Top 10 Times Superstore Tackled Serious Issues

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Severe weather feels like a weird choice on paper for a workplace comedy to tackle, but it actually works really well. The plotpoint comes at a time where employees are fearing layoffs, and culminates in Jonah and Amy sharing their first kiss in the panic of it all. We see these characters truly fear for their lives for the first time, and it’s not just a one-off episode either. The start of the next season showcases the devastating aftereffects, including Dina’s signs of PTSD, Jonah’s living conditions after he lost his home to the storm, and the belief that Brett was killed. Of course, it’s all handled with “Superstore’s” remarkable balance of humor and grounded realism.

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The subject of surrogacy has quite a lot of layers to it to begin with. It often involves surrounding discussions of infertility, the emotional and physical toll of carrying someone else’s baby and, in this case, payout. Dina mentions that the $20,000 Glenn’s offering to pay is about what she takes home in a year, and goes on about all the things she could do with the money. This particular plot point fleshes out Dina’s character significantly and also does so much to nuance Dina and Glenn’s rocky work relationship. We’re not sure if it’s accurate to say they come out of it as friends, but an emotional bond seems to have formed between them by the end, whether they wanted it to or not.

“Essential”

Once many TV shows returned to air after the pandemic halted production, most decided to forgo addressing the current events of the time. We all lived through it, and it was such a visceral experience that we were mostly happy to see it didn’t exist in the universe of so many of our favorite shows. For “Superstore”, however, it would have been a missed opportunity not to delve into it. We were already dealing with Amy leaving by the end of season five, so when season six kicked off with some familiar March-of-2020 rhetoric, we knew we were in for a ride. It was an impactful retelling of the sheer relatability, distress, and sometimes lunacy of it all – not to mention a stirring look at just what essential workers endured.

“Guns, Pills and Birds”

Gun ownership and gun control, while sometimes controversial, is an important topic of discussion. “Superstore” tackled it by presenting different sides and people with all sorts of views. The focus of the episode is on Jonah, who is intensely against gun ownership and is made to work at the gun counter. He’s profusely uncomfortable at first, until he realizes he has the prerogative to deny selling to anyone he might deem a cause for concern. As you might guess, Jonah deems everyone who walks up to the counter as a cause for concern. This episode also tackled contraception through the eyes of Glenn, whose religious practices put him against methods of birth control. Both topics, while typically heavy, were handled with grace and comedy gold.

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It is frequently mentioned that the pay working at Cloud 9 is less than desirable. Even as Assistant Manager, Dina mentions taking home around $20,000 annually. In the season 4 episode “Salary”, after Amy’s just been promoted to Store Manager, we learn about how vast the pay gap is between floor workers and management. Not only is Amy’s salary light years away from the $8.60 minimum wage, she also has a number of perks that come along with her promotion, including a company car – which is a Lexus, by the way. Meanwhile, a few episodes later, corporate announces that they want to cut employee hours. This isn’t to say that Amy doesn’t deserve her salary, but that poor compensation and an egregious pay gap are issues that need addressing.

“Health Fund”

Not only are the wages not liveable, but the benefits at Cloud 9 are practically non-existent. Second-rate health care is a major source of distress for employees, who have to take care of their own ailments virtually on their own, in a health care system that doesn’t provide particularly affordable treatment. Jonah, later aided by Amy, ambitiously works to put together a Cloud 9 health fund… which pretty much turns into a pyramid scheme. Things get overly convoluted, just like much of the real-world health care systems out there, and viewers get a sense of just how difficult the issue is to resolve.

“Labor” & “Maternity Leave”

A stellar marker of season one was Cheyenne’s pregnancy and her going into labor right there in the store. It tugs at the heart to hear her say that she’ll be in the next day because she needs the money – after just having a whole baby! Glenn has to “suspend” Cheyenne with pay in order to give her some semblance of maternity leave, but is swiftly fired for his actions. The issue is brought up again in season 4, when it’s Amy’s turn to give birth and she’s asked to return to work only two days later. We see exactly the toll it takes on her. The “disdain this culture has for working mothers,” as Jonah puts it, is vital to bring to light, and “Superstore” does it outstandingly.

“Shots and Salsa” & "Hair Care Products"

Discrimination isn’t a comfortable topic, and “Superstore” does right by leaning into the discomfort of it all. In the episode “Hair Care Products”, necessary conversations are had after Dina announces that Black hair care products will no longer be locked up. Garrett points out that this small action doesn’t mean racism in the store is magically gone. He’s then tasked with compiling a list of things that can be done to fight systemic racism, and some great talking points are heard. While this happens rather late in the series, an early episode saw Amy addressing offensive racial stereotypes and cultural appropriation in the workplace.

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Perhaps one of the biggest twists in the series is Mateo getting arrested by ICE. It was incredibly set up over three seasons, and yet we still didn’t see it coming. Early on in season 2, Mateo finds out that he’s actually undocumented. It’s revealed slowly to coworkers throughout the series and, despite his best efforts to throw suspicion off of himself, by the end of season 4, corporate finds out. In a brilliant effort of collaboration between all of Mateo’s friends at Cloud 9, they try to sneak him out of the store swarming with ICE agents, but there’s nothing for it. The representation here is not only grounded and respectful, but invoked empathy for undocumented immigrants at a time when America desperately needed the narrative.

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From the beginning of the series ‘til the very end, practically every headache is caused by corporate. The salaries are bad, the benefits are bad; the attitude and treatment of employees from the top down is abysmal. Several times throughout the series we see Amy and her team do their absolute best to make things better: they stage a walk-out, make efforts to form a union, and generally try to “fight the man” to make things better for the little guys. And, nearly every time, we see that corporate talks, but ultimately does nothing of value. It’s something we know is happening – and something many of us live through every day – but seeing it all represented on-screen is incredibly cathartic.