The Goldbergs – The Beverly Goldberg Cookbook: Part 2

By: Ariba Bhuvad

Back in the 80s everyone was about getting fit, so every chef was health conscious–except Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey). She made all kinds of dishes, including something called lasagna burger bomb for Adam (Sean Giambrone) or a salad doused with meat and ranch for Murray (Jeff Garlin). Beverly even had a cookbook filled with unhealthy recipes and, as a result, no publisher wanted it. She got back comments from them like “a dietary Vietnam” and “pure poison.” That didn’t prevent Beverly from making the unhealthy food anyway. 

One day someone by the name of Harrison Whitby (Chris Parnell) called from his publishing company to show his interest in Beverly’s cookbook. He actually likes that it’s unhealthy! Naturally, Beverly can’t contain her enthusiasm as Harrison asks her to rewrite the book within 48-hours and filled with the personal stories that go with the recipes. 

Meanwhile, Erica (Hayley Orrantia) and Barry (Troy Gentile) are struggling to be college roommates and not getting along in the slightest bit. Things come to a head when Barry has the JTP [Geoff (Sam Lerner), Naked Rob (Noah Munck), Andy (Matt Bush) and Matt (Shayne Topp)] over at the dorm while Erica is trying to study. She asks them to leave, but Barry refuses to have them listen to her. However, they all inform him that when older siblings make a call you have to listen. That’s just how it works. Geoff stays out of it because of Erica, but winds up getting stuck in the middle as the third party individual to end their fighting. 

Beverly finishes her rewrite, but the family history she writes with each recipe is really gory and sad. There’s one story about a great-aunt that was dragged through the mud by a horse, after which the horse fell on her. She ended up making a horse stew from that experience, but Beverly changed it to lamb. Adam isn’t too interested in reading the book, but after Beverly begs him to he caves in. 

To help Barry and Erica, Geoff creates a binder with rules and instructions on how to share everything. They end up dubbing him the “Geoff-eree” to mediate their issues. They throw the binders out that Geoff spent all night working on and tell him to be the arbiter, even though he doesn’t want to. 

Disturbed by Beverly’s morbid stories, Adam shares the cookbook with Dave Kim (Kenny Ridwan) who says it’s a horror show. Adam isn’t sure how to tell his mother that the book is bad, but then he spots Doc Katman (Steve Guttenberg) giving Johnny Atkins (Sean Marquette) bad news in a positive way. Basically, it’s what Dr. Katman calls a “compliment sandwich.” You put the bad news in between a positive comment before and after it to mask the negativity. Adam attempts to use that method when he gets home, where he finds an eager Beverly waiting to hear Adam’s opinion on the book. He tries to use the method, but keeps saying “you did it, girl” while also telling her that he hated the book hard. Beverly doesn’t take criticism very well and is upset with Adam over how he feels about the cookbook. 

Geoff is still trying to help Barry and Erica and, for a while, he’s doing a pretty good job. That is until the JTP comes over again. Barry says Geoff deemed it “JTP night,” but Erica asks everyone to leave at midnight. Barry isn’t too happy to hear that so Erica says in exchange for letting them hang out late she’ll take the car tomorrow. The fight continues as Barry tells her it was his car day, so his response is to take her computer away. At this point Geoff’s limits are being surpassed and he’s not too happy.

After hearing what Adam had to say about the book, Beverly asks Murray and Pops (George Segal) to read the book. She thinks their feedback will be different, but it’s more of the same. Murray says he liked the part where the book ended while Pops wasn’t sure why there was a story about an amputation in there. Beverly realizes Adam was right and goes to apologize by bringing him cookie bars. She tells him that the history behind all the recipes are dark, but he tells her that the stories should be about their family. For him, the cookie bars have always represented him feeling better. It always made him happy even when he was down, so Beverly asks him to do the rewrite with all the emotions.

After ditching Geoff’s ideas Barry and Erica split the room up with a tape down the middle. When Geoff shows up they keep blaming him so he loses his temper. He says that just because they are siblings it doesn’t mean that they can be roommates well. And what’s worse than how they treat each other is how they treat him. 

Adam and Beverly have a meeting with Harrison to show the rewritten cookbook, which at first he says he loves. But after Beverly repeats her name he realizes he was reading the wrong book and says her book is crap. He thinks it’s too sappy and that every recipe should not end with a hug. He gives her 48-hours (again) to rewrite it, but Beverly is disheartened and tells Adam it’s over and she’s nothing. 

Realizing that they treated Geoff like crap Erica and Barry go to apologize for putting him in the middle. They tell him he was right and that they probably shouldn’t have been roommates and brought him into their mess. They’ve come up with a solution–Barry is moving in with the JTP. Despite their apartment being extremely unsafe and shady, Barry is happy to be there. And with Erica now having room in her dorm, she asks Geoff to move in–and he says yes!

Adam doesn’t want his mother to give up her dreams of being a cookbook author so he convinces her to work together with him. They’ll meet in the middle of less horror and less sappiness. Luckily, that formula works and the publisher officially approves Beverly’s cookbook!