For a comedy, SUPERSTORE sure likes to end its seasons on dramatic notes. The first season ended with the employees walking out of the store to go on strike. This season ends with the employees still there, but the store gone—destroyed by a freak tornado. It’s been an impressive, consistently hilarious season and the finale was no different. The episode opens the day after Cheyenne’s wedding, with everyone on edge about the layoffs. Everyone except Marcus, who was apparently the only one not invited, which makes total sense.
Glenn still hasn’t decided which six employees he’s going to fire. Dina sucks up to him, eating some of his wife’s banana bread—the secret spice is taco mix—until she learns that management is exempt. Then she returns to her old self, matter-of-factly telling Garret that she doesn’t really care who’s fired. This bothers Garret—he may pretend to be too cool to care about anything, but he and Dina are having sex, and as Jonah points out, there’s usually an emotional component to sex.
Speaking of Jonah, he tries to walk back calling Amy sexy last episode in the most Jonah way possible. He begins trying to use “sexy” in casual conversations, to demonstrate that he didn’t mean anything that night. He calls a new employee, Alisha, sexy—she tells him that she doesn’t need some overgrown leprechaun harassing her at work. He also describes a customer’s car in the parking lot as sexy. Just classic, casual, not at all awkward Jonah!
Mateo makes at least four different alliances—a gay alliance, a Catholic one, an Asian/Polynesian (Sandra is Native Hawaiian), and one for Dave Matthew Bands fans (not surprisingly, this includes Marcus). Glenn initially tries to pretend that the layoffs aren’t happening, but after Jeff tells him he absolutely has to fire people, he asks Amy for help. She suggests giving the employees ratings, but that backfires. On a scale of 1-10, Glenn rates everyone a 10+. Cody, who grows weed in the garden center, is a 42!
He then decides to crowdsource a decision. He calls the employees into the breakroom and tells them to write down the six names they think should be fired. It’s democracy and democracy is never wrong! Jonah says it isn’t democracy, it’s mob rule. Glenn asks what the difference is, which temporarily shuts Jonah up as he considers that point. Superstore really shines in these scenes involving all the employees. Everyone is hilarious. Glenn eventually runs away from the chaos, but the employees stop him before he leaves the store.
Backed into a corner, Glenn announces the six employees he’s going to fire: Chris, Alex, Cody, Justine, and Marcus. Mateo abandons his alliances immediately, of course. But a tornado siren goes off—the employees might have been better prepared if a customer hadn’t turned the channel on the in-store TVs from the weather alerts to a shopping channel hawking Lisa Rinna’s cardigan line or if they did the tornado drill mentioned several episodes ago. Instead, they pair up and hide from the incoming storm.
Dina calls her birds—she tells them to open their cages if she doesn’t come home, she knows they’ve been able to do it for months. Cheyenne calls Bo to tell him to make sure that Harmonica becomes an actress. Amy calls Adam to make sure that their daughter Emma is ok…and that he’s ok too, as an afterthought. Mateo calls Jeff, confessing his love for him as well as his undocumented status. As the winds blow through the store, Garrett tells Dina that he may have an emotional connection to her.
Jonah and Amy huddle together in the pharmacy section. He tries to comfort her, but comforting people really isn’t his strength. Amy admires his effort and drops the word “sexy” into the conversation, acknowledging that she’s noticed what he’s been doing all day, but not necessarily shutting him down. The two kiss—but after the storm passes, Amy reunites with Adam and Emma, while Jonah goes out for drinks with Marcus and Mateo. Their relationship just got a whole lot more complicated, but they’re not officially at the “will” stage of their will they/won’t they dynamic.
Dina tells Garrett that she’s glad he didn’t die, which is a huge step for her. Dina and Garrett’s odd dynamic is a lot more amusing than her crush on Jonah last season. Glenn may be experiencing some sort of spiritual crisis. He prayed to every god possible to save them from the tornado and everyone survived, unharmed—right after he prayed to Allah. And to top it all off, his car was destroyed for what’s possibly the fourth time? It was a funny episode, but what really stood out was how well-written the characters’ relationship s are. Superstore has been renewed for a twenty-two episode third season, so thankfully we have a lot more of this wonderful show to look forward to.
Season 2, Episode 22 (S02E22)
Superstore airs Thursday at 8PM on NBC
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Jennifer lives for two things: spreading the “Superstore” gospel and themed “Law & Order: SVU” marathons on USA.
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Jennifer Trofa | Contributor
