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Television

Superstore S3E9, “Golden Globes Party”

Filling in this week since we haven’t had a review yet and this show is weirdly not covered elsewhere on the internet…

Amy throws the Golden Globes party every year for the office, but folks are already concluding they need to make other plans, as Amy’s life is in… shambles? Pieces? Tatters? All of the above? That brings us to yet another “character tries to prove something isn’t true about themselves that they don’t want to be true” plot to this show. I’ve rewatched some episodes of this show, and it’s remarkable how often they go to this particular strain of plot. That said, they usually make it funny, and this episode in particular is a success. Amy insists on putting on the party despite not having Adam around to help with the details, leading to a party where the TV goes out and the grill doesn’t have any gas, and also Amy doesn’t know her own WiFi password because “Adam set it to something dumb, and you need to have the password to change the password…”

Dina shows up three hours early for the party, under the assumption that she’s Amy’s best friend, but in true Dina mode, she displays absolute commitment to the role, doing everything she can to make sure Amy’s party goes well, including two instances of personal self-sacrifice when the party becomes a real trainwreck. First, when the TV’s out and everyone plans to leave, she leans on her forcefulness to demand everyone “SIT THE [BLEEP] DOWN!” and stay. (I mean, just look at that header photo. Would you dare defy that woman?)

The second is after Amy has decided that, in lieu of ordering pizza or doing anything other than pretending everything is fine with the meat she failed to barbecue, she’s just going to microwave it. And then after it’s served, Dina bravely volunteers to eat some in solidarity, even though she has been a vegan for 20 years. (Did we know that already? I don’t think so.) Her performance at the party adds some wonderful shading to the character; a particular highlight is her psyching herself up to eat the chicken, especially knowing the relationship Dina has with her birds. “I’m going to eat a bird now. I’m going to eat a bird now.” (I’m not sure how much of her subsequent trip to the bathroom is because she’s a 20-year vegan who ate undercooked meat, and how much is because of emotional distress over eating a bird.)

Kelly finally gets a pretty funny story, too, about not fitting in with the rest of the gang. It starts with Jonah comparing her to Scrappy-Doo (of course he would, and as she rightly points out, “People hate Scrappy-Doo!”), leads into her not getting the others’ inside jokes (based on events from before she worked there), but then it pushes into an even funnier, more absurd turn where apparently Kelly missed out on about a decade’s worth of television commercials, everything from Grey Poupon to the Budweiser frogs. In the end, though, the group still invites her to P.F. Chang’s; just because she hasn’t been at the store as long doesn’t mean she’s not one of them now.

But the funniest story by far belongs to Glenn, who reveals his Golden Globes plans in the cold open: “Jerusha is ovulating, so we’ll probably just have it on in the background on a TV on a dresser.” Amy convinces Glenn to come to the party, and as a result, we finally meet Jerusha. I wasn’t sure if we ever would– if she would just be a Vera or Maris– but Kerri Kenney-Silver is not only a perfect casting decision but plays the role perfectly. (I admit, part of me was rooting for the meta-casting of Scott Thompson or, ideally, Dave Foley if time had been kinder to him. Still, this functions well as a bit of nostalgia for fans of early-90s sketch comedy.) Of course Glenn and Jerusha’s plans would bump up against Amy’s party going south; when they try to leave, she gets desperate enough to offer them her bedroom to have sex in.

This leads to possibly the two funniest scenes of the episode: The first is when everyone is sitting in the living room in silence, the only sounds being the thumping of the headboard against the wall. The second is when Glenn and Jerusha emerge disheveled and attempt very poorly to cover for the fact that they had sex (it wouldn’t have worked even if everyone hadn’t clearly heard them)– but the highlight of it for me is Mark McKinney’s expressions, an indescribable mix of sly triumph and pride, particularly as Jerusha describes the “big solid oak leg” on the table they were ostensibly repairing. (Get it, Glenn!)

In the end, Amy admits that her life is a shambles (Mateo: “Aw, sweetie. Of course it is”), but that’s okay, because the group is here for her, even though Garrett’s not going to say anything supportive because that’s not his thing.

ATTENTION CLOUD 9 SHOPPERS

  • Sandra’s boyfriend Jerry is out of his coma! He’s barely functioning (Sandra: “He finally learned the difference between wet and dry!”) but one of the other big laughs of the episode is that he’s the only one who understands Kelly’s incomprehensible game.
  • Another great runner is Justine getting stuck trying to parallel park and missing the whole party, with a final shot of her passed out in her driver’s seat surrounded by empty wine coolers and cupcakes.
  • Kelly overdressed for the party because she thought she was supposed to dress like she was attending the Golden Globes. Jerusha: “When I saw you across the room, I thought you were a prostitute. That’s a compliment.”
  • Mateo gets a good burn in, too. Kelly: “Two people died at my prom. Really traumatic.” Mateo: “And yet, you kept your dress.”
  • Amy thanks Dina for helping. Dina: “It’s what I do.” Beat. “I’m gonna need to borrow some bottoms.” Beat. “And some tops.”
  • Has any other episode spent as little time at Cloud 9 as this one? Outside of the cold open, the entire episode takes place at Amy’s house.
  • Did anyone else notice Cheyenne was missing from this episode? I didn’t notice any explanation for it. (Alternately, did they give Cheyenne so little to do I mistakenly thought she was absent this episode?)
  • Share your favorite quotes. Also share if you have a better name for the “Stray Observations” section than “Attention Cloud 9 Shoppers.”
  • Last but not least, even after all this time, this parody of the Budweiser “Wassup” commercials still cracks me up:

What did everyone else think of the episode?