Superstore - Deliver Day/Maternity Leave - Review

Attention Cloud 9 shoppers: Our two-for-one deal on reviews a few weeks ago was such a hit, that we've decided to bring it back for another week! Some may choose to view this as a gross oversight in review outputs, but those that are more optimistic will see it for the generosity it truly is. As always, thank you for shopping at Cloud 9, and don't you dare go expecting an increase in quality!

Delivery Day

At the start of the day, Glenn and Dina announce that they are heading to the hospital to induce labor because Dina is overdue for her delivery, and Glenn announces that no one should try to call today, even if any of the Baldwins show up ("You don't need to call, just enjoy"). Amy then asks if she can join them as her water just broke during this conversation, which is immediately met with the other employees snapping at Amy for letting her water break right there. Once at the hospital, Dina meets a new, attractive doctor that she wants to switch to, and spends most of the episode attempting to flirt with him while Glenna and Jerusha uncomfortably try to talk her up. Eventually, the doctor determines that Dina will need a C-section. Dina asks Glenn and Jerusha to be in the room for the procedure (done by another attractive doctor), which scars Glenn a little bit, but he mostly gets over it when he has his new child, despite vomit hilariously dripping from his mask.

Meanwhile, Amy and Jonah have a few other issues. They decide that Jonah will just be around, but not, like around-around, just within Cheesecake Factory buzzer radius. Amy realizes she should probably alert Adam about his incoming child, which is when Jonah realizes Amy never told Adam they were dating. On top of that, they get news that Amy's insurance is different from Dina's (worse) and will have to go to nearby clinic that does accept her insurance. As to whether it's a good clinic, they are told, "It's been there for years." After noticing a probably-dead roommate, watching the pager button fall into darkness, and finding a used bandage on Amy's bed, Jonah declares that he'll pay for the room at the other hospital. Amy reluctantly agrees, but they find out that the price they were early quoted was only for the room and excluded everything else involved in the birthing process. Defeated, they return to the clinic (armed with a pillow Amy stole from the good hospital) and are greeted with a doctor who's been around for quite a long time and seems a bit forgetful, but they don't have a choice. Adam finally shows up in time for the birth and things get really awkward for a bit, ultimately ending with Jonah leaving to give Amy and Adam time alone with their new baby.

Back at the store, Garrett's been having a rough time. After Mateo says his joke in Amy's and Dina's cards was "cute", Garrett goes on a quest to find the perfect comedic thing to say, which he learns is a lot harder to do on command than his normal comedy is. He eventually gathers everyone in the conference room to suggest just one message from everyone, which quickly returns to the idea of a funny message. Earl begins to suggest a message, but becomes lost in his laughing, as does the rest of the room while they suggest Garrett write down the thing that was never said. We ultimately never learn what gets written, but Garrett angrily throws Amy's card into her room in disgust as Jonah attempts to leave. Mateo apologizes on Garrett's behalf because he's had a "big day" and congratulates Amy on her baby.


Maternity Leave

Two days after Amy welcomes her bundle of joy, Parker, into the world, Glenn informs her that corporate has demanded she return to work, or her job will be given away because she's technically worked for Cloud 9 less than a year since her suspension and therefore not eligible for maternity leave. During her very miserable day, she has to deal with a mixed-up brain, wild hormones, spontaneous lactating, and a short presentation by Mateo and Cheyenne on reasons she shouldn't name her child Parker. For the problem she can solve, she asks Glenn if she can borrow her office, so she can pump. He initially, reluctantly agrees, but it's very apparent that he is uncomfortable. He's also a bit uneducated (as usual) and begins removing things from his desk in what is, I assume, an attempt to protect them from Amy's breast milk. Clueless, uncomfortable Glenn gets me every time! His solution is to bring Amy to the store's utility closet multi-purpose room. It seems like a fair enough solution until Sayid comes in for his prayers to Allah (moderately respectful representation of the Muslim religion, huzzah!). Later, Glenn tries to make Amy feel better about her awful situation by giving her a bath bomb and blows up at him in an undeserved rant. She regrets this later while talking to Jonah ("I probably shouldn't have told Glenn to kill himself") and he tells her that he's never done anything as hard as what she's doing now. Before she can go apologize to Glenn, Sayid walks by with his prayer rug and lets her know it's about time, which she confirms by feeling her breasts, because pumping/praying time is a thing now. Amy then returns to apologize to Glenn, who also apologizes for thinking a bath bomb would solve all of her problems. Luckily, he's seen the error of his ways and has a better solution: a new puppy! Just what every new mother dreams of! Defeated, she accepts the puppy and walks out of the office. I've gotta say, it's one of the cutest puppies I've seen in a while.

