S04.E08: Manager's Conference

[EarlGreyTea]

Amy and Jonah take Glenn's tickets to a managers' conference in Chicago.

Mateo's undocumented status is revealed.

This will be the last new episode until 2019 (I think).

Edited December 7, 2018 by EarlGreyTea

[rhys]

Ack. Poor Mateo (& his big mouth). That conference. Oy. How awful.

[EarlGreyTea]

I tend to think the writers heard our complaints about how unlikable Jonah and Amy as a couple had become, and how she seemed to take little pleasure this season in being with him, because we've seen a sea change. I like when shows' OTPs look like they enjoy being together.

[DrScottie]

1 hour ago, EarlGreyTea said:

I tend to think the writers heard our complaints about how unlikable Jonah and Amy as a couple had become, and how she seemed to take little pleasure this season in being with him, because we've seen a sea change. I like when shows' OTPs look like they enjoy being together.

The schwag and the open bar certainly helped, but you are absolutely right. It was nice to see them enjoying each other's company. 

[chocolatine]

I don't even like Mateo very much, but I loved Glenn for having his back. I have a bad feeling though that at some point corporate will find out and both Mateo and Glenn will be in trouble.

That conference was all kinds of depressing, and I still didn't get the feeling that Amy enjoys being with Jonah. She obviously doesn't get to spend much one-on-one time with him because of the baby, so if she was really into him she'd have made a beeline for the hotel room at the first opportunity. Maybe quickly picked up one or two of the high-value swag items, but then gotten out of the conference. Instead she chose to stay, drink, and talk to the d-bags. And possibly plant the seed for all salaried floor staff to lose their jobs.

Edited December 7, 2018 by chocolatine

[Circelily]

4 hours ago, EarlGreyTea said:

Amy and Jonah take Glenn's tickets to a managers' conference in Chicago.

Mateo's undocumented status is revealed.

This will be the last new episode until 2019 (I think).

There's one next week. Then 7 March! Sob.

[Aulty]

Entertaining enough. Nothing to bowl me over. Imho its time for a more lovey dovey Jonah/Amy episode to get us back on board with the relationship and for Garrett and Dinah to get it going again.

[Johnny Dollar]

Glenn would definitely be headed for The Good Place. 

[cleo]

It was an okay episode. It was nice to see Amy somewhat dressed up. I thought the story would end up with the two guys at the conference questioning Jonah or making jokes about how Amy was management as she was both female and Latino, given Walmart has had lawsuits (I think) about women and minorities claiming discrimination when it comes to them advancing staff. 

[Boofish]

Glen managed to get Mateo thru e-verify but couldn't figure out a way Amy didn't have to come to work two days after giving birth. I will just roll with that .. 

So glad someone finally called Garret a dick! While I like his character, he is the male version of Dina. Yet everyone calls her on her behavior and just let Garrett slide.

I would watch an entire webseries with just Justine, Sandra and Mateo. They can also add in the security guard from way back when that refused to get fired.

[SPQR Blues]

13 hours ago, EarlGreyTea said:

I tend to think the writers heard our complaints about how unlikable Jonah and Amy as a couple had become, and how she seemed to take little pleasure this season in being with him, because we've seen a sea change. I like when shows' OTPs look like they enjoy being together.

When they were sitting on the couch together at the end, I finally could see them as a warm couple. It would have felt natural (though not appropriate to the setting) for Jonah to put his arm around her. I enjoyed them—once I knew it wasn’t all going to end with a big mess with their cover being blown. That was too much tension and (I was watching on DVR) I had to ffwd through those scenes and loop back to them later.

Kudos to the show, though, for keeping me uncertain enough about what Glenn would do about Mateo that it was a relief at the end (sniffle). I enjoyed the parallel with Cheyenne and Mateo’s warm friendship too.

[iMonrey]

I'm sure "Cloud 9" is well ahead of the curve in reducing employee hours to part time in order to save money on health insurance. That would not have been considered a novel idea by anyone at the manager's conference. Companies started doing that the moment the Affordable Care Act went into effect.

