The Goldbergs – You Got Zuko’d

By: Ariba Bhuvad

Who doesn’t love a throwback to the iconic Grease? Well, in the most recent episode of “The Goldbergs” we got just that–and it was glorious. Summer has come to an end and with it Adam’s (Sean Giambrone) girlfriend has returned after a summer away in the magnificent New York City. But things aren’t the way they used to be, and Adam is the first to take notice.

When Jackie (Alexis G. Zall) returns she looks very different than the last time Adam saw her and her personality has changed drastically as well. In an attempt to keep up, Adam takes it upon himself to make some changes as well. And who better to channel than the punk rock grunge look from the men of Grease?  

This episode was also focused on how Barry (Troy Gentile) and Lainey’s (AJ Michalka) future would look and what it would entail when it came to taking care of him. Of course, throughout of five seasons we know Barry loves his food and Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) has been the one to make all his culinary dreams come true. With Lainey and Barry planning on getting married, that responsibility now falls on Lainey.

When Beverly walks in to the kitchen to find Barry and Lainey eating frozen dinners, her smother self takes over because that’s not what she wants for her food-loving son. Because it’s now Lainey’s responsibility, Beverly hands over the infamous recipe box that has been a part of their family for years. In it contains all the recipes that Beverly has used to make some of Barry’s most favorite dishes.

But Lainey isn’t exactly on board to have the recipe box passed down to her, but she takes it anyway because saying no to Beverly Goldberg is not worth the wrath it will bring. Barry tries to play it off by saying he doesn’t care if Lainey doesn’t cook for him, but deep down he wants just that. So, he sets up an elaborate plan with Geoff (Sam Lerner) to steal the recipe box so Lainey would be forced to learn all the recipes from Beverly.

Meanwhile, Adam goes full punk rock by dying his hair blonde and saying to yes to competing in a drag race for pink slips with Johnny Atkins (Sean Marquette), which means giving up your car (Adam did not understand what this meant at all.) This is all so he can prove to Jackie that he too is “cool” and capable of hanging with her new crew. When Adam goes to his Pops (George Segal) to get advice on what to do, it’s Murray (Jeff Garlin) that convinces him to change his appearance to woo the girl.

Adam shows up at the drag race with Pops along for the ride. A series of events makes everything about him showing up at the drag race extremely fitting–his accidentally ripped jeans and the heavy load of paving stones that make his car drag. When the race begins, the other car runs out of gas and while Adam’s car is extremely slow it still wins the race.

At the end, Adam is the winner, but he realizes that pink slips means giving up your car. So, he demands that he get the other car as his prize. This elicits a strong reaction from Jackie who is disappointed at how much Adam has changed. Given that he feels the same, he breaks up with her and leaves her behind.

While he was supposed to go to the carnival with Jackie, Adam proceeds to go on his own and ends up running into her. She says sorry for how everything went down and explains that even though she’s different it doesn’t mean he has to change himself. She still cares about him deeply and loves everything about him, including his nerdiness.

Lainey is extremely flustered upon realizing that the recipe box was stolen and goes to Beverly to seek help. And while trying to learn all the recipes, it becomes clear that even Beverly doesn’t remember every single step. To assist them, Barry runs to Geoff’s house to grab one of the recipes to help the two women out. However, this plan goes south really fast when Lainey and Beverly realize that Barry had the box stolen as an elaborate plan to have Lainey learn all the recipes.

Beverly gives Barry one of her infamous talks and tells him that he has to learn to give and take in a marriage and it can’t just be about him. So, the two cook up a meal together for Lainey and he goes over to apologize for his behavior. He promises this is just one of many meals that he will cook for her and just like that” The Goldbergs” gives another adorable, sweet and touching episode.