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Superstore series finale proves not all endings need to out big

by Sean P. Aune | March 26, 2021March 26, 2021 8:30 am EDT

The Superstore series finale did just what it needed to do, and not one thing more. And we appreciate that.

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When we heard the news that Superstore would end with season 6, we were curious how the show would go out. Would the store explode due to Marcus (Jon Barinholtz) being completely inept at his job? Would the ceiling raccoons finally eat through necessary wires? Would the police finally conduct a raid due to the number of severed feet that appear?

None of that happened, and we loved it.

Consider spoilers from here on out for the conclusion of Superstore.

As we watched “All Sales Final,” Zephyr is closing 95% of the Cloud 9 stores. Store 1217 will close to the public and become a distribution hub for its online sales. Dina (Lauren Ash) will become the manager and may pick five employees to keep. Everyone else will need to find other jobs, and for the most part, they do.

And as we watched this all unfold, it dawned on us that this was the ending Superstore needed. The series has never been about significant, flashy events (save the tornado a few years back) but instead about the everyday life of blue-collar workers. And losing your job is a genuine issue that everyone has to concern themselves over.

In the closing moments of the episode, we see what happens to everyone with Glenn (Mark McKinney) reopening his dad’s hardware business and hiring Mateo (Nico Santos) and Cheyenne (Nichole Sakura). Dina is running the reconfigured store with Sandra (Kaliko Kauahi) as her assistant. Amy (America Gerrera) and Jonah (Ben Feldman) are married. And even the folks who didn’t get a clear departure, such as Garrett (Colton Dunn), we at least knew they were okay as we saw them at the store reunion barbecue.

Everyone would move on with their lives, and they would be as normal as they had been for six seasons.

But even more so where this finale shined was in the conclusion of two long-running jokes. We see the ceiling raccoons abandon the store in the closing moments, heading back to what we would presume would be the wilds. And, at long last, we see who has been leaving the severed feet all over the store for years. We don’t want to give that one away, but we will see that is the only moment that episode left us going, “No! You have to tell us more about this!”

So, to all of the other showrunners out there, take a lesson from Superstore in how to end your series. Too many shows feel they have to go out with a massive event so we will remember it. When it comes to Superstore, it just leaves us melancholy we won’t spend any more time inside store 1217.


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Sean P. Aune

Sean Aune has been a pop culture aficionado since before there was even a term for pop culture. From the time his father brought home Amazing