If it wasn't made clear by Amy's very pregnant belly, we've made a bit of a time jump to Amy's last day at her temporary diner job before returning to work at Cloud 9. It's a strong opening to the season thanks to Amy's knowing conversation with Glenn's trucker persona, which is both hilarious and touching once we find out he's been doing this every day since Amy started this job. Back in the store, Amy and Jonah explain why they aren't together, which is followed up with suggestions for the next time they have sex, including Dina offering up the bed of her truck while she drives around. Elsewhere, we learn that Kelly isn't at all upset about Jonah and Amy's returns, much to Carol's disappointment. She wants drama!
Later, after an unintentional slip and several deliberate set-ups yielded no jokes at Amy's expense, she is initially relieved, until a conversation with the always in-the-know Glenn reveals that it's only because she is a woman. She asks Jonah about his experiences and is further upset to learn about all the flak he's gotten, especially the fact that he has a nickname, J-Bone. She fails to come up with one for herself (A-Hole was a no-go) and decides to declare in front of all her coworkers that she can handle the jokes because she likes sex and has sex on her mind. Younger coworker, Noam, misinterprets this declaration and later approaches Amy with a condom because, well, she likes sex. This leads to Dina calling for another sexual harassment meeting (how many have we had now?) while Glenn leaves a skeleton crew lead by Kelly in charge of the store, which was just a delight to watch. The meeting starts with the employees trying to grasp the concepts of harassment and consent and leads to Amy and Jonah fielding questions everyone has about the sex stream and their relationship. The Noam issue becomes so forgotten that by the end of the meeting he's asleep in the tent he's been hiding in. As everyone is leaving the store, Jeff presents them with what he believes will make them all love him again: a virtual store greeter modeled after Myrtle. The Myrtual Greeter, if you feel so inclined (if they use that name later, I want credit!). Nobody is ready to replace the real Myrtle, however, so we still hate Jeff. In the parking lot, Jonah and Amy have one last conversation where we learn THEY'RE ACTUALLY DATING!!!! They kiss and everything, and call each other J-bone and A-Hole before they leave to meet up for dinner together. It's perfect.Watching the episode, my biggest gripe keeping the premiere from being perfect was that they once again backtracked on anything meaningful in the Jonah/Amy romance, but that gripe can happily be tossed out of a window because they not only delivered, they delivered it as a wonderfully executed plot twist. They've upset the status quo of the show without Jonah and Amy upsetting the status quo of the workplace and I love it. I also love listening to Glenn try to understand absolutely everything, especially social issues. This show uses him very well to allow characters to present the show's point of view on so many topics, and they certainly didn't hold back with "Me Too, Time's Up, This is Us". My only wish going forward is that we'll get Myrtle back in the store. I didn't notice her too much while she was here, but I definitely notice that she's gone, and I want her back.
Shopper of the Week
The random store customer cut-aways have always been one of my favorite parts of the show and now that I've taken over, I'm making sure the one that inspired my heartiest laugh gets attention every week. Our inaugural winner is: The kid behind the bars of the pencils/scissors display! In my mind, the kid's mother decided she wanted to shop without distractions or fear of losing her son and decided the back to school display was the best babysitter she'd have today. I got such a good chuckle and was simultaneously thankful and surprised that I hadn't seen this happen before, because I'm sure it has.
What did you think of the premiere? Would you rather have Myrtle or Virtu-Myrtle? On a scale of 1 to "Wow, I've never been happier", how excited were you when you found out Jonah and Amy are, in fact, dating? Sound of in the comments below!
