Back in business
Superstore is opening its doors for more mayhem after a tornado almost killed everyone in season 2.
The only job that comes close to watching TV for a living is working at the Cloud 9 mass-mart store in comedy series Superstore (2015- current, seasons 1-3 can be streamed on Showmax). You get paid to mess around with your mates all day and the work is minimal – even for the lowest of low staffers, you pack a couple of shelves here, re-stock items there, have two-hour meetings in the middle of the day. And it sounds like it’s a lot of fun behind the scenes too for the cast.
FROM THE GROUND UP
Even rebuilding the store was pretty easy after a tornado ripped its roof off in the season 2 finale. A couple of nailguns here, a slick of paint there and presto! They’re back in business. Well, at least the business of goofing off. But Cloud 9 being open again is a bit of a problem for assistant store manager Amy (America Ferrera, who doubles as the show’s executive producer). She would rather not be at work after smooching her good-guy- colleague and crush Jonah (Ben Feldman) as the wind storm threatened to kill them.
“What? They thought they were about to die,” explains America of the driving force behind the lip locking. “Things got emotional and heated during the tornado. After the kiss – and because they survived against the odds – Amy went home to her family, her husband and daughter. It [the kiss] leaves her with questions: is it what she really wanted to do or did she kiss Jonah out of fear as she thought that she was going to die? Or worse, did she simply kiss him because he was standing in front of her?” Superstore creator Justin Spitzer adds that “it’s definitely a giant step forward [for Amy and Jonah’s sexual tension]. You can’t argue with that. We spent so long slow-burning their relationship that we wanted to take a giant, reckless leap forward after the two seasons of back and forth”.
CRAZY IS AS CRAZY DOES
If you think that you’ve seen it all on the show so far, think again. This third instalment is dealing with everything from skeletons in the wall to a baby surprise, and even one staffer who lies about being naughty in the store just to feel like part of the team. And there’s a recurring theme for Amy and Jonah – they’re sticking together like a fly and that horrible sticky stuff on flypaper. They have had this on-off love-hate bond that has been going since season 1 and it’s only going to get stronger, because offscreen America and Ben have been spending a lot of time together. No, not like that – they’ve both directed episodes in season 3 and shared tips on what to do, what to avoid and how to get the best of their opportunities behind the cameras, says America. “It was fun because it’s the second time that I’ve directed an episode. I leaned on the people around me that I trusted and could help me feel great about when I was in front of the camera, knowing that everything behind the camera was taken care of.”
There’s a lot of fun happening in front of the cameras too, like in episode 2 when Cheyenne and Mateo (Nichole Bloom and Nico Santos) fake their grief over a dead colleague who hasn’t been seen since the tornado, only for them to arrive at work having taken an early lunchtime and missed the storm. Now they need to suck up to their undead pal and convince him that they’re all besties. Plus, there’s another dead guy in the walls in episode 5 – that tornado literally blew Creepy Sal into the walls that were rebuilt when the store reopened. But hey, rather than call in the cops when his body is exposed, the team dress Sal up as another Halloween prop and ignore their dead drama for a day.