Things You Missed In The First Episode Of Superstore

The employees of Cloud 9 have been making fans laugh for five seasons and counting, which adds up to a whole lot of episodes. That's why now is a perfect time to revisit the first episode of Superstore. Right from the start, this clever NBC workplace comedy was fully committed to creating intricate backstories for its characters, and introducing long-running gags that would pay off in the years to come.

Just in case you need a refresher, the pilot episode kicks off with Dina (Lauren Ash) officially hiring Jonah (Ben Feldman) to work in the store. This leads to Jonah fielding some seriously awkward questions about his dating life, because Dina is immediately interested in him. However, from the moment he mistakes Amy as a customer, it's clear she and Jonah are going to be the show's central couple.

While the majority of the pilot's running time is devoted to Jonah's ham-fisted attempts to get on Amy's good side after their awkward first encounter, the episode also includes Bo (Johnny Pemberton) and Cheyenne's (Nichole Sakura) unconventional engagement — and by unconventional we mean Bo pretends to rob the store, choreographs a flash mob dance to "Marry Me" by Jason Derulo, improvises a bizarre rap, and then almost forgets to, you know, actually propose. Unsurprisingly, his antics result in an arrest, but if he hadn't planned such an outrageous proposal, Dina never would have cut the lights in the store revealing Jonah's "moment of beauty" for Amy — so it all kinda works out.

Superstore devotees surely remember the episode's highlights, but there are plenty of little moments you probably missed while you were busy being dazzled by Jonah's starry, romantic gesture. Here are some of the most interesting details from that auspicious pilot.

In one of the pilot's first scenes, Dina is going over Jonah's new hire form when she jokes, "No dependents, me either. Unless you count my birds." It almost feels like a throwaway line, but fans know Dina takes her love of birds very seriously. It's later revealed she has enough feathered friends to fill more than one aviary, and whenever she has to stay late at the store, she calls them to say goodnight.

Her devotion to her birds pays off in a major way in season four when she brings her pets to work. After Garrett (Colton Dunn) accidentally releases all of Dina's birds, he realizes that she'll never forgive the person responsible. It turns out he's right, because when she does find out several episodes later, she burns his treasured sneaker collection in retaliation.

It's pretty impressive to think that the writers laid the groundwork for so many major Dina moments to come with just one jokey line in the show's first episode.

These days Sandra Kaluiokalani gets many of Superstore's best lines, and most moving moments (Jerry and Sandra are the real romantic leads. Sorry, Jonah and Amy). Actress Kaliko Kauahi was even promoted to series regular for season 5, per Deadline. It's hard to imagine now, but she's not in the first episode at all. Believe it.

Even though it feels like she's been there since day one, Sandra doesn't make her first appearance until the second episode, and she's not the only member of the ensemble cast who is M.I.A. at the start. Other future cast standouts, including Marcus (Jon Barinholtz), Carol (Irene White), and Myrtle (Linda Porter), are also absent from the pilot.

You know who did make the cut for the pilot? Friggin' Brett (Jon Miyahara). The mostly silent, but somehow effortlessly cool Cloud 9 employee is on hand to witness Jonah toss a plastic bag up in the air as he makes an embarrassing American Beauty reference in hopes of impressing Amy. Interestingly, even though he appears in the first episode, Brett doesn't say a single word until the season 2 finale, when he looks up and curses as a tornado heads toward the store.

Superstore finds all kinds of clever ways to hint at the first episode's big reveal that Amy is actually married, but the writers didn't want to be too obvious, so they went a long way to keep us distracted. Looking back, it's clear that Amy is speaking from experience when she advises Cheyenne not to marry Bo just because she's pregnant. What we don't find out until later is that Amy married young because she was expecting, and she's now in a loveless marriage as a result.

Amy even interrupts Bo's first proposal to Cheyenne to insist that she take some time to think through her decision. While Amy's trying to make her point, a confused customer comes up and begins asking a series of gross questions about laxatives. "Do you know the difference between a stool softener and a laxative?" she asks. "I don't want it soft, I want it out of me."

There's no shortage of weird customers on Superstore, but this particular shopper, credited as "Uptight Lady" on IMDb, is played by Betsy Sodaro, a comedian and voice actor known for her work on shows like Another Period, Bob's Burgers, and Duncanville. Clearly, the writers found her laxative commentary hilarious, because Sodara returns to interrupt another Cheyenne and Amy moment in the season 1 episode "Labor." This time around she quizzes Amy about the difference between sunblock and sunscreen as she's trying to coach Cheyenne through labor pains.

Looking back, Superstore had all the makings of a classic comedy right from the start. From the early seeding of Dina's devotion to her birds to capitalizing on funny guest stars, the pilot wasted no time drawing viewers into the quirky world of Cloud 9.