Happy Halloween! The Cloud Niners celebrate the holiday this episode and that means one thing: the return of Dina's sexy cop costume. But there's more than just inappropriate work cleavage going on in this episode, which also includes some movement on the Amy/Jonah relationship, the union drive and an examination of a question that I'm sure some viewers have asked themselves: is Dina a serial killer?
The unionization effort is fully underway, with Jonah waiting for signature cards from another store for them to have the numbers they need to form a union. And who delivers those cards? Our old friend, and Jonah's ex-girlfriend, Kelly. And look, she's dressed like a cowgirl for Halloween, a perfect match for Jonah's cowboy outfit. Sandra finds it cute. One person who doesn't find it cute is Amy, whose RBG outfit makes her the odd person out in this little triangle.
She's also passive aggressively pissed that Jonah and Kelly have been coordinating union stuff while she, as management, has been kept in the dark. So Amy and Jonah are having issues on two fronts and that causes tension between them. Watching them argue was uncomfortable, like watching your parents arguing and wondering if they're going to get a divorce. If Amy and Jonah break up it will devastate Sandra, who's their biggest shipper. I'll probably be more ambivalent.
In the middle of all this unionizing there's a visit from the new district manager, Maya, played by One Day at a Time's Justina Machado. Turns out the old district manager who Amy blackmailed to get the store manager position, Laurie, never kicked her cocaine habit. Instead she roundhouse kicked the CEO while high. In comes Maya, who seems really cool and nice in her debut. Unfortunately she's also part of upper management and the last thing the Cloud Niners need is for corporate to get wind of their unionizing efforts. Kelly hurriedly hides the union cards from Maya in a bag, which turns out to be part of some treat bags to hand out to kids. In all the Halloween hustle and bustle the bags get mixed up and Maya ends up with the one with the union cards.
What comes next is a badly thought out plan for the Niners to distract Maya with a costume contest while Dina breaks into Maya's car to get the cards. They even give Maya first prize even though her cat ears were nowhere near deserving. The cards are eventually retrieved, but there's a problem: there are empty candy wrappers in the bag, which means that Maya got candy out of the bag. Did she see the union cards? Amy and Jonah try to talk themselves into believing that Maya didn't see them, but it's clear that they're worried.
On to less depressing topics: Halloween costumes! There are the aforementioned sexy cop, RBG, cowboy and cowgirl, plus we have Mateo as Scooby's friend Fred, Cheyenne as a sexy Little Red Riding Hood, Sandra as an avocado, Sayid as Paul McCarthy(?), Glenn as a chef, Justine as a bottle of tequila, Garrett as Indiana Jones, and last but not at all least Marcus - who is sewn into his very elaborate, very large dragon costume by Mateo's aunt. Don't worry, there's extra padding for peeing.
Does this mean that Mateo, his aunt and Marcus are all living together now that Mateo is out of detention? I'd like an episode set in that house, please and thanks.
In an effort to impress Maya the Niners turn the garden center into a haunted house, which Glenn and Garrett are in charge of. Newly diabetic Glenn is having trouble dealing with cutting candy out of his diet, and in order not to be tempted he throws Garrett's candy corn away. Not a good move by Glenn. Garrett is nothing if not petty, so when Glenn forgets his phone in the haunted house and refuses to go in and get it because he's too scared, Garrett sees an opportunity. He messes with Glenn by pretending he's crying blood after going into the haunted house and then pays a kid to be creepy. The kid adds in an English accent for extra creepiness. Garrett completes his act of revenge by locking Glenn in the haunted house. Glenn's cool with it though. So cool that he throws a planter right through the glass door.
As someone who is not a fan of haunted houses I consider this the meanest thing that Garrett has ever done in the history of the show. But as a fan of candy I consider Glenn throwing out the candy corn the meanest thing he's ever done on the show. So their actions even each other out. Win, win!
Finally, we have Mateo and Cheyenne wondering about the identity of the latest St. Louis serial killer who is chopping off people's feet and leaving them around the city. When Justine brings up the idea that it's anti-feminist to assume that the killer is a man, Mateo and Cheyenne start to look at Dina in a new light. A murderous light.
While they assume a vegan won't kill, Dina's aggressive pumpkin carving gives them second thoughts about whether their coworker is a murderer. There are other candidates, like Garrett; his love of sneakers forms a sneakers-severed foot connection that had me convinced for a second that he could be the murderer. As did Dina's knowledge of how to break into a car and the mechanics of chopping up a body. But luckily the news announces that a still bleeding foot is found, and Dina was at the store all day so there's no way she could have hacked away at someone without Mateo and Cheyenne knowing. They're relieved that Dina wasn't the killer. I still have my doubts.
Odds and ends:
Favorite quote: "There's a trophy room somewhere with heads, hands and select genitals." Lauren Ash's delivery really sells this line.
Favorite blink and you'll miss it scene: Glen the Robot is back! He's dressed as a pirate for Halloween. He's the best.
Take a win where you can get it: Marcus loses the costume contest to Maya but gets to keep her first place prize of Sprite.
Best advice: When Kelly and Jonah are mistaken for Sandy and Danny from Grease after they change out of their matching cowfolk costumes Sandra tells Amy to get dressed as Leather Sandy ASAP.
Friend or foe?: Maya is introduced in a positive light, but will she report the Cloud Niners for the union efforts? She seemed so nice. But she is part of the management machine.
Does anyone think that Amy and Jonah will break up this season? All comments welcomed below!
