Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Goldbergs season 10, episode 12.
Only a few episodes after The Goldbergs season 10 killed off the titular family's father Murray Goldberg, the series has already found a potential replacement for the beloved dad. The Goldbergs season 10 is struggling with an age-old sitcom problem. Jeff Garlin was let go from the show in 2022 and, thus far, The Goldbergs season 10 has not handled his departure particularly well. Credit where it is due, The Goldbergs did kill off Garlin’s character Murray in the season 10 premiere.
This was a step up from the last few episodes of season 9, which saw The Goldbergs hide Garlin’s exit via bizarre, unintentionally creepy CGI work. However, killing off Murray has opened up another can of worms, as The Goldbergs season 10 now has to choose between navigating the trauma and tragedy of a family losing a parent or ignoring a major life event because it jars with the show’s cozy family sitcom tone. So far, The Goldbergs season 10 has taken the latter approach, but one plot twist in The Goldbergs season 10, episode 12, “Amadoofus,” proved that this can’t last forever.
How Mr. Perrot Almost Replaced Murray In The Goldbergs
In “Amadoofus,” Anthony Michael Hall’s friendly guidance counselor Mr. Perrot asks an oblivious Beverly on a date under the auspices of helping her chair the yearbook committee. While this angers Barry, Erica is all for Beverly getting back out there. While The Goldbergs season 10 has problems beyond Murray’s death, this storyline is still indicative of how much the show wants to avoid delving deep into the eponymous family’s loss. Even though the Goldberg patriarch was only killed off at the start of season 10, a mere twelve episodes later, Beverly was already on her first date.
To be fair to The Goldbergs season 10, the episode’s ending did see Beverly say that she was not yet ready to date again once she realized that she and Mr. Perrot had gotten their wires crossed. Still, the speed with which Erica was ready to set her up, alongside the fact that Barry’s objections to the match didn’t even mention his father’s death, prove that The Goldbergs season 10 is still attempting to avoid tackling the recent tragedy. The episode’s attempt to avoid Murray felt awkward, like The Goldbergs season 10’s Christmas/Hannukah episode failing to mention that this was the family’s first holiday season without Murray.
The Goldbergs Season 10 Avoided One Sitcom Pitfall
At the end of “Amadoofus,” Beverly admitted that she wasn’t quite ready to date yet; a choice that felt fitting for her character and ensured that The Goldbergs season 10 didn’t jump into replacing Murray too fast. The fact that Mr. Perrot was so understanding despite the mix-up proves that he probably will resurface as a potential love interest for Beverly at a later date, but this will likely feel more earned once a little more time has passed. Since Perrot is a guidance counselor, he could even help Beverly process her loss, thus allowing The Goldbergs season 10 to acknowledge this major, largely dismissed plot development.