S04.E01: Back to School

[fishcakes]

Quote

The Season 4 premiere: Amy and Jonah return from suspension, and steel themselves for a barrage of jokes and snide comments about their sex video. Jeff, meanwhile, goes to extreme lengths to win back Mateo.

[ClareWalks]

Glenn going in and tipping Amy $20 every night was really, really sweet.

[EarlGreyTea]

The opening scene seemed out of a different show. However, Glenn was precious as usual. I guess Amy and Jonah were suspended? It wasn't overly clear.

Noam was supremely unfunny. I hope they ditch him and fast.

It is clearer than ever that one of the writers worked on The Office, because the reveal at the end that Jonah and Amy were indeed together without anyone knowing is right out of the Jim and Pam playbook.

Overall a good start to the season. I'd love to see the outtakes of the staff's sex questions for Amy and Jonah, as I bet the cast ad-libbed a lot of them. That was probably the best part of the episode. I was surprised at what the censors let past.

Edited October 5, 2018 by EarlGreyTea

[WednesdayAddams]

I love that they are together! I love it more that he now calls her A hole. 

[BuckeyeLou]

I thought it was a good start to the season, I loved the opening sequence with Amy working in a diner & her "mystery" customer...are we supposed to assume Amy knew who it was?   I agree with EarlGreyTea that I am surprised at what the censors allowed to be said during the 'sex questioning", especially at 8pm, isn't that considered the 'Family hour"? Bringing Myrtle back as a 'hologram' was funny...wonder if they will bring her back for real?

[ClareWalks]

That "if you get to be J-Bone I should get to be A....Hole" line was FLAWLESS. Such an incredible double entendre. Agree that the censors must have played a bit fast and loose, and I love it.

[tennisgurl]

Oh my god, I was losing it at that Myrtle hallucination! Losing it! "Who could possibly want this?" 

Glenn sneaking into Amy's temporary job (very obviously) and leaving her big tips is really sweet, in a awkward, Glenn kind of way. Its really nice to have this show back. And Amy and Jonah are finally together for real!

[Ms Lark]

Aww, I love that Amy and Jonah are actually together. Double aww for Glenn in the opening tipping Amy $20 bills (aww). I love his bumbling sincerity in general.

Was not overly fond of the jerks idolizing Jonah, that went on way too long. I hope they bring back Myrtle for reals. I really hope the actress is ok IRL.

[topanga]

45 minutes ago, EarlGreyTea said:

The opening scene seemed out of a different show. However, Glenn was precious as usual. I guess Amy and Jonah were suspended? It wasn't overly clear.

Noam was supremely unfunny. I hope they ditch him and fast.

It is clearer than ever that one of the writers worked on The Office, because the reveal at the end that Jonah and Amy were indeed together without anyone knowing is right out of the Jim and Pam playbook.

Overall a good start to the season. I'd love to see the outtakes of the staff's sex questions for Amy and Jonah, as I bet the cast ad-libbed a lot of them. That was probably the best part of the episode. I was surprised at what the censors let past.

 

Great premiere. The harassment meeting was the best—I love it when Cheyenne and Mateo play off each other. 

Garrett: ‘I am not hi-fiving a man over another man’s orgasm.’ Hee.

I thought the store was going to be trashed when they left the meeting. So, great job, Kelly. 

ETA: I loved the sign stating that the Back to School DVD was not part of the back to school  sale.

Edited October 5, 2018 by topanga

[AnimeMania]

Can Amy really afford a car like that working at Cloud 9?

[janie jones]

2 hours ago, EarlGreyTea said:

The opening scene seemed out of a different show. However, Glenn was precious as usual. I guess Amy and Jonah were suspended? It wasn't overly clear.

When she was telling Glenn-as-trucker it was her last day, she said she was on suspension from her regular job.

When Jonah said the store had closed 15 minutes prior, my first thought was "who is closing the registers?" /retailworker

[possibilities]

They can close the store without closing the registers. Customers leave, doors locked. There was still staff around cleaning things up. It takes way more than 15 minutes to close a store. When I worked retail, we were always around closing up long after we were "closed" to customers.

[topanga]

3 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Can Amy really afford a car like that working at Cloud 9?

