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'Schooled' Season 1, Episode 8 "Lainey and Erica's High School Reunion" Does Right By Sitcoms [SPOILER REVIEW]

Welcome to Bleeding Cool's thoughts on ABC's Schooled, continuing with this week's episode "Lainey and Erica's High School Reunion." The setup for this week's episode is simple. Former classmates, including The Goldbergs's Erica, return for their ten year high school reunion. Lainey and Erica are initially planning to skip the reunion, but decide they're going to go and lie about their accomplishments and lives after high school. They plan to pose as the co-creators of Gak.

Another former student in town is Reuben Amaro, Jr. Having played in the World Series, Reuben is Coach Mellor's pride and joy. However, tensions rise when Reuben feels a closer connection to Glascott, who was Reuben's guidance counselor, than to Mellor.

A strong setup to this episode. A single event seen from different points of view, spinning naturally into the main and backup storylines.

When the reunion gets moved from the banquet hall to the school gym, Lainey's plan is nearly ruined. Her picture is up all over the school as Teacher of the Month. She tasks C.B. with removing every trace of her from the school, but they're too late. The decorating committee has arrived and busted Lainey's lie. But, rather than call her out, they want in. Seems their lives haven't been all that great after high school, either. So, they decide to double Romy and Michele the reunion.

Mellor tries to get his current aseball players to open up about something personal they're dealing with in their lives so he can help them cope and be somebody's favorite teacher. The only problem is that Mellor is completely unqualified to even attempt to give nay life advice. Strike two for the coach.

The reunion seems to be going fine. The ladies are sticking to their stories until another couple outs Erica on the fact that she and Geoff are actually doing really well after high school. Lainey can't understand why Erica kept that from her and went along with this whole plan. Now she feels like a bigger loser than before. Erica points out that even though Lainey didn't have the life she had hoped for, she is a star to the students and the school. She's not doing as bad as she thought.

Mellor, though… he's doing really badly. He forces Reuben to pick who had a bigger impact on his life, and Reuben chooses Glascott. Mellor has had this underpaying, thankless job as a coach and teacher and was okay with it because he thought he was making a difference in his players and students's lives. Now he wonders whether this life was worth it after all. Mellor tries to slink away from the reunion, but Erica and Lainey stop him and tell him how much he meant to them and to the other Goldbergs. Maybe Mellor didn't have the impact he thought he had on the star students and athletes, but he had life-changing impacts in the lives of the school's geeks and delinquents.

And that, folks, is how you do a good half-hour sitcom episode. Keep it simple. Focus on one event. Bring the divergent storylines together in the end. Tug the heartstrings. Keep us laughing through the heavier stuff. Solid episode.

Schooled airs at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

Schooled stars Tim Meadows as Principal Glascott, Bryan Callen as Coach Mellor, AJ Michalka as Lainey Lewis and Brett Dier as CB. Guest starring is Stephen Tobolowsky as Earl Ball, Lennon Parham as Liz Fleming, Alphonso McAuley as Coop, Greg Proops as Mr. Granger, Dallas Edwards as Aaron, Reece Caddell as Debra and Hayley Orrantia as Erica Goldberg.

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