Abbott Elementary's Touching Season 4 Finale Ends With A Trip To The Please Touch Museum

Abbott Elementary has been a success for a solid four seasons. The television series has won awards and has even been compared to another hit television series, The Office. Quinta Brunson created and stars in the show, which follows several teachers at a public school in Philadelphia.

The series has brought many of Philadelphia’s landmarks to television screens everywhere. This holds a lot of significance for those who grew up in the area. This includes Quinta herself, who made a lot of memories at the Please Touch Museum. As the name suggests, the museum defies the typical “no touching” rule museums usually reserve for children. In this particular episode, the museum serves as a backdrop for many advancements in the characters’ relationships.

The Please Touch Museum Is One Of Many Iconic Spots The Series Has Spotlighted Over The Years

Abbott Elementary staff and students took quite a memorable field trip in the Season 4 finale. The episode aired on Wednesday, April 16th and took place at the Please Touch Museum. The children’s museum is known for the Rocket Room and their special grocery store exhibit. The episode was fittingly titled “Please Touch Museum,” and it was filmed completely on location. Abbott Elementary managed to create an episode that felt very personal.

“We are honored that Please Touch Museum holds special childhood memories for Quinta Brunson,” Tracy Curvan, the museum’s COO, said, “and that she wanted to incorporate the museum into Abbott Elementary in such an immersive and authentic way by bringing the entire production to Philadelphia.”

Quinta Brunson was born in West Philadelphia and has fond memories of visiting the Please Touch Museum. Quinta visited its former iteration on the Parkway, where she drove the SEPTA bus and shopped at the grocery store. Tracy informed Philadelphia Magazine that both exhibits would be featured in the episode. According to Tracy, she read the script but didn’t see the final product beforehand.

The museum was shut down for three days in February and March, so the show could be filmed. Production transformed nine of the museum’s permanent exhibits into filming locations. Preview photos released before the episode showed the Alice in Wonderland maze, the Rocket Room, and Food & Family.

A local casting call received responses from over 3,000 kids. 340 lucky kids and grown-ups were lucky enough to be cast as background actors alongside Quinta, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and the rest of the cast. A restoration project was even paused on its historic Memorial Hall by the museum to accommodate the filming.

Prior to the episode’s premiere, the public was wondering why the entire school would be going to the Please Touch Museum at the same time. It was revealed, however, that the museum staff had input on that particular aspect of the episode. Tracy said that the staff showed the Abbott team the educational frameworks from their guided field trips during the location scouts to help the writers get inspiration for the episode. “They actually lifted a couple lines,” she said. “They really wanted it to be authentic.”

The team behind Abbott Elementary worked closely with the Please Touch Museum crew to make sure the episode embodied the real experience. This included the show’s producers, location scouts, and set designers. As a result, everything from adjusting camera angles inside the tight spaces of exhibits to adding a bit of paint were key details focused on during production.

The Please Touch Museum is a very significant part of the memories of Philadelphia’s children. Therefore, having the museum spotlighted in one of television’s most successful shows is beyond special. “By watching the episode, we hope viewers experience the magic of a visit to Please Touch Museum and how it inspires children and families to discover the power of learning through play,” Tracy said.

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And this isn’t the first time Abbott Elementary has paid tribute to beloved spots for children in Philadelphia. Other places the series has visited include the sleepover at the Franklin Institute and the giant slide at Smith Memorial Playground. These locations both served as backdrops for important moments between Janine and Gregory. “What a gift to the cultural institutions of Philadelphia, right?” Tracy said. “They’re so essential to the fabric of the city, and that they were formative in [Brunson’s] experience is really a testament to the work that all of our cultural institutions do for learning for children in Philadelphia in those informal ways.”

The Season 4 Finale Explored A Milestone In Gregory And Janine’s Relationship

The visit to the Please Touch Museum is far from the only field trip on Abbott Elementary. There have been field trip episodes in every season and all but one have been the season finales. These episodes usually involve issues and emotions that don’t normally come to the surface in other episodes.

In the Season 4 finale, Gregory is experiencing anxiety as a result of his father, Martin, volunteering as a chaperon. Martin’s girlfriend Janine is looking forward to meeting Martin, but Gregory is worried his harsh personality will prevent him from liking her. Quinta told Variety about deciding to bring Martin back for the Season 4 finale.

