‘The Goldbergs’ Recap: ‘Mister Knifey-Hands’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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​There was a time, when sitcoms were my go-to when it came to my nightly television viewing. There was just something magical about settling in for a half an hour to enjoy a good story with some fun laughs and well, the evolution of my viewing tastes and the fact that television eventually came to offer new and exciting shows that catered to just about everything I love drew me away from the chuckle worthy sitcom to the point where I rarely watch them anymore. That’s not a bad thing by any means, it just means they’re really not for me anymore.
 
But once in a while I do catch one and enjoy a chuckle or two, and sometimes they offer up something that outright sucks me in. Case in point, The Goldbergs, a lovely sitcom set in the 1980’s that I sometimes catch simply due to the fact that it features the era of excess and gets everything right about it and well, last night’s episode of the show is one that I’ve actually been counting down the days to because earlier this year, it was announced that this particular tale, aptly entitled ‘Mister Knifey-Hands’ was going to offer up something special for horror fans everywhere; a special appearance by Robert Englund, reprising the role that made him famous in Freddy Krueger and well, there was no way in hell I was missing that.
 
Because Freddy was my boy when I was growing up in the 80’s, and I was all about the Elm Street franchise and I still am to this day, though my collection now is more limited to the movies and a few awesomesauce NECA figurines of Freddy as opposed to the glove and costumes that I owned as a kid. But I digress, because we have to discuss Krueger’s triumphant return to the mainstream and well, while Englund’s cameo was brief, it was damn satisfying to see him back in the costume and the makeup one more time and learn that he simply hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to his ability to play this iconic monster and really, it was just a true treat to see him don the bladed glove one more time and see that he can still creep us out and make us laugh all at the same time.
 
However, while the Freddy magic was the true highlight of the night, the episode did have a lot more to offer for the horror fans that tuned in since this episode found a way to tap into all of our memories. I mean heck, I remember watching horror films that gave me nightmares to the point where I didn’t sleep well, and I too remember FANGORIA helping me to better understand the mystique of the horror film since that incredible magazine, did and still does an incredible job of breaking down the creative process of filmmaking as a whole and really in the end, this episode was nothing more than a love letter to horror fans everywhere, and I thank everyone behind the scenes of this series, for taking the time to make that happen.
 
Plus, it’s becoming inherently clear to me that I may need to pay closer attention to this series as a whole, because if it is this good at paying homage to a horror legend, who knows what other wonders from the 1980’s I’ll find here. So, it may serve as a nice pallet cleanser to the heavier stuff that I watch. Either way, this was simply a magnificent Halloween treat, one that definitely took me back to those awesome weekend nights where I simply plunged into terrifying worlds as I watched a horror movie play on my 13” color TV from my VCR and the only light in the room, came from the chaos, on the screen… 

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