All of the Philly reference in ‘Abbott Elementary’ Season 2

Janine arrives at Abbott to a huge Eagles tailgate party. When she complains that it’s “development week” for the teachers, principal Ava (Janelle James) sets her straight: “Here’s a development. You either gotta park on the street, or give me $50 for your spot.” Everyone who’s ever been to the sports complex in South Philly felt that.

Custodian Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) welcomes Janine back, and enthusiastically tells her that “this year’s going to be different.” Not because of anything good going on at Abbott, but because “the Eagles got AJ Brown, baby.”

Fellow teacher Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) spent her summer down the shore with Gary, her season one fling. Her fondest memory was “the smell of cigarettes and vinegar,” because it reminds her of her childhood. Starting off season two by roasting Jersey — nice.

Janine plans a mixer for teachers, which she has catered with food from Dunkin’ and viral Philly restaurant Danny’s Wok, which also was a reference in the first season.

Now, for the big reveal: Janine secured none other than Flyers mascot Gritty as a special guest for the first day of school. He is, Janine says, “the only celebrity that matters” (true), and “America’s favorite orange furry sweetheart” (also true). She got him as a guest by “pretending to slip on a beer can at the Flyers arena.”

Gregory (Tyler James Williams), like the rest of Philly when first introduced to the Flyers mascot, doesn’t “get Gritty.” Melissa, like all of Philadelphia now, gets very angry with him because of that.

After announcing Gritty, Janine gets a phone call, and Jacob (Chris Perfetti) assumes it is Gritty (it’s not). He asks whether Gritty’s area code is 215 or 267, shouting out the city’s two predominant area codes.

Gregory laments the workload teachers face at Abbott, and Barbara (Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph), mocks him, saying, “Welcome to the Philly public school system, where you never have what you need.” That’s not really a joke so much as a fact.

Janine ended up parking outside the tailgating area on the street, and gets booted by what can only be described as a store-brand PPA agent. She asks for help from the very South Philly Melissa, but she doesn’t know anyone in parking enforcement — just “a guy in enforcement, but that’s a last-resort kind of call.”

Gritty mistakenly shows up the school early, and as best we can tell, it’s the actual Gritty — not a knockoff. Janine gets frustrated, and, again, like all of Philly at our introduction to the mascot, says, “What the hell, Gritty?” They later hug, which is how we all feel about him now.

Ava calls someone “oldhead.” Philly slang lives on.

Gritty closes the episode with a flash of his bulbous bellybutton, a belly dance, and a butt shake. Gregory, like (you guessed it) all of us, is now a fan.

Barbara suggests visiting Addington if only because it’s “closer to the cheesesteak spot” they frequent for lunch. Janine protests, saying it’s only closer by about a block, but when you’re hungry, every inch counts.

Janine criticizes Addington, but Barbara tells her that the school’s facilities are nicer because they don’t have asbestos. Janine doesn’t give up, saying the charter school “cheaped out on the asbestos.” Asbestos is a long-running problem in Philly schools, which the Inquirer tracks in our School Checkup tool.

At lunch, Melissa can be seen eating a bag of Utz pretzels — a snack Jacob later also enjoys. Not Philly exactly, but Utz is based out of Hanover, and is about as ubiquitous as a snack brand can get in the area. Except for Tastykake.

Melissa shows up to work dressed nicely, and Jacob asks if she is giving a Shark Tank-style presentation to determine what Abbott should do with its grant money. She’s not; she has to “go to court later for throwing a corn cob” at disgraced former Sixer Ben Simmons.

Janine, of course, has a Shark Tank presentation, and says that she’s going to make “Abbott into a crown jewel of the neighborhood,” like “that corner store that still sells loosies.” Loosies, for non-Philadelphians, are single cigarettes, and it’s illegal to sell them because they’re not in the usual 20-smoke pack. Still, though, you can find them. You can always find them.

A cafeteria worker at Abbott gives a presentation and asks for “seed money” to run a water ice truck all year round. They call it water ice, so major Philly points there. But the flavors he’s pitching include mint and grape, which either don’t exist or shouldn’t. And his poster board says he makes “the best tasting water ice in all of Philly,” which isn’t true because John’s at Seventh and Christian already does that.

