HEATING UP

‘Abbott Elementary’ Is on Fire (!!!) in This Exclusive Clip

In this exclusive scene from Wednesday night’s episode, the fire alarm goes off, chaos breaks out in the halls, and Janelle James’ Ava is saving herself.

exclusive

The Philadelphia Eagles may have lost the Super Bowl, but Philly-based Abbott Elementary is facing an even larger crisis in this week’s new episode. Who has time to whine about sports teams when there’s a fire breaking out in the school? The Daily Beast’s Obsessed has your first look at the disastrous chaos wreaking havoc in “Fire.”

The day starts out with Jacob (Chris Perfetti) bringing in some sinky new baked goods (carrot cookies, rather than carrot cake) for his colleagues. But before he can even get a word in, Ava (Janelle James) silences him—there will be no nuisances this early in the school day.

“I tried to take a picture of this crooked woman’s lace front, dropped my phone, cracked it,” she says. “I asked her to pay for it and she said she was going to call the cops! I am one minor inconvenience away from having to put this whole day in rice.”

But a little negative attitude from Ava won’t bring Jacob down. Ever-persistent, he pushes the Tupperware towards bestie Janine (Quinta Brunson). There’s no way Janine will turn him down, right? Right?

“You know what, I probably shouldn’t on an empty stomach,” Janine says, looking especially horrified after Jacob admits they’re “alive,” thanks to added probiotics. Maybe opt for a kombucha at that point, Janine.

This is the calm before the storm. Completely out of left field, the fire alarm goes off, rattling everyone in the school. Kids start flooding out of classrooms. Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) lines up her children in flammable order. Janine questions whether or not the whole thing is a drill. She receives two answers: Gregory (Tyler James Williams) tells her it wasn’t on the schedule, while Ava sprints down the hallway to save herself.

We have so many questions. First of all: Who caused the fire? Ava announces that the blaze began in the teachers’ lounge (before speeding away in her car, alerting everyone that the firefighters will arrive “soon”). Nowhere to be seen in this clip are Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) or custodian Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis), so they seem like viable candidates.

Still, it’s suspicious that Jacob was presenting his carrot cookies just as the alarm went off. Or could the perpetrator be Ava, the only one who knew exactly where the fire began? Guessing the firestarter is like playing a game of Clue—we’ll find where the mayhem came from soon enough.

The new episode of Abbott Elementary, “Fire,” airs Wednesday night on ABC at 9 p.m. ET, and will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.

Keep obsessing! Sign up for the Daily Beast’s Obsessed newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

Fletcher PetersEntertainment Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.