What was it? It looked like a Nissan or a  Mazda 

[Circelily]

My hope that they would be together was fed by the the fact that Jonah was saying nothing during the interrogation teasers, just backing up everything Amy said with gestures.This is motormouth Jonah we're talking about here :-D *happy dance*

[Madtown]

Even though I saw that Jonah and Amy were actually together through the whole show, it didn't stop me from doing the happy dance at the end. Love that Jonah called her A-hole as well. I found the whole thing hilarious. I've missed those break room meetings..lol I think what Amy did with having everyone ask questions was a smart idea. As we saw, they were all pretty bored and tired by the end, plus it seemed to take hours..lol  Not a fan of Noam and have no idea where he came from and why he was brought on.

I didn't see the virtual Myrtle coming at all. That cracked me up and their reactions were great. I hope at some point they bring the REAL Myrtle back! Overall, great start to the season. I have missed this show!

[Trillium]

I’m glad Amy and Jonah are together mainly because I was seriously going to cut a bitch if they were going to drag this will they/won’t they on longer. I’ve always been indifferent to them as a couple but they were sweet at the end so I can live with it. I still think her pregnancy storyline is super unnecessary, so here’s hoping she has the baby and it goes the way of Harmonica.  Rarely mentioned and never seen. 

It was a funny start to the seaso and Glen’s attempts to be “woke” was hilarious. He does try so hard. 

[Kip Hackman]

That was some pretty graphic sex talk, for an 8:00 sitcom.

Not that I minded. I completely lost it at Justine's "reverse cowgirl" line.

[festivus]

Line of the night was Dina's "For my next question I'm going to need a church candle and a bagel." Other than that and Garrett's faces during the meeting, this premiere was meh to me.

[topanga]

50 minutes ago, festivus said:

Line of the night was Dina's "For my next question I'm going to need a church candle and a bagel." 

Can you explain that one? I feel like I'm missing something.

[Aulty]

awwww Jonah and Amy.

I live for those small scenes in between with customers behaving badly, they are hilarious. And the side-shot of Dina.

[Saylii]

I thought it was funny, but there’s no way Amy and Jonah would still have a job at Cloud 9 after all that.  They would have been straight up fired and depending on the jurisdiction probably saddled the company with ridiculous fines and legal issues.  It’ll be interesting to see if it’s addressed again after this episode but that took me out of it.  We had a salaried manager fired for downloading porn on one of our work computers.

I had a suspicion Jonah and Amy were dating during the J-Bone vs A-Hole conversation.  It was too light for everything they’ve been through if they weren’t together.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Saylii

[janie jones]

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

They can close the store without closing the registers. Customers leave, doors locked. There was still staff around cleaning things up. It takes way more than 15 minutes to close a store. When I worked retail, we were always around closing up long after we were "closed" to customers.

I am fully aware of that.  My point was, someone needs to get on that!

[Kip Hackman]

34 minutes ago, Saylii said:

I thought it was funny, but there’s no way Amy and Jonah would still have a job at Cloud 9 after all that.  They would have been straight up fired and depending on the jurisdiction probably saddled the company with ridiculous fines and legal issues.  It’ll be interesting to see if it’s addressed again after this episode but that took me out of it.

All of that is true, but were you really expecting them to get fired? The two romantic leads, and stars of the show?

We all knew they would come up with some BS way not to fire them. I guess a four-month suspension was the best they could come up with. 

[festivus]

1 hour ago, topanga said:

Can you explain that one? I feel like I'm missing something.

I honestly have no idea! I think that's why it was so funny to me.

[Trillium]

4 minutes ago, Kip Hackman said:

All of that is true, but were you really expecting them to get fired? The two romantic leads, and stars of the show?

We all knew they would come up with some BS way not to fire them. I guess a four-month suspension was the best they could come up with. 

I’ll go with they only got suspended because they had nothing to do with the web cam being set up or on. Plus after Jeff did them dirty about Mertyl, maybe he was able to use his new big executive with limited business cards status and save their jobs. 

[fishcakes]

1 hour ago, topanga said:

1 hour ago, festivus said:

Line of the night was Dina's "For my next question I'm going to need a church candle and a bagel." 

Can you explain that one? I feel like I'm missing something.

I don't know if this was the intention but (spoiler tagging for people who want this to be a family hour thread)

Spoiler

based on the visuals it suggests, I'm guessing it was going to be a question about anal sex.