Janine’s presentation includes a photo of Elon Musk, who obviously isn’t from Philly. But he did go to the University of Pennsylvania, and dated a woman there who recently got more than $165,000 for mementos from the relationship, so we’re counting it.

The grant money ultimately goes to end a mouse infestation in the cafeteria, but Ava has a plan for the kids, too: the water ice guy. He pulls up a water ice truck in front of the school, and gives out flavors including black cherry, lime, lemon, and mango pineapple. He also has the mint water ice, but he’s being nice, so we’ll let it slide.

Melissa has an argument with who turns out to be her sister. Janine, shocked, asks if she’s her sister, as in they have the same mom. Tuned up, Melissa says, “Good, you know what having a sister means. Glad you’re making good use of that Penn education.”

Gregory and Taylor (Iyana Halley), Barbara’s daughter, break up. Mr. Johnson consoles him, saying that everyone gets dumped, and “if it can happen to Michael B. Jordan, it can happen to you.” Jordan, of course, star of the Creed films, which come from the DNA of Rocky, so we’re counting it.

Jacob points out that matcha is more efficient at stoking the central nervous system than caffeine, which he learned in the New Yorker — or, “Who Gives A Crap Bi-Weekly,” as Melissa calls it. And we agree, New York is bad. But we did find last month’s Abbott Elementary cartoons from a New Yorker cartoonist charming.

At a performance, the Story Samurai performers ask the students for a character suggestion, and Jacob’s student Clarence blurts out Philly rapper Meek Mill. For some reason, the group makes Meek a meerkat who is “strolling through Western Philly,” which makes no sense on several levels (Meek was born in South Philly and raised in North Philly, and no one calls West Philly “western”).

The group later asks the students for a conflict for Meerkat Meek so they can make a story, and Clarence suggests that his “ATV broke down in the wrong ‘hood.” The rapper has long been an avid ATV and dirt bike rider, and is credited with popularizing the urban motorcycle lifestyle referred to on social media as #bikelife. He even as a song and a video game named after it, and was once arrested in New York after riding around following an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (the charges were later dropped, but still: New York is bad).

Janine admits the Story Samurai are corny, but she gets it because if her Degrassi reenactment group were there, she’d be excited like Jacob. Janine adds, “Shoutout to the guy who played Jimmy. Wonder what he’s up to.” That would be Canadian rapper Drake — the former arch rival of Meek Mill, and also the undisputed winner of the pair’s 2015 feud in which Meek accused Drake of using ghost writers. They squashed the beef on neutral ground in Boston in 2018.

Jacob eats lunch with the Story Samurai actors, who marvel at the fact that such a good cheesesteak can come from a corner store. One says that “people write this area off as a food desert, but the culinary scene here is so slept on.” Leave it to an improv actor whose dad runs a hedge fund to misunderstand what a food desert is.

Barbara commiserates with Melissa about her overwhelming teaching duties, saying that if she was in her situation, she’d hightail it to Jamaica. Melissa admits that “there was a moment where I mentally transported to Capt’n Chucky’s Crab Cakes in Ocean City.” Yes, it’s a real restaurant, and yes, you can eat there. Or, if you want to stay out of Jersey (and who can blame you), you can check out one of their Pennsylvania locations.

Clarence admits Jacob is corny, which is why they call him “Mr. C.” He likes him nonetheless, especially considering he shows the class movies like the Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul from famed Philadelphian Questlove. The film took home best documentary at this year’s Oscars ceremony — a moment that had its thunder stolen by Will Smith, who infamously smacked Chris Rock just before Questo was presented with the award. Somehow, Jacob is cooler than Will Smith.

In one scene, you can see the selfie that Ava took with Gritty in season two’s first episode. It’s sitting on a shelf behind her desk in her office, and, as promised, Janine has been photoshopped (badly) out of the picture.

Janine and Jacob arrive at Melissa’s home in an unspecified part of South Philly. And it’s a lot nicer place than you’d expect for a single teacher living on a public school salary, so we’re taking her mysterious “connections” a little more seriously.

