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Recap / The Goldbergs S 9 E 3 Riptide Waters

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A Plot: Mr. Glascott embarks on a mission to petition the neighborhood to close the local water park down, while Barry plots to thwart his efforts. Adam tries to help, as it will look good for his college admission.

B Plot: Erica is faced with frustration as Beverly takes over her wedding planning. Geoff wants to help, but Murray and Bill offer conflicting, equally unhelpful advice.


  • Be Careful What You Wish For: As anxious as Erica is when dealing with her mother's intrusions, after Geoff's intervention, trying to plan the wedding without Beverly's assistance is even worse.
  • It's All About Me: It's clear that Beverly is focusing on her own happiness more than Erica's when she shows off the gown she plans to wear and it's actually a fancy white wedding dress, complete with veil.
  • Mistaken for Romance: In The Tag, Beverly's trying on her wedding dress again while Adam's dressed in a tux to revitalize his career in magic in the hopes that he can add it to his college admission, and Barry takes a moment to mock them for looking like they're about to get married.
  • Naked People Are Funny: While being interviewed by Adam and Barry, Naked Rob recounts he got his nickname because his bathing suit ripped off while at the park and it seemed better to play it for laughs instead of suffering public embarrassment. He then has an existential crisis over how that one incident has since defined his life.
  • Near-Death Experience: While Barry and Adam are interviewing the JTP for stories about the water park to publicize and help save it, Andy recounts almost drowning and seeing his dead grandmother and a bright light before a lifeguard resuscitated him.
  • No OSHA Compliance: Riptide Waters Water Park is rife with danger, with Mr. Glascott's arm broken from a water slide mishap, Andy Cogan nearly drowning there in the past, and Matt Bradley recounting the story of a girl that went missing while he was working there as a lifeguard and was never seen again. However, Barry is insistent on saving it, if mainly because of the memories he formed there with soon-to-leave-for-higher-education Adam.
  • Therapy Backfire: Bill convinces Geoff that, if he's currently unable to help relieve Erica of the stress of dealing with Beverly, he should get help from a therapist he and his own wife Delores have been visiting. Geoff takes the therapist's advice that he should stand up for his future wife and tells Beverly to take a step back, but Beverly overreacts and cuts ties with them completely before crying in her room. Later, after they make up but continue arguing to the point of making Geoff reconsider the wedding entirely, Murray convinces Erica and Beverly to see the therapist themselves and talk it out.

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