I have never been more excited to see Beverly Goldberg back on my television screen!
That’s right, The Goldbergs have returned with new episodes on ABC…and with a two-episode opener!
The first episode follows the family as they prepare for a lovely vacation to Miami. Secretly Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey, Reno 911) is trying to get all of her kids and their significant others to a family bar mitzvah, but she has to lie since the kids usually hate attending family events and will come up with any excuse as to why they can’t attend.
The episode focuses on the movie Airplane!, which Adam is currently obsessed with and is, in true Goldberg style, riddled with references and a cameo from David Leisure as the pilot. I’m going to apologize now, because I have never actually seen Airplane!, so I’ve “Shirley” missed many of the hilarious references to the original film. That being said, there were definitely enough obvious ones to follow along.
As the Goldberg family does, they end up ruining what should be a simple 3-ish hour flight and manage to cause havoc before the plane even takes off, with both Beverly and Erica (Hayley Orrantia, Roommates) trapping poor Geoff Schwartz (Sam Lerner, Truth or Dare) in the lavatory on separate occasions to find out what is really going on with the trip and who knows what, because as usual, Geoff is more in the know on what’s really going on. Barry (Troy Gentile, Drillbit Taylor) who has been trying to get himself and Ren an upgrade to first class watches as Adam (Sean Giambrone, Solar Opposites) and Brea (Sadie Stanley, The Sleepover) are gifted an upgrade since their chairs don’t recline. Once in first class, Brea tries to tell Adam something important (which ends up being that she has to wear corrective headgear), but he continues to overwhelm her (and the poor steward) with Airplane quotes. And, Murray (Jeff Garlin, Curb Your Enthusiasm) is just along for the ride and has thrown back a few drinks to help with his fear of flying.
Eventually everything works out, life lessons are learned and they make it to the Bar Mitzvah, but it is a nice reminder that attending family events so that your parents can show you off to other relatives, no wait, that’s not the lesson. It’s important to spend quality family time together, especially when your parents ask you to attend family functions, it could be a great way to get to know more of your extended family and bond with your immediate family.
Our exciting double feature continues with the start of Adam’s senior year of high school and boy has he changed over the summer. Adam returns as a cool kid! What? I know. In part, because he is dating Brea Bee, but also because he has transformed his look. He got rid of his glasses, lightened the front of his hair, and put on a puka shell necklace as anyone who has been “effortlessly” cool up to the 2000’s does.
Not everything is perfect though. Because Adam has now evolved into a cool kid, his social circle also gets a makeover, and Adam finds himself friends with the group of kids that would never have known his name otherwise. In the meantime, his childhood friends, Emmy (Stephanie Katherine Grant, Survivor’s Remorse), Dave Kim (Kenny Ridwan, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street) and the rest have spent the summer learning Japanese so they can play the newest version of Super Mario. Adam is torn between his old friend group and his new friend group, so he tries desperately to combine the two. At the end of the day, after many failed attempts, he receives some word of wise advice from the guidance counselor (Tim Meadows, Saturday Night Live). Highschool makes it seem like you can only be one thing, but as you get older you realize that you are, in fact, a mix of many talents, interests, and social groups. With this information Adam begins to navigate the waters of his final year of high school. A little bit wiser, and a lot a bit cooler.
While Adams social world is getting an upgrade, Barry and Erica are staying home with their parents for a week prior to college going back, and Beverly manages to spend that week doting on and catering to her children’s every whim, which causes them to regress into adult “babies” who are incapable of doing anything on their own. They’re exactly where Beverly thought she wanted her kids to be, relying on her for everything. That is, until she sees her neighbor’s college aged children helping with house chores, baking, and showing affection to their mom without any sort of elaborate plan required.
When Beverly realizes her kids could be like these mature adults, it’s already too late. Barry and Erica have reached the point of absurd requests, that normally their mother would bend over backwards to fulfill, but instead we hear something I never thought I’d hear from Beverly Goldberg. She tells her beloved “shmoos” to “get the f*ck out of my house”. I know! I was also shocked, and a little bit proud of Bevvy for not giving in this time. Murray, the occasional voice of reason, helps Beverly to realize that she deserves to have the kind of relationship that she wants with her kids. Which turns out to be a mix of spending quality time with her adult children baking a pie from the fruit tree that Barry stole from the neighbors. – I mean, they can mature, but they’re still a Goldberg.
Oh, and pops now has a mustache now, because 2020.
All in all, this season looks like it’s shaping up to be exactly what we expect from this show, a half hour of laughter filled with ridiculous scenarios and relatable messages about life, family, and growing up. With the year everyone’s been having, the return of The Goldbergs is just what future Dr. Barry ordered!
