Relationship Spotlight: Janine Teagues & Gregory Eddie (Abbott Elementary)

*Janine/Gregory-related spoilers.*

I wouldn’t call myself a huge shipper overall. I can be picky in my ships, and many a good show, in my estimation, falters with lackluster pairings. And sometimes I find myself in a situation where I like a pairing, but it’s less about the actual relationship dynamic and more that I just really like both of the characters. When a ship really works for me, though, I can fall head over heels for it!

When I started watching Abbott Elementary, it didn’t take long for me to get on the Gregory/Janine love train. Their early interactions are super sweet, and I love that, although they have wildly different temperaments, each understands the other very well. Gregory’s steadiness can have a calming impact on Janine’s high intensity, and optimistic Janine can balance out the sometimes-curmudgeonly Gregory. Even with traits that they share, like struggling with unexpected change, it looks very different on Gregory than it does on Janine, and yet each is able to help the other in the way that they need.

When you have a pairing whose personalities are very different like that, one popular romance approach is a love/hate dynamic, where their opposing temperaments drive each other up the wall—right until the point where they start making out. With Janine and Gregory, though, both are quickly in each other’s corners. They’re good colleagues who soon become genuine friends, and each is starting to harbor a secret crush on the other (oh my god, Mr. Johnson noticing how Gregory looks at Janine when they’re on their “desking” stakeout, so cute!)

Just so many great moments between them. Janine helping Gregory interpret all the drawings his students make for him. Gregory helping Janine come to terms with failure when her class isn’t able to do the egg drop. The two of them going down the big wooden slide together on the park field trip. Every instance of them knocking on their classroom wall to signal the other.

In every episode, I see how and why they like each other, which is a favorite of mine. That shouldn’t be notable when you’re talking about TV romances, but unfortunately, it is. What’s more, while it takes them a long time to admit their romantic feelings to themselves, let alone to each other, neither is shy about letting the other know how highly they’re regarded. Yeah, they spend quite a while dancing around the feelings conversation, but that doesn’t stop Gregory from openly admiring Janine’s tenacity or Janine congratulating Gregory on the progress he’s making as a teacher. They appreciate one another and cheer for each other’s accomplishments, even things that others might think are silly.

So far, the main thing that keeps these two from hitting the absolute peak of my favorite ships—like Leslie and Ben, Stede and Ed, or Roy and Keeley—is that the stopgaps to prolong the will-they-won’t-they throughout the first three seasons of the show get pretty labored. Social skills are neither one’s forte, so in a way, it makes sense that they keep sort of stumbling into relationships that they’re not excited about, so they’re rarely single at the same time. But the merry-go-round gets old. By the time season 3 hit, I was beyond ready for them to stop dancing and just get together.

The moment, though? The actual moment when they get together, coming on the heels of endless detours, obstacles, and stumbling blocks? Looooove! And now in season 4, I’ve been liking them a lot as a couple. They continue to be really funny together, and I appreciate that, while both have issues and hangups that can get in the way of their relationship, they ultimately talk things through and work it out. And cuteness? My goodness! Most recently, I love Janine giving the camera an adorably smitten smile while she proudly murmurs, “He knows so many different smoothie shops.” Stop, they’re too cute!

Of course, I’ve already done Neurodivergent Alley posts on both Gregory and Janine, so I definitely view their relationship as Autistic4AuDHD. On that level, their pairing works so well for me. I love that, in the early seasons, they appreciate things in each other that their respective partners find weird or annoying—Janine absolutely melts when she finds out that Gregory got his girlfriend a Lego set of a flower arrangement for Valentine’s Day, since she’s allergic to the real thing. I enjoy watching them bond over their shared niche interests, like both of them getting psyched (in their own way!) for a board game night. And I adore it when they make space for each other’s needs—Gregory almost exclusively eats safe foods, so Janine assuring him, “I’d never take you [to a restaurant] without buttered noodles,” is just a top-tier romantic line!

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Janine Teagues (Abbott Elementary)

 

As a classic Second Autistic-Coded Character I Spot, Janine was the obvious Abbott Elementary choice to write about after Gregory. I (finally!) started watching the show after hearing about Gregory as a great example of a Black autistic character, so I knew about him going in. But right from the first episode, I was like, “Wait, why didn’t anybody tell me about Janine?!?” Man, oh man, Janine Teagues, my beloved!

Janine is very much in the Leslie Knope vein of AuDHD coding. She’s a super upbeat person who will continue to find energy even after her stores have been depleted, usually in service to the school. We first meet her in her second year of teaching, and her determination towards ingenuity and problem-solving is contrasted against veteran teachers like Barbara and Melissa. When it comes to weighing the needs of the students against the chronically underfunded Abbott, Janine hasn’t yet had the fight knocked out of her. She’s convinced that there’s nothing she can’t tackle.

