EXCLUSIVE: 'Superstore' Boss Previews Season 2 Finale Tornado 'Lockdown' & Dishes on Amy & Jonah's 'Slow Burn'

By
NBC

There’s a storm headed for Cloud 9 on the Superstore season finale, and it’s about to change everything!

“In one episode, we had a joke about how the building was not tornado-safe, very early on,” Superstore EP Justin Spitzer recently told ET of the NBC comedy’s season two finale. “We were saying, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be funny if one day, eventually, we actually just had a tornado come and hit the building?’”

NBC

EXCLUSIVE: There's a Storm Headed for Cloud 9 in the 'Superstore' Season Finale -- Check Out the Epic Pics!

And a “superstorm” isn’t the only threat endangering the Cloud 9 employees. After store manager Glenn (Mark McKinney) spilled the beans about the impending layoffs at Cheyenne’s (Nichole Bloom) wedding last week, things are about to get even more tense as the employees take cover from the twister amid the corporate shakeup.

“The original thought was, when we knew we were gonna do the tornado, wouldn’t it be funny if Glenn was forced to let some people go, and really, really didn’t want to do it, because he didn’t want to have to look these people, who he loves, in the eye after he’s done it,” Spitzer recalled of planning the finale. “And then the moment he actually is pushed to reveal who it’s gonna be, there’s a lockdown, and he’s locked in this very small environment with these people.”

NBC

Also facing a tense situation as the storm approaches? Jonah (Ben Feldman) and Amy (America Ferrera), who are forced to deal with the aftermath of their uncomfortably candid moment during Cheyenne’s reception -- when Amy admitted that her marriage might be over and Jonah went slightly overboard while trying to cheer her up, revealing via a Freudian slip that he thinks she’s “sexy.”

“I just always want that to be as slow a burn as possible. This is not a show about a relationship, it’s a show where that relationship is one interesting part of it,” Spitzer said of the romantic tension between the co-workers. “I wanted to take our time bringing them closer and then have moments when they were closer, and then moments when they’re pulled apart.”

EXCLUSIVE: America Ferrera Finds Her (Comedic) Voice on 'Superstore'


Superstore
found its stride in season two, balancing hilarious workplace comedy with meaningful, issues-driven episodes and impressively ambitious physical bits, like labor strikes, a Black Friday mob, and the finale’s epic tornado, which Spitzer joked likely “used more VFX... than any comedy in television history.”

NBC

“I always like it when we find something that feels a little risky or that scares us about a story, so that we don’t feel like any number of shows we’ve seen in the past,” he added. “Sometimes going towards those issues is the best way to do it.”


Superstore’s
season two finale airs Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

EXCLUSIVE: Why America Ferrera Wants the Freedom to Play Whomever She Wants