After Pops dies, the rest of the family has trouble coping, so Murray hatches a scheme to help them grieve.
- Alleged Steed: At the racetrack, the Goldbergs put money on a 100-to-one shot named Pop Goes the Weasel, thinking it's a sign from Pops. Unfortunately, the horse dies in the middle of the race.
- Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: Murray fakes a letter claiming that Pops wanted his ashes spread on his favorite tree. Unfortunately, the others ignore his pleas to use the tree nearby (so he wouldn't have to walk too far) and try to figure out where Pops' favorite place would be, leading them on a journey through their grandparent's past. In the end, they decide to spread the ashes on a tree in the park where Pops had proposed to his wife.
- Contrived Coincidence: Murray decided to lie about spreading Pops' ashes on a tree simply based on a story Bill told him. In the end, Adam reveals that Pops' favorite spot actually was a tree.
- Emotion Suppression: When confronting the rest of his family about their Excessive Mourning, Murray admits he's also been handling it poorly, as Pops was a huge positive influence on his life but he's been unable to express a proper emotional response to his passing.
- Excessive Mourning: The episode is set months after Pops' passing, and the family is still stuck in the grieving process.
- Fake Shemp: In-Universe, Adam plans to shoot the remaining scenes of his Bill and Ted movie with an inflatable dummy in place of Pops, hoping to green-screen his face in later.
- Five Stages of Grief: Each member of the family is stuck on one after Pops' passing, with Adam in denial and carrying around a dummy as a replacement Pops, Barry angered at his inheritance because he doesn't understand it, and Erica too depressed to discuss marriage plans with Geoff.
- Forged Message: Murray fakes a letter from Pops' lawyer that he claims got lost in the bushes for months, saying that Pops' last wish was to scatter his ashes on his favorite tree, conveniently found in their yard. Beverly eventually figures it out and confronts him.
- Glad I Thought of It: Bill tells Murray that his family might need to find an outlet for their grief, like how he spread his own father's ashes on his favorite tree. This inspires Murray to concoct a lie about Pops wanting his ashes spread on a tree, which Bill immediately calls him out on.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Murray concocted a lie about Pops' last wish in order to deal with his family's grieving quickly and easily. This ends up taking the family on a cross-town adventure, during which he's forced to bet his savings on a racehorse and repairing some cars Pops had accidentally driven into, and eventually culminating in admitting the lie while also calling out the whole family on their unhealthy grieving (including his own).
- Killed Offscreen: We're never shown Pops's funeral; it's just stated that, between the events of the last season and now, he passed away in his sleep.
- My New Gift Is Lame: Barry is upset that Pops left him a pen while Adam got a Super Bowl commemorative watch. Later, Adam explains to him that the pen was the one Pops used to write letters to his girlfriend (and later, his wife) during the war, so it held great sentimental value.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Adam was in the middle of filming his own version of the movie with Pops when he died, and plans to still do so using a dummy in place of Pops. Later, as the Goldbergs look through places Pops used to go, Adam points out that they are going through Pops' past just as Bill and Ted traveled through time, picking up several of his acquaintances just as Bill and Ted picked up historical figures.
