The Goldbergs – Schmoopie’s Big Adventure

By: Ariba Bhuvad

In the 80s Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) was obsessed with Adam’s (Sean Giambrone) birthday. Because he loved Pee-wee Herman so much, Beverly got him a replica of the bike Pee-wee had in his movie Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure with the infamous tailored suit. Excited about his new get-up, Adam rode it around the neighborhood super excited and enthusiastic. Even Beverly jumped on the bike to take it for a spin with Adam.

Geoff (Sam Lerner) found a bunch of parking tickets in Erica’s (Hayley Orrantia) dorm room and is shocked to see an entire drawer filled with them. The tickets accumulated to the point that she ended up getting a boot on their car which would cost a couple hundred dollars to fix at least. With no money to get it taken off herself, she decides to ask Murray (Jeff Garlin) for a new car. When Murray finds out there’s a boot on the car he says he won’t help her. Instead, she has to work to pay it off by working at his store The Ottoman Empire. It turns out she was actually good at working there and made sales go up. Murray ends up trusting her so much that he hands over the keys to the store to her with her first earnings–$9. 

After getting that bike Adam refuses to let it get touched or ridden. In fact, he even gets a huge case to put it in for protection. Beverly is upset because she wants Adam to enjoy being a kid and play with his toys. All of his toys are protected and kept safely, which upsets Beverly even more. Beverly tells Pops (George Segal) that she will do whatever she can to make sure Adam stays a kid and knowing how persistent Beverly can be, she decides not to interfere. Her grand idea? Taking Adam on an adventure just like Pee-wee Herman did. 

Adam is shocked to learn that his bike is no longer in the case he left it in and is frazzled when he tells Beverly that his bike has been stolen. Of course, this is all part of Beverly’s plan to go on an adventure. 

With the car out of commission, Barry (Troy Gentile) has to ride the bus and he hates it. Unfortunately, with Erica only making three dollars an hour, she won’t be able to get the boot taken off anytime soon. Geoff suggests opening a coffee shop as a joke, but Barry takes it seriously and says they really should. They could have this shop at Murray’s store as an after hours thing. Erica says no, but Barry really wants to so they can get the car back. Despite feeling reluctant, Erica says yes. The Ottoman Empire turns into the Empire Lounge and they end up making more than enough money to get the boot taken off. Since they got the job done, Erica decides to take the keys to the store back to Murray, but Barry refuses. He wants to keep the coffee shop open, but Erica says absolutely not. But bribing Erica with the prospect of money, she caves in. 

Meanwhile, back at the Goldbergs’ home Adam holds a meeting with a plan to find his bike. Along with Beverly and Pops, Dave Kim (Kenny Ridwan), Emmy (Stephanie Katherine Grant), Essie (Stephanie Courtney), Linda (Mindy Sterling) and Virginia (Jennifer Irwin) all join the meeting where Adam presents pictures and a giant map of the neighborhood. Everyone but Adam realizes Beverly is the one that hid the bike and, after some pushing, she finally admits it was her. Unfortunately, when she takes Adam to the bike it seems like it really did get stolen. They head to the park to see if they can get any leads on it and they run into Johnny Atkins (Sean Marquette). In exchange for information, he makes Adam and Beverly do a silly dance. He admits he took the bike and left it with nuns at St. Vincent’s Church. 

After promising Barry one more night of the coffee shop, Erica tries to get Murray out of the store quickly. She gets racked with guilt when Murray tells her he’s proud of her and happy to be spending time with her. He no longer thinks she is a moron, and Erica realizes that he’s going to be very disappointed if he finds out what they’re doing. The Empire Lounge gets too packed and a lot of the store gets trashed. Things get even worse when Murray shows up and catches them red handed. Let’s just say Murray is back to thinking Erica is a moron, and he conveys his disappointment. 

Adam and Beverly arrive at the church and see the bike from a distance. But they’re told the bike is now parish property and they can’t have it. That doesn’t stop Adam from running and taking it anyway, as Beverly cheered him on. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make it very far and rides it into a dumpster, causing it to break. 

With Johnny’s help Beverly has him fix the bike, but he does a horrible job. The parts are in all the wrong places and Adam is as angry as ever and says the bike is worthless. Beverly confesses that she has been trying so hard with him because she wants him to stay a kid forever. He reminds her that it’s not feasible to stay like that forever and, while she knows that, she just wants Adam to always be playful no matter how old he gets.

Erica feels really bad about the whole coffee shop ordeal and cleans up the mess in the store. She apologizes to Murray for everything and says she wants to fix them and her mistake. Erica says she will continue working at the store and, in the process, it’ll make their relationship better.