‘Corporate’ Recap: ‘Good Job’

Corporate was back again this week with another funny episode. This week’s episode was titled “Good Job”. Based on the title, I had no idea what this episode could be about. After a hot streak of three great episodes, I was eager to see what topic they tackled this week. “Good Job” tackled the overabundance of surveys used in society and in businesses to hilarious results.

The episode begins with Jake buying a car. As Jake is about to leave the dealership, the saleswoman asks if her service was a “5 out of 5”. Jake responds with a slightly confused “yes”. Jake gets into the car and Debby, the salesperson, leans into the car and informs him that he may be contacted to participate in a survey. She reminds him to give her a 5 out of 5. He begins to drive off the lot but seconds later gets a call from Jupiter, the car dealership company, asking him to take a brief survey. As he goes to hang up the call, he looks up and Debby is standing in the road. He slams the breaks, nearly hitting her. She goes to the car window and hands Jake a paper copy of the survey in case he prefers the old fashion way. Disturbed, Jake drives off, haunted by her saying 5 out of 5.

John has Matt in for a job performance review. John ridicules Matt for physical defects and calls him out for watching movies at work, judging him for his taste in movies. John tells him his job is “hanging by a thread and you’re living in a scissors factory.” Matt responds by saying those descriptions will haunt him, but John’s clearly put a lot of thought into it. He tops it off by saying “good job.” John pauses, caught off guard and asks Matt if he’s telling him that he did a good job during his own performance review. John immediately gets into a better mood. At the same time,

Kate has Jake in for his performance review and she also berates him, telling him he can’t convince anyone he’s competent. In the middle of the job review, his phone rings. It’s the car company again calling to ask for him to fill out the survey. Kate dings him for looking at his phone during a job performance review.

Back at his desk, Jake gets an email from Debby saying it’s been 3 days, reminding him to do his survey. Matt asks Jake why he doesn’t just do the survey. He tells Jake he just gives everyone a 5 out of 5 when he gets a survey, including the racist lyft drivers he gets. John comes in asking for Matt’s advice, looking for any excuse to get Matt to tell him good job again. John notices Matt was looking at movies to watch again. John gives a Matt suggestion, a documentary about the Thai cave kids. Matt tells him he doesn’t have a login so he can’t watch, but John gives Matt his password: “JakeEarmuffs”

In the cafeteria, Grace complains about being called shy in her performance review. Jake swipes to pay for his food and a survey pops up asking to rate his experience. He says no and walks off, pissed off everything wants to be rated. As Matt goes to pay for his lunch, John swoops in to pay, wanting to get more compliments from Matt. While eating her lunch, Grace gets self conscious because she hasn’t spoken while everyone at the table is talking. She is paranoid about being shy, growing anxious her performance review was right. Trying to find a way into the conversation, she attempts to talk and someone else starts talking before she can. She beats herself up internally for the failure.

Later, Jake is in the elevator when suddenly a phone rings. He looks around confused, opens the elevator telephone compartment and answers. It’s Jupiter calling yet again to ask about his car buying experience. As he drives home, he keeps getting voicemails and they haunt him over and over. He sees his phone ring on the dashboard and it is another call from Debby. As he pulls up to his house, Debby is standing outside. She notices him and waves. He asks what she’s doing at his house and tells him it’s been a week and he hadn’t filled out the survey yet. She was worried something happened. Luckily she had his address on his paperwork and again asks Jake for a 5 out of 5. He caves, and says he’ll take the survey. Jake takes out his phone and gives her a 4 in the first prompt. Her face drops. He gives another 4. She begs him not to do it. He gives yet another 4 and submits the survey. She immediately vomits all over his lawn. Debby yells “I should give you one star as a person you bitch!” She says he put a target on her back and she storms off.

John comes into Matt and Jake’s office as Jake is telling Matt about the survey. Matt is hiding under his desk from John. John sees him under the desk and asks what he thought about his movie recommendation. Looking for more affirmations, he asks Matt what he thinks about his new tie he is wearing. Matt says he has a lot of work but John says it can wait and that he wants honest feedback. Matt, getting irritated, says he doesn’t like it, saying “You look like Mr. Peanut even more than usual. This time you did a bad job.” Trying not to cry, John puts on a brave smile and leaves. Jake is proud of Matt and says, “You just gave John a 4 out of 5.”

