An episode in the first season sees everyone trapped in the store overnight after Corporate forces them to stay late to hang new store signs (which are virtually identical to the old ones). It shows so well the frustration of being a cog nobody cares about, the powerlessness of having to implement bad ideas nobody discussed with you, and the way this leads to building real relationships with people, some you’d never usually cross paths with.

We talk and think a lot about diversity now, and the show has an extremely diverse cast in many ways, but it feels organic and familiar. In my experience, low-status or menial jobs are filled with people who have not come from privilege or are kept out of privilege because of their identity.

Cleaning toilets alongside you are people from poor backgrounds and limited education, students, single mothers, the chronically ill, immigrants whose education is often dismissed, old ladies forced out of retirement, and sometimes the weirdos who find it difficult to get hired elsewhere. I’m not saying which of these I am.

The fact that Superstore is filled with this broad range of people, united by concern about paying their bills and keeping their jobs, means the show can represent issues from many different perspectives, and it doesn’t hold back. There are storylines about unionism and fair pay, an episode about the ethics of selling birth control and guns, and racism, none uncomplicated or easily solved.

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One running storyline is about Mateo, a gay Filipino employee who finds out he is undocumented; the show then goes on to deal with raids from the US immigration police, as well as deportation.

In season four, manager Dina and employee Amy both go into labour on the same day, giving birth in different hospitals. With sharp humour, the show exposes the blatant inequality in their healthcare. At one point an exhausted Amy complains: “I want to be in the hospital where only rich white people go! I want to feel uncomfortable that I’m the only brown person there.”

Perhaps easily dismissed as a light-hearted workplace comedy, this width and depth of experience is what makes Superstore so underrated. It does not let you off the hook easily. It’s a show that would like to make you laugh, but it’s also actually interested in the real lives of employees, the injustices of the day-to-day, and the influence of corporations and capitalism. It’s produced many seasons of subtle class examination, without the critical attention of something like The White Lotus. And vitally, Superstore never sacrifices the jokes. It’s funny, comforting, a bingeable watch. It just has extra qualities as well, the genuine and true-to-life moments that make you care more about the people making you laugh. I highly recommend getting yourself a dose of Superstorenfreude.

Superstore is available to stream on Binge and Stan. Stan is owned by Nine, owner of this masthead.