Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. It's been a bit hectic around here this week, but otherwise I'm doing okay. Last year I did a personal retrospective on The Goldbergs, today I'm back to talk about the show more now that it's in its final season. Over the weekend I watched the first nine episodes of season 1 and I've watched an episode from season 10, which is the current season. So I'm going to talk about those a little bit. This is going to sound weird, but there will be spoilers, so if by chance you've never watched The Goldbergs before...go watch it I guess? Yeah, let's get into it.
Watching the first nine episodes of the series was an interesting experience given that, aside from the pilot, and episode 5, "The Ring", which was the first appearance of Adam's first girlfriend, Dana Caldwell, played by Natalie Alyn Lind, I hadn't watched them since they first aired all the way back in 2013. I mean I remembered all of the episodes, but I completely forgot that apart from Dana, Adam's best friend Chad Kremp, and Barry's love interest of the season, Lexi Bloom, who is also one of Erica's friends, we don't see any of Adam, Barry, and Erica's friends in these first nine episodes. The JTP (Jenkintown Posse) don't get introduced until season 2, and Emmy Mirsky, Dave Kim, and Lainey Lewis don't get introduced until the second half of the season, though Lainey is mentioned as early as episode 2, "Daddy Daughter Day" as Erica's best friend.
The show is very focused on the family in these first nine episodes. Outside of the Kremps's house and a few other locations, like the rollerskating rink and Murray's furniture store, we spend the most time at the Goldbergs's house. Kind of like how we spent most of season 1 of The Big Bang Theory at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, particularly in the first few episodes. And that's made these characters feel so real. We got to spend nine episodes with basically just them before other, iconic, characters were introduced. Which you don't get in many TV shows these days since most of them are now ten episodes or less per season and you don't have time to spend with the main characters before the storyline of the season needs to start.
While I was watching these first nine episodes the other night, I realized that, yeah, I did watch the pilot, "The Circle of Driving" when it originally aired on September 24th, 2013. I missed episode 2 though and watched episode 3, "Mini Murray" and went from there. And seeing the pilot again was weird because now that I've seen the first two seasons of Stargirl, seeing Brec Bassinger as the teenage waitress at the restaurant that Pops took Adam to in the pilot was weird because all I can think about is her kicking ass as Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl on Stargirl for three seasons.
Rewatching these first nine episodes reminded me of why I fell in love with The Goldbergs in the first place. It's not only funny, but it has heart. It may be set in the '80s, but the setting is merely that, the setting. The characters and situations could happen in any decade, aside from a few '80s specific situations, like calling your parents to let them know you arrived at your destination safely if you're a young driver. Today we have cell phones, texting, and tracking for that sort of thing. I've kind of kept up with the series from time to time, watching the occasional episode here and there. But this reminder made me decide to pick up the series again for the last few episodes of this final season. And that's what I started doing last night.
Season 10, particularly last night's episode, called, "The Better Annie", felt like The Goldbergs. As much as I enjoyed Schooled, it caused alot of problems for The Goldbergs because many of the writers were busy on the new show, and with Adam involved with Schooled as showrunner, The Goldbergs was put into the hands of someone who just didn't understand the kind of show that The Goldbergs is. It kinda started happening in the second half of season 5 as Adam and the production crew produced "The Goldbergs: 1990-Something", which was the backdoor pilot for what would become Schooled. And it continued right through the next four seasons. Season 6 wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as what season 5 had been but season 7, which was also the first to be affected by the pandemic, suffered from focusing too much on the '80s references and the comedy rather than the solid character moments that really made the first five seasons special. It also didn't help that Sean Giambrone was absent for an episode or two because he was off filming the 2019 live action Kim Possible Disney Channel Original movie with Sadie Stanley, who ended up on The Goldbergs as Adam's final high school girlfriend, Brea Bee. As a result, the show felt off.
But this season, of what I've seen of it, has returned to the show's roots. The comedy was toned down and the reliance on the '80s references was dialed back as well. Seasons 9 and 10 have been weird because George Segal, who played Pops, passed away midway through the second half of season 8, so they killed Pops off at the beginning of season 9. Then, Jeff Garlin, who played Murray, was fired after several HR investigations, and so they had to add a CGI Murray for the rest of season 9, before just killing the character off between seasons 9 and 10. And the thing is, I don't know if Adam is involved with the show again or what the deal is. I just know that despite Alex Barnow still being showrunner, the show has returned to what it was at the beginning.
