Spoiler Alert: This blog post contains details from the March 4, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs

(The Goldbergs Twitter)

Cabbage Patch Kids were the Tickle Me Elmo’s of the 1980s. The craze was real and it impacted the lives of boys and girls, as well as mothers and fathers all across the country. Thanks to clever teachers, kids in middle school were treated to some of the best birth control by welcoming/forcing a Cabbage Patch Kid into their daily routines of riding their bikes carefree, mowing lawns and playing games at the arcade in the mall. For Adam and Dana, little Merna Leia DeLorean Goldberg would change their lives…forever.

Meanwhile, the JTP was smashing some good produce by the local WaWa. Nothing would stop this unrivaled fun, except the girl. Actually, in this case, it was two girls: Lainey and Erica. When Lainey chose boyfriend Barry over Erica with a prized ticket to see Heart in concert, Erica decided the best revenge was to take her oldest brother’s crown and rule the JTP with an unintended romantic touch. The plan was brilliant. Admittedly, sibling battles are unusually detailed and shrewdly executed for exacting retaliation. This one was no different.

When a young man gets married and has a pretend child that doesn’t blink, life gets complicated. Not really with any of his new responsibilities, but because there are now two women in the picture: his wife/crush and his Smother. When Beverly feels threatened by Dana’s rise to importance in her baby boy’s life, she panics in hilarious fashion. Let’s just say her overreaction involved dismissing Dana’s input, strolling around a toy baby in the park, losing said toy and buying a replacement in a sketchy black market exchange from the trunk of a car by the always entertaining guest star Nick Swardson.

I also have the strongest heroin(e) in the world.

What!?

She-Ra: Princess of Power.

Not even She-Ra could have saved Beverly this time, especially after bringing home a really, really bad Cabbage Patch Kids knock-off. As in not even close. And this was because the only person who could make Adam happy at this point was his wife/girlfriend. So, Adam stood up to his mom in defense of his girlfriend. It was a difficult lesson to learn for Beverly, but when friends and family are pushed to the edge, that’s usually when they finally realize the importance of truly special relationships.

After seeing his posse hang with his sister, Barry understood where his girlfriends’ heart really belonged Friday night: at the concert with her BFF. Beverly, with help from the ever-so-rare, but fantastic words of wisdom from husband Murray, discovered she needed to turn the lights on for her scrumptious baby boy and his crush. The tree house never looked better, as Adam and Dana’s faces lit up as brightly as the lights that were secretly put up by Dana and a certain grandmother…

“The Goldbergs delivered its 2nd-biggest audience ever and tied the series’ 2nd-highest young adult rating” (TV by the Numbers).

Adam F. Goldberg’s masterful sitcom is attracting new viewers and impressing its loyal fans each and every week. Part of this is due to the time period it’s based: the 1980s. It reminds us that while amazing movies, classic television shows, video games, etc. ruled popular culture, the cell phone, internet and on-demand options hadn’t yet entered our lives as a minute-minute necessity. It was, as the saying goes, a simpler time.

This sitcom perfectly illustrates that relationships between friends and family matter. (A random FYI – Family Matters debuted in 1989 and was also a terrific show). Life should not be lived within a 4-inch screen and the ’80s thankfully reminds us of this. Instead of endlessly scrolling through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, we should dust-off our old boomboxes, find that romantic tape and simply say anything to the love of our life. It’s for those moments when we accidentally touch someone’s hand or someone steps on our foot.

When we listen to our heart, we’re never alone.