The Gang "Volunteers" at Abbott Elementary

 We've got a lot of news these past few days about the episode of Abbott Elementary that will be featuring the Gang, so let's break it down!

First and most importantly, the episode will be airing on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 8:30pm Eastern Standard Time, and has a run time of 32 minutes (including commercials). It will also be rebroadcast on Friday, January 10th, 2025 at 8:30pm (reason unknown, but potentially related to a Sunny announcement? Hopefully?)

According to ABC's press release of December 23, 2024, the episode is called "Volunteers" and the summary of the episode is as follows:

"Ava announces the school district is sending a group of volunteers to help out at Abbott; however, when they arrive, things don’t go as planned."

We know based on prior interviews and releases that the episode is entirely focused on the Gang, and this seems to confirm that fact! Though we don't get any hints at what might happen in the episode, we also got a shit load of stills along with the press release. So that, plus what we've already got hints about, means it's safe to say we can pretty easily deduce some of the teams-ups and plots. So let's break down what we know:

Charlie has a significant plot in the episode, and he shares many scenes with Barbara and Melissa. Checking out some press release photos we see this group together, and it looks like Charlie is also helping out in Melissa's class of second graders:

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Melissa's kids might be better at spelling and grammar than Charlie is, so it's a bit of a worry what he's "helping out" with here... Maybe the kids are the ones helping him!? 

The press release also has a lot of stills of Mac, almost exclusively paired up with Ava, the Principal of Abbott Elementary:

In the top two photos it looks like Mac is vying for Ava's attention, and he's clearly set up in her office in the bottom two, as if they're working together... Is Mac on his way to Vice Principal? Or is he working the distraction angle while the Gang carry out a scheme behind Ava's back?

We've also got a few stills of Dee in action:

Not only is she in Janine's classroom, but it looks like she's also making a move on her man! Janine is cheery in a few of the stills, so it will be quite interesting to see how she handles Deandra Reynolds moving in on her territory...

As for Frank and Dennis, we don't get much of them "in action" from the release stills, but we do know Frank has a plot involving being trapped in a cage outside, so maybe releasing any stills of that would be too much of a spoiler! What does seem pretty clear from these press photos is that Frank and Dennis both have talking heads:

What also sticks out to me among all of these stills is the fact that the Gang are wearing many different outfits... I think that means it's safe to assume this singular episode of Abbott takes place over at least a school week (based on Mac wearing at least four different shirts), and the teachers might be getting to know the Gang a little better than we may have assumed (for better? probably for worse)!

One major question that remains following this press release is: why the hell would the Gang be volunteering? The last time they "volunteered" with kids it was by mandatory court order, way back in the Season 2 episode The Gang Gives Back (one of my favourites!), when they "coached" basketball. I'd assume that the Gang are once again being forced to volunteer, perhaps once again by court order, but why? 

Well, while the reason technically remains to remain seen, based on an exclusive promo video released by Decider earlier today we might be able to deduce what they've done:

One of the headlines on Mr. Johnson's conspiracy board reads, "5 Arrested in Connection to Baby Oil Spill," and that certainly sounds like it's connected to our guys...Hopefully we get some expansion on what kind of "baby oil spill" is so large it leads to wrecking havoc on the ecosystem (and why they were dealing with massive amounts of baby oil in the first place...), but this headline promo certainly seems to give us a solid guess as to how they've ended up as "volunteers" at Abbott Elementary—they were arrested, and are once again working with kids based on a court order. 

It seems like we've got so much information on this episode, all that's left is to get the episode itself! Wait, we need a trailer for the episode, when's that coming?? Hopefully either this Wednesday (a Christmas gift) or next (a New Year's Day surprise)!

Anyone have any good theories for Dennis' plot we seem to be lacking? Or ideas as to how baby oil gets the Gang arrested (prior cameos on the show notwithstanding...)?

-Seth