To go a step further, she feels like she has to tackle everything Abbott throws at her. Janine’s compassion and empathy can be seen for miles. She wants the best for her kids, and she absolutely wants them to have opportunities that aren’t being afforded to them. Whether that’s trying to fix a flickering hallway light (despite her fear of heights) or finding a creative low-cost way to bring librarians to the district, she takes every problem on herself and is wholly unable to let things lie. Often, her dogged problem-solving brings up bigger problems in the short run, like when she campaigns to switch the juice served in the cafeteria and it results in the kids constantly needing bathroom breaks. But of course, she’s just as determined to fix those problems too.

Janine is a well-meaning meddler, frequently offering input that hasn’t been requested and doing everything in her power to rally less-than-enthusiastic troops. Some of the other characters can find her exhausting to be around—especially in the early seasons, Barbara and Melissa both run hot-and-cold on her, and Ava never runs out of Janine-related insults. And I definitely get how Janine can be seen as “too much.” She just cares about everything, all the time, and in truth, I’m sure it’s much more exhausting to be her than to be around her.

When it comes to social interactions, Janine struggles a lot. Her try-hard attitude extends to her relationships, which means she can come on too strong too quickly. In season 1, her desperation for Barbara’s approval and mentorship is obvious, while at the same time also wanting Barbara to see her as an equal colleague. When she realizes Jacob hadn’t told her he had a boyfriend, she spirals about them being “just work friends” and goes overboard in an attempt to upgrade their status to real friends. She gets stuck in her relationship with Tariq for way too long because it’s so hard for her to stand up for herself the way she stands up for others, and she puts up with a lot of dismissive, indifferent treatment. Not to mention, Janine’s first love, always and forever, is to Abbott, and her devotion to her work and the kids can get in the way of her dating life.

It can be painful to watch Janine flail at times, because she has so much love to give and so desperately wants to make things better for people, and it’s hard to see her encounter people who mock her for that or discount her because of her relentless cheerfulness. I see how she gives endless space to others but can be really hard on herself. That said, Abbott Elementary has all the Big Neurodivergent Energy, and a big part of that is making spaces for characters to be accepted as who they are. Over the course of the show, Janine has been able to foster some of the relationships she wants. And even though plenty of her colleagues still think she can be annoying, they also recognize how hard she works every day to make Abbott better. These days, they’re much more likely to include her and root for her. Not that they never give her a hard time, but it comes more from a place of love—she’s their annoying super-upbeat teacher who never quits, and they value her for it.

Big Neurodivergent Energy Shows: 11-15

Mostly sitcoms today. I feel like sitcoms in general lend themselves well to neurodivergent interpretations, with lots of quirky characters who have outsized reactions to things. But there’s a difference between “yeah, I could see that” ND interpretations and “omg, autistic/ADHD AF!!!” ND interpretations. And these shows? Far more the latter!

 

Abbott Elementary

I went into this show knowing that a lot of autistic folks claim Gregory, and he’s positively spectacular—episode about safe foods! Not a drill! But I wasn’t prepared to get bowled over by the rest of the cast, especially my beloved Janine. She and Gregory are my favorite workplace sitcom will-they-won’t-they since Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt (surprise, surprise!) A beautiful show with room for all kinds of brains, including Melissa being canonically dyslexic!

 

Community

It’s not just Abed, which it is. It’s not just some of the other characters, which it is. It’s the lovingly intricate pop culture references and long-game commitment to bits. It’s the theme of broken, lonely people who are better when they’re together. It’s the turn of the jokes and the depth of the existential crises. A beautifully autistic show that’s often brilliant and sometimes messy, one that resonates with me on so many levels.

 

Good Omens

Production on season 3 has paused for now, which is good (ugh, Neil Gaiman, why?), but even if my feelings about the show have grown more complicated due to behind-the-scenes issues, I still really love these characters and their relationship. I love how Aziraphale and Crowley both feel autistic to me in completely different ways, which contributes to them fitting so well together despite having such different sensibilities. Really excited to see these two find their happy ending!

 

The Good Place

Like Community, this is a show with a great “freebie” autistic-coded character in Chidi, but he’s just a gateway to discovering how neurodivergent the show feels as a whole. I love every single one of the characters and how they interact with one another, the wordplay is delicious, and I love the notion that people aren’t “good” or “bad” but are always capable of better, especially with the love and support of those around them. And come on, this is a network sitcom that regularly features ruminations on moral philosophy! You love to see it.

 

We Are Lady Parts

I feel like there’s some strong overlap between neurodivergence and punk, so this show might’ve had Big ND Energy no matter what, but the neurodivergent coding is definitely strong with this one. Most of the characters give off a vibe, but most especially Amina and Saira. Like Aziraphale and Crowley, they have such polar-opposite traits but fit together so well. I love both of them so much, and I adore the show’s heart, bite, and quirkiness.