One of the things that I loved about last night's episode is that it was a very simple A Plot/B Plot story. Pop Pop's apartment is repaired following a fire in his building, but when Pop Pop, a.k.a. Ben Goldberg (Murray and Marvin's father, played by Judd Hirsch) moves back in, he admits to Geoff Schwartz (played by Sam Lerner) that he doesn't want to move back to his apartment because he'll be lonely without the chaotic nature of the Goldberg house so Geoff suggests that he try to be nicer, because he's pretty grumpy, kinda like how Murray was before Jeff Garlin was fired and they killed the character off. From there hilarity ensues as both Beverly (played by Wendi McLendon-Covey) and Barry (played by Troy Gentile) fear that Ben is losing his mind. Eventually Geoff and Ben reveal the truth and Bev and Barry welcome Ben back with open arms.
Meanwhile, Adam (played by Sean Giambrone) and his new girlfriend, Carmen (played by Isabella Gomez), decide it's time for Carmen to meet Adam's family as they've been getting pretty serious lately. But they hit a snag when it's revealed that Erica (played by Hayley Orrantia) has a grudge against Carmen because they'd both been up for the part of Annie in a local theater presentation of the play, and Carmen won it despite Erica being extremely talented and Erica ended up in the role of Daddy Warbucks, and ended up being typecast as bald characters for some reason. And when they go to resolve it, Carmen ends up saying that she loves Adam and her and Erica's ridiculous feud is completely forgotten.
With everything my family has gone through with my grandparents these last few years between my grandfather passing away three years ago and all the health issues both of my grandmothers have had this last year Pop Pop's storyline hit me pretty hard. In a good way though, oddly enough. It served as a reminder, as did George Segal's character being a member of the main cast pretty much up until he passed away, that grandparents are just as important in our lives as our parents, siblings, and friends are, whether they live with us or not.
I also enjoyed the Erica/Carmen storyline just because, one of the moments I fear the most whenever I get a new girlfriend is whether my family is going to like her and whether she'll get along with them. Not so much my siblings, because they aren't around as much, but it's always been extremely important to me that my girlfriend, whoever she is, gets along with my parents. Especially my mom. Despite being 36 years old, I still rely on my parents for alot of things due to my disabilities and I still live with them. So it's important to me that my girlfriend gets along with my mom because, if she doesn't there isn't much hope for the relationship, because Mom comes before pretty much everyone else. Even my friends bow to my mom's wishes, hence why I've been able to start going places and hanging out with Brad again once he and I were fully vaccinated. Does that make me a Mama's boy? Maybe, but when you're in my situation it can't be helped. So if she and any girlfriend of mine don't get along there's no hope for my continued relationship with said girlfriend. Unlike Adam though, I've never had to give any of my girlfriends cue cards with specific instructions on how to talk and behave around my family. Don't get me wrong, my family is weird, crazy and interesting, but they aren't completely out to lunch. Lol.
I just find it funny that Erica is the one that had a history with Carmen. Given that Beverly has had a few run ins with Carmen in previous episodes, since Carmen first appeared in Season 10, Episode 9, "Million Dollar Reward", I figured it would be her who would have a problem with Carmen, has Beverly had problems with Dana, Jackie, and Brea when they all started dating Adam in previous seasons. But then I remembered that Erica is completely crazy and she's started feuds with people for less important things than being denied a role in a play being put on by a local children's theater group. But still it was fun.
Also I think Adam and Carmen's relationship is developing alot quicker than Adam's previous relationships. I mean Dana, Jackie, and Brea all had three seasons each to develop their relationships with Adam, but with this season being the show's final one, if they're doing what I think they're doing, and making Carmen Adam's forever relationship, they only have a total of six episodes left to get them to that place before the series is over and that's it. So yeah, it's a faster pace, but I don't mind it because it's actually progressing pretty organically.
I love the fact that Adam and Carmen work at a '50s themed diner. Mainly because it reminds me of a restaurant that my family and I used to go to when I was a kid called Rockin' Johnny's Diner, which was also a '50s themed diner. Also, they work with Johnny Atkins (played by Sean Marquette) and Carla Mann (played by Alex Jennings), two recurring characters who have been on the show since early in the third season with Carla being friends with Erica and Lainey, and Johnny being Adam's bully for the first three or four seasons that he was in.
Honestly I am very excited to see where the rest of this season will go. The Goldbergs is a comfort show for me. I mean I was able to easily binge nine episodes in a row the other night without the intensity of the genre shows that I watch like The Mandalorian and any modern Star Trek series. I don't mean that the show is mindless, because it isn't. But there aren't high stakes or world ending events in it either. So it's an easy show to put on and watch a few episodes of before bed. Because sometimes, life is hard and we don't always get every detail right when we talk about our lives, but with our friends and families by our sides, we can manage to navigate the major events in our lives. Last night's episode was a reminder of that, and I loved it.
Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. But I will be back, probably tomorrow, with a book review. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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