During their cooking lesson, Janine suggests cooking is like jazz, so she should be able to switch up ingredients when she feels like it. Melissa, who is aggressively South Philly, becomes incensed, telling Janine, “No, Dizzy Gillespie, it’s not like that.” While not a Philly native, famous jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie moved here with his family in the 1930s, and began his career here with fellow jazz legend Frankie Fairfax. Gillespie, who died in 1993, was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame in 1987.

Melissa is so serious about cooking that she cut off communication with her sister, Kristen Marie, after she made a substitution in their nana’s gnocchi recipe, and brought the dish to their nana’s funeral. Again, aggressively (and accurately) South Philly. (We remain disappointed Melissa’s nana is not mommom.)

In confronting Ava, Gregory says that she has turned the principal’s office into a Chuck E. Cheese because the kids play games there and leave with stuffed animals. Ava takes offense, and says that she has “beef with every Charles Entertainment Cheese in the Greater Philadelphia area.” By our count, there are nine locations in the area, which is a lot of beef for one little mouse.

At another cooking lesson, someone rings the doorbell. Melissa tells Janine to answer it because it’s probably just one of her neighbors who thinks Jacob and Janine are “an interracial couple trying to gentrify the neighborhood.” At this point, we are convinced someone on the writing staff is from South Philly.

If you’re somehow doubting Melissa’s Italian-American credentials, take a look at her couch in the closing scene of the episode. It’s covered in plastic, like so many South Philly couches. The accuracy is stunning.

Melissa teaches her students about money, and uses an example involving her brother, who she says owes her $10,000 “because he keeps backing the Jets.” Again, yes, New York bad, but there’s some football history here. The Jets actually have never beaten the Eagles during the regular season, and have an 0-12 record against the Birds.

Ashley, who hails from the city’s Frankford ‘hood, is “easily distracted,” Melissa says, so she makes her a to-do list. That list, Melissa adds, is different from her own to-do list, which “includes Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson or Jon ‘The Rock’ Bon Jovi.” Johnson graduated from Freedom High School in Bethlehem, and Bon Jovi is, of course, the second-most famous musician from New Jersey.

Melissa asks Ashley about her to do list, saying “Where are youse on that checklist?” Shockingly, this is the first “youse” of the series.

In a lesson about measurements, Melissa asks her students how many meters are in one Manute Bol. Bol, who died in 2010, was one of the tallest players in NBA history at 7′7″, and he played for the Sixers from 1990-1993, and again in 1994 after runs on the Miami Heat and Washington Bullets. The correct answer: 2.31 meters.

Mr. Johnson’s costume is a simple jewel placed in the middle of his forehead, which Jacob thinks is a reference to the Marvel superhero Vision. But Mr. Johnson is actually dressed up as Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert, who famously had a $24 million pink diamond implanted into his forehead.

Gregory’s costume is obviously Sully Sullenberger, the US Airways Flight 1549 captain who landed his airplane in the Hudson River in 2009, saving 155 people onboard. No one gets it, and Janine ribs him for dressing up as Philly comic Kevin Hart’s character from the 2004 comedy Soul Plane, who wasn’t even a pilot.

Janine’s costume is perhaps the most Philly of all. She’s dressed as Sixer James Harden, complete with a fake, bushy beard that she keeps on for a surprisingly long time in the episode.

The teachers begin patting down students for candy, and Jacob says he is concerned about the constitutionality of stop-and-frisk. Philly has been moving away from that historically racist policing tactic in recent years, but city officials began weighing its implementation earlier this year due to Philadelphia’s ongoing gun violence crisis. Jacob, however, focuses on New York City, saying he feels like Mayor Eric Adams, who is a noted stop-and-frisk proponent.

One of the students rips the jewel from Mr. Johnson’s forehead, which actually happened to Lil Uzi Vert during a performance at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami last year. He did get the diamond back, though — Mr. Johnson was not so lucky.

Melissa continues to emerge as the show’s most Philly character. She dropped two uses of “youse” this episode. She also appears to be digging into her vowels even more lately. Mare of Easttown, who?

With Tariq in town, Janine hopes to have him pick up the rest of his stuff from her apartment. Janine’s friend, Erika (Courtney Taylor), doesn’t think that’s a good idea, and suggests they meet somewhere “neutral and unsexy,” like the local cheesesteak spot. That’s out because Tariq “finds shaved meat sexy,” Janine says. Admittedly, that’s weird, but we also get it.

