With all the buzz surrounding the upcoming film Eddie the Eagle, I guess The Goldbergs thought it would be a good time to cash in on the event as well, putting their patented Goldberg spin on it.
Seems Barry (Troy Gentile) wants to be a champion at some sort of sport, after being influenced by media footage for Eddie the Eagle. Adam (Sean Giambrone) advocates his brother in a slew of activities, because, well, Adam looks up to his brother regarding everything. It doesn’t help that he exaggerates (or rather completely makes up) Barry’s extreme greatness at a variety of sporting events. When Adam tells Barry of his awesomeness at Ball Ball (which makes a triumphant return), Barry decides to put it into effect at school by starting a Ball Ball club. He is ridiculed by a fellow classmate, and Adam let’s Barry in on a crushing secret; his brother isn’t as great as he thinks he is. Barry’s disappointment ends in his traditional “hand flailing behind his back, staggered leg” run. I am a fan of the Barry run and I like how they use it sparingly, as it is always a certified laugh.
Barry decides to give up on his dream because of Adam’s insight, to which at this point Erica (Hayley Orrantia) steps in and tells Adam that as a younger brother, he kind of failed looking up to his older sibling. Barry thrived on Adam’s encouragement, and he let him down. Adam decides to get Barry back into the groove of things and brings up the “Home Game” competition, which is pretty a much a montage of Adam and Barry doing silly events around the house or outside. I was actually laughing really hard at this point. I mean what kid growing up in the ’80s didn’t do some sort of imaginative sporting “thing” while growing up? Near the conclusion of the episode, this sequence is paired with video footage of the real Adam and Barry doing “home games” in their childhood home, which is just perfection.
While the kids are off playing games, Murray’s (Jeff Garlin) business is hitting some hard times. Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) finds out about it through a co-worker of Murray, and decides to “mix in” and help her husband out. This backfires when Beverly takes up the sale representative position, trying to pawn futons on people. Murray, however, is anti-futon, and ends up sleeping in the store because of his anger with his wife. When he actually falls asleep on a futon, customers pour in the next day wanting to buy one due to his looking so comfortable. With his tail between his legs, he goes back to Beverly, saying he needs her help with the business. It’s unlike Murray to ever ask his wife for assistance, so it was a gesture that was really not explored on the show before. However, the story line itself was just not as interesting as Barry’s and Adam’s sporting adventure, and I found myself uninterested in the play out of the furniture store angle.
In any case, the episode didn’t soar like Eddie the Eagle but not all is lost; the three Goldberg kids were champions of the episode and ultimately kept it from being last place.
Rating: 7.5/10
The Goldbergs air every Wednesday Night at 8:30 on ABC
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Logan J. Fowler is a senior writer and video game editor on Pop-Break.com. He contributes his thoughts every week for Trailer Tuesday and ABC’s The Goldbergs.” Logan’s “kid at heart” nature has led to his discussion about pop culture that many geeks love to talk about, including superheroes, Super Mario Bros., Pixar, and Muppets, among other things. In addition, one of his first pieces for the site, “Top Ten Comic Book Movies,” was picked as a “Freshly Pressed” piece by WordPress and remains one of the site’s most well-read articles. Many of Logan’s friends have said that he moonlights as Spider-Man but this is so not true. Wait, are those police sirens I’m hearing?! Gotta go! -thwipp-
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