The Goldbergs Review: “Rush”

One of the most important thing to any teenager is music, and that’s just as true on television as in real life. With that in mind, let’s take a look at this week’s new episode of The Goldbergs, titled “Rush.”

The main story in “Rush,” as you can probably guess from the title, deals with Erica and her attraction to whatever music is currently popular. Johnny Atkins tries to tell her how great Rush is, but she doesn’t agree with it until she agrees to listen to their music in his car. The attraction to the music is so strong that she ends up actually dating Johnny, but Murray is not at all about him and doesn’t want his daughter to be involved with him. Even if Erica doesn’t truly feel anything for her new boyfriend, Murray’s discouragement pushes her even closer to Johnny, and things end with an intervention that Murray calls (which includes the JTP, Erica’s two best friends, and one of her teachers). Even Erica realizes how disconnected she is from Johnny eventually, though, and he breaks up with her after a moment of sad honesty. Seeing his daughter’s sadness, Murray apologizes and gives her his support, and the story ends with Erica and her friends forming their own Rush cover band with which to compete in the upcoming Battle of the Bands against Johnny’s.

Also in the episode, Beverly gives Adam a “Best Son” trophy as his birthday approaches, but it blows up once Barry sees it and points out to his mother that she plays favorites among her children. She hates to admit it, but it becomes pretty clear to her that she’s secretly been treating Adam as her favorite. Because of this, she decides to make Barry feel like her favorite so that the unfortunate truth won’t actually be true anymore. As anyone could expect, Barry becomes extremely obnoxious once he receives his own Best Son trophy, but Adam is happier than ever at the seeming loss of his mother’s attention. While things are nice for Barry at first, he slowly begins to understand what it really means to be Beverly’s favorite child, and he starts to become more miserable than he’s ever been. Finally, Barry and Adam both revert to their true positions, and Adam ends up having one of the best birthday parties of his life, resulting in a newfound appreciation for his mother.

“Rush” was a pretty great tribute to one of the trendiest bands of the 80’s, and both storylines in the episode were remarkably strong. I may be a bit biased, but I thought Erica’s story was the best part of the episode. The Beverly-appreciation aspect of Barry and Adam’s story feels a bit played out on the show, but that doesn’t really diminish the strength that it had.

What did you think of this week’s episode of The Goldbergs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!

[Photo Credit: ABC/Ron Batzdorff]