SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from “Winter Snow,” Season 4, Episode 7 of “Abbott Elementary,” now streaming on Hulu.
Chris Perfetti shifts gears as Jacob Hill in the “Abbott Elementary” Christmas episode “Winter Show,” which introduces his younger brother Caleb Hill (Tyler Perez). Normally bubbling with positivity and naivety, Jacob experiences an emotional breakdown in this episode, which revolves around his adversarial relationship with his family during a surprise appearance from his masculine, drone-flying younger brother.
This marks the first portrayal of any of Jacob’s family members in the series, and Perfetti explains that his character is not typically the emotional focus of the show’s storylines, and that he enjoyed the opportunity to explore Jacob’s psyche.
“I feel like Jacob is rarely a part of the the pathos of the show. I rarely get to be the tear-jerker moment of the episode,” Perfetti says. “It was really fun to see Jacob genuinely upset and genuinely angry.”
Perfetti says one narrative element that was integral to this episode was making Jacob uncomfortable at Abbott Elementary because of the response from the rest of the school to his younger brother.
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“What is so fun about playing in this episode with Tyler was we really established that Abbott is Jacob’s home,” Perfetti says. “His old home is not something he likes to think about. Abbott is a place where Jacob feels a modicum of safety, and somebody else coming in and being celebrated for all of the qualities that Jacob finds deplorable is particularly hard.”
Perfetti adds that many of the most important relationships in Jacob’s life are all tied to Abbott, such as his co-workers and two best friends Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) — and he lives with fellow Abbott teacher Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter).
“He finds a lot of meaning and connection with the people at Abbott,” Perfetti says. “Jacob would go out for drinks with these people every day if he could. In this episode, we get to watch that all come crumbling down.”
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Perfetti says learning from Brunson that the series would be introducing his character’s family was a thrilling surprise. Jacob is the role Perfetti has played for the longest in his career, and that he finds he’s still learning about Jacob, even four seasons into “Abbott Elementary.”
“There’s a room of experts now who know Jacob just as much as I do, who are thinking about what his family is like,” Perfetti says. “Our writers are committed to peeling back the layers of all of these characters. We’re really interested in telling a deeper story about who these people are at their core.”
Perfetti says that because “Abbott Elementary” is constantly evolving, he has to adjust the way he views Jacob, in terms of what he learns about his character’s background. “I have vivid memories of what sent Jacob away from home, but I didn’t learn that Jacob had a brother until earlier this year,” Perfetti says. “That’s the joy of this job. You have to be ready to pivot.”
He treats all the information given to him as a series Bible to inform his performance. He cites learning that Caleb is characterized as being everything Jacob is not as an effective entry point to conceptualize the tension between them and their dynamic as brothers. “The other cool thing about [“Abbott Elementary”] is that stuff sort of compounds on itself,” Perfetti says. “We’ve been talking about how Jacob doesn’t relate to his family of origin for four years now, and it’s been sort of a volcano building toward this episode.”
Caleb brought a chaotic spirit to Jacob’s world that elevated the stakes of the episode. Perfetti recalls his very first day on set for the Emmy-winning series, and likened the comedic energy in “Winter Show” to that of the show’s premiere.
“It’s a similar thing to our first day shooting the pilot, when we had our first group scene and and there was just a feeling there was an overwhelming comfort and this tickle of inspiration,” Perfetti says. “I really feel like all of our guest stars have fit so well in the world of Abbott, and I can certainly say that with that with without a doubt about [Tyler Perez].”
Gilles Mingasson