It’s almost the end of the network television season, so all of our favorite dramas and comedies are wrapping up for the summer hiatus. Unfortunately, The Goldbergs is almost at its end (until its unconfirmed-but-assumed third season). Luckily, the show still has a lot of laughs and a lot of heart left in its tank, as proven with “Bill/Murray.”
The main story in “Bill/Murray” deals with Erica, in the process of growing up, looking for a college to attend. She has plenty of thoughts, but Beverly rejects all of them as being too far away from her. The only school that works for both Erica and Beverly is Juilliard, so Beverly decides that she is going to do whatever it takes to get Erica in. The guidance counselor tells Erica that she is certainly capable of getting into Juilliard, but tries to bring Beverly back down to reality once Erica leaves the room. Unmoved, Beverly is still convinced she will make it happen.
To help Erica with the admissions process, Bev gets Adam to make an audition video for her (based on the music videos the kids like watching on MTV). Adam draws from all of his favorite videos to come up with ideas, and Beverly goes all out with paying for things to help. The video ends up being absolutely atrocious, though, and Adam realizes he was not at all qualified for this task. Beverly begins to see that her attempts to keep Erica close to home are only driving the mother and daughter apart. Beverly lets Erica just make a very simple audition tape for schools, and she decides to allow Erica to go wherever she wants.
Elsewhere, Barry and his girlfriend Lainey get caught making out in the janitor’s closet at school. The principal calls in Murray and Lainey’s dad, Bill, in order to tell them what’s going on, but all it does is bring up the football rivalry between the two fathers. The principal tries to explain how similar Murray and Bill are, despite their difference in favorite team, and the two break the ice and start to get along. Barry and Pops are happy about Murray and Bill’s new friendship, but their excitement makes Murray realize that it’s his first real friend in a long time. For two weeks, their friendship is the stuff of legends.
Unfortunately for Murray, their closeness causes Bill to open up emotionally. Obviously, Murray is not okay with this. Once Bill leaves, he decides to end the friendship. Barry is extremely angry at his father, though, because he was hoping the friendship between the two fathers would cause Bill to start liking him and accept his relationship with Lainey. Bill shows up to Murray’s job and accuses Murray of avoiding him, and the two have a falling out. After a talk with Pops, Murray realizes that opening up may not be the worst thing in the world, and he makes up with Bill at their favorite bar.
“Bill/Murray” was a really great episode of The Goldbergs that opened up some fantastic story opportunities with Murray’s new friendship, and it also makes you start to question how much we’ll see of Erica’s character once she goes off to college. No matter where the family goes, though, I know that I will gladly be along for the ride.
Additional Thoughts/Favorite Quotes:
– “Go before I kiss your belly!”
– “Activate those legs so we can activate those minds! Oh yes, that’s definitely going into Earl’s Pearls.”
– Can the school guidance counselor please be in more episodes in the future?
– “Everybody loves jiggly girls!”
– Dave Kim is my favorite of Adam’s friends, and that’s all I have to say about that.
– Vic (Murray’s employee) is always a highlight in every episode that he’s in, even with just one or two small scenes. His appearance here is no exception.
[Photo credit: John Fleenor/ABC]
Follow Us
