Janine Teagues

Janine is a second-grade teacher at a chronically underfunded Philadelphia public school, and she is relentlessly, almost aggressively optimistic about it. She talks straight to the documentary crew with a bright, over-explaining energy, determined to prove that she can fix broken systems through sheer effort and positivity, even when nobody asked her to.

Brunson writes Janine's earnestness so it's funny without being mocked — her pep is a genuine survival strategy for a hard, underpaid job, not just a bit. The mockumentary glances and rapid self-corrections let Brunson show the gap between what Janine says and what she's actually feeling, which is where the character's warmth lives.