The Goldbergs – The Living Room: A 100% True Story

By starrymag | December 5, 2018

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

This week on The Goldbergs, adult Adam (Sean Giambrone) reminisces about the time in the ’80s when fitness was all the craze. People couldn’t get enough of the latest workouts and that absolutely included good ‘ol Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey). And while Bev was all about staying fit, Murray (Jeff Garlin) was content sitting in his recliner as unhealthy as can be. That is until the doctor calls with Murray’s blood work results–triglycerides over 500, yikes! Of course, Barry (Troy Gentile) thinks this is a good thing until Bev fills him in on just how detrimental it is for Murray’s health.

 

Bev decides to take matters into her own hands and says that they will start working out together as a couple. Murray surprisingly agrees to play along and a curious Barry wonders why his lazy dad is so quick to say yes. You see, every year Bev has her health freakout and Murray plays along until she simply forgets and moves on to something else. And he does this by using compliments to distract her and takes her out for a nice dinner so she can forget what she wanted him to do.

 

To prove to Barry that this plan works, Murray begins complimenting Bev up the wazoo and low and behold–it works! Oh Murray, you’ll never change, will ya? Meanwhile, Adam had a predicament of his own. His toy truck had somehow made it into Bev’s beloved and sacred living room full of antiques. No one is allowed to step foot in that room because she absolutely forbids it, so Adam finds himself stuck in a horrible situation. Not to mention, there are some creepy stuffed owls in there.

 

He tries to ask for Erica’s (Hayley Orrantia) help but she tells him he is on his own. No one wants to mess with Bev’s living room, but Adam decides to step foot in it anyway. Naturally, Bev is somehow aware that Adam has gone into her room and she shows up in all her smother glory. Much to Erica and Adam’s surprise, Bev tells them all her antiques are extremely valuable, thus why she is so eager to keep them protected. Bev has been collecting all these items over the course of her life, and one day they will be for her kids. Erica and Adam are ecstatic about the monetary value these items could bring, and totally ignore that they hold sentimental value for Bev.

 

She leaves them in the room with a pen and some paper to mark down which items in the room they’d like to have someday. But let’s just say, neither of them cares very much to have any of Bev’s things. And while Adam and Erica try to mark their future property, Barry holds a meeting with the JTP to discuss his dad’s “Tetris-Cyclopses” aka triglycerides and his concern for Murray’s health. Given how much he cares about his dad, he’s worried that his health is in danger. He wants JTP’s help in how to communicate with Murray and it seems like Matt (Shayne Topp) is the only one with sound advice. But Barry and the rest of the JTP refuse to listen to the advice that will help. Instead, Barry takes that to mean that he needs to lie to Murray to get him to exercise.

 

He starts to talk about fitness and health in front of Murray and uses the JTP to help him get the message across. Naturally, Murray isn’t listening to any of it and out of frustration agrees to have a healthy shake. He chugs down the shake and thinks he can still have the crab cakes for lunch. The plan is an epic fail because Murray decides to drink the shakes all day long, which will only make matters worse.

 

Later that day, Bev is hanging out with her friends in the living room and mistakenly assumes that Adam and Erica have put their claim on her things. However, Barry is the only one who has marked all over the living room items. Bev is extremely displeased to learn that neither Erica nor Adam have any interest in her lifelong collection of items. But hey, at least neither do her friend’s kids!

 

Annoyed at her kids, Bev decides she is going to sell everything in the living room and use the money to buy her and her friends a cruise to the Bahamas. When Murray gets home from work later that day, he walks in to see Barry has brought home a fitness machine called Bowflex. Murray is definitely not into the idea of anything Barry has to offer, and Matt pushes him to just be honest to with Murray instead. However, Barry thinks he is doing the next best thing he can–reaching out to Coach Mellor (Bryan Callen).

 

Meanwhile, Bev heads to the auction and is annoyed to learn that none of her items are valuable–at least not in the monetary sense. She tries to make her case, but she is unsuccessful in convincing them to start at a higher bid. In order to trick Adam and Erica, she puts the auction brochure out for them to see with high prices. They’re fooled into believing that the items are indeed of value and try to fight over the “last few left.”

 

Coach Mellor comes over to the Goldbergs’ to make Murray work out but becomes the target of Murray’s tricks. He compliments Mellor and convinces him to go all out for lunch. We could all learn a thing or two from Murray, couldn’t we?

 

At the auction, no one is interested in bidding on Bev’s collection. In fact, the bid is lowered until someone finally agrees to purchase it. Bev tries to convince people to bid higher but ends up buying everything back for herself. Of course, Murray’s tricks worked on Mellor and they both ended up pigging out on the couch. Barry is annoyed to see what has happened and gets angry with Murray for tricking Mellor again.

 

This prompts Barry to be honest with Murray and be direct with him about how he feels. The JTP and Mellor start freaking out that Barry is going to be so expressive but it doesn’t stop from him doing so. He goes on to tell Murray that he means everything to Barry and he cares about him. He wants Murray to be around for a long time–at his wedding, to play with his kids, etc. Unfortunately, Murray doesn’t have a positive response back to Barry’s concern.

 

Bev, Adam and Erica get into a fight over Bev’s things and Bev realizes that no one cares about her collection the way she does. She’s upset because she just wanted the kids to have a piece of the family in future years but they don’t care.

 

Murray tells Barry that he won’t ever be the type to exercise regularly or eat a strict diet. However, he says they can go on walks every now and then–and talk about manly things. Considering how stubborn Murray can be, that’s a win-win, wouldn’t you say?

 

Speaking of win-wins, Adam and Erica apologize to Bev by buying back her gold and red couch. She’s ecstatic and assumes they spent thousands to get it–and guess what?! They can now eat and hang out in the living room too–because it’s time to use it for living. The best part of the episode? Hayley Orrantia (who plays Erica) sits on the couch with the real Beverly Goldberg who confesses that she still has the couch and it’s in mint condition! Don’t you just love The Goldbergs?