The big question that's been hanging around Superstore for weeks now, ever since star and producer America Ferrera announced that she would not be back next year for season six, has been finally addressed. Unless it's a fake out, which with the turmoil caused by the pandemic and the inability to film the final episode of the current season it way well not be the final resolution to Amy's character, but at the end of this latest episode Amy was invited to apply for the Cloud 9 Director of Customer Experience position, which would give her a voice over all the stores. It's a position also based in Palo Alto, California. The episode cuts off before we can hear Amy's answer, but it's pretty obvious that this is the way the show will say goodbye to Amy. Negotiate your salary well Amy, Palo Alto real estate is crazy expensive!
Before that revelation though there is an entire episode to recap. We open with Jonah and Amy getting ready for a lunch date with his parents and brother. There's a nice little gag about other employees remarking on all the servants Jonah's family has, mostly because he mentions the time his brother blamed a party he threw in high school on their housekeeper. Hey, if a guy's family has a housekeeper why not think they've got an entire Downton Abbey situation going on as well?
The lunch starts off pleasant enough, though Amy is quick to realize that Josh's jokes are all at Jonah's expense and that their parents are more than happy to laugh off the increasingly mean things that Josh says about Jonah. Josh does go overboard with a story about Jonah as a little boy loving their childhood dog Matilda so much that he wanted to marry her, twisting it into something weirdly sexual. It gets a little weirder when Josh reveals that Jonah named the main character in the play he wrote when he was younger Matilda. Sure, the name of the play is the super pretentious "The Architecture of Hope and Fear," but give the guy a break.
There are no repressed family secrets to see here, folks!Jonah is all about keeping the peace and not responding to his brother's jibes, preferring to take the high road like Michelle Obama. My friend, you are no Michelle Obama. Amy stews and Jonah just sits there as Josh, and then his girlfriend Kelsey, make fun of Jonah, but I will say that Jonah does deserve some roasting about lying to his parents about going to medical school. The one moment that I agreed with Josh was when he said that Jonah's lie hurt their parents. Family: it's complicated.
Amy finally has enough and starts to tell Jonah's parents about Josh framing the housekeeper as a teenager, when Jonah's father misunderstands and admits that he's started having an affair again. Jonah's mother excuses herself to the restroom and Amy follows her. Instead of the blow up between the two women I was expecting there's an actual conversation and Jonah's mother realizes how much Amy loves Jonah. Not going to lie, when Amy called Jonah a good person that really hit me right in the breadbasket. Are they really going to break these two up? Or will they try a long distance relationship? So many questions!
Meanwhile, Jonah has finally gotten the courage to tell his father and brother what he really thinks of them. They are respectively a philander and a douche. Kelsey dumps Josh when she realizes that he drank all her liquor and blamed it on roommates, just like he blamed the housekeeper all those years ago. Then Jonah's mom comes back from the restroom and announces that she wants a divorce (good decision) and when Amy comes back from the restroom to find half the party missing at least she has some "margs" to get her though it (margaritas solve a lot of, but also cause, many problems).
In the other story line for this episode the rest of the Cloud Niners compete against each other in a customer safari. Garrett sets up a points system based on how weird a customer is, and if an employee can take a picture of one of these customers in the store than they get points. The pot is $200, and at $10 per person entry fee that means about twenty people work at the store during a shift. Seems like a lot, especially since we didn't see any warehouse employees participating.
The already ethically dubious endeavor gets even more sketchy when Cheyenne calls in a ringer. Mateo agrees to keep quiet for a $50 cut if she wins. There really is no honor among thieves. Meanwhile, the two people who are supposed to be in charge since Amy is gone, assistant store manager Dina and floor manager Glenn, have their own issues to deal with. Dina is freaking out since Dr. Bryan, her veterinarian boyfriend, stopped by for an unplanned lunch date. Glenn is freaking out since no one will tell him what's going on and his interrogation skills suck.
Things come to a head when Dr. Bryan realizes that Dina's attention is divided between their date and the shenanigans going on at the store, but instead of bailing he volunteers to be Dina's partner in solving the mystery. It's actually very cute how into the role Dr. Bryan is, willing to trade free surgery for Sandra's lumpy cat in exchange for information. Later he and Dina set up a sting with him as bait - a customer with a pig in a baby carrier. It of course works like a charm:
Cheyenne never had a chance.
Odds and ends:
Favorite quote: "Everything looks better on Michelle Obama." 100% true.
Favorite blink and you'll miss it moment: When Jonah's mom mentions the host of the new "Kids Say the Darndest Things," Tiffany Hashish. Close, but not quite right.
Most disturbing revelation: Justine has tons of practice taking clandestine pictures with all the creep shots of dads in parks she takes. I do not want to see her camera roll.
Amy leaving because of a new job at corporate wasn't too much of a surprise. Is this the beginning of the end of her relationship with Jonah? Any other ways you would have preferred her exit? Comments and thoughts go below!