But it's weird that anyone was asking specifics anyway since presumably they watched the entire sex tape stream.

I replayed that backpack kid going over backwards about five times. The part where he reaches up for help and everyone ignores him killed me.

[WednesdayAddams]

So, how far along are Amy and Dinah in this show? Are they going to do an episode where they both go into labor at the same time? I was hoping that when the show came back, the pregnancies would be over with. I'm with everyone else that Amy's pregnancy seems unnecessary.  

[BTBAM310]

Great season premiere, all of the best stuff has already been mentioned (Garrett refusing the high 5, reverse cowgirl, Back to School dvd)...but the best thing was the A hole bit. I told my girlfriend it was too bad because if her name started with A I would call her that, but then I realized her middle name starts with A. So guess what? She has a new nickname :)

[iMonrey]

I had to look up what "reverse cowgirl" is. I thought it was a solid season opener, although to be honest I had a hard time remembering exactly what happened in last season's finale. The cold open threw me. But the staff meeting was pretty hilarious. Jonah? Circumcised. Check. 

I always get a kick out of the quick insert shots of various customers doing crazy shit like the little kid with the backpack falling over and reaching up for help as everyone just walks by and ignores him.

I kind of feel sorry for Jeff. As I remember it, it wasn't his decision to fire Myrtle. Some corporate bigwig came into the store to do evaluations and it was her decision. He just benefited from it.

Edited October 5, 2018 by iMonrey

[topanga]

1 hour ago, fishcakes said:

 

I replayed that backpack kid going over backwards about five times. The part where he reaches up for help and everyone ignores him killed me.

I loved watching him fall backward like that. I wonder if the child actor is a gymnast or a swimmer/diver. 

 

12 minutes ago, BTBAM310 said:

Great season premiere, all of the best stuff has already been mentioned (Garrett refusing the high 5, reverse cowgirl, Back to School dvd)...but the best thing was the A hole bit. I told my girlfriend it was too bad because if her name started with A I would call her that, but then I realized her middle name starts with A. So guess what? She has a new nickname :)

Heh. Jonah's "Are you sure you want to be called that?" (or something like that) was hilarious. But then he kept calling her A-hole. LOL. 

And now your girlfriend needs a nickname for you. Bam Bam, maybe??

 

I'm curious about how and when the St. Louis employees saw the sex tape stream. None of them except Garrett watched it live. So, did 

• Garrett replay it for everyone or send every employee in the store a link to the stream?
• Employees from other stores started texting/snapchatting/instagramming the stream?
• Someone from corporate saw it and contacted Glenn?

[BTBAM310]

54 minutes ago, topanga said:

 

Heh. Jonah's "Are you sure you want to be called that?" (or something like that) was hilarious. But then he kept calling her A-hole. LOL. 

And now your girlfriend needs a nickname for you. Bam Bam, maybe??

 

LOL - she already has a affectionate nickname for me...it rhymes with duckface but starts with an F :)

[Saylii]

3 hours ago, Kip Hackman said:

All of that is true, but were you really expecting them to get fired? The two romantic leads, and stars of the show?

We all knew they would come up with some BS way not to fire them. I guess a four-month suspension was the best they could come up with. 

I don’t know what I expected, but I figured it wouldn’t be wrapped up with a suspension and nothing really changing.  I figured they’d spend a couple of episodes on the fallout.  Just seems like a copout to me.  I didn’t think they would write out the actors though.

3 hours ago, WednesdayAddams said:

So, how far along are Amy and Dinah in this show? Are they going to do an episode where they both go into labor at the same time? I was hoping that when the show came back, the pregnancies would be over with. I'm with everyone else that Amy's pregnancy seems unnecessary.  

I think Amy was 3-4 months at the end of last season.  I seem to remember her saying she’d missed a few periods before taking the test.  That would put her about 8 months now.

We’ve known Dina was pregnant longer because of the surrogacy but I’m not sure she’s due any earlier then Amy.  I bet they do give birth in the same episode.

[chocolatine]

17 hours ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I thought it was a good start to the season, I loved the opening sequence with Amy working in a diner & her "mystery" customer...are we supposed to assume Amy knew who it was?

She knew because she told him what a great guy her boss at the store was.

