Happy Superstore renewal news! Season six is officially a go, but first we have to finish off season five. This episode features cereal, one of my favorite meals for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Though these days I'm more into bran flakes than Frosted Flakes, but that is the price we pay for getting older.
In order to welcome the Cloud 9 stores to the "Z-Fam" (never say that again Amy, please), Zephra has a surprise in store for their new employees. Is it a pipe organ? No, Glenn, it is not. It's a cereal bar, one of those low-cost, high visibility perks tech companies use to trick their employees into thinking they care for them. Jonah would rather have a living wage and Sandra wants some of those fancy self-driving cars so she doesn't have to take the bus, but everyone else seems pretty happy with literal crumbs as long as they're covered in sugar.
Amy in particular is hyping up Zephra, having an optimistic view of their new corporate overlords. The CEO has a purple square as her head shot, they have to be progressive, right? This is a point where Amy and Jonah are in conflict, with Jonah wanting to push for change and Amy satisfied with incremental steps, no matter how small. It brings to mind their clashing over the union, and while I was sure that a workplace rift would lead to the demise of their relationship, I seem to be wrong. In this episode the show takes the same approach, with Amy and Jonah butting heads during most of it but still enjoying a surprise Valentine's Day reenactment of their first date courtesy of Amy even though they agreed not to celebrate this year. It's sweet and the direction the show is taking with them, disagreeing at work while maintaining their romantic relationship seems to be working. But is it sustainable? We shall see.
When it's announced that the Zephra CEO, Kira Moon, will be video conferencing with all the Cloud 9 stores, Jonah is suspicious while Amy is excited. Then she becomes less excited and more afraid that Jonah will use the opportunity to ask for better working conditions. CEO Moon seems pretty chill, and when she outright asks if anyone has any comments about working at Cloud 9 Amy just talks about the stupid cereal bar instead of advocating for her employees. Or at least letting them advocate for themselves. It's an ugly look, especially after all the work the employees, and even Amy, put into the union, and judging by the look on Amy's face right after she knows she messed up.
You know who decides to take matters into her own hands? Sandra, that's who! She's going to drive to the Chesterfield store to get on their video conference with CEO Moon to demand self-driving cars and no one is going to stop her!
But Amy and Jonah are going to try. They follow her and even though it's weird to CEO Moon and the Chesterfield employees to see three people from another store there, it doesn't stop Sandra from saying her piece. CEO Moon takes the opportunity to end the call and it looks like Sandra embarrassed herself while also preventing the Chesterfield workers from showing off their store chant.
But there's a twist! It's announced that Zephra made a deal with Lyft to give all Cloud 9 employees 50% off all rides from then on. It's not exactly what Sandra wanted, but it's still a win that even Sandra seems surprised by. Is Amy right and that Zephra might mean good things for employees? Or is Jonah right and this is just another shiny distraction to keep the masses happy? Once again, we shall see.
In other storylines, Dina thinks she has finally caught a serial scammer, Benny, when she opens up a shrink wrapped video game console box he's trying to return and instead finds it full of rocks. He's been returning high cost things for months and even though she has him seemingly caught red handed he won't confess. He then turns on the sexiness, and Dina turns a little into jelly. There are "thunderstorms in their pants" and the sexual chemistry is undeniable. They end up making out in front of a confused Cheyenne who was their to make sure they didn't end up making out and when Dina agrees to go on a date with him it seems weirdly out of character. But it was all a ruse - the cops are waiting outside for them and even though Dina is sort of willing to wait for him to get out of jail (she will be seeing other people in the meantime) Benny probably won't be calling her up.
Mateo is settling into his new role at Assistant to the Manager well, commandeering a closet as his new office. He's also hearing all the best gossip, so the job is perfect for him. Until Amy tells him he's the one who has to refill the cereal bar, and since the staff are filling up backpacks with cereal to take home with them there's a lot of refilling to do. So the job is not all glamour and power.
And finally, when Garrett finds out that Carol has gotten paid time off for her behavior at Sandra's wedding (reminder: she tried to kill Sandra's cat) because of Zephra's policy regarding mental distress in employees, he sees an opportunity. He tries to get Glenn, his supervisor as floor leader, to write him up for mental distress to he can take a day to play video games in his apartment. Glenn though becomes "Glenn the Friend" instead of Glenn the boss and tries to get Garrett to talk about what's bothering him. But it's Glenn who ends up shouting his worries in the storm cellar. Things like:
- Having a baby late in life.
- His diabetes.
- That he voted the wrong way.
- That Ellen dances too much.
When Garrett confesses that he was faking his mental distress, Glenn questions Garrett's life choices, which makes Garrett worry about his own mental health for real. And a full circle was created.
Odds and ends:
Favorite quote #1: "Up yours." "I wish."
Favorite quote #2: "Herds are for turds." (Both quotes were from Dina and Benny. A pair of star-crossed lovers indeed.)
Amy's secret talent: A very good impression of Veruca Salt.
Favorite blink and you'll miss it moment: An employee doesn't know that Jonah and Amy are in a relationship. How?
Thoughts on Zephra - good or evil? All comments go below!
