The Goldbergs season 6, episode 5 recap: Mister Knifey-Hands

This week on The Goldbergs, Robert Englund makes a special cameo appearance as Freddy Krueger. Erica finds out her popularity has changed since graduating high school.

It was 1980-something and Freddy Krueger was just beginning his terror tactics on teens everywhere. Unfortunately for Adam, he fell into the peer pressure of watching the horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and felt the dangerous side effects. As much as Beverly tried to stop him from watching something so scary, he still found a way on The Goldbergs. Parenting methods then come in the focus of an argument between Adam and Jackie’s parents.

The episode of The Goldbergs, titled “Mister Knifey-Hands” also deals with Erica’s continued struggles since dropping out of college. She somehow finds herself thrown back into the world of high school where she learns that her social status has taken a hit since she graduated. Even with her best efforts, Erica makes matters worse which threatens her relationship with Geoff.

A Nightmare in Jenkintown

Adam and Jackie decide they want to have a Halloween movie marathon so they look for the scariest movie at the video store. Jackie picks A Nightmare on Elm Street but Beverly refuses to let Adam rent the movie. Adam acts disappointed but Jackie reveals that she already got her parents to rent the movie so they can watch at her house.

Adam is absolutely terrified while watching, to the point that Jackie’s dad even teases him. Maybe he should have listened to his mother.

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Adam hasn’t slept since watching the movie and he’s only awake because he’s been drinking extra-caffeinated cola. He’s even afraid of Beverly’s sweater since it resembles Freddy Krueger’s classic outfit. He sells out Jackie’s parents by saying they let him watch the movie.

Beverly is upset but Murray is also angry when he finds out Jackie’s parents are hippies. Beverly tries to help her young son by promising to help him sleep by “loving away his fear” but he wants to get rid of the nightmares on his own. Taking a warm bath doesn’t help when he envisions Freddy’s knife-fingers emerging from the water.

Queen of cool

Geoff really wants Erica to do a couples costume with him for the Halloween dance at school. Even after showing off all of the options, she refuses because it’s too embarrassing. Later, Erica drives Geoff to school but will only drop him off at the distant parking lot so she wouldn’t be seen.

Principal Glascott sees her and urges her to come inside and share her success story as a graduate. His plan backfires when Erica talks to a classroom full of seniors revealing that she dropped out of college and claims that school is pointless.

As Erica is now considered the “queen of cool,” she starts hanging around the high school more often. Geoff is confused by her behavior and a bit embarrassed about how she’s acting. His friends are calling it a “13th-grade” situation so Geoff tries to kindly warn her about how people are starting to view her. Erica gets offended and believes she’s worshipped by the school so she tries to prove it to him.

Fredward Kroger

Adam goes to Jackie’s house and he’s still addicted to his cola to keep him awake. Her dad tries to help Adam by giving him a copy of Fangoria Magazine, which shows him the behind-the-scenes information it takes to make a horror movie. Beverly thinks that she’s the one who healed Adam until he tells her how Jackie’s dad helped.

The fact that Adam credits Jackie’s parents truly bugs Beverly and Murray so they confront them at the local corn maze. They question each other on parenting techniques until the kids need to break them up. The dispute seems to cause tension between Adam and Jackie’s relationship.

To patch things up with Adam, Beverly decides to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street but she falls asleep. In her nightmare, she comes face to face with the man himself, Freddy Krueger. Beverly actually calls him “Fredward Kroger” but he’s actually played by Robert Englund. When she runs to her closet, she finds it’s full of his sweaters and they attack her. She starts to tell Freddy what happened with Adam but the conversation gets too heartwarming for the horror icon. She runs off just before waking up.

Beverly goes to apologize to Adam and finds Jackie hiding in his closet. When her parents come to pick her up, the parents talk it out and realize there is more than one way to raise a kid and it’s better if they work as a team.

Fake keg

To fully impress the high school kids, Erica tries to get kegs for a party she’s throwing. Instead, the clerk only allows her to buy one keg of non-alcoholic beer. She takes it to the school parking lot and pretends it’s actual beer so everyone will attend her pre-dance party at the water tower. Glascott threatens to call the cops if she doesn’t get rid of the keg so Erica admits that it’s non-alcoholic.

Geoff finally comes cleans and tells her that he’s beyond embarrassed about her behavior recently. Erica responds by saying she was the one who was always embarrassed which is why she initially hid their relationship.

Erica later shows up to Geoff’s house dressed as half of one of his couples costume ideas. She apologizes for lashing out at him and shares that she’s been embarrassed by herself. Erica feels that she peaked in high school and she’s been worried about herself since dropping out. To make it up to him, she agrees to go to the Halloween dance and the two waltz in with their couples costume and full smiles.

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