“We just really missed Orlando, and we felt that was one milestone we were missing with them,” she began. “We had a couple of different options, but one that seemed most tangible for the finale was meeting a parent, and Gregory’s dad is close and in the picture. We probably would make a meal out of him meeting Janine’s mom — a big meal out of it — but we were trying to do something that we’re going to have fun with and that won’t weigh down our story.”
“Because ultimately, this is happening with them, but it really is about the kids, and the eighth graders who are graduating. We wanted to make sure we could fit it in here, get some character growth out of both of them and still focus on the main story.”

Janine responds to Gregory’s concerns by wearing a suit jacket and acting very strict and by-the-book. However, she soon realizes that being playful and silly is keeping her second grade students on her side. Martin is thrown off at first when he sees this sudden change in Janine. But it was not long before he started talking in a funny voice while pretending to be a squirrel, so the seven-year-olds would laugh. To Gregory’s surprise, Janine and Martin are happily working together on the trip.

Gregory has mixed feelings about this evolution. He remembers not being allowed to have fun as a child due to his father’s military style of parenting. While Janine is initially confused by his discomfort, she encourages Gregory to talk about it with his father.

“I think it’s something many people express in passing, in a funny way, about their parents being nicer to their partner,” Quinta said. “But we wanted to go deeper there. What does it really mean for Gregory, as a man, to see his military father open up in this way? In a way that he wasn’t allowed to experience as a child? Which we’ve talked about over and over before. It’s important for him to know that Janine unlocks something in him.”
She continued, “Maybe we don’t always know that while it’s happening, so hearing it from someone, especially a parent, makes you appreciate your relationship more, and I feel like Gregory appreciates his relationship a lot more. And I think Janine learned to appreciate that she doesn’t have to change who she is. And quite honestly, she can’t. I really love the moment of Janine breaking. Like, ‘If this makes you not like me, so be it.’ We’re all tempted to be something else every now and then, but she can’t, because it keeps her from doing her job.”

Martin tells Gregory that he shouldn’t have been so hard on him growing up. This heals a deep childhood wound in Gregory. Martin even tells him that Janine reminds him of his wife, Faith. She unfortunately passed away when Gregory was just nine.

“It’s something we’ll definitely talk more about in the future, but it was nice to learn about Gregory’s mom without having to see her or know her place in his father’s life, and how possibly affected him and Gregory,” Quinta said. “We found it charming, but weighted. Loaded. Which is always the balance of doing a sitcom: How do we get this information out quickly? How does not weigh down our entire story? We still want people to be having a good time and enjoying the show, but how we learn a massive thing about our characters and in one or two lines? I feel like it told you a lot about Janine and Gregory’s dynamic without having to have a mouthful about what they do for each other.”

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Gregory is aware that Janine has helped him enjoy life in a way he struggled with in the past. As a result, he finishes the talk with both empathy for his father and appreciation for Janine.

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Ava realizes she needs to face her own harsh truth when she dislikes a pair of earrings O’Shon, played by Matthew Law, gives her as a gift. She decides that she needs to be honest with him and tell him how she feels. Their conversation results in the two committing to attempting a long-term relationship. Quinta responded to speculation that Matthew Law would become a series regular.

“You definitely can expect to see more of O’Shon,” she said. “Matthew Law is wonderful, and gels so well with our cast. That’s really important to us; we love people who become part of the family really easily. I’ve known Matt since college, actually. We were great friends, and it was great to bring him into this world and for him to become such a crowd favorite.”
She continued, “And as far as Ava, not only was it incredible to like build out her love life, but her career. To actually see some motion with what happens if she’s not here. Not just for the show, but for the audience. I feel like, over three years, we really earned the ability to say, ‘You appreciate her, don’t you?’ Because it didn’t start out that way. To me, that’s a testament to character development.”

Jacob’s eighth grade students seemed to be bored with the Please Touch Museum at first. However, they decided to write a play about the teachers where they all play each other. This leads to everyone lovingly roasting each of their quirky personality traits.

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When it comes to the upcoming season, Quinta said that she is already full of ideas. “I can’t give you any well-formed thoughts, but I know some things,” she said. “We definitely want to see Gregory meet Janine’s mom. And we want to see Gregory’s apartment, which was something we really wanted to do this season, but just didn’t get to. We’re going to see some more of Barbara in music class, for sure.”