The Goldbergs Review: Adam Graduates! (Season 9 Episode 22)

I am happy to start by saying that I like The Goldbergs Season 9 Episode 22, “Adam Graduates!” very much.

It has heart, it is lovingly self-referential, and, most importantly, it has laughs. That shouldn’t be something novel for a sitcom, but given the lackluster season, it is a refreshing change.

As the episode title suggests, the main plot revolves around Adam (Sean Giambrone) graduating and enlisting Barry’s help to distract Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) from causing a scene in the days leading up to the graduation.

Barry (Troy Gentile) maybe does too good of a job, and I feel bad for Beverly as the episode goes on, especially near the end, when Beverly is all but having a minor break from reality.

I’m sure it’s only due to the writing on The Goldbergs and has nothing to do with my own guilt about my mother. But I digress.

Beverly loves her family fiercely and has long said that they should all be together forever, which her children want to believe she isn’t serious about, but we all know she is. Facing the truth that everyone is growing up and moving on with their lives is a lot for this mama bear to handle.

I can’t help thinking, however, how much more effective this journey for Beverly would have been with Murray (Jeff Garlin) as an active part of it. Nine years of storytelling has brought the Goldberg parents to this point, and it’s something they should experience together.

Bringing Pop-pop (Judd Hirsch) and Bill (David Koechner) in to talk about the highs and lows of empty nesting is a high point of the episode, but they are Murray’s people. That being said, their experiences are useful to Beverly, but I’m just thinking about what could have been.

(I’m choosing to skip over that Mr. Glascott, for some reason, was in this sequence as well. I already said enough in the review for The Goldbergs Season 9 Episode 21, “One Exquisite Evening with Madonna.”)

Easily, the best scene on “Adam Graduates!” (and maybe on The Goldbergs the entire season) is the fight between Erica and Geoff.

It isn’t every day you hear two people say some of the nicest things to another person in the meanest way possible, and Hayley Orrantia and Sam Lerner hit every comedic note beautifully. It’s so good, in fact, that I watched it again. 

What comes out of it, too, is a sweet scene between a new husband and wife, trying so hard to make each other and themselves happy, and realizing that being together is what they need most of all.

Now, I’m going to say it – “Adam Graduates!” should be the series finale.

Maybe it is intended to be. All the pieces are there – a climax in the life of the autobiographical narrator character; callbacks and flashbacks, with a final shot of the late George Segal; a cavalcade of guest stars; and a bombshell development to let the audience know the characters are going to carry on with their lives when the cameras stop rolling.

There’s definitely an energy to the episode that feels like closure, and I could be happy saying goodbye on this note, even if I might look back and wonder what happens with Barry, since he has the least to do on this episode.

But there is one more season to come, and my hope is that The Goldbergs team shakes off whatever bad energy is lingering and uses the momentum from this finale to give us an ending worthy of an Adam F. Goldberg production. 

And make sure it includes more flashbacks! While I, too, am appreciating Adam’s “beautifully developing man body,” seeing little Sean Giambrone in that train sweater again was a hoot! 

“Holy [bleep]” indeed, Pop.

Final Thought:

• I clocked Erica being pregnant right away. Nothing says “sitcom pregnancy incoming!” like a character throwing up in a fake ficus.

What did you think of this episode of The Goldbergs? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

The Goldbergs airs Wednesday at 8/7c on ABC.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

 

Vote for Your Favorites: The 2022 Tell-Tale TV Awards (Round 2)