NOTE: Full spoilers for this episode of, “Superstore” are present in this review
Superstore rung in Spring properly for the Cloud 9 workforce this week… At least to start. “Spring Cleaning” had surprisingly little to do with its title, and was more about laying some of the groundwork for Season Two’s final batch of episodes over the next few weeks. This included foreshadowing the wedding between Cheyenne and Bo (in turn giving Johnny Pemberton another welcome chance to guest star on the show), further developing the new dynamic between Jonah and Glenn, and ending the episode on something of a shocker that might spell trouble for the Cloud 9 employees.
For the most part, this was another funny and satisfying episode of Superstore, though in having to move so many parts into place for the season’s final few episodes, it did feel stretched a bit thin with its storylines. The addition of Bo as a new employee of Cloud 9 further disturbed the dynamic, even though this disappointingly didn’t stick. Bo quits by the end of the episode, in a particularly idiotic fashion, which is perhaps due to Johnny Pemberton’s commitments as a lead in FOX sitcom, Son of Zorn, despite that series’ fate still currently unknown since its season concluded earlier in the year. It’s too bad, since Bo surprisingly takes to Dina and her love of security most of all, which feels like a promising dynamic that Superstore has to take off of the table for now.
Surprisingly, Bo mainly felt like a device to fill in jokes as the rest of the storylines bumbled around with other developments. The bulk of this week’s episode actually focused on Jonah and Glenn, as Jonah worries that his new relationship with Glenn’s adopted daughter is making him unlikable in Glenn’s eyes. Since Jonah has a reputation to uphold as the kind of boyfriend that his girlfriends’ fathers all love, he decides to suck up to Glenn and go to great lengths to hang out with him, something that Glenn is overjoyed at.
Jonah’s tactics working too well was a really funny twist that nicely played with the expectation of Glenn being upset with Jonah for dating his daughter. Naturally, Glenn doesn’t put together obvious hints that the two are having sex, and he even goes as far as making Jonah his assistant, complete with giving Jonah his own cloud-themed tie. This was the storyline that truly fired on all cylinders throughout the episode, as Jonah tries to get away from an increasingly clingy Glenn, eventually resulting in an awkward blow-up when he decides that going to a baseball game with his boss is a step too far. The two manage to work out the tense moment pretty well though, fortunately, even if this is shortly before Glenn gets a bomb dropped on him by Jeff, namely that he needs to fire about 10% of his workforce. Uh oh! Does this mean some of the show’s leads are on their way out?
Beyond the highlight Jonah/Glenn storyline, another subplot, the only one that at least partially tied in with the Spring Cleaning idea, involved Amy and Garrett finding old photos that no one came to pick up. After failing to identify the owner, the two become obsessed with locating who the photos belong to, eventually discovering that they seem to be the property of a former Cloud 9 employee that quit the store years ago. Their deductions don’t have much bearing on the story at large, but the final reveal that the photos are stock images of a Cloud 9 model was pretty hilarious, especially when Amy’s and Garrett’s hopes for better prospects after working at the store are dashed pretty hard.
The remaining storyline was arguably the most lost in the shuffle, as it involved Cheyenne trying and failing to get Bo to take his new job seriously. Cheyenne keeps catching Bo lounging at stations that he’s not assigned to, and constantly urges him to take his job seriously, since it’s a good thing he has it. This provided an interesting contrast with the more grim conclusion of the Amy/Garrett subplot, even if it did feel like a simple lead-in to next week’s episode, which is apparently all about Cheyenne’s and Bo’s wedding. I almost wish that the show had allowed Bo to try and rob the store before quitting though, especially since it probably would have been even funnier if he was busted by Dina trying to rob the place and subsequently fired, ironically being undone by his own alleged love of tight security.
“Spring Cleaning” didn’t always manage to keep all of its storylines effectively in the air, but it still offered lots of great laughs, especially with the too-brief stint of Bo working at the store. Jonah and Glenn having to face the reality of Jonah dating one of Glenn’s adopted children was the one point where the episode completely excelled, even if Amy’s and Garrett’s photo hunt was still fairly fun, despite the depressing ending. Superstore only has a few episodes left before the season is done, so it seems like the show is going to move into its big story crescendos over the next few weeks, before it goes off for the Summer. Hopefully, Cheyenne’s wedding and Glenn’s difficult decision help close out Season Two on the same high note it’s been largely sustained on!