Superstore Review: Costume Competition (Season 4 Episode 4)

Halloween, for many adults, is an excuse to be silly. On Superstore, there’s no exception to that.

Superstore Season 4 Episode 4, “Costume Competition,” is just a half-hour long excuse for the show to be silly.

Of course, that’s just on the surface. Within the context of the episode, Superstore manages to explore cultural appropriation and how it relates to Halloween costumes.

This is a larger illustration of what Superstore continues to be: a relevant, funny comedy that can use something as traditional as a Halloween episode to both make us laugh and make us think.

I don’t know that they reach an answer on this, either. It seemingly suggests that being intentional, sensitive, and open-minded are the best answer, rather than adhering to sweeping rules.

It also showcases the rarest holy grail of all in the retail world: the fabled paid day off.

It may seem extra silly to think about employees going through the trouble that Mateo and Amy are going through to try and get a paid day off. You might think, “What’s the big deal? I get 10 paid days off a year.” However, it’s much less common in the retail world.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that the Cloud 9 employees really went after that sucker.

The Amy-Mateo attempt to sabotage every person’s costume through cultural appropriation is a wild ride. America Ferrera and Nico Santos make for an excellent comedy duo, but Super Mario and an old white lady make for a better one. This isn’t a pairing that viewers get often, but perhaps one they should get more often.

The rest of “Costume Competition” deftly navigates the show’s silliness without exploring any relevant issues.

Glenn, for instance, does not tolerate any jiggery-pokery or argle-bargle. So trying to be no-nonsense and confiscating the cart genie remote from his employees creates a hilarious b-plot about machine uprisings (I guess you COULD consider that a relevant issue).

Mark McKinney has a lot of great physical comedy within this plot. His best, though, is his dead sprint across the parking lot and back, while the remote (and therefore the cart genie) stay put. And then Jonah says “Good job, buddy!” Brilliant.

“Costume Competition” is a VERY funny Halloween episode, and may fall among my all-time favorites.

Stray Thoughts:

• My favorite Halloween song is on repeat during this episode. No, it’s not “Monster Mash” or “This is Halloween.” It’s “Halloween Surfboard.”
• I’m not sure I’d ever heard Marcus’ last name before, but the fact that it’s “White” really enhanced the cultural appropriation bit.
• Superstore has some phenomenal short sketches sprinkled through each episode, but one of my all-time favorites has to be this episode’s ghost that couldn’t open the automatic door.
• Really glad that there is only brief mention of the ugly Sandra-Carol-Jerry thing. Shudder.
• There aren’t many Amy-Jonah moments on “Costume Competition,” but Jonah’s voter suppression efforts are the ultimate romantic gesture. I wish someone loved me enough to suppress costume contest votes for me.
• Anyone else notice that Amy changed her name from Dubinowski? Am I late to this party?

What did you think of this episode of Superstore? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Superstore airs Thursday at 8/7c on NBC.

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