I wonder what Jonah was doing during his suspension. In past seasons it was hinted that he comes from money, so I wonder if there was tension between him and Amy that she had to scramble to find a job in the interim while he could afford to take a break.

3 hours ago, WednesdayAddams said:

So, how far along are Amy and Dinah in this show? Are they going to do an episode where they both go into labor at the same time?

Didn't Dina get pregnant a few months before Amy? At the end of last season, Dina looked like she was at least five months along and Amy wasn't even showing. The show probably *will* play fast and loose with the timeline here to mine simultaneous births for comedic potential.

ETA: @Saylii beat me to it.

Edited October 5, 2018 by chocolatine

[supergirlsudz]

Glenn was hilarious in this episode! "Me Too, Time's Up, This is Us!" had me laughing out loud.

It was a bit predictable how they handled Jonah and Amy (at least for those of us who watched The Office) but it was cute nonetheless. 

I also thought Amy's car was too nice of a car for a Cloud 9 employee to drive!

[Guest]

Although the opening was sweet, this was a very underwhelming episode for me. First of all, I'm very distracted by the supreme fakeness of America's new false pregnancy belly. For Dina, suddenly hauling around a cartoonishly fake belly makes sense with the absurdity of her character and the plot, but Amy/America's belly didn't even look half that size when she was pregnant in real life. I guess they really are finally fully committed to Amy and now possibly Jonah raising her ex-husband's kid, which I'm not thrilled about and never have been. I was hoping that if they were dead set on the pregnancy, they will pull a last-minute plot twist and say the original test was a false positive and over the break she had found out she was actually pregnant with Jonah's baby. Very far-fetched I know, but still preferable in my opinion to a main character getting knocked up by an estranged spouse who is basically a glorified background extra. I have no desire to see awkward love triangle coparenting – I see enough of that on Teen Mom! someone in the cast or writers room must be friends with the actor who plays Amy's husband, because I really don't see the point in keeping him around. I feel like the coparenting scenario is just keeping the door open for really cheap love triangles in the future. Everything else is great, but I really can't tell you how much I'm dreading this storyline and a baby is forever so I guess we're stuck with it the rest of the series. Frankly I'm just hoping we hardly ever see the baby because that would be the best possible solution.

Noam is a terrible addition and a comedic lead balloon. Can you even work at 14? Following up Amy's (justified) soapbox about female sexual empowerment with jokes about her Sexually harassing a minor was not great. 

All in all, kind of a meandering episode just to establish that Amy and Jonah are keeping their relationship a secret. But Jonah's smile when he leans in to kiss Amy makes me melt every time. Ben Feldman really knows how to play different nuances of romantic feelings.

[proserpina65]

18 hours ago, topanga said:

ETA: I loved the sign stating that the Back to School DVD was not part of the back to school  sale.

That was the best bit of the night for me.

Some of this episode was very funny (hello, customers in the background, and inappropriate breakroom meeting), some of it not (the whole J-bone discussion), but overall, I'm glad to have the show back.

[iMonrey]

I honestly don't remember the details of Jonah and Amy's hookup being caught on camera. Why was there a live camera in there, and where was it showing? Was it showing in the TV department? I seem to have some vague recollection that it was broadcast all over the other stores or something. Or maybe somewhere internationally?? 

[topanga]

Just now, iMonrey said:

I honestly don't remember the details of Jonah and Amy's hookup being caught on camera. Why was there a live camera in there, and where was it showing? Was it showing in the TV department? I seem to have some vague recollection that it was broadcast all over the other stores or something. Or maybe somewhere internationally?? 

The CEO (?) of the company was having a town hall meeting for store employees and chose the Cloud 9 store as the home base. It was going to be broadcast to stores around the world. But Mateo's ex (Jeff?) was planted in the audience to ask questions about Myrtle's firing. Garrett rigged his own camera to start filming if the Cloud 9 head honchos suddenly pulled the plug after a controversial question, and it turned on after the meeting was over. I can't recall why it was in the photo lab, though. 

[biakbiak]

16 minutes ago, topanga said:

and it turned on after the meeting was over. I can't recall why it was in the photo lab, though. 

He had hid it some of the decorations, plants I think, that they had moved into the room after the presentation.

[WhitneyWhit]

Wow, I hope that was the first and last time we ever see Noam. He's a creepy little weirdo, and not in a funny way.

