By the time any show gets to its fifth season, there are often signs of age. Writers change, and the characters they write become subtly different. B- and C-plots become sillier because the writers start to reach for ideas. As good as its been over its first four seasons, Abbott Elementary isn’t immune to these problems as it enters its fifth. But what has made the show such a fun watch is all still there, even if some little things aren’t as great as they used to be.

Opening Shot: Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) walks into the teachers’ lounge at Abbott Elementary School and says, “Good morning, and Happy (my second favorite holiday after Christmas) Development Day!”

The Gist: It’s the day before the first day of class, when teachers come in, find out some of the changes in school personnel and policy, and then set up their classrooms. There are definitely a few changes happening at Abbott. For instance, principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James) is “finer”, and also in love with district IT guy O’Shon (Matthew Law), to the point where she shows pictures of the two of them on vacation during her opening remarks to the staff.

Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) is going to teach sixth graders, leaving Janine as the only second grade teacher, with 40 students; Ava is looking forward to seeing her frenemy break from the pressure. Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) is excited about teaching music along with her usual kindergarten duties, and is coming into the year less grumpy than usual. But then a new teacher named Dominic (Luke Tennie) introduces himself by saying he was a student of Barbara’s, and the stark reminder of the passage of time makes Barbara grumpy again.

Before the teachers can get to their classrooms, though, Ava reluctantly introduces a “paper skeleton” named Craig (Mikey Day), sent by the district to give the staff team building exercises in order to build trust again, after some of the less-than-authorized activity the school did the year before.

Everyone groans, of course, but the exercises are mandatory, and they end up being taken outside when the oven in the cafeteria springs a gas leak. During that time, Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti) and his fellow 6th grade teacher/nemesis, Morton (Jerry Minor) let Melissa know just how cruel middle school students can be. Janine tries on some different personas, especially as she sees Dominic and Barbara bonding, before realizing that she’s not a rookie teacher anymore and can give her own advice. And Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) teaches Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) how to ride a bike after the custodian said he completed a triathlon by just swimming.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Abbott Elementary Seasons 1-5, and other workplace comedies like English Teacher, Parks and Recreation, etc.

Our Take: The first episode of Season 5 of Abbott Elementary is surprisingly, well, normal. It’s about the beginning of the school year, sure, but Brunson and her writers aren’t trying to resolve any big storylines or cliffhangers. There are no crossovers, and the big episode that’s taking place at Citizens Bank Park during a real Phillies game will air a little later in the season.

But nothing big has to happen for Abbott to be really funny and show just how tight an ensemble this group has become. This first episode shows how the gang weathers changes, which always happens in a big city public school system, and how they team up when the chips are down. And, in Philly’s school system, the chips are down a lot. From the cold open, where they discuss some infrastructure problems at another school before Morton falls through the ceiling, it does feel like the school’s aging mechanical plant is going to affect things this season. How that’s addressed — and how everyone deals with it — should be fun to watch.

What we like about what we see so far is that Janine and Gregory’s relationship is just treated like a fact of life at Abbott, without any drama and ups and downs that we usually see in a sitcom where there’s a romance that develops between main characters. We also like Janine figuring out that she can be there for Dominic in the same way Barbara was there for her, with her sometimes outsized enthusiasm for the job added into the equation.

There are signs that the show might be running out of B and C-plot. As funny as Mr. Johnson is, and the idea that his imaginative past life can pretty much let the writers take him anywhere, having Gregory teach him how to ride a bike seemed to be a B-plot that was just there to make sure Williams and Davis got screen time. The other story, where Jacob and Minor tried to scare Melissa over the preteen angst she’s about to face, was much funnier, though we do wonder if there are going to be fewer chances for Perfetti to let Jacob be his usual too-woke self this season.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: When Ava gets a report on how the gas leak will affect the HVAC, she looks for Mr. Johnson. He’s still riding the bike, because he has no idea how to hit the brakes.

Sleeper Star: Tennie, who was added as a recurring guest star for Season 5, fits into the ensemble pretty well, which may be from all of his exposure to it on the first two seasons of Shrinking (he’ll be back on that show, too). We are definitely looking forward to seeing Dominic seek advice from Janine, as well as forge his own path as a rookie teacher.

Most Pilot-y Line: Janine trying on a grumpy persona felt wrong on all levels. What we did appreciate are the faces Brunson made after Janine said something grumpy, indicating that she didn’t feel right about it, either.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Like all sitcoms that are this far along, Abbott Elementary is starting to show some small signs of age as it starts its fifth season. But it also still generates big laughs and warm feelings about the group of teachers and administrators at Abbott, even if some of the smaller plots need some work.

New episodes of Abbott Elementary will air live on ABC on Wednesday nights this year. Hulu subscribers will be able to watch these episodes the following day on Hulu.

If you’re new to Hulu, you can get started with a 30-day free trial on the streamer’s basic (with ads) plan. After the trial period, you’ll pay $9.99/month. If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.

If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu. These bundles start at $10.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $29.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.