Tariq suggests that she and Janine go to their favorite date spot: Bahama Breeze, a Caribbean-inspired chain. We’ve got a few locally, including in King of Prussia, Cherry Hill, and Newark, Del. It’s not clear which one they go to, but Janine seems like a King of Prussia girl to us.

The teachers get ahold of Draemond, the CEO of the charter school company that’s coming after them. It turns out the character went to Abbott — and he’s played by Leslie Odom Jr., who grew up in East Oak Lane and attended the Julia R. Masterman School and the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. A good move getting Odom, we’ll admit, but don’t fall in love with Draemond — he’s about as evil as an Abbott Elementary character can be.

Barbara is the only teacher represented well in the attack ad because Draemond was in her class growing up. He agrees to pull the ad, and Barbara almost seems sad to see it go because it caught her good side. She hopes that “Jim Gardner caught it before it came down,” calling back to her crush on Philly’s favorite news anchor, which was revealed in season one.

Mr. Morton asks the teachers to bring their own eggs, and Melissa arrives with a dozen that she has been assured are not actually snake eggs. This is a reference to season one, in which Melissa gave Janine eggs to hatch chicks, but they turned out to have something a little more slithery inside. In order to protect Melissa, Janine lies and tells an animal control officer that she got them from “a pop-up shop on 52nd Street.”

Melissa is mad about the egg drop, but only because of “all these wasted eggs when the Cowboys are in town.” Instead of throwing eggs at their bus, she settles on tossing some molotov cocktails. New York bad, yes — but Dallas is even worse.

The teachers discuss the merits of giving up, and Melissa explains why not trying so hard is good in the most Philly way possible: “You know what, giving up is underrated. Tanking is how the Sixers got Joel Embiid.” And that’s actually pretty accurate — the team’s “Trust the Process” mantra was basically a strategy of doing badly for several seasons in order to rebuild the team with better draft picks.

As Ava subs for Janine, she tries to follow Janine’s directions for the kids — starting with a creativity playlist to put on as the kids draw. Ava picks her own music instead, starting with “Pick Up Your Feelings” by Philly born musician Jazmine Sullivan. Sullivan is a Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts alum, and her mom, Pam, is a former Philadelphia International Records backup singer.

During a Secret Santa for the teachers, Mr. Johnson gives Melissa, a noted Eagles fan, a bag full of Dallas Cowboys bobble heads. She is confused, but Mr. Johnson says the toys are hers to destroy in any way she sees fit. Melissa settles on using a blowtorch.

Jacob mentions that he and his partner Zach went on a holiday vacation to Wildwood last year, which is a much more Philly move than we ever expected from Jacob. This year, Zach is heading to Pittsburgh (boooo) to be with family, and Jacob isn’t going, which is, again, a much more Philly move than we ever expected from Jacob.

Jacob spends the holiday dinner with Melissa and Barbara while delivering “withering takes” on the consumerism of Christmas, and how all of the holiday traditions the pair love are co-opted pagan practices. Obviously, that ruins the mood. So, Jacob apologizes by running across the street to the corner store, and bringing back some Tastykakes and scratch-offs. If it were us, we’d forgive him — as long as there were Kandy Kakes. If he got Coconut Juniors, he’d still be in trouble.

Ava, who also showed up at the hookah bar, tells Janine that she has a boyfriend — one who has been dating her for five years, but she’s only been dating him for two years. It turns out to be former Sixer Andre Iguodala, who makes a cameo. Iguodala, who played on the Sixers from 2004 to 2012, tells Janine to call him Iggy — which, in reality, is a nickname he never liked.

To motivate her students in the reading competition, Melissa gives them pep talks throughout the week in which she refers to them as her “little Eagles.” And given her hate for the Cowboys, she’s not talking about the bird.

As part of the reading competition, Melissa and Janine agree to a bet. Melissa suggests that the loser should have to streak at the Sixers game, but Janine counters that the loser will need to be a guest on Jacob’s podcast. That, Janine says, is “equally as humiliating” as streaking through the Wells Fargo Center, and we agree.

