The Goldbergs – Yippee Ki Yay Melon Farmer

By: Ariba Bhuvad

‘Tis the season to be jolly, celebrate and have a holiday showdown, of course. Well, especially if you’re Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey). Over the course of six seasons of The Goldbergs everyone has come to understand Bev pretty well and to her the holidays are no joke – especially with Barry (Troy Gentile) itching to take advantage of Lainey (AJ Michalka) celebrating Christmas. But there’s just one slight problem–Lainey and her dad don’t celebrate Christmas. In fact, it’s something they don’t even talk about because it’s the day Lainey’s mother left them.

Naturally, Barry is heartbroken because he really wanted a reason to celebrate Christmas, but it’s not looking too great now. He quickly realizes that if he’s going to concoct any sort of holiday miracle, it would have to be with Bev’s help. He uses her holiday enthusiasm against her to plot a plan of eight nights of constant Hanukkah madness.

Lainey and her father (David Koechner) have no idea, by the way, that Barry has placed them in a competition against Bev. Instead, they show up night after night as Bev dishes out elaborate dinners and decorations hoping to “beat” their Christmas celebrations. She creates a latke bar, puts in a motorized buggy and provides a lavish meal every night for seven nights. But by the time the eighth night comes around, Bev is exhausted and unable to do anymore. She orders Chinese food as Lainey and her father walk in to see nothing is going on.

Barry gets caught right smack dab in the middle of his lies as he confesses that Lainey and her father don’t celebrate Christmas and that he wanted Bev to do all this so Lainey and her father could be a part of some sort of holiday. Christmas, it appears, is ruined now, but not if Bev has anything to do with it! She and Barry, along with Erica (Hayley Orrantia), join forces to give Lainey and her father the best holiday celebration ever. They may not have good memories of the holiday, but it doesn’t mean they can’t make new ones. Leave it to Bev to make sure they start the best new traditions ever! And she went to great lengths to make Christmas happen too (including stealing their neighbor’s holiday decorations).

Considering it’s the holidays, it was natural for Uncle Marvin (Dan Fogler) to make an appearance. And just like every other holiday, he had another cockamamy scheme up his sleeve. This time it involved telling Adam (Sean Giambrone) that he’s a television star now and will use his contacts to help Adam out. Seeing as it is Christmas, Adam’s favorite movie to watch during the holidays is Die Hard. This is the inspiration he uses to create a whole new movie that’s a knockoff of it (Die Hard: In a Treehouse) and he’s having Marvin help out. Unfortunately, Marvin is not a movie star because the only thing he’s been on recently is an episode of Cops. Ugh!

Murray (Jeff Garlin) struggles to tell Adam the truth about his Uncle Marvin and is once again disappointed in his brother. He was trying to be supportive this time around, but it appears to have backfired. But not so quick! While at the movies, Marvin manages to play the clip he and Adam made together in the theater as a surprise for his nephew.

After disappointing him, it was the least he could do for his nephew. And it seems like it’s the push he needs to get his life on track! Yeah for family love and support! What a wonderful way to wrap up the mid-season, wouldn’t you say? Until next year, folks!