After an emotional finale that kept viewers on the edge of their seat, Superstore Season 5 Episode 1 made a simultaneously heartfelt and hysterical return. 

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Mateo is experiencing his greatest fear and is currently being detained in a detention center, while his friends are forced to return to work and keep all talk of a union under wraps. 

If anyone doubted whether Superstore could pull off such an emotional storyline, they were proved wrong on Superstore Season 5 Episode 1.

The employees' candlelight vigil was a respectful way to honor Mateo, but when you have a cast of such ridiculous characters there's bound to be a few who don't understand how to handle the situation. 

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Marcus rolling up to the vigil with a grill and Mateo's friends debating on what song to sing for him managed to poke fun at the characters without poking fun at the issue itself. 

Jonah: I think he likes Taylor Swift.
Cheyenne: No, he's back to hating her again.

• Permalink: I think he likes Taylor Swift.

In the grand scheme of things, viewers have to wonder how this will play out for Mateo. In actuality, is there anything that his co-workers can do to help him stay in the country?

Dina and Marcus had a plan, but the only thing it accomplished was making the audience laugh. 

Garrett ended up getting dragged into their elaborate scheme, mostly to get Dina to stop torturing him for losing her birds. 

Garrett: So you're saying if I don't help you break Mateo out of a heavily guarded detention facility, I'm a bad person?
Dina: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Garrett: Okay, I'll help.

• Permalink: Okay, I'll help.

Dina and Garrett's off-and-on relationship has added a surprisingly fun aspect to the series as a whole. No one expected it to happen until it did, but now we can't picture either of them ending up with anyone other than each other. 

But is there hope for them still? What Garrett did may have been an accident, but it doesn't lessen the lying and the "sympathy sex," he had with her. 

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The only way this will get resolved is if Garrett miraculously gets all of Dina's birds back. And given the amount of time that's passed, it's pretty much impossible at this point. 

Dina's guilt over what happened was clear all throughout Superstore Season 5 Episode 1. Even though there's nothing she could have done, she rewatched the security tapes to see if she gave Mateo any misdirections. 

Ever since the pilot, Dina has always been one to follow the rules. It says a lot about Dina's character development that she was able to break so many to help a friend. 

The workers' enthusiasm to help Mateo was inspiring, but Jonah and Amy are the only ones who are thinking the situation through with a level head. 

It's a safe bet that breaking into the detention center through the sewers and dressing up as Mateo probably wouldn't be successful in the long-run. 

Although, if you need a duo to sneak through tunnels undetected on a secret mission, Jonah and Amy have proven on more than one occasion that they are the duo for the job. 

Amy being the store manager has changed the dynamic of the store completely, and she and Jonah can take this opportunity to use as her as an inside woman. 

Jonah: Well played with the anti-union stuff. You're like a double agent. My own Elizabeth Jennings.
Amy: Is that from The Americans?
Jonah: Yeah, it's so good! You should just-
Amy: I'm not gonna watch it.

• Permalink: You're like a double agent.

The employees of Cloud 9 are fighting against the corporate machine both literally and figuratively. 

"Cloud 9.0," is essentially corporate's new way of edging the employees out and their new technology in. 

Jonah made a good point when he said that the robot was much more cost-efficient than a full-time employee with benefits. Not that corporate offers their employees benefits anyway. 

It was nice of corporate to wait an entire week before they reminded us we're just as replaceable as Mateo.

Jonah

• Permalink: We're just as replaceable as Mateo.

While Jonah and Amy initially tried to embrace the store's new "Glen," robot, it only took a visit to the detention center to make Amy realize she didn't even want to attempt to appease the higher-ups. 

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Cheyenne's hesitation to see her best friend, for fear that she would make his situation worse, was heartbreaking in itself. 

But the emotional aspect of Superstore Season 5 Episode 1 hit its peak when Mateo relayed what the detention center was like to Cheyenne, while Amy stood teary-eyed behind them. 

It's bad in here. It's cold and there aren't enough blankets. I mean, it is flat out disgusting. And apparently this is one of the nicer places. The guards think all undocumented people are Latino so they just keep yelling at me in Spanish and I don't understand what they're saying. I just wanna go home.

Mateo

• Permalink: I just wanna go home.

The moment Amy and Cheyenne returned to Cloud 9, everyone went to the roof to walk the robot off a plank and destroy it for good. 

But killing "Glen," wasn't as easy as they thought, and saving Mateo won't be either. The robot immediately righted itself and continued to roll around the parking lot as good as new. 

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It seems safe to assume that Superstore Season 5 will simultaneosly be about the fight for Mateo, and the fight for the employees to keep their jobs. 

Cloud 9 is up against their biggest competitor yet: the U.S. government. 

Can they win this war? 

Stray Thoughts: 

• Where was Jeff on Superstore Season 5 Episode 1? After he warned Amy about ICE on the Superstore Season 4 finale, it seemed like he would be a potential ally on the inside. Does he still harbor feelings for Mateo?

• Sandra may not have had the chance to tell her co-workers about her engagement, but Carol did overhear Sandra enthusiastically sharing the news with a customer. No matter how okay she seemed with it, something tells us we need to be on the lookout for Carol this season...

• Speaking of wedding bells, will there be a Jonah and Amy proposal on the horizon this season? They still haven't finished the open-ended conversation from the finale, so we've got our fingers crossed for their future. 

• It makes perfect sense for the robot to be named "Glen." We all saw how the real Glenn reacted when he thought a pile of carts was trying to hunt him down. 

It's your turn, Superstore fans! What did you think of Superstore Season 5 Episode 1? Do you think Amy and the employees will be able to save Mateo? Drop a comment down below and let us know! 

And don't forget, to check back at TV Fanatic for exclusives and weekly reviews of Superstore Season 5. 

Superstore airs Thursdays at 8/7c on NBC.