The Goldbergs season 5, episode 21 recap: Spaceballs

This week on The Goldbergs, Adam tries to start a Mel Brooks club at school due to his love of the movie Spaceballs but it turns into a political debate. Erica finally tells her parents her plans to drop out of college.

It was 1980-something and Adam fell in love with a very popular movie, Spaceballs. The comedy written and directed by Mel Brooks was a parody of the Star Wars trilogy so it makes perfect sense why Adam would become obsessed. After recently honoring Steven Spielberg in this season of The Goldbergs, it was a nice tribute to the beloved film and even featured a surprise cameo.

The episode of The Goldbergs, appropriately titled “Spaceballs,” also gave Erica the chance to tell her parent’s that she decided to drop out of college. She knows it won’t be easy but her new career plans are quickly thrown off course.

Mel Brooks appreciation club

Due to Adam’s love of film, it is no surprise that he is such a giant fan of the cult classic movie, Spaceballs. He decides that his school should have a Mel Brooks Appreciation Club so he dresses in his Lord Dark Helmet costume to try to convince the principal. At first, Adam gets a no considering he has a history of creating clubs and being the only member. The principal caves and tells Adam that he can start the club if he gets three members, including at least one girl. So far Barry is the only one who agrees to join but that is only for the gigantic novelty comb from the movie.

Adam’s girlfriend Jackie is the head of the school paper so Adam decides to make a flyer to attract people to join his new club. His picture is an ad for Spaceballs but everyone thinks it’s a political cartoon. Adam doesn’t have the heart to tell Jackie the truth and hopes everyone will understand it is just for his club. Unfortunately, his drawing goes to the front page and causes quite the stir.

Time for the truth

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Erica still has plans to drop out of college. As she is packing everything out of the dorm, Lainey and Valley Erica both reveal that they already told their parents that they are dropping out. Erica promises that she will tell her parents when they come to visit for Parent’s Weekend.

At the parent’s mixer, Erica has a moment alone with Beverly and Pops so she tells them her plans to drop out and start a band. Beverly goes completely silent, which is very unlike her, until she proclaims that the news will kill Murray. When Murray comes back, Beverly blurts out the truth that their daughter is dropping out and Murray says that will not happen. They begin to argue with Erica about her decision because they have other plans for their daughter and it involves finishing college.

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Thrown into the world of politics

People keep coming up to Adam talking about politics because of his drawing. The different sides have opposite opinions regarding the cartoon and Adam is stuck in the middle. Jackie is excited that Adam is showing an interest in politics and tells him that her parents want him over for dinner. They always had a different perception of him and Jackie wants to show them that he is interested based on his cartoons.

Adam thinks he can win over Jackie’s parents with political satire but he doesn’t have much knowledge in the world of politics. He turns to Barry and Geoff for advice and Geoff is the one who tries to teach him the basics using Schoolhouse Rock. At first, everything Adam learned is helpful until he is caught singing back the song at dinner. He tries one last time to impress Jackie’s parents with a Star Wars debate but he was unaware that they didn’t mean the movie, they meant the missile defense system also referred to as “Star Wars.” Adam is afraid he isn’t the guy that Jackie wants him to be because he is not political enough.

Murray gets “activated”

Beverly wants to fix everything that Erica has messed up since making her decision to drop out. Unfortunately, Erica has already got rid of her room, books, food credits, and she is currently failing out. Murray gets up and runs off across campus surprising everyone but Beverly explains that he is not “activated.” In this state of mind, Murray can move quicker and make better decisions in order to clean up this mess Erica made.

By the time Erica and Valley Erica get back to their old dorm, everything is back in place. Murray got all their belongings back and had her enrolled in classes for next year. Beverly and Murray truly want their daughter to see this through even if it doesn’t seem to be working out at the moment. Erica is disappointed that her dreams of a music career might be over.

Finding inspiration

Adam is once again stuck in the middle of another political debate. He gives a speech revealing that he doesn’t care for politics, he has a passion for creating entertainments that can bring people together. With that, Jackie finds common ground with Adam. She shows up to his club in her best Spaceballs-inspired getup because she wants to just have fun. They inspired each other and no longer feel the need to change who they are to impress others.

Beverly obviously wants Erica to finish college especially since she never had the chance to. After listening to Erica’s song, Beverly feels “activated” and tells Erica that it is okay to pursue her dreams and give her music career a shot. Erica is elated at the thought but overall, her parent’s approval is all she wanted. Well, they still have to tell Murray the change of plans but he will probably get over it eventually.

Next: The Goldbergs season 5, episode 20 recap: The Opportunity of a Lifetime

The episode ended with a special tribute to Spaceballs as Dark Helmet entered Adam’s room in a dream. They battle it out until a script falls out from Dark Helmet’s cloak revealing plans for a sequel movie. Dark Helmet reads Adam the script and promises to make the movie. Even more special is the fact that Rick Moranis, who played Dark Helmet, reprised his role in the cameo scene.

New episodes of The Goldbergs air Wednesday nights on ABC at 8/7c!