Of all the characters on Superstore, Amy is the only real grown-up. She's the one who has to make sure everyone is doing their jobs. She's the one who has to put up with complaints when she tries to make people do their jobs. She's the one who has to put the happiness of her husband over her own (at least the couple of times we've heard from her husband). She's the responsible one, and she hates that she has to be the responsible one but someone has to keep the store together, and Guns, Pills, and Birds is a prime example of why that person has to be her.
The main story in Guns, Pills, and Birds deals with Amy assigning Jonah to work the gun counter. Of course Jonah hates guns and would prefer not to be on the gun counter but letting him switch off would only lead to everyone else trying to switch off their assignments and possibly Mertle refusing to sell rice so he has to stay. Now gun ownership is of course a very hot-button issue, but Superstore handles it with grace and finesse, letting Jonah be anti-gun but not letting the episode become a lecture on guns and whether or not selling them in stores is a good thing. Instead, after Jonah exercises his right of refusal and doesn't let a clearly dangerous person buy a gun, Jonah begins increasingly stretching his definition of "dangerous" and denies guns to more and more people for increasingly absurd reasons (the best one being "I just don't trust redheads".). Jonah is taking a policy meant to keep people safe and exploiting it because he doesn't want to do his job. The show doesn't take a stand on whether Jonah's opinion on guns is right or wrong but it makes it clear that Jonah's actions are wrong, while also getting a fair amount of jokes out of Jonah's discomfort.
Amy meanwhile is preparing for a rare weekend to herself. Her husband Adam is taking their daughter on a camping trip and she's worked two doubles this week, so she's ready to just eat pizza, drink wine, and watch Freddie Prinze Jr. movies all weekend. Until her husband calls, begging her to take Emma camping because his friend just scored last minute tickets to an entrepreneur conference. This of course is a major blow and while Amy agrees to it, she is not happy. This is understandable and is something the episode expertly builds to by having Amy's excitement about this weekend to herself be present in almost every scene she's in until it's taken away by a man who thinks he can do whatever he wants and that Amy should "just be cool for once". So Jonah, who won't sell guns to anyone and is mad at Amy for putting him in this position and the Open Carry protesters who quickly storm the store to protest become a stand-in for her frustration at her husband and her frustration that she's the one who has to be the grown-up. Jonah's story has turned into Amy's story and it makes it a more effective story because now instead of being a story about guns, it's a more personal story about Amy's frustrations. When Amy takes Jonah and the protesters to task in the middle of the store, it's a funny scene (mainly for the protester who asks if Freddy Prinze Jr. is dead and how that throws Amy off), but also a big moment for Amy. It's a moment that clearly has an effect on Jonah, who decides to just work the gun counter. The show leaves it ambiguous if he's just doing this out of pity for Amy though, which is a smart call.
If the "Guns" part of the episode is light on laughs (though still has some good ones), the "Birds" portion is heavy on them. It's a simple story. A crow gets into the store and Garrett, Dina, and Mateo try to catch it, but one the store uses for great laughs, especially when the efforts to get the crow out bring in a whole murder of crows. It's also a story that lets us see new sides of all the characters involved. Garrett has been the aloof cool guy for the entirety of the show's run so far, so watching him panic and be freaked out by the crows is hilarious. A scene where he tried to hide in a tent that turns out to have a crow in it is the funniest part of the episode and it even leads to a nice scene at the end where the crow lands near him and he realizes it's not so bad. Meanwhile, after two episodes of Dina being at her most insufferable and Mateo in "eager to please" mode, it's refreshing to see them in a different context. Dina's love of birds has been one of her earliest character traits, so her desire to see the birds unharmed makes sense. Mateo meanwhile gets to be a little unhinged, which Nico Santos plays gloriously. The story ends on a dark note with Mateo misunderstanding Dina's request to "take care of the bird" leading to him beating the bag with the crow in it against the ground repeatedly as Dina and Garrett talk about being compassionate to animals, but it's a note that's hilarious and earned. Hopefully we can continue to see new sides to all of these characters in the future.
Glenn meanwhile is also given a story about a hot-button issue, but it's a story that winds up feeling like a missed opportunity. Spinning out of Jonah's discomfort with selling guns, Glenn mentions he'd have a problem if the store was selling morning after pills, only to find out the store does in fact sell those. So he tries to prevent Tate (Josh Lawson) from selling them and eventually goes to buy them all himself, only to discover after sale that he just spent over 1100 dollars on pills he can't afford or return, leading him to try and sell them himself. It's a funny story that ties into the themes of the main plot well. Mark McKinney is hilarious playing Glenn's panic and discomfort as he tries to sell something he doesn't believe in and Lawson is always a treat as the world's douchiest pharmacist. The problem is it's a story that's just kind of there and doesn't tell us anything new about Glenn. The "Guns" portion of the episode was funny but also told a strong character story for Amy (And Jonah to a lesser extent.). The "Birds" portion is mostly just an excuse for wacky comedy, but still managed to show off new sides of Glenn, Dina, and Mateo. The "Pills" portion just settles for being funny without the character work and it's a bit of a letdown. The show had a chance to look at Glenn's pro-life perspective and his objections to the morning after pill in the same nuanced and emphatic way it handles other issues and pushed that chance to the side for a story that's ultimately weightless.
My disappointments with the "Pills" portion aside though, Guns, Pills, and Birds was another very funny episode of what's becoming a very confident second season of Superstore. The show has gotten to the point where the writers know the characters well enough to just put them into all kinds of crazy situations and let them fly. And yes, it doesn't always work but the sum of the whole manages to easily be greater than the parts. Hopefully Amy is given some kind of a break soon though. It must be hard always having to be the grown-up.
Memorable Moments
-Best Interstitial: Mertle sits on a bench feeding crows.
-Garrett keeps a list of all the "crazy white-person things" Jonah does or says. It includes, wearing boat shoes, fencing, BBC America, makes his own trail mix ("You love my trail mix", Jonah protests), and the phrase "I want my objection noted".
-Amy's idea of an amazing movie differs from Jonah's substantially. "I'm thinking mid-'90s Rom-com, like Freddie Prinze Jr. takes the nerd to the prom because underneath those glasses, she's really beautiful, Jonah. She's beautiful".
-"Big weekend. Gonna get all liquored up and promiscuous". Glenn's whole storyline is worth it for his delivery of promiscuous.
-Garrett has had it up to here with Amy and Jonah. "Oh, god, can you guys just act like adults and have an affair or something?"
-The sequence where the gun protestors, Amy's frustrations, Glenn's efforts to sell Morning After Pills and the crows collide is a thing of beauty.
-"Bag of blood! It's a bag of Blood! Oh, you monster." The perfect way to close the episode.
-Don't worry Amy. Freddie Prinze Jr. is definitely still alive.
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