I got a kick out of Dina and Garrett's wrapping skills, or lack thereof. And of course Glenn was perfect at it.

[theatremouse]

I know I'm horrible, but it bothered me that Mateo has been freaking out FOR MONTHS about what would happen if he got caught and hadn't put more thought into what his story would be. What's the gambit? If it's only Glenn, try to confuse him? Try to play to his sympathies? If he wanted to do the latter I'd think there might be a lot in just....re-enacting the moment he really found out. Play it like that. His whole life he didn't know. The number he used is what his parents told him was his number. He had no reason to question it. He's as shocked as anyone. Just completely play it shocked. It really happened. That might work with Glenn. If it's someone else in corporate, he'd need a different plan. Whatever it might be. But he's been living in fear of this moment for SO LONG I was annoyed at the character for not having something prepared better than "oh that must be a typo in my file, it's really....<other equally fake number>". Like, dude, either your plan is to come clean when you're caught or actually have a story to try to talk your way out of it, but don't just sit there blank and try to lie on the spot. You had time.

 

I was also cringing that Mateo's first impulse when he thought Sayid heard him was "discredit Sayid by discrediting his entire nationality". Not good, Mateo, not good.

[possibilities]

I thought everyone at the conference was going to recognize Amy and Jonah from the video of them having sex in the warehouse.

[Roaster]

This episode just ratcheted up my crush on America Ferrera.  The hair and dress at the conference - she's got it going on.

 

On 12/7/2018 at 10:11 AM, Boofish said:

I would watch an entire webseries with just Justine, Sandra and Mateo.

We definitely could use more Justine.  And Sandra.

[reallyjustjen]

I was left wondering how much future groundwork they were laying in some of the comments made./small moments found in this episode.  For one thing, Sayid seemed really unnerved by the thought Mateo put into his head about being deported for not turning Mateo in.   I'm hoping this doesn't mean Sayid will take it further once he realizes Glen didn't turn Mateo in, but I fear that it might.   For another, Jonah's comment to Amy about becoming a manager.  I actually like the idea of Amy going in that direction.   But since the show is entirely built upon the crew at a single Cloud Nine store, it leaves me not sure how that would work, since Mark McKinney and Lauren Ash, in their respective management roles, are such a huge part of the show.   One other--Jonah did not seem thrilled about Amy's baby, and didn't even use his name when referring to him.  I'm wondering whether this is foreshadowing a conflict in that direction in the back half of the season.  

[SmithW6079]

On 12/7/2018 at 4:42 PM, theatremouse said:

I know I'm horrible, but it bothered me that Mateo has been freaking out FOR MONTHS about what would happen if he got caught and hadn't put more thought into what his story would be. What's the gambit? If it's only Glenn, try to confuse him? Try to play to his sympathies? If he wanted to do the latter I'd think there might be a lot in just....re-enacting the moment he really found out. Play it like that. His whole life he didn't know. The number he used is what his parents told him was his number. He had no reason to question it. He's as shocked as anyone. Just completely play it shocked. It really happened. That might work with Glenn. If it's someone else in corporate, he'd need a different plan. Whatever it might be. But he's been living in fear of this moment for SO LONG I was annoyed at the character for not having something prepared better than "oh that must be a typo in my file, it's really....<other equally fake number>". Like, dude, either your plan is to come clean when you're caught or actually have a story to try to talk your way out of it, but don't just sit there blank and try to lie on the spot. You had time.

People are deported these days if they are in the US illegally, even if it's through no fault of their own. 

[Trillium]

22 hours ago, reallyjustjen said:

I was left wondering how much future groundwork they were laying in some of the comments made./small moments found in this episode.  For one thing, Sayid seemed really unnerved by the thought Mateo put into his head about being deported for not turning Mateo in.   I'm hoping this doesn't mean Sayid will take it further once he realizes Glen didn't turn Mateo in, but I fear that it might.   For another, Jonah's comment to Amy about becoming a manager.  I actually like the idea of Amy going in that direction.   But since the show is entirely built upon the crew at a single Cloud Nine store, it leaves me not sure how that would work, since Mark McKinney and Lauren Ash, in their respective management roles, are such a huge part of the show.   One other--Jonah did not seem thrilled about Amy's baby, and didn't even use his name when referring to him.  I'm wondering whether this is foreshadowing a conflict in that direction in the back half of the season.  

