Jimmy's Daily Planet

Spoiler Alert: Content from this blog entry is from the April 8, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs

“The technology ends here!”

During the 1980s, it was easy to believe such a statement as a wide-eyed teenager. There had never been inventions for music that could be held in one’s hands: the compact disc (CD) and the CD player.

(The Goldbergs Twitter)

(Maybe literally skipping around would prevent the CD from skipping songs?)

When Barry and Erica discovered the insanely amazing technological breakthrough in the mall one afternoon, there minds were blown! Their new life objective consisted of getting the insanely expensive entertainment system powered by CD’s into their house. Unfortunately, this candle in the wind was going to be blown out pretty quickly by Murray: the rocket man of no.

Meanwhile, Adam’s quest was to avoid snuggies at all costs on his undetermined birthday while in middle school in 1980s something. Always one step ahead, Beverly already planned the best birthday for her baby boy. Did this mean a surprise appearance by a clown with balloon animals? Of course not. Beverly would never do that for her child in middle school…

A slumber party manly sleepover with Adam’s two good friends and a future best bud involved ninja throwing stars, a pipe and a warm, non-fermented beer. Following a quick swig by each rebel, along with the most devastating liquid drop ever in the Goldbergs household by Adam, the partying quartet were forced to their lonely corners. In the literal sense, this meant each of them eating at nearby (yet separate) tables at lunch.

Shockingly though, the kids’ parents proved just how alike they were to each of their children in the subsequent meeting after the party disaster. After a 20-minute swear fest and time to reflect on the true “innocence” of their kids, Beverly led the eventual coming together of the parents. The end result was a weekly therapeutic card game where they relaxed, had fun and talked about how their little snuggle monkey drove them absolutely crazy. Beverly also hoped a stack of quarters for Adam’s birthday redo at the arcade with his friends would help. A requested tummy rub later and all was forgiven (plus, did you know that “bad apples make the best pies!”). And like any great quartet, the first breakup is inevitable. They just needed to find the right rhythm (and fully fermented beer).

Speaking of the right song, Barry and Erica made a deal with their dad that if they wrote the greatest song in history, Murray would buy them the entertainment system. Sadly (and completely unforeseen), Big Tasty’s rhymes were a little stale this week. Erica’s keyboard skills suffered a similar fate. The next best thing? Steal someone else’s song! Who better than Elton John. There’s no way Murray’s heard of him…

After failing to pass off an Elton John classic as their own, Pops suggested trying to understand their dad’s perspective. This led to the ever-so-popular “me gift.” It’s when you buy someone a gift, but it’s really meant for you. It was a bold move, but Murray’s reaction to “his” new entertainment system was even bolder. He forbid their use of it and declared his hip, exclusive of the magic technology.

And nothing says hip like mispronouncing Flavor Flav.

Despite his children wildly misinterpreting his childhood (well, lack of a childhood) because he had to care for his younger brother, Murray gave Barry and Erica some Philadelphia freedom by letting them use the entertainment system. Murray realized he needed to be more concerned and proud of giving his children what he didn’t have when he was their age. This was a genuinely powerful revelation for him. In this moment, Murray turned a very tense page in a chapter of his life and flipped into the chapter where he worked to help his kids achieve their dreams for their passions without drawing back to his own shortcomings.

It was his song to his kids.