The Goldbergs Season 6 Episode 12 Review

Last week's episode of The Goldbergs was very emotional and led to the end of a longtime couple. This week doesn't let us off the hook, as many members of the Goldberg family still grapple with Lainey's sudden exit. Plus, Adam tries to get away with skipping a gym class activity and ends up making an unexpected bond.

Adam's class is being forced to run the mile run in gym class, so Adam does the only thing he can think of to get out of it: he complains to Beverly about it. Beverly writes him a note, and while Coach is disappointed, he gets out of running. All of Lainey's loved ones are still upset about her departure. Murray's not happy either, but his problem is just that everyone is hogging the living room. Beverly tries to help, but makes things worse, so now Jeff and Murray have to work together to cheer everyone up. In class, Coach Mellor announces that he'll be leaving William Penn in order to become a wrestling coach. Murray decides to get Beverly away from the kids and Bill, and takes them out for a fun day together. The Pina Colada Song gets stuck on the car radio, and Murray can't turn it off. It keeps playing over and over, and everyone is angry now. The kids in Adam's class mean their new coach, Coach Green, who has a fun (?) belief in aliens that costs him the job.

Coach Mellor decides to bring in his brother as the new coach, but he's way worse than their original Coach Mellor. OG Mellor gives Adam some advice, to not be like a former Boston Marathon winner that cheated, which gives Adam the idea to cheat with Pops' help. Unfortunately for Adam, the original Mellor is there for the run and knows exactly what Adam did. The entire family is going crazy because of the Pina Colada Song, which leads to Murray breaking a traffic law and getting a ticket. Following an argument, Murray admits that he also really misses Lainey. Murray is now even more depressed than everyone else, and the family sings The Pina Colada Song to cheer him up. Adam runs the mile run for real this time, and that makes Coach Mellor proud.

Wrap-Up:
While not as strong as last week's midseason premiere, this was still a solid episode of my favorite '80s family. The plot focusing on Murray cheering up the rest of the family was definitely the better of the two, and I thought Bill was really hilarious in it. I really hope that he sticks around even though Lainey hasn't. I'm glad that they didn't just pretend that the characters were fine with Lainey's sudden move, and actually gave them time to grieve and come together as a family. Murray talking about what she meant to him was the episode's most emotional point (and there were quite a few tug-at-your-heartstrings moments), and it's a side of Murray that we rarely see, especially for anyone outside of the family. Adam's plot with Coach Mellor wasn't as good, but still had some strong moments, particularly the ending scene when we saw how much Coach means to Adam. They don't always have the best relationship, but it was nice to see them bonding and even better to see how proud Coach was of Adam. We all know he's just a big ole' softie at heart, and the ending proved that. It was very moving.

As a side note, I thoroughly enjoyed the Charles Barkley cameo, especially since much of the episode focused on getting to a Sixers game. Nice touch, Goldbergs!

Score: 8.5/10
Grade: B+

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