I'm also glad they finally addressed what it means for staffing when they have these meeting during the operating hours.

[Vanderboom]

11 hours ago, Madtown said:

Even though I saw that Jonah and Amy were actually together through the whole show, it didn't stop me from doing the happy dance at the end.

 

10 hours ago, Trillium said:

I’m glad Amy and Jonah are together mainly because I was seriously going to cut a bitch if they were going to drag this will they/won’t they on longer. I’ve always been indifferent to them as a couple but they were sweet at the end so I can live with it.

I was pretty much indifferent to Jonah and Amy, but when I saw the end of the episode, I was so happy . . . for Sandra.

[neuromom]

All the “locker room “ sex talk with the guys and Jonah was bothersome, Jonah didn’t seem comfortable with it. Can’t he make a charge of sexual harassment against his male co workers ? 

[ClareWalks]

I was pissed that they made Amy handle that little shit (Noam?) with kid gloves. Sorry, if a teen boy feels bad after propositioning his boss (Amy does supervise him after all), HE SHOULD. 

[theatremouse]

I was frustrated with where this went, even though what I thought was happening initially wouldn't have been very funny or dramatic.

At first I thought the staff had been given some sort of advance talking-to before Jonah and Amy came back to remind them not to say anything about the incident, and then they weren't because they were actually being, ya know, professional. I didn't think it was a "treat Amy differently because she's a woman" thing. I thought it was just that the majority of the staff were acting like grown-ups, and Jonah happened to be working with the two guys incapable of behaving appropriately. I do understand Amy coming to the conclusion she did, but it was unsatisfying that they presented it as though she were correct?

It also infuriates me that the 14 year old propositioned her, she said no, and somehow it turned into a discussion of how she harassed him. I probably shouldn't be surprised, and it's probably realistic, but it's still...flames...flames on the side of my face.

[ClareWalks]

12 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

It also infuriates me that the 14 year old propositioned her, she said no, and somehow it turned into a discussion of how she harassed him. I probably shouldn't be surprised, and it's probably realistic, but it's still...flames...flames on the side of my face.

Exactly! I know this episode was written and shot months ago, but with the current climate, it is just....awful to watch.

[DearEvette]

I agree with everyone that the cold open was great.  I liked that even in her temp job Amy continued the tradition of wearing a wrong name-tag.  And 'Roz' is definitely the perfect truck-stop diner waitress name.

I liked the episode just fine and there were some nice one-liners.  Who knew Sandra was such a Amy/Jonah shipper!  Also liked how Carol was so underwhelmed that Kelly was completely over Jonah.

That said, I HATED everything surrounding Noam(?).  Uncomfortable and completely unnecessary.  They could excised everything about him and have still gotten to the sex talk staff meeting.

I was never bog on Amy and Jonah but that was mostly the tease.  Glad they pulled the trigger and have them completely together. i wish shows would learn that multiple season long will they/won't they aren't as clever as they think they are.

[Corgi-ears]

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I had to look up what "reverse cowgirl" is.

Don't worry 'bout it, it's just a drinking game. 

Sorry, I meant to YELL that. "IT'S A DRINKING GAME." *Sniffles and cries* 

Of all the funny lines in the ep, somehow it was Amy's "aren't you a little child" that really cracked me up.

I would imagine that Noam is just a one-ep guest.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Corgi-ears

[MrWhyt]

23 hours ago, chocolatine said:

She knew because she told him what a great guy her boss at the store was.

and because she's not an idiot, that wasn't the greatest disguise.

[OpalNightstream]

Still not quite getting the Amy and Jonah attraction...like AT ALL

[possibilities]

8 hours ago, MrWhyt said:

and because she's not an idiot, that wasn't the greatest disguise.

WE figured it out after one encounter. If he's been visiting her for months, surely she clued in, too.

I liked that Dina's solution was to transport Noam inside the fully assembled tent, instead of collapsing the tent on him, or dragging him out. It was surprisingly tolerant of her. I also thought he managed to sound sufficiently mortified during the meeting, which helped a little with making me hate him less for his horrible, offensive and worse than clueless behavior. However, if they do keep him around, it will take more than that to make me like his character.

And if he's a replacement for Myrtle? NO.

Edited October 7, 2018 by possibilities