Last night was the season 4 premiere of The Goldbergs, in which the dysfunctional family paid homage to the John Hughes classic The Breakfast Club. This nostalgic trip wasn’t an overall episode arc, but rather a third act plot point meant to bring back memories of the beloved film.
At this point in the game, The Goldbergs may have checked off every 80’s reference they could, but we still have a whole season ahead of us. In any case, the season 4 starter was a good time, but in the back of my mind, I have this sad feeling that the show is running out of steam. What used to be solid, throwback storytelling is becoming more gimmicky, and it really shows here. But we will get to that later.
Mama Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey) continues to be a humorous thorn in her kids’ sides, as she applies to be a substitute teacher in the high school where they all attend. This does not bode well with the teachers that work at the school either, as they have all been under the wrath of Beverly Goldberg. She’s shifted out to the cafeteria to eat lunch and when she requests that her offspring join her, there’s a fight, some curse words are thrown out, and the Goldberg kids are thrown into detention which sets up The Breakfast Club scenario.
Sadly, it seems forced. Erica (Hayley Orrantia) is all out of whack because the guy she liked is with another girl, so she takes on the Ally Sheedy role super quickly. Adam (Sean Giambrone) and Barry (Troy Gentile) fare better, only because they’ve been taking on the persona of bad ass and jock for the majority of the episode, so it’s a little more seamless. But everything that happens in the last 5 to 10 minutes just completely loses the illusion of it happening with better transitioning. We’ve seen the show capable of doing this before, so hopefully they get back on the game.
In any case, the Season 4 is going to be interesting at best. The Breakfast Club opener was solid with a major bump, so hopefully the rest of the season can iron it out. Hopefully it can.
Sincerely yours, Logan J. Fowler