During the recording of the podcast, one of Jacob’s students drops what is likely the first verbal “jawn” of the series. It’s not the first reference to Philly’s catchall slang word, though — that happened all the way back in the fourth episode of season one.

One of Melissa’s students claims that she read 25 books in a night, 10 of which were editions of the Berenstain Bears. Those classic children’s books are by the late Stan and Jan Berenstain. Stan grew up in Philly, while Jan hailed from Solebury Township in Bucks County. The pair met at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in the 1940s, and published their first Berenstain Bears book in 1962.

Janine’s not handling her students’ conflict well, and Barbara tries to help. Wanting to handle the issue herself, Janine drops the old Sixers adage, “trust the process.” What that process is, we don’t know, but if the plan is to let the students’ relationship tank as bad as the 2013-2017 Sixers, it just might work.

As Gregory teaches his kids how to grow plants, one of the students dons a paper towel as a mask, and says he is imitating horror movie villain Jason Voorhees, who is not from Philadelphia. But Friday the 13th star Kevin Bacon? He’s a Philly boy all the way.

This isn’t a Philly connection exactly, but at one point, Jacob becomes worried that Gregory will leave Abbott. When he thinks Gregory is about to announce his departure, Jacob says “mama told me there’d be days like this” — a reference to the 1961 song by the Shirelles, who hail from Passaic, New Jersey. Close enough.

The student fundraiser is for a field trip to the Franklin Institute. Barbara chose that classic field trip destination because “it is so important for our students to experience a world renown science museum,” she says.

Ava reviews a student’s fundraising pitch, and doesn’t like. She tells the student that he couldn’t “sell a scarf to Lenny Kravitz” with his pitch. Kravitz, while not a Philadelphian, is the father of Zoë Kravitz, who once fronted the NYC/Philly-based band Elevator Fight. So, we’re counting it.

Fundraising isn’t going well, so Melissa suggests an alternate route. Namely, that they “pick the locks on the doors of the Franklin Institute,” and sneak the kids in.

Ava takes some of the kids under her wing and teaches them to sell candy, but when she returns to the school with a box full of money, Jacob thinks she robbed someone. Ava tells him to relax, because “these are Franklin Franklins,” referring to both the Institute and and one of Philly’s most famous sons, Benjamin Franklin, who appears on the $100 bill. That’s the kind of Philly reference Inception we can get behind.

Barbara doesn’t want Ava’s help with the fundraiser, and Ava says that’s fine. She’ll just add the money to her jet ski fund, which she plans to use in the Poconos at Lake Wallenpaupack. Not Philly, technically, but close enough.

Mr. Johnson and Jacob continue arguing over the cat they found, and Melissa steps in. She says that while she’s not a lawyer, she knows about arbitration because she and her ex were “able to settle custody of our season tickets to the Phillies out of court like adults.”

Melissa says that her boyfriend, Gary the vending machine guy, hasn’t made any plans for Valentine’s Day dinner. So, just in case Gary turns out to be “a total gavone,” Melissa makes backup reservations at Center City steakhouse Barclay Prime.

Jacob brings up that you can make reservations at airport restaurants, and that they can be good backup options. Mr. Johnson agrees, and notes that the airport Chickie’s & Pete’s has the best lobster roll in the city. That location does, in fact, have a lobster roll — priced at $35.19.

Ava talks on the phone with her boyfriend, Iggy, who we learned in a past episode is actually former Sixer Andre Iguodala. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make an actual appearance.

Barbara takes Jacob up on his restaurant advice, and makes a reservation at the airport Cibo Bistro. Ever the romantic, she made sure to get a table by the window so she and Gerald, her husband, can watch the planes take off as they eat.

Barbara doesn’t realize she needs a ticket to eat at an airport restaurant, so she books a flight to Atlantic City on Spirit Airlines. The tickets, she says, cost less than the meal.

A firetruck labeled “Philadelphia Fire Department” makes a few appearances throughout the episode. Melissa, known by the firefighters as a “truckie” because of her fawning over the vehicle, becomes obsessed.

While recruiting the kids to help her get a closer look at the truck, Melissa drops yet another “youse.”

