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: Gregory Eddie (Abbott Elementary)

Abbott Elementary had pretty much always been on my list of shows to get to eventually. It was critically acclaimed, I liked Trevor Noah’s interviews with different cast members, and it overall seemed like the kind of thing I’d be into. But it was actually autism that finally made me prioritize watching it.

Quick story: I’ve said before that reading people’s autistic headcanons for Ariel and Eric after the live-action remake was one of the final pieces that helped me crystalize my understanding of my own brain. It was as I was searching for more comments and observations about Autistic AF Ariel that I came across a post highlighting Black characters who don’t get enough acknowledgement as being autistic. It included Chidi from The Good Place and Frenchie from Our Flag Means Death, who I already loved, and OJ from Nope and Gregory from Abbott Elementary, who I’d not yet met. I quickly watched Nope, which led to me writing Neurodivergent Alley in the first place(!!!), but even though it took a while longer to carve out some room on my TV slate, I adored Abbott Elementary, and Gregory, so much. I’m all caught up now and ready for season 4!

Gregory Eddie—oh man, where do I start? He has plenty of classic hallmarks for autistic characters. He’s incredibly particular, liking things to go a certain way and ruffled when they don’t, which makes it understandable why he didn’t really see himself as an elementary teacher long-term in the beginning. He acquaints himself well with rules and schedules, always ready to rattle off some specifics when one of his fellow teachers is unsure. He speaks in a relatively flat, softspoken voice and gives subtly panicked looks to the mockumentary film crew whenever he’s uncomfortable in a social situation. He’s super knowledgeable about gardening, which is a special interest of his, although early in the show he doesn’t want to be seen caring about the school garden. He has no idea how to do small talk and doesn’t really see the point of it.

And then, there’s the food. In season 1, there’s an episode where teachers are debating the best pizza place in Philly. When asked to weigh in, Gregory cites a (made-up) pizza place from Baltimore, embarrassed to admit that he doesn’t like pizza. Not that he doesn’t eat it because he only does healthy food, not that he can’t eat it because of allergies. He doesn’t like pizza. In fact, he doesn’t like most foods. Once he’s forced to come clean to the other teachers, Gregory admits that there are only about four or five foods that he really likes and eats. Our man is out here doing an episode about safe foods, and there are fans who think he’s not autistic? Come on.

One thing I love about Gregory is that most of his facial expressions are pretty subtle—he sometimes has to specifically tell people when he’s excited about something, because it’s not always clear—but on the occasions when he does smile, it’s the total opposite of that. His smile is really toothy in a way that looks a little fake, like it’s something he had to teach himself how to do. But even though it looks fake, it always feels 100% genuine. I can feel the happiness radiating off him every time he does it. Excellent acting by Tyler James Williams there!

And look, I will very definitely be talking a lot more about Gregory and Janine sometime, but for now I’ll just say that he expresses his feelings for her in such a beautifully autistic way. He’s honest with her, even if it’s not flattering, because he thinks it will help her. He recognizes the difficulty of getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things, so he acknowledges what a big undertaking it is for her to do that. And the scene where he quietly reveals that he watched Night at the Museum because Janine said it was good is such a moment. “I take all your recommendations seriously—I wanna know why you like stuff,” is so swoonworthy when he says it.