The Goldbergs – Angst-Giving

By starrymag | November 26, 2019

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

In the 80s Thanksgiving involved football, the Macy’s Day parade and watching the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles for the Goldberg family. This year Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) is determined to make sure Murray (Jeff Garlin) is in the best mood ever because his dad, Pop Pop (Judd Hirsch), is coming for Thanksgiving. She doesn’t want Murray to know beforehand because Pop Pop is pretty terrible and unpleasant.

 

Adam (Sean Giambrone) is worried this will be another “Angst-giving,” but Beverly is doing her best to ensure it’s anything but. She has her mind set on giving Murray the best day ever, but Adam isn’t so convinced. Her plan is to invite Bill (David Koechner) and Vic (Cedric Yarbrough) over because Bill is all alone and Vic is Canadian. Furthermore, Beverly recorded The Eagles and Cowboys game and told Murray the game will start at 2pm. The Eagles won the game so she knows that it will put him in a good mood. Adam is convinced that the idea is pretty brilliant, until Pop Pop show up early. 

 

Pop Pop brings with him nothing but an empty dish to fill with leftovers because he is on a budget. Murray walks in to see Pop Pop and immediately begins insulting him and making comments about his cushy house and how something is wrong with his face. 

 

Meanwhile, Erica (Hayley Orrantia) and Barry (Troy Gentile) are waiting to be picked up from college, presumably by Geoff (Sam Lerner). However, they find out that their Uncle Marvin (Dan Fogler) is there instead because they were on his way. He told their parents that he would get them, but forgot to tell Geoff not to come. However, Erica and Barry end up going with Marvin even though he has some car troubles initially and is infamously known for “pulling a Marvin” and screwing up things all the time. Despite that Marvin, Erica and Barry head to the Goldberg home as Marvin tells them to take a quick nap. When they wake up they find that they are no where near Pittsburgh and somehow Marvin went the wrong way for hundreds of miles. Not to mention, he stopped by a store to pick up a turkey but bought a ham instead. Since they are close to the airport the three of them decides to hop on a flight to get home. 

 

Back at home Pop Pop continues to be horrible and annoying. He won’t let Murray watch the football game in peace and wants to watch the parade instead. This sparks an argument between the two, once again. 

 

Pops (George Segal) is concerned, but Beverly is still clinging onto hope because of her plan. That is until the turkey burns to a crisp and she finds out from Adam that Bill and Vic can’t make it because Bill’s appendix burst and Vic is volunteering at a homeless shelter. It gets worse once Murray realizes that The Eagles game was recorded over, but his mood slightly changes upon learning The Eagles won. 

 

Marvin, Barry and Erica wait for their flight to take off as Barry asks the stewardess (Melissa Joan Hart) about meal service. Marvin says they’ll call their parents from the airplane phone, but Erica reminds him it’s really expensive to call from those. Thankfully, Murray gave her a credit card for emergencies so she calls Beverly really quick to update her. 

 

The pilot makes an announcement that their flight will be diverted to Nashville because of weather issues. Back at home Geoff tries to talk to Pop Pop, but it doesn’t go well and Pop Pop decides he’s going to leave. Beverly insists that he stay and wait until dinner. He goes down to the basement to watch the parade and falls down the stairs. Upon seeing him, Adam faints. 

 

Erica calls Beverly from the Nashville airport hotel to update her on what’s happening. It officially moves Thanksgiving celebration to Friday. And while Pop Pop tries to leave, Beverly refuses to let him go. As a last ditch effort Marvin manages to get them a ride home with a stranger, but (as expected) it goes very badly. In fact, they get robbed and left on the side of the road. Erica and Barry are both colossally disappointed with their uncle and storm off.

 

Meanwhile, Beverly is hoping for a Thanksgiving Day redo, but is flustered to see Pop Pop eating the turkey from the day before. At this point she’s completely over his behavior and decides to tell him to leave. Surprisingly, he wants to stay and be a part of the family and get along with Murray. He just doesn’t know how, so Beverly promises to help him with that. 

 

Marvin comes up with one final plan to help the kids get back home. While Erica and Barry don’t trust him, they give him another chance. He gets on the bus with Erica and Barry and pretends they work for the “medical FBI” and have a heart in a cooler for a patient. The bus driver doesn’t really care and lets them sit down without tickets as they finally make their way home.

 

Beverly stages a mediation between Murray and Pop Pop, which doesn’t get off to a great start. They’re just yelling at each other and insulting one another, so Beverly says to just go back to angry silence. But their insults turn into a productive conversation as they finally reveal how they feel and work their problems out through yelling at each other with happy insults. Thanks to Beverly it seems that Pop Pop and Murray work things out. And that is just in time for Erica, Barry and Marvin to finally make it home. 

 

A happy Thanksgiving celebration ensues at the Goldberg house.