A fireman asks the kids which one of them wants to honk the horn on the firetruck, and Melissa interrupts, saying that “they’ve heard horns before, this city runs on road rage.” And she’s not wrong. Instead, she suggests they check out the jaws of life.

Jacob refers to Melissa’s family as the “Schemmentis of Southern Philadelphia,” which, again, is not how anyone refers to South Philly. Jacob made a similar mistake in the fourth episode of season one.

It turns out the firefighters know Melissa because her uncle is a locally famous firefighter who worked a big fire in the Hawthorne section of South Philly in 1995. Her other uncle set the fire.

Allentown, Janine says, is the “education destination of Eastern PA.” We are obligated to disagree.

Gregory plans to take Amber to the Poconos to make up for his bad Valentine’s Day gift last episode. Janine ribs him for it, saying that he’d rather “relax in a heart-shaped hot tub” with his significant other. The Poconos have been a honeymoon destination since the 1960s, and are home to some spots that still carry on the kitschy heart-shaped tub tradition.

Jacob and Janine are overjoyed to be at PECSA, which Jacob says is because the pair have been “shotgunning kombucha since Conshohocken.” That’s about an hour drive, and more kombucha than we’d like to think about.

Janine mentions there is a “living classroom” at the conference, which was created by the Philadelphia Flower Show. It’s basically a classroom made entirely out of flowers, and it’s very important later.

Jacob decides to attend a seminar called “White Teacher, Black School.” Janine skips it because she already did “four years of BLack Student, White School” because she went to Penn.

Janine and Gregory sneak into the Philly Flower Show’s living classroom display after hours. And, spoiler alert, they end up kissing. So while it didn’t happen in Philly, at least Philly played a part.

A student tells Jacob he lives under a rock, and Jacob says he in fact lines “over an Aldi.” There are 12 Aldi grocery stores in Philly, one of which it’s possible to live above at 1300 Fairmount Ave. So, we’re guessing Jacob lives in the Broadridge Philly Apartments, or at the neighboring Divine Lorraine.

The kids are obsessed with a show about a group of living socks that speak their own language. Mr. Johnson has learned the language, and speaks it in front of Jacob’s class, saying “this white boul don’t know his socks are mismatched.”

The school holds an assembly to announce the arrival of Mural Arts, and Ava doesn’t know who they are. Jacob tells her, and she says, “Welcome, Mural Arts, who we like and are excited for, right?” Right.

Jacob says Mural Arts is there as part of a program they have that goes from school to school to create murals with students. That’s actually a real program that Mural Arts has been doing for about 40 years at schools around Philadelphia.

Mr. Johnson says that his picture is hanging on the wall at a place called “Wing Bowl” because he ate 50 spicy chicken wings there. It sounds like he’s talking about a restaurant, but we all know there is only one Wing Bowl. And that mercifully it is dead.

Jacob guesses that the kids will go with a famed Philly figure like Will Smith or John Coltrane for the mural. They go with the sock show characters. Which is fine, we already have murals of those other guys, anyway.

Ava is apparently still dating former Sixer Andre “Iggy” Iguodala, and they have been watching the Star Wars franchise.

Mo suggests he and Janine go to a restaurant called “Bone Town” to eat. It’s a joke, but also the name of a fictional restaurant from the Abbott Philly universe. We wish that they went to one of Philly’s actual, great BBQ joints instead.

Jacob pushes the kids to replace their mural idea with his, which would depict a sycamore tree with roots that represent different parts of West Philly “coming together to form our study community.” They do not, and the sock show wins out instead. Which, again, we are OK with, because that idea, while well-meaning, is horribly corny — and given that it came from Jacob, that tracks.

Ava entered the teachers into a lottery for two courtside seats at an upcoming Sixers game, and won. The school still has to decide who gets them, but Jacob correctly calls this a “Teacher Appreciation Week miracle.”

In several shots throughout the episode, a stack of Eagles napkins can be seen on one of the tables in the teachers’ lounge at Abbott. Must be leftover from the Super Bowl, which we hope the Birds won in this universe.

The teachers meet to decide how to dole out the Sixers tickets, and Barbara asks if they know “if everybody even wants the tickets,” because “it’s not like we’re all native Philadelphians.” That shade is directed at Gregory, and while she keeps it cordial, her frustration is only thinly veiled. It is the most Philly we have seen Barbara all series.

