#Superstore Season 6 Episode 9 Review: Conspiracy

Friendships were tested, trust was broken, and risks were taken as Superstore Season 6 Episode 9 took everything to the next level.

But all of these incidents did not occur without consequences — some being serious, while others had pleasant surprises.

Ultimately, “Conspiracy” was another hilarious episode with insightful ideas to take away from at the end.

Just as we suspected, Mateo and Cheyenne’s fight that began on Superstore Season 6 Episode 8 was far from finished. They start going at each other before the daily briefings are even over, while everyone else watches, amused by the drama.

But when it comes to resolving their conflict, there seems to be no clear solution in sight — until Mateo and Cheyenne team up to regain everyone else’s attention after they moved on to comfort Sayid during his heartbreak.

What could be more on the nose than Mateo and Cheyenne turning a petty grudge into fake drama just for the attention? If we could pick one instance that accurately describes their friendship, this would be it. 

Because Mateo and Cheyenne live for drama, even if their fight was initially real, somewhere along the way, they grew tired of it, and they only kept up with the charade to create drama and be the centers of attention.

The funny thing is, they did not even mean to make up — they just bonded over planning a fake charade while going out for ice cream. But this storyline is so in character for both of them, and if they made up through an emotional heart-to-heart instead, it would not have been nearly as satisfied. If anything, it would have felt forced.

Ice cream and scheming with your best friend seems to be the perfect recipe for resolving a conflict where neither you nor your friend wants to concede. After all, why would Mateo and Cheyenne give up? They thrive over drama and gossip, and when they were at the center of it, they realized they love the attention, too. 

We are glad they finally worked things out by bonding over what they love. 

Dina: Now, we’ve noticed some of your masks are getting dingy; Cheyenne will be handing out new protective equipment.

Mateo: Based on her history, I wouldn’t trust Cheyenne with protection.

Cheyenne: I may be a teen mom, but at least I don’t look like someone put a Pixar character into a microwave.

Mateo: Well, you’d be DreamWorks, bitch.

Mateo and Cheyenne’s conflict ignited an argument in another tight-knit friendship, with Jonah and Garrett being the victims.

Of course, Jonah and Garrett’s argument is nowhere near the level of chaos that Mateo and Cheyenne had, but that does not mean an easy resolution. How could there be, when most of the time, it was really just Jonah being upset at Garrett?

Jonah casually brings up what he believes to be a pivotal fight in his friendship with Garrett. The only problem? Garrett does not remember it.

So, Jonah being who he is, spends the whole day portraying a cold and stiff demeanor, occasionally losing his temper when Garrett remembers other trivial things.

Garrett seems to be annoyed by Jonah’s behavior, but he remains unfazed for the most part. And honestly, it makes their argument less exciting. But this storyline did bring some funny moments, mainly when Jonah rants about why he cares about Garrett.

The reality is, Jonah has always been more confident in expressing his emotions than Garrett is. Most of the time, Garrett does not acknowledge his feelings. If he does, it is only to push them back down and do something that will hurt him in the long run, such as participating in Dina and Brian’s open relationship.

Therefore, Jonah is more likely to be openly upset about something, but it does not mean Garrett is immune to emotion. In fact, Garrett talks about when Jonah hurt his feelings, and Jonah does not remember it.

Garrett is always eager to move past bumps in their friendship because he does not want to make either of them feel worse than they already do. So, even if Jonah wants to communicate more openly about their feelings, Garrett certainly does not.

But that is not necessarily always a bad thing. Garrett does not want to hurt Jonah or their friendship. He would rather stay positive without having to add unnecessary drama.

True, this notion can lead to significant miscommunication and passive-aggressiveness, but so far, it seems to work for their friendship. Besides, Garrett has more pressing issues on his plate — namely his relationship with Dina and Brian.

Jonah: Well, why didn’t you say anything?

Garrett: Because why bring something up just to make your friend feel bad?

But the highlight of the episode had nothing to do with friendship conflicts. Instead, Glenn’s journey of adjusting to new Zephra policies ultimately led him to form a crazy conspiracy theory.

Before “Conspiracy,” Superstore had yet to take on the phenomenon. Sure, some may have been mentioned in passing, but this episode homes in on conspiracy theories — beginning from formation all the way to destruction.

Glenn’s storyline was the highlight of the episode because of how Superstore tackled the topic. Glenn was upset about several store policy changes, most notably, no longer being allowed to say, “have a heavenly day.”

Jonah and Garrett suggest searching for who to contact from corporate, but this search pushed Glenn into a rabbit hole. A bizarre one, that is, like a lot of conspiracy theories are. Glenn begins to believe that Zephra is using technology to implement mind control on Cloud 9 employees. 

Dina tries to shut him down, but her tactics only push Glenn further into the idea. And it certainly does not help when Marcus and Sandra provide “evidence” to how Zephra is controlling them.

Superstore does a terrific job in demonstrating the appeal and the danger of conspiracy theories. They illustrate how a simple, seemingly ridiculous idea can turn into a group of hardcore believers, a cult, or a secret society.

Of course, Glenn’s mind control theory did not make it past him, Marcus, and Sandra, but in real life, some conspiracies definitely have.

Dina: Effective immediately, there will be no more talk about conspiracy theories.

Jonah: Well, there goes my afternoon.

The show also relays important information regarding conspiracies. If there is one thing we should walk away from this episode with, the only way to maintain harmful conspiracy theories is by allowing for reasonable discussion.

Dina’s attempts to shut down Glenn were futile. We recognize she was becoming impatient with Glenn’s refusal to acknowledge common sense, but if she had just held on for a little longer, she might have thoroughly debunked Glenn’s arguments.

But since she did not, Glenn pursued his mind control theory, which continued to fuel the fire. Thankfully, this fire was a mere store-wide power outage. Sometimes, conspiracy theories can lead to violence and other danger, as we have witnessed throughout history.

But Glenn’s storyline was not all about profound lessons that had to be learned. In fact, he provided non-stop humor the whole time, proving yet again that Superstore is truly at its best when covering real issues while adding an appropriate comedic effect.

We will undoubtedly miss this show when it comes to an end on March 25.

No more Gary. No more heaven; just more computers and demons!
Glenn

Over to you, Superstore Fanatics!

What did you think of Superstore Season 6 Episode 9? Are you glad Mateo and Cheyenne resolved their argument? Are you surprised by how it happened?

You can always watch Superstore online right here, at TV Fanatic!

Sarah Novack is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.