SUPERSTORE: Justin Spitzer on the Amy-Jonah Kiss Fallout, Mateo’s Revealed Secret, and More

SUPERSTORE, one of the best comedies currently on television, threw grenades into multiple relationships in last week’s episode.

In “Safety Training,” Amy’s (America Ferrera) attempt to befriend Kelly (Kelly Stables)—AKA Jonah’s (Ben Feldman) new girlfriend—backfired when she took credit for Kelly improperly hanging signs and was forced into safety training. To get Amy out of it, Dina (Lauren Ash) planned on playing footage of Kelly’s work mistake…and instead played a mishmash of footage which included Amy and Jonah’s kiss during last season’s tornado.

Meanwhile, Mateo (Nico Santos) was injured by a falling sign, which helped out. After he kept turning down corporate’s offer for injury compensation, finally Jeff (Michael Bunin), his ex/the store’s distract manager, insisted on giving him money. But Mateo finally admitted he was undocumented and his inability to share that with Jeff was the real reason they broke up.

So where does the show go next? SUPERSTORE creator Justin Spitzer shared a few teases about what’s in store.

The Cloud 9 employees now know Jonah and Amy kissed! How are they dealing with that attention and fallout?
This week, it’s all about that. It’s not like they just kissed yesterday, while Jonah is dating Kelly, or anything like that. It’s them trying to deal with what I think would happen in that kind of environment: there is less emphasis on scandal and more on mockery.

This isn’t something that happened while Jonah and Kelly were together, but presumably, by the look on her face, this is news to her. How is that relationship handling the lie by omission?
It definitely becomes an issue. The episode largely focuses on that; I’d say this one and the one next week at Target is largely about Kelly’s reaction. Jonah’s trying to explain what the kiss meant or didn’t mean, what his relationship with Amy is now. It is the first recognition between Jonah and Kelly that there may be something else out there.

As Jonah is trying to explain things, how is Kelly handling the gossip, etc.?
I think for her, it’s about trying to be cool with it. For her, she’s trying to be cool and accepting. She recognizes it wasn’t while she was with Jonah; there’s no rational reason why she should be upset. But at the same time, she’s now brought into the focus and spotlight. For her, it’s about trying to tell herself she’s OK with it. And I think she even is largely okay with it…until everybody starts talking about it. The more you fight against something, the more guilty you look—and I think that’s what’s happening with Jonah and Amy.

Jeff now knows Mateo’s secret. What’s next for them?
That’s going to have ramifications and Mateo’s going to be very nervous going into [this] episode.

It’s funny, everybody finding out about the video and Jeff finding out about Mateo were moves we talked about all season, [figuring out] when we were going to do [it on the show]. We had decided to do the video here, and as we were breaking it, we realized it made sense for Jeff to find out [about Mateo]. We were asking ourselves if we were doing too much at once, but we think it worked. It’s going to impact Mateo and Jeff, and there’s going to be a story move in their relationship.

We always knew the first half [of the season] would be more episodic. We did the same thing with season 2, and even season 1, to an extent. And then the second half or last third becomes much more serialized and has much more traction.

If Jeff keeps this secret, in theory, this could put his job in jeopardy, too. How much is that playing out this year?
I’ll just say over the course of the rest of the season—and I’m not necessarily saying a regular—someone is going to quit and someone is going to be fired.

Outside of those secrets, the Cloud 9 employees are getting amnesty from Glenn (Mark McKinney) and Dina for anything they want to confess in tonight’s episode. What kind of trouble are the characters going to get into with that?
The amnesty starts with a conversation between Dina and Glenn; Glenn is shocked to find out about the kiss, because technically Amy was with Adam [when it happened]. So he’s like, that’s technically adultery—but Amy’s not a bad person. The whole idea of amnesty comes from the discussion about whether people are inherently good or evil. We were joking in the room that this is our GOOD PLACE episode: there’s a philosophical debate and then they explore it.

Dina points out is everyone does crappy stuff, and you only don’t know about it because of the threat of punishment. So they tell everyone, “Tell us what you did and we’ll forgive you for today to see if that’s true or not.” And Glenn realizes everyone has done stuff.

Looking more long-term, what can you preview about how Dina’s pregnancy is going to impact the rest of the season?
I would say this season we get some stories that come out of it. One episode in particular really deals with it in a big way. Dina, she did it without really thinking about it, like it was very easy and transactional. “I have a uterus, you have money.” It was no more emotional than renting out a guest house. And I think there will be an episode of the reality setting in. She’s someone who knows birth is scary, but when you see it coming, it’s a lot more frightening. She won’t be having the baby this season. That’ll be happening probably sometime early next season. [Editor’s note: NBC has already ordered SUPERSTORE season 4.]

We’ll be seeing [Glenn’s wife] Jerusha (Kerri Kenney) again in a couple more episodes.We always knew she wasn’t going to be a Maris [from FRASIER] or a Wilson from HOME IMPROVEMENT. And she was so funny, and we want to keep her coming back.

What’s ahead for Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom) and Garrett (Colton Dunn)?
They both have some very funny episodes. Garrett will have an episode that deals with a potential love interest. Cheyenne, we’ll learn something interesting about her in [next week’s] Target episode.

The show has handled social issues really well, both on the larger and smaller scale. What topics will you be tackling for the rest of the season?
We have an episode dealing with a woman at a high corporate level and the double standard of men are seen as authorities and women can be seen as shrill or a bitch. We deal with that a little, but probably not as in-depth [as other issues]. As we started talking about it, it felt like many of these issues are so obvious and no one can [reasonably] have the point of view that women can’t be in charge. So it becomes the more subtle thing of, “What’s your first inclination when it happens?” We touch on that a little.

We deal a little bit with people’s frustration with corporate more. This season and definitely next, we’re going to be reestablishing that: the disparity between corporate and our workers.

Will next week’s Target excursion be the final trip outside of the store for the season? Or will there be more you can preview?
Next week we’ll be going to the Target and then to a restaurant. And then we go outside of the store a couple more places, but nothing that would be interesting [out of context] or not a spoiler!

What are your hopes for the rest of SUPERSTORE season 3?

SUPERSTORE, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC

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