-When Superstore had Mateo discover he was an undocumented immigrant back in August's Olympic Special, it came at a time when the 2016 election had made immigration a hot topic. Following the election and the victory of Donald Trump, it's become even more timely and relevant than the writers probably thought it would be when they introduced the storyline, making it an even trickier subject to mine for comedy. Mateo's undocumented status has been mostly backgrounded throughout the season however as the character's been developed in other ways, mainly through his relationship with Jeff. It's popped up so rarely, it's easy to forget it exists. So when Mateo's undocumented status suddenly pops back in with a vengeance and intertwines itself with Mateo's relationship, it makes for a more powerful and emotionally resonant story than if it had been an ongoing concern every week. Mateo's Last Day (Directed by series star America Ferarra) handles the issue smartly, subtly and gracefully, adding in enough laughs to balance the more serious parts of the episode effectively.
-When last week's episode ended with Jeff saying Mateo needed to transfer stores in order for corporate to be OK with their relationship, it was obvious that Mateo probably wasn't going to transfer stores. Nico Santos is too valuable an ensemble player to be let go this early in the show's run. The introduction of the much nicer Signature store Mateo is supposed to transfer to made it even clearer that something was going to go wrong because that's just how comedy works. The only question was how this was all going to fall apart and Mateo's lack of a social security card was a nice, elegant answer to that question. Mateo's undocumented status only ever really comes up when it can organically tie into the story and this was a masterful way to throw a big obstacle between Mateo and Jeff, which is really what the whole story is about.
-Mateo and Jeff's romance has been going on for much of the season but the secretive nature of said romances means the pair haven't actually shared a lot of screentime together, typically only getting a scene or two whenever Jeff is in an episode. So it's impressive how fleshed out and developed the relationship feels. Michael Bunin has done a fantastic job making Jeff feel like a real human being rather than a disposable love interest that can be thrown away without consequence, making us care about him as a character. Bunin and Santos also have terrific chemistry and that chemistry helps us get invested in their relationship, which adds extra weight when that relationship ends. The two of them also do maybe their best work to date in the climatic break-up scene. You can feel Mateo's pain and agony as he tells Jeff he doesn't love him as well as Bunin's hurt from those words.
-Typically, when a TV relationship ends because one party is keeping a secret and thinks breaking up with the other person instead of just telling the truth is the best course of action, it feels contrived and ridiculous. That being said, Mateo choosing not to tell Jeff about his undocumented status works here because the show and Santos do a lot of groundwork leading up that decision so we understand why Mateo makes it. Jeff cares about Mateo but he also cares about his job and we've seen how insecure Mateo can be about where he stands with Jeff as recently as the last episode. Mateo should trust that Jeff will be able to handle the truth about his undocumented status but he just can't bring himself to do it. It's tragic and frustrating but it makes sense on a character level. The good news is that there's still plenty of time left in the season for Mateo to change his mind and tell Jeff the truth (And I hope he does).
-Jonah is used purely as comic relief for Mateo's story this week as he offers to marry Mateo multiple times before trying and failing to beat up Mateo. It's nice to see that the Superstore writers don't feel the need to make Jonah a driving part of a storyline every week and Ben Feldman is clearly having a blast embracing the goofier side of Jonah. The final beat of him punching out Mateo after Mateo calls off the transfer and breaks up with Jeff is a darkly hilarious moment to close the episode on. There's also a lot of fun interplay between Feldman, Santos, and Nichole Bloom this week that makes me want to see more of Jonah, Cheyenne, and Mateo as a comic trio.
-With the Mateo story doing the emotional heavy-lifting for the episode, the other two stories are much sillier and comedy-driven to great effect. Glenn and eventually Amy getting sucked into a battle with an internet troll isn't the most original story in the world but it works because of how well-executed the various comedic beats are, and the game performances from Mark McKinney, America Ferrara, and guest star Neil Casey (Who you might know from the Ghostbusters reboot and the ill-fated but brilliant Yahoo Screen Original Other Space). There's no reasoning with trolls on the internet and everyone knows it, but Glenn cares about the store so much that he can't help from trying to make Tim see the store the same way he does, even though every time he attempts to do so only makes the initial Yelp review worse.
-Internet trolls and their unique brand of awfulness are hard to capture on television without turning them into a caricature, but episode writer Jonathan Green and Neil Casey do an admirable job making Tim feel like an actual character and not a plot device. Casey gives a great performance as someone who seems like a perfectly nice, reasonable guy who doesn't seem like an internet troll at all until he posts online. When Amy decides to visit him at his home and we see he lives with his mentally-ill, hoarder mother who he's been forced to take care of, it initially seems like the episode is offering an easy, lazy explanation for his behaviour. He's frustrated in his own life so he takes it out online. When he and Amy have a heart-to-heart where they discover they aren't so different, I was ready to roll my eyes. Then the episode smartly subverts this by having the heart-to-heart ultimately lead to nothing but another update of his awful review, leaving it ambiguous as to whether he meant anything he said or if he was just screwing with Amy the whole time (The truth is probably somewhere in the middle but the episode leaves it to the viewer to make their own decision). The point is clear, you just can't reason with terrible people on the internet so you're going to need to find another way to handle it.
-Garrett and Dina get a much slighter story as they're required to sign a relationship disclosure form and balk at the limited number of options they have to describe the nature of their relationship (Spouse, Family Member, or Romantic). Superstore has avoided going a conventional route for whatever is going on between these two all season and that pays off dividends here as practically half of corporate gets drawn into their web. They're not friends so "friends with benefits" is off the table. They don't hate each other so "hate effing" doesn't work either. The further they go into their web trying to figure out what label fits best, the more convoluted and hilarious everything gets. The ultimate decision to label the 4th box "other" works like gangbusters because it's so obviously simple, it's absurd no one thought of it in the first place. I still expect Garrett and Dina to try dating for real eventually but I don't mind waiting for that to happen if the show can keep getting material this good from their "other" relationship.
-Best Interstitial: Nothing of note this week. Let's highlight the moment in Mateo's "Looking for a fight" montage where he challenges Brett to a fight and Brett immediately draws a knife. Don't screw around with Brett,
-This Week in Mark McKinney is a Treasure: The look on his face when Amy refers to the person who left a negative Yelp review as a "troll", prompting her to clarify that she means a regular-sized non-magical human person.
-Mateo making an elaborate departure video for himself makes for a terrific cold open. "What am I gonna miss the most? Uh, the people. They're often hilarious, simple, basic. Just sort of harmless."
-Cloud Nine being completely and utterly unready for any kind of natural disaster has been a nice little running joke that continues tonight when Glenn mentions it's been over eight years since their last tornado drill.
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