The Goldbergs: A Personal Retrospective Part 3 - The Series Finale (2023)

 Hey everybody, how's it going? I'm doing okay. Today is May the Fourth, a.k.a. Star Wars Day, and don't worry, I'll be doing a special Star Wars Day post later today. However, the series finale of The Goldbergs aired last night, so I thought I'd talk about that a bit before lunch. So let's get into it.

10 years and 10 seasons isn't bad for a show that I didn't think would last more than a season. As you know, I loved the show the minute the pilot started, but at the time whenever I got invested in a show, the network it aired on ended up canceling it after one season, and because the internet wasn't exactly a buzz about the then brand new show the way it had back in 2007 when The Big Bang Theory aired its first season, I wasn't confident that ABC, which is owned by Disney I might add, would renew The Goldbergs for a second season. Or if they did it would be 13 episodes and that would be it. I had no way of knowing that the series would be on the air for ten seasons and have a two season spin-off.

So what happens in this episode? Well, Adam goes with Beverly to her high school reunion where they run into her former high school boyfriend and he selfishly tries to make sure that Beverly isn't forgetting about her late husband/his late father, Murray. Meanwhile, Barry and Joanne try to prove they're serious about their relationship, and the results are very Barry and Joanne.

Honestly, I thought this was a very fitting series finale for this show. I've always said that the strength of The Goldbergs was making characters relatable without the necessity to have a joke every minute. And that's what this finale did. It presented us with characters we could relate to, no matter what decade we grew up in. And the fact that it did that for 229 episodes across 10 seasons, between 20 and 23 episodes per season, is truly remarkable in this day and age where shows rarely get more than 10 episodes per season anymore. Now, before I go, I wanna talk about my favourite part of the episode, so, basically, spoilers for the rest of this post, for any of you who watch the show and are waiting to watch the finale until it drops on Hulu today.

My favourite part of the episode is the very end where Adam and his girlfriend, Carmen get into the DeLorean that Adam's uncle, Marvin, left at the house in the Thanksgiving episode all the way back in season 1, Carmen asks, "So, where are we headed?", Adam replies, "I don't know. Let's find out", and the two of them drive into the night, the radio cranked up. I can't think of a more fitting ending than that.

I'm glad that The Goldbergs didn't go for the typical sitcom series finale of the family selling the house, the main character moving away, or a wedding happening, though Barry and Joanne did elope off screen. It just felt like a typical episode with flashbacks at the end, including during the Dedication to Ten Years of The Goldbergs end credits scene. It was a fun episode.

Overall, this was a really good episode. And a good cap off to ten years of the show. Thanks Adam F. Goldberg, not that he'll read this post, for sharing a fictional version of your childhood with us. It's been a blast.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for right now. I will be back later for my special Star Wars Day post sometime this evening, so until then have a great day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.