Eh the baby comment didn’t bother me because Amy didn’t seem to care much about the baby either. And that’s fine with me. The whole plot was dumb and shoving it into the background as much as possible is 100% fine with me. 

[theatremouse]

18 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

People are deported these days if they are in the US illegally, even if it's through no fault of their own. 

My point was not that Mateo should/could get away with it. I'm saying it was weird to me he hadn't either come up with a better lie and/or ploy for sympathy. He was expecting to have that conversation with someone eventually. He had a ton of time to think of how he would attempt to talk his way out of it (or if his plan was not to attempt to talk his way out of it...then why scramble for a lie). It didn't play to me like he'd thought it through many times over and in the moment panicked and lied poorly. It played to me like he'd spent all his energy worrying about getting caught but put no thought into what he might do when he finally was caught. If he'd resigned himself to be found out and get deported there's not point in lying at all, but if you're going to lie, put some effort into it. Either go social engineering and try to Frank Abignale your way out of it, or go for sympathy and hope maybe they just fire you but don't turn you in, or SOMETHING. We've seen plenty of episodes that involved him scheming, but in this one he just made something up on the spot (in a way that was obviously him making it up on the spot, even to someone as flaky as Glenn) and I found that narratively unsatisfying. 

[ae2]

On 12/7/2018 at 11:11 AM, Boofish said:

So glad someone finally called Garret a dick! While I like his character, he is the male version of Dina. Yet everyone calls her on her behavior and just let Garrett slide.

I... am completely baffled that anyone could think this. They're completely opposite characters.

Could you expand on what you mean by Garrett being the male version of Dina?

On 12/7/2018 at 4:42 PM, theatremouse said:

I was also cringing that Mateo's first impulse when he thought Sayid heard him was "discredit Sayid by discrediting his entire nationality". Not good, Mateo, not good.

That's par for the course with Mateo. I wouldn't expect anything better from him.

[neuromom]

So, isn’t Mateo’s fake social going to catch up with him when he files his taxes?

And Cheyenne pretty inconsistent...comparing the American Civil War with the one in Syria, like she had no clue of real world events,,,,and then talking about drones and IUDs.

Keep Sayid and get rid of Mateo. I never liked him anyway. His friendship with Cheyenne only made him slightly tolerable. 

Edited December 12, 2018 by neuromom

[calguy]

On 2018-12-11 at 11:24 PM, neuromom said:

So, isn’t Mateo’s fake social going to catch up with him when he files his taxes?

And Cheyenne pretty inconsistent...comparing the American Civil War with the one in Syria, like she had no clue of real world events,,,,and then talking about drones and IUDs.

Keep Sayid and get rid of Mateo. I never liked him anyway. His friendship with Cheyenne only made him slightly tolerable. 

The Social Security Administration is legally prohibited from sharing it's information with other federal agencies.

 

Mateo is what the writers make him. They're not going to fire Nico Santos.

[darockwilder]

On 12/11/2018 at 11:24 PM, neuromom said:

So, isn’t Mateo’s fake social going to catch up with him when he files his taxes?

And Cheyenne pretty inconsistent...comparing the American Civil War with the one in Syria, like she had no clue of real world events,,,,and then talking about drones and IUDs.

Keep Sayid and get rid of Mateo. I never liked him anyway. His friendship with Cheyenne only made him slightly tolerable. 

 

Pretty sure she meant to say IEDs, not the birth control IUDs....

Edited December 14, 2018 by darockwilder

[WAnglais1]

On 12/7/2018 at 11:11 AM, Boofish said:

So glad someone finally called Garret a dick! While I like his character, he is the male version of Dina. Yet everyone calls her on her behavior and just let Garrett slide.

I respectfully disagree. Dina is the female version of Dwight. 

Glenn shows why he's the best character on the show. Mark McK really brings it to what could be a cliche. His, "Merry Christmas, Mateo," was just perfect.