Growing Pains wasted no time in reminding us of the show’s premise to kick off the second episode, leading me to wonder if there was a big gap between the pilot air date and the rest of the episodes, or whether 80s viewers just had particularly bad retention.

Here’s the gist of this episode: Mike is on a mission to score Springsteen tickets the night before the big concert, which of course means the concert is already sold out. We watch Mike answer phone call after phone call (on a corded phone! Oh, nostalgia!), but all to no avail. These tickets are hard to come by, which makes sense because this would’ve been Bruce’s heyday, but also because he waited until the last day to try to get his hands on tickets.  But I get it, because I saw Springsteen in Jersey well past his heyday and he still rocked out for over three hours. Mike knew he would be in for a killer show if he could just get his hands on those damn tickets.  

Thankfully Jason totally gets it, too, and manages to get his hands on 7^th row tickets. It is unclear how, though I suspect scalpers would’ve been the only realistic option.  The catch: Mike has to go to the concert with his dad. I guess to a 15 year old, this may be the epitome of uncool, and I probably would have felt that way at that age too, but at the ripe old age of 40 I can’t help but feel like it’s really NBD to go to a concert with your dad. This, of course, is the gift of hindsight, which Mike doesn’t yet have. So instead he swears his friends to secrecy and begrudgingly goes to the concert with his dad.

Wouldn’t you know it, but they have an absolutely fantastic time together, because Mike and his dad actually like each other (and because going to a concert with your parents is NBD). Then tragedy strikes and Mike and his dad are interviewed by the tri-state news while leaving the concert.  The jig is up and everyone at school is going to know Mike is super lame for going to a concert with his dad. Mike’s high school social game is about to be dead in the water.  Personally, I think it would’ve been okay if Jason hadn’t both air drummed and kissed Mike repeatedly on the cheek on camera. I’ll be honest, I would’ve run from the cameras after that, too.

Naturally, Mike’s friends are insufferable after this incident. I mean, I was super pumped that Eddie and Boner made their first appearance in this episode…until they started being, well, Eddie and Boner. Mike has to don a really poor disguise just to get through the school day.

Jason eventually recognizes that maybe he went a bit over the top, and he and Mike have the requisite heart to heart (in the kitchen, of course) to make things right. To top it off, Alan Thicke PICKS KIRK CAMERON UP. Now, I know Kirk Cameron was super skinny as a young teenager, but the move still strikes me as one that would require a hell of a lot of strength. Alan Thicke was underappreciated in so many ways.

At the end of this episode I’m left wondering:

• When do Carol and Ben get some decent storylines?  So far they’ve been relegated to the background. It’s the Mike show. Carol had a small animal rights storyline where she tried to foil her mom’s plan to trap and kill attic mice, and poor Ben got zilch in the storyline department.   

• When will an issue be solved outside of the kitchen? Perhaps I should start a count of episodes during which the major conflicts are resolved and/or heart-to-hearts happen in the kitchen.

• Does anyone else find that, although the heart to heart moments are a little on the cheesy-sitcom-moment side, you also sort of wish that your family had communicated like that?