Over six seasons, Superstore built itself a sizable and loyal following of fans. A lot of people responded to the mixture of comedy and the show’s unflinching look at the realities of minimum wage jobs in big box stores. While a lot of the staff were involved in a variety of difficult and brutal scenarios, Kelly may have subtly been the most tragic individual in the series, at least on a personal level.
Kelly Watson first appeared in Season 3, Episode 3. She was hired to work as a sales associate at the Cloud 9 location featured in the series. From moment one, it was obvious that she was going to have a rough ride. Kelly started on the same day as Amy’s daughter Emma. All of the focus was shifted to Emma, with Glenn and Cheyenne giving an entire video presentation celebrating her. On the other hand, Kelly was almost completely forgotten.
Throughout the series, things would only get worse for her. Kelly constantly tried to fit in, but it never really seemed to work. She frequently found herself on the outside looking in with some members of the staff. And the harder she worked to fit in, the further she got away from becoming part of the group. But dating Jonah actually seemed to help for a time as the group then accepted her.
The worst part for her was the fact that Carol was constantly trying to confide in her. Carol’s feud with Sandra over Jerry was a consistent subplot for several seasons. On multiple occasions, Carol cornered Kelly and tried to force her to listen to all the terrifying plans she had for Sandra. Kelly was eventually able to turn the tables on Carol, which finally drove her off. Still, the whole experience was awful for her.
That being said, her relationship with Jonah was the part that nearly destroyed her. While Jonah was attracted to Kelly, he only started dating her in Season 3 because he couldn’t date Amy. It’s not clear if Jonah even understood that at first, but Kelly was definitely not aware. And as soon as Amy was available, Jonah dumped Kelly in Season 3, Episode 21. Even after she left the store, she couldn’t escape this whole ordeal.
In Season 5, Episode 6, Kelly arrived at the store with the signed union cards from the Fenton location where she worked. But she ended up having to fake being in a relationship with Jonah again to distract the new district manager. Even worse, she then had to fake going through yet another public breakup with Jonah to maintain the illusion. Worse still, the Cloud 9 gang tried to force them back together in Season 6, Episode 7 after Amy left town for a corporate job.
Every time Kelly is around this group of people, she ends up being forced to relive her harsh breakup with Jonah. She constantly tried to move on, but they just kept dragging her back in. The tragedy of this was that Kelly was a good person who was always just trying to be nice to everyone. Unfortunately, she got caught up in the rollercoaster of a relationship that played out between Amy and Jonah over six seasons.
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