Ayesha visits Janine, and is wearing a T-shirt that reads “Buscemi’s Baby,” in a reference to actor Steve Buscemi. He’s not a Philadelphian, but Buscemi does, for some reason, voices a guided audio tour at Eastern State Penitentiary, so we’re counting it.

Melissa drops another “youse” when speaking to Barbara about kindergarten teachers, saying that “all youse do is teach five-year-olds how to use safety scissors.” Barbara claps back, telling Melissa that if her kindergarten teacher had been better, she would know that “youse” is not the plural form of “you.” Correct? Yes. But we still hate it.

Mr. Johnson wins the Sixers tickets, upsetting everyone. Jacob notes that they should have used ranked-choice voting, which “would have inherently been much fairer.” Ranked-choice voting has been a hot topic in Philadelphia recently, and discussion of it has become more prevalent amid a crowded mayoral race.

Janine and Ayesha argue about Ayesha fleeing from Philly, and Ayeshe takes a dig at Janine for going to Penn. Ayesha then notes that she herself, meanwhile, is “to date, the only person who’s been fired from the Eastern State Penitentiary’s haunted house.” This cannot be true, but now the Buscemi reference kind of makes sense.

Mr. Johnson wears a Sixers jersey to work after winning the tickets, and it’s number 6 — Sixers great Julius “Dr. J” Erving’s now-retired number. Mr. Johnson says that he will be taking Dr. J to the game with him, but not the one you’re thinking — it’s actually his podiatrist, who also goes by Dr. J.

During the credits, the teachers watch a segment from the Sixers game called “Courtside with Christian Crosby.” Crosby, the Sixers’ in-arena host, appears as himself, and gives Mr. Johnson a shot at winning $1,000 — which he does by naming 10 cleaning products.

As the teachers find out that Abbott could go charter, Barbara makes a reference to TV and movie producer Lee Daniels. Jacob has to Google him because he doesn’t know who he is, but Daniels is a native of West Philly, where Abbott is located. Which explains why everyone seems so disgusted that Jacob doesn’t know who he is.

Ava is excited for the festival, which she says will be “the best show in Philly since Dru Hill sold out the Wachovia Center in ‘03.” Despite being two hours late, they made it worth it because group member Sisqó “did like 30 backflips.” This was a real show that took place June 28, 2003, and we love how oddly specific the reference is — although, at the time, the venue was technically still known as the First Union Spectrum.

Jacob suggests getting famed American poet Nikki Giovanni to come perform at the festival, but he doesn’t know her, which makes it a bit of an odd ask. Giovanni, however, has spent plenty of time in Philadelphia, even attending the University of Pennsylvania for a semester in 1968. So, we’re counting it.

Ava claims she got Philly-born musician Jazmine Sullivan to perform at the festival, making this the second reference to the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts alum this season. But it turns out Ava lied about getting her to perform in order to trick the parents into coming.

We get another glimpse at Legendary Charter CEO Draemond, who appears at the festival to try to win parents over. This being Abbott, he fails. But Draemond is played by East Oak Lane native Leslie Odom Jr., so we can’t dislike him too much.

Janine’s ex Tariq shows up at the festival to perform. After, he asks if anyone has a car because he needs a “ride back to New York and then back here to Philly with all my stuff in it.” Like all of us, he will never escape.

Ava walks into the teachers lounge with another camera crew, this time from 6ABC. We get a great shot of Ava turning to one of the documentary crew cameras only to say “Action News,” but sadly, there is no Jim Gardner cameo.

The crew is there to film an award ceremony for the Philadelphia Board of Education’s Educator of the Year award, which it turns out is going to Gregory. This is not a real award, but the Pennsylvania Department of Education does do a Teacher of the Year award, so we’ll allow it.

Melissa has to present Gregory with the award, and needs to write an intro for him to be read at the ceremony. Instead, she finds and “repurposes” a tribute post for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Gregory, she says in the speech, will take Abbott all the way “to the Super Bowl...of learning.”

