Halloween 2K25 – Superstore, The Halloween Episodes
When I think about sitcoms with great Halloween episodes, my mind tends to go back to the 90s with shows like Roseanne and Home Improvement. And while those two shows have some of my favorite Halloween themed episodes, it is hard not to appreciate the effort some modern shows have put into creating classics for the spooky season. Shows like Brooklyn 99 and The Middle have done some great episodes, along with the show we are looking at today, Superstore.
I first watched Superstore a few years ago, and fell in love with it almost instantly. My only regret was not watching it sooner. Last night, I noticed Hulu added a Superstore Halloween episode to their Halloween hub, and the next thing you know I had watched all the Halloween episodes back-to-back.
Let’s take a quick look at how these episodes hold up.
Halloween Theft
Season Two, Episode Seven
I watched this episode, and instantly I remembered how much I enjoyed Superstore.
A box of damaged vegetables goes missing from an unlocked storage cage, which sends Dina on a rampage to discover who stole the box of veggies. It’s made so much funnier, because she doesn’t like Halloween and didn’t want to dress up, but once she realized Sandra dressed up as her, she found a costume, and it turned out to be a sexy cop. This makes everyone incredibly uncomfortable, as the normally covered up Dina is now putting her breasts on full display.
Meanwhile, Glenn, Amy, and Jonah try to find a way to fix the missing vegetable dilemma, while Garrett fights his hormones who are attracted to Dina physically, but repulsed by her emotionally.
This is a fantastic episode, and the fact that it embraces it’s Halloween setting just makes it better. Lauren Ash (Dina) steals the show by playing her character so straight, while everyone around her is both annoyed and aroused.
Halloween Theme: A
Re-Watchability: A
Sal’s Dead
Season Three, Episode Five
The show begins with the discovery of a staff member who was found dead in the drywall. His mummified corpse had been rotting for the past year, and unfortunately the coroner’s office is delayed due to an explosion at a local business. This means Cloud 9 is open for business with a corpse on full display!
While Glenn tries to deal with the corpse issue, Amy gets a hold of Jonah’s phone while he’s searching for girls on a dating app. She decides she knows what’s best for Jonah and begins swiping left and right until she lands on the new girl, Kelly. Amy swipes the wrong way and matches Jonah to Amy, and now she has to try and find a way to get Amy’s phone and cancel the notification. This leads to all sorts of hi jinks as Amy goes to extreme lengths to fix the situation she created.
Cheyenne is doing face painting and practicing her special effects makeup, when she has a great idea to turn Mateo into Sal, the guy who died in the wall, so he can leave the country to attend a wedding. Unfortunately, once Mateo begins to look like Sal, he starts taking on someone of his quirks and behaviors, which is not a good thing.
I absolutely love this episode, and it made me laugh so many times. I would easily add this to a yearly watch list.
Halloween Theme: A
Re-Watchability: A
Costume Competition
Season Four, Episode Four
The store holds a costume competition, with the winner receiving a paid day off. Amy, who was extremely pregnant and struggling to reduce her hours with the home office, is desperate for the paid time off, so she grabs a Mario costume from the rack and goes all out to win the competition.
Her main competition is Mateo, who changes into an elaborate costume as Jessica Tandy from The Birds. The two of them decide to team up by convincing their co-workers to find fault with everyone’s costume based on cultural appropriation. In a way, this episode makes some wonderful points about folks taking things too far when it comes to being offended, and I couldn’t help but appreciate a quote from this episode:
We can’t just live our lives afraid to offend someone. I think that we, you know, as a society, we need to just lighten up a little bit.
Meanwhile, Garret is having a breakdown after hearing the same Halloween song play over-and-over every ten minutes or so, and Glenn thinks he’s being haunted by the automatic cart collector.
This is a great episode, with a small message, but lots of goofiness thrown in.
Halloween Theme: A
Re-Watchability: B
Trick or Treat
Season Five, Episode Six
After last year’s debacle with the costume competition which resulted in sensitivity training for everyone, no contest is going to be held, much to Marcus’ chagrin as he went all out with an over the top dragon costume.
Amy meets the new district manager, while Jonah meets up with his old flame Kelly to collect union cards from the store she currently works at. This creates an issue when the new district manager sees Jonah and Kelly talking, and in a nervous moment, Amy states that they are a couple.
Garret and Glenn are in charge of managing the haunted house in the garden center, which causes a lot of anxiety as Glenn has some PTSD from a previous experience in a haunted house. After he throws away Garret’s candy corn because Glenn is diabetic, Garret decides to use the haunted house to his advantage.
The Halloween hijinks get a bit lost in the whole union card situation, but every scene has something Halloween in it, from decorations to costumes, and I appreciate that the show embraces the concept and doesn’t just use Halloween as a backdrop.
Halloween Theme: A
Re-Watchability: B