Meanwhile, Jonah and Garret are displeased with the barefooted new employee Glenn hired, Kimmer, and ask if they can be in charge of hiring for the remaining seasonal spot. Their first candidate, Penny, is an overeager, overexcited, over-everything young woman without an off switch and a standing job offer she "can't refuse" from a plasma donation center. Jonah and Garret quickly decide she won't be receiving a job and are introduced to a slew of terrible applicants, one of whom is a sex offender by reason of something far worse than urinating in public. They decide Penny was the best candidate and not really that bad, so they beg her to accept their job offer. They almost immediately regret this decision as she sings, dances, robots, and choo-choo trains her way through every task she has (I'd love to see her handle work at a plasma donation center!) and quickly become miserable as they now have both Kimmer and Penny to deal with. While they lament, a man comes in with an application and apologizes for being late, but he was getting into it with someone on Fortnite. Despite obviously not having the proper self-motivation skills to be given a job, he seems pretty normal and the boys fire Penny to make room for our new guy, Lonnie. As they talk about how pleased they are with their decision, Lonnie walks away behind them to use the bathroom and begins urinating right in the middle of Cloud 9. He will probably not be back next week.

Elsewhere in the store, Sandra answers a ringing display tablet and is greeted by Dina, still in the hospital recovering. She's calling to check in on the store and forces Sandra to carry her around on the tablet, so she can do her job remotely. Dina soon realizes this isn't working, so she instructs Sandra to build a head rig and mount the tablet to it, giving us Dina's face on Sandra's body. It's everything you didn't know you needed.



"Delivery Day" may have been one of my favorite episodes of Superstore. There was so much to laugh at here, while also providing some brief commentary on our healthcare system thanks to Jonah's brief comments during Amy's ordeal. Something that needs recognition this episode: Dina's first song on her birthing playlist being our favorite circus tune, "Entry of the Gladiators". It was absolutely hilarious and also fitting that any child birthed by Dina would be prepped to enter the world during a song with "gladiator" in the title. Glenn also stood out this week as he was trying to talk Dina up to her new, hot doctor. When the doctor announced he was going to check Dina's cervix, Glenn referred to him as lucky, which I think may be the funniest thing I've ever see Glenn say on this show. This episode was easily the best so far this season, and definitely in the top episodes of the series.

"Maternity Leave" was a solid episode as well, but it felt like a bit of a step back from last week's gem. There were, of course, some beautiful comedic moments this week, but I don't think there were quite as many, and there may have been just one too many plot points crammed into this episode. One of my favorite moments of the episode, though, had to be Dina describing different teas to a shopper while Sandra gestured and struggled to grab the tea boxes while Dina spoke. Sandra is such a good sport in this store, and Kaliko Kauahi does a great job bringing life to the character. Her story this week was very much a C story, if not a D, and it ended up being one of the more memorable parts of the episode. If last episode ranked around an A+, this episode would probably be a B-/B. Still very enjoyable, but improvements could surely have been made.



Shopper of the Week
Ok, so this week I'm gonna have to add patient of the week to this section, as well as applicant of the week because I can't ignore them. First up, patient of the week: This one-time only award shall be granted to the IV Guys who, while walking down the hall, bumped into each other and got their IVs tangled together. Luckily, we got to watch them fiddle with it a bit longer than I anticipated when they bumped and I was so pleased to watch the struggle. The extra second or two really sealed it for them and swept the award out from under Cough Guy, who was outwardly coughing into the open air while sitting directly in front of a "Cover Your Mouth" sign. The disrespect!

As for applicant of the week, it was a tough race. Though we spent more time with Chair Guy than any of the other candidates, I think the award has to go to Bleeding Woman. She wasn't just powering through this interview with a simple nosebleed, I think this would qualify as a nose flood. There was a mountain of tissues next to her on the table that were just soaked in blood and it was such a ridiculous and funny scene to behold as she tried to block the flow while handing over her resume. Congrats, Bleeding Woman. I hope you've clotted by now.

But now, for our shopper of the week award. Aside from the raccoon (which was fantastic!) there wasn't a true candidate for this award in "Maternity Leave", so there will only be one from these two episodes. Puddle Shopper could have easily slid to victory in "Delivery Day", if it hadn't been for Card Guy. At first, Card Guy seemed just like any other random shopper caught up in an employee's antics as Garrett attempted to test his card jokes for him. He surprised us all, however, when he asked Mateo if they happened to sell interfaith wedding cards...for dogs! Dead. Immediately dead. Card Guy, you have easily won our shopper of the week, and I hope your dog friends have a very happy interfaith wedding.


Which was your favorite Cloud 9 hopeful? What do you think Amy should name her new puppy? Not Parker, obviously. Do you think the puppy will get an invite to Card Guy's friend's interfaith dog wedding? Sound off in the comments below!