknowledge Frank stealing Mr. Johnson's car battery which I'm sure will come back into play got to Mr. Johnson's not going to take this lying down but uh

[00:57:17] we we got to come back together y'all to talk about the premiere of it's always sunny in Philadelphia when these avid people make their way onto that other show Dr. Amanda Ariel are you ready for that Chappelle are you ready to jump in to the always sunny universe and go to Patty's pub in South Philadelphia and experience that Caucasian cultural exchange that is always sunny I just need Melissa to hold my hand and take me in there you know I feel like I'll be safe if she's there but uh yeah how about Gia and I

[00:57:46] come and join y'all yes at the shkeaviest podcast around uh crying laughing it'd be so much fun I I cannot wait thank you all so much for joining me and Gia here as we talk about these crazy kids and these shenanigans and these criminals all on this avid elementary mid-season premiere Dr. Amanda Ariel y'all are great tell everybody what y'all are working on where they can find you what's going on on crafting

[00:58:13] craft crying laughing throwing up you know yeah crafting laughing throwing up uh Ariel what y'all got going on uh we have so much we're finishing six feet under we're literally days away from covering the series finale of six feet under which is like a huge emotional deal um and we're going to be announcing what we're covering next we have a lot of bonus coverage coming up we'll be covering maybe like a new

[00:58:38] medical show that just came out possibly um so yeah and well obviously like like we've already said we would we will and are going to be so happy to cover the other side of this crossover and whatever how many months that happens uh follow the pod cry laugh pod on social media Amanda anything else what did I miss I think you got it all Ariel yeah I did it for you it's a big it's a big time for us like finishing six feet under the finale five whole seasons um it's emotional it's a great time though to

[00:59:08] start following the podcast and be a part of what we have going on next yeah I'm over there too talking about Grey's Anatomy with Ariel and uh I'm definitely going to try to dive into this new hospital show and so uh you know check it out go and subscribe uh to uh cry laugh is it how do you get to it cry you can find crying crying laughing and you can search in your podcatcher of choice and you can find us uh everywhere on the internet crying laughing pod there you go and uh Gia what about you what

[00:59:36] else you got going on because we we talked about how to ruin Christmas again we did and it was so fun I did you know Chappelle I did think about it a little more I think the second season may be my favorite as well like more well-versed like it's just there's more episodes there's one more episode it's good oh it's amazing but yeah so Chappelle and I talk about talked about how to ruin Christmas season two which is called how to ruin Christmas the funeral it is so good I cannot wait to talk

[01:00:06] about the final season of the show as well but it has been a great time so when that is out please make sure that you give it a listen and give the show a try as well because it is so good but that is that is uh you know kind of a side plot here and we are what we'll have some other stuff coming out soon I'm trying to think about what I'm doing right now oh yeah I am in the survivor

[01:00:31] off season but I am working on art more articles for inside survivors 50 for 50 so definitely take a look at that and I recently was a guest on the Tradar podcast with David Bloomberg so take a listen to that too we just talked about the premiere episode so I made some predictions that may not have been right but that's okay you know that's fine that's fine um and I'm so excited to get into more reality tv

[01:01:00] soon so I'm very excited and we'll probably have some more projects coming up so stay tuned yep thank you so much and here we got me and Mari every week uh talking about whatever is whatever pops up in black entertainment news Tyrone joined me to talk about the madness that podcast should be up soon G of course mentioned how to ruin Christmas the funeral and we got how to ruin Christmas the baby shower coming soon as well we're coming up on the year anniversary of recap kickback uh February

[01:01:27] marks black history month and when history was made I got my own shit and so uh check that out stay tuned and let us know what you want us to do to commemorate this whole year and recap kickback if you just an avid listener go check out everything else we got going on it's so much fun here uh but yeah for the entire panel for Dr. Amanda Ariel Gia and myself please check us out when we reconvene check out cry laugh and throw up and then join us next time here on Abbott Elementary and recap kickback

[01:01:55] cause fast is over peace my chest wait on life I wanna hold my breath I'ma get in my goddamn self