In last night’s episode of The Goldbergs, Adam (Sean Giambrone) is shown to be a lover of 80’s action films starring Ah-nuld, most notably Commando. In an interesting plot development, it seems that his dad, Murray (Jeff Garlin) is really into those kind of movie as well, so Adam uses this opportunity to butter up his dad for money so he can shoot a home made (literally) piece of action cinema. Murray is game, so the youngest Goldberg makes it and they view it together. The short film is hilarious to the audience, but Papa Goldberg is unimpressed. He tells Adam everything that is wrong with the movie, and Adam always counterattacks with the fact that he needs better equipment, so Murray caves in and actually provides the materials to his son.
During this transaction, Barry (Troy Gentile) pops out of nowhere, saying he wants to be the star. He’s got the moves and the knowledge of Chuck Norris films! Adam likes Barry’s resume and says he’s in, but Murray isn’t down with that. He sabotages the arrival of Barry to set, and instead brings in Coach Mellor (Bryan Callen) to be the action hero. Not only that, but Murray rewrote Adam’s script a bit. Adam gets fed up, and walks off the project. However, in time, he realizes that he doesn’t share many bonds with his father, so he sacrifices his vision to include that of his dad’s. Murray gives Adam a heartwarming speech near the end of the episode, and its nice to see the two finally find a balance.
Meanwhile, Erica (Hayley Orrantia) is, like Adam, trying to butter up a parent for money, this parent being Mama Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey). Erica wants a new outfit (a sweater dress), so she tells her mom she wants to go shopping and spend time with her, even though its really about wardrobe. Beverly says they should go to Gimbel’s, her favorite store, but Erica wants to go to a more high end place.
They do end up going to Gimbel’s, but Beverly freaks when she sees signs saying “Going Out of Business.” She says in disbelief, “It’s almost like a Blockbuster Video going out of business, it’s impossible!” Haha, oh 4th wall breaks. In any case, Erica gets to go to her store, but Bev is shakes her head at all of the dresses, so distraught about her fave store. In any case, she finally agrees to a dress for Erica, and when they go to check out, she uses a Gimbel’s coupon so they can honor a competitor price. The clerk won’t take it, so Beverly throws a fit, getting her and her daughter banned from the store.
Erica and Lainey (A.J. Michalka) decide to make the best of a bad situation by sewing together some of Bev’s sweaters to make something new. However, they end up destroying a bunch of them, and when Beverly sees this, she’s in pure terror. All of her sweaters were from Gimbel’s so she can’t replace them. In this dialogue, Erica releases that her new outfit search was not about spending time together, it was about a dress, so Mama Goldberg gives up her credit card, tells her to buy one, but you can tell she is unhappy.
Erica, feeling sorry, makes it up by telling her mom that another Gimbel’s is shutting down, and how Beverly can capitalize on incredible deals. This leads to a mother/daughter shopping montage that is pretty hysterical.
I really enjoyed this episode of The Goldbergs. It’s good when the story doesn’t feel too forced, containing a national progression of the speed bumps the family hits before the patching up. That, and I’m always a sucker for Adam’s home movies, which really get highlighted here. “Recipe for Death II: Kiss the Cook” could’ve used more Barry, but hey, at least he was in this one!
All in all, a fun little episode with some good moments.
Anyway, that’s my review. See you ladle!