Grace, still shaken from her performance review, pumps herself up as she leaves work, telling herself she’s going to say bye to the guy at the security desk to prove she isn’t shy. As she gets close, she starts to say good night. The security guy gets a phone call and she aborts mid talking. Matt and Jake, also heading out of the office, pass by the security desk and the security guy calls Matt over in response to the phone call he just got. John says he needs to see Matt immediately. Jake then gets a call from Jupiter again. He answers and they inform him they’ve dealt with the situation and that Debby will never sell another car again because customer satisfaction matters to them. Matt goes to John’s office. John begins cutting his tie into pieces then waves the scissors at Matt. John then shows him his new desk. A tiny desk in John’s office with a plaque on it saying “MATT SITS HERE” with tiny shampoo and conditioners you would find in a hotel room. John tells him to take a seat and that it’s gonna be a long night.

Jake drives home, feeling terrible and worrying about what happened to Debby, telling himself that Debby isn’t dead and that he is just being paranoid. He pulls up to his house. Five people in suits ominously stand outside. Jake crashes his car into his mailbox. As he gets out of the car, a man approaches Jake, telling him he’s FBI, and asks if he purchased a car from Debby. Inside his house, agents take pictures of the scene. They begin questioning Jake, with a sixth agent showing up late. The agents inform Jake that Debby is missing. They ask when did he last see her. Jake tells them she was at the house and he gave her a 4 out of 5 on her survey. The agents all are taken aback. One agent responds with “Jesus Christ you really must have hated this lady.” Other agents say “What did she do to you?” and “Anything less than a 5 might as well be a 1”.

Back at the office during lunch, Jake tells the story to his coworkers, Grace tries to say something, pumping herself up in her internal monologue. She gets the confidence to speak and blurts out “I think she’s dead. And it’s because of you.” She keeps ripping into Jake, now on a roll, unable to stop talking. Everyone at the table is taken aback.

Matt sneaks out of John’s office and goes to Kate’s office, trying to ask her for help. She tells Matt that because John is now going to him for affirmations, this is the freest she’s ever been in years, and she even got the free time to read an article. He asks how to get it all to stop and she tells him to go back in time and undo all the repressed trauma from his childhood. She also says Matt can poison him, over the course of a few years, that’s what the article she read says. Back at his tiny desk, he looks tired and defeated. John knocks over a picture on a desk and Matt picks it up. He sees that it is a picture of John and his parents. He then realizes what the “Good Job” and neediness is really all about. Matt decides to push the limits and tells John he is a good boy and a great boss. He then seals the deal by telling John “I love you. I’m so proud of you.” With tears streaming down his face, John tells Matt he crossed a line. John tosses Matt out of the room and Matt smiles as John yells at him as he leaves the office.

Jake goes back to the Jupiter dealership because of the damage to his car. A saleswoman says he was smart to get the extended warranty. Jake tries to find out what happened to Debby. Upon hearing her name, the saleswoman becomes upset. She says the company doesn’t want them talking about it. She then asks Jake if she has answered all of his questions to which he says no, wanting to know about Debby. The woman becomes noticeably worried and says Customer satisfaction is their number one priority, anxiously pointing her eyes at a banner that reads, “Anything less than a 5 is considered a failure.” Freaked out by her reactions, Jake screams out 5 out of 5 over and over, letting everyone in the dealership know as he quickly exits the building.

In an empty warehouse, we see that the FBI catches up with Debby. She’s been funneling cars to a group of thieves. She thinks it was Jake’s 4 star review that exposed her, but it was a star shaped business card with her face on it in a stolen car that tipped them off. She tells the agent “good job”. The agent gets taken aback by the words she just said. Debby sees an opportunity and reaches for his gun, shooting him, killing all 5 agents in the room. The sixth agent walks in late again and she shoots him too. Debby says “make that six out of five” in a hilariously corny delivery, and drives out of the warehouse.

That ending was perfectly out of left field and I enjoyed every second of it. “Good Job” was yet again another funny episode in a very strong third and final season of Corporate. The survey storyline with Jake and Debby was hilarious, taking many twists and turns I didn’t expect. Unfortunately, the storyline with John and Matt grew tired really quick, but it tied in well with the idea of being reviewed and wanting affirmation of doing a good job. There was one moment where John tries to throw food in Matt’s mouth and he misses terribly, pelting Matt in the face multiple times. I got a good laugh out of that, but the rest of that storyline felt dragged out and one note. There are only 2 episodes left! I can’t wait for next week’s episode, but I don’t want this season and the series to end!.

Corporate airs Wednesdays at 10:30PM on Comedy Central. You can stream Corporate on Comedy Central’s website or app.