Gregory accepts the award, and starts his acceptance speech off with the fact that he is actually a Baltimore Ravens fan. The crowd, of course, boos him relentlessly, and Mr. Johnson tells him to “go to hell.” So, yes, New York and Dallas are bad, but let’s not forget we also don’t like Baltimore. After all, Edgar Allan Poe is ours.

Over the holiday weekend, Barbara plans to go to South Jazz Cafe with her husband Gerald to take in a little jazz. This is a reference to South Jazz Kitchen (600 N. Broad St.), which Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan gave two bells in a 2016 review.

Janine says she “saved enough money to take myself to Ocean City” for the long weekend. Melissa asks if she mean’s the one in Jersey, but Janine actually means the one in Maryland. Everyone reacts like that is fancy, which somehow just seems right.

During her trip, Janine will be staying at the Princess Royale hotel, which is a real oceanfront resort in Ocean City, Md. The Princess Royale, Janine says, is “a three-star hotel” (which is true), but it “has the confidence of a four” (also true, if we’re talking Google reviews).

Jacob’s friend Shanae (Nikea Gamby-Turner), a worker in the school’s cafeteria, recently moved, and is setting up her new place. She tells Jacob that she just “got Xfinity set up and it is definitely an upgrade.” Is...is that product placement for Comcast? On an ABC show?

Shanae mentions that she has a “new recipe” recipe for the cookies they serve at Abbott. The recipe: Buying ingredients at Aldi instead of Acme.

Janine’s mom lies to Janine about Barbara, saying that Barbara “squared up” with her in attempt to fight (she didn’t, this is Barbara Howard we’re talking about). As part of the lie, Janine’s mom claims that Barbara told her that she was from North Philly.

Barbara asks Janine if she has a swimsuit coverup to wear at the beach, which she does not. Barbara says “the Ross” is having a sale on them, which she says is located on City Line Ave. (there actually is a Ross Dress for Less there). Janine says she loves that location, and the two decide to go shopping.

This episode was the first to actually be filmed in Philadelphia, so there’s plenty of Franklin Institute classics to be seen. We noted the Train Factory, Space, the Giant Heart, and others, and it really just wanted us to take a field trip of our own. After all, the Franklin Institute is Janine’s “favorite museum of science and technology.”

Melissa keeps an aluminum baseball bat in the bag she packed for the field trip. She has named the bat after Edith Houghton, a Philly native and the first female scout in MLB history (she worked for the Phillies, naturally). A North Philly native, Houghton grew up at 25th and Diamond, and went on to play for the semi-pro team the Philadelphia Bobbies in the 1920s.

Barb packs what appears to be a whole bed set for her “extensive nighttime regimen.” Ava mocks her for her amount of baggage, saying that Barbara “wants to get freaky in Sir Isaac’s Loft.” Sir Isaac’s Loft is a real section of the Franklin Institute dealing with physics, and is described as “the playground of experimentation.” In that context, this makes us uncomfortable.

Melissa gets into a tiff with a tour guide about Philly being better than Washington, D.C., saying that Philadelphia was the capital first (true). The guide is from West Chester...New York, which infuriates Melissa. She chides the tour guide, saying that “youse people move here, you don’t learn the history, then you got the nerve to work at a museum.” (Also true, probably.)

Ava goes off on a tangent about the existence of aliens, and scares the kids. Barbara calls her Ava Night Shyamalan, a reference to local filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.

Melissa wears an Eagles hoodie and headband to bed. She is more Philly than us at this point.

Melissa tells one of her students about Guion Bluford, which inspires her to also become an astronaut. Bluford was the first Black person to go to space, and, you guessed it, is from Philadelphia. He went to Overbrook High School, and got his bachelor’s degree from Penn State. Melissa tells the student that she can be “the first person to eat a hoagie in space.”

The tour guide makes amends with Melissa by admitting that she needs to brush up on her local knowledge. For example, she didn’t know that the first hospital in America was in Philly. That’s a reference to Pennsylvania Hospital, which was founded in 1751.

The guide takes it one step further, asking Melissa if she has considered volunteering at the Franklin Institute. Melissa laughs it off, saying “Work for free? You’re really not from Philly, are you, hon?” We believe this to be the first “hon” of the series.