The Goldbergs – Body Swap

By: Ariba Bhuvad

Back in the 80s a lot of the movies were about body swapping. Barry (Troy Gentile), Geoff (Sam Lerner), the JTP [Andy (Matt Bush), Naked Rob (Noah Munck), Matt Bradley (Shayne Topp)] and Erica (Hayley Orrantia) are at the video store trying to rent movies about body swapping like All Of Me. Erica asks Geoff who he would want to swap bodies with anyone and he says no. Barry doesn’t agree with this at all, but Geoff doesn’t think anyone would want to swap bodies with him. He’s not doing anything with his life, but Erica reminds him that he is on track to go to college soon, even if he lives illegally in her dorm and she has to sneak in food for him from the cafeteria.  

Barry says that Geoff can “body swap” with him, a/k/a just using his ID to go to the cafeteria to eat. He never eats at the cafeteria because he just eats all of Matt Bradley’s food. When Barry says they will body swap the lights in the store start flickering, but it’s just a reminder that the store is about to close. 

Adam (Sean Giambrone) is disgusted by the school cafeteria food, which is why when Principal Ball (Stephen Tobolowsky) announces that juniors can have off-campus lunch,he’s thrilled. However, Emmy (Stephanie Katherine Grant) is quick to remind Adam that Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) will never allow him to do off-campus lunch especially because they have to get parental consent forms signed. But Adam is determined to impress Brea Bee (Sadie Stanley) in any way he can. Of course, Beverly shuts down the idea immediately and reminds Adam that the Goldbergs are horrible drivers. Adam is hoping that Murray (Jeff Garlin) will just sign instead, but he’s just going along with whatever Beverly says. She simply doesn’t want Adam to get hurt and will not allow him to put himself in a position that something bad could happen.

Geoff is worried and nervous to use Barry’s ID, but he gets into the cafeteria with no issues. He even bumps into one of Barry’s professors (Jon Sklaroff) who says Barry hasn’t been to class all semester and drags Geoff there. As it turns out, Geoff is really good at being Barry. He’s getting As, he is asked to join a study group and a drum circle. He’s basically Barry full-time now! 

Brea, Emmy and Matt Schernecke (Augie Isaac) are all ready to head off-campus for lunch, but Adam tries to find excuses to get out of it. They quickly realize that Beverly did not sign off on Adam leaving campus, but everyone wants to go to the food court. Adam says they won’t make it there and back in time, so Johnny Atkins (Sean Marquette) offers to drive them. In a moment of rushed excitement, Adam forges Beverly’s signature. The drive to the mall in an insane one as Johnny drives all sorts of crazy to get them there with seven minutes to eat and get out of there. Unfortunately for Adam, Beverly is at the mall doing her walk and immediately smells Adam’s hair and spots him. 

At school Barry is confused when he hears his name being chanted over and over again, until he realizes that people are cheering for Geoff while playing Ultimate Frisbee. Barry isn’t too happy about this and gets competitive over the fact that Geoff is better at being him than he is. 

Beverly is extremely upset with Adam and all Adam wants is to move on. And to make matters worse, Murray is just agreeing with anything Beverly has to say. As far as Beverly is concerned, Adam will never leave campus for lunch and Murray will not help sway the decision in any way. To try and make things better, Beverly decides to start “Bev’s Bites” and invites Emmy, Brea, Matt and Johnny over to eat the food she made. It’s exactly what they would get from the mall food court, but even better. While everyone else is happy with this, Adam is annoyed at Beverly for interfering like this. 

Barry decides to get the JTP involved in his concerns about Geoff pretending to be him. They don’t really care, but Barry is very upset about the fact that Geoff is living his life better than him. Feeling threatened, Barry shows up at a game of Ultimate Frisbee and totally bombs the game. He doesn’t know how to play and is just running around doing things wrong. Annoyed and frustrated, Barry tells Geoff he will pretend to be him if he’s going to pretend to be Barry. So, Barry shows up to one of the classes pretending to be Geoff and reveals their secret by accident. Geoff decides the gig is over and walks away defeated. 

Adam decides to go against Beverly’s wishes and tells Brea Bee they are going to the mall. Unfortunately, he reverses his car into another car. He gets called into Principal Ball’s office for his indiscretion and, naturally, Beverly is really mad at him for not properly looking through the forged signatures. If it is up to Beverly, she would want off-campus to end forever, which pisses Adam off even more and he says that the moment he’s allowed to do things on his own Beverly will never see him again. She’s hurt by his words and conveys to Adam that she will never stop worrying about her kids, but she will try and back off because it will help Adam. 

Barry feels bad for treating Geoff the way he did and apologizes for his behavior. But he didn’t mean for Geoff to take over his identity and realized that he isn’t doing a good job in college. Geoff has inspired him to be more involved and since Geoff will be in college soon too, they will conquer the campus together! 

At the end, Adam is allowed to do off-campus lunch–across the street from school. It’s not the mall, but it’s a good start! And guess what? Bev’s Bites was a real thing!