And they might as well be.
These are characters I'm all too willing to forget about between viewings, so in some ways it's a wise move to treat every episode like the first. Sure, it can be annoying to a committed viewership that demands respect for their investment into a TV show, but let's be realistic. The Goldbergs is not likely to have that. So carry on with the repetition.
This predicament is not helped by the overuse of the exact same formula in this episode. Television writing is formulaic in nature, but the beauty of it comes when writers look at the formula and play around with it. Think about Firefly. Taking a show about a renegade band and adding space and cowboys and genre twists galore. Or even Lost. What could have been a simple survival story turned into a complex mythological telling that I will defend until the day I die.
The Goldbergs does not play with the formula. It is the overly-attached son of the formula, living in the formula's basement, making the formula do its laundry and complaining about how he would date if he could find anyone half as good as the formula (or at least half as good a cook).
What was slightly endearing if a bit heavy handed in the last episode was bludgeoned to death in this one. It tries to have the exact same emotional climax, with matriarch Bev bemoaning how fast her babies are growing up, and accepting the passage of time. If this keeps happening I'm never going to believe these characters when they hint at personal growth. Like the tapes that endlessly irksome Adam keeps recording, the moments will just be rewound and shot again. Why bother buying into it, when it will just try again next week?
Some Thoughts
-I have to give credit where it's due--there are actually some hilarious lines in this show. It's just a shame that the actors are so inept that any witticisms are lost underneath the monotonous bluster. Take Murray's line "I don't even like to spend time with myself. That's why I nap." Now there's something I would make my mantra, but Jeff Garlin runs over that line with the subtlety of an armored tank.
-There are some songs that should be retired after a TV show uses them perfectly, just so no other show comes along to ruin the moment. I nominate "Come Sail Away" as one of those songs. Nothing will top the one and only happy ending in Freaks and Geeks, as Sam chooses the wrong slow dance and Lindsey gains some emotional closure. So hands off. Leave Styx alone, Goldbergs.
-I despise the Adam character. He only has one tone of accusatory shriek, and his smile is the fakiest fake of all Faketown. That is all.