Goosebumps – Season 1 Episode 5 “Reader Beware” Recap & Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIiUwbBxZo8

Reader Beware

Goosebumps Episode 5 begins with Nora locked up in the psychiatric ward. She sees Harold in front of her, demanding Slappy’s back. Mr. Bratt watches from outside the ward but gets sent away by the nurse.

Colin arrives with Margot and Lucas. Margot shows him the guest room, and the two express a sense of happiness to live under the same roof. At just ten, Margot spots her mom returning home. 

The family along with Lucas sit down for dinner together. Once Colin leaves, Margot asks Sarah about what’s going on, but she refuses to reveal anything yet, claiming it is too complicated.

The next day, Isaiah tells James about his breakup, and he rejoices. They wait for Margot to arrive at the meeting. In the meantime, Margot shares personal things with Lucas on the way to the meeting. The conversation blossoms, and they make out.

Reaching the meeting she is unable to produce anything constructive as her mom hasn’t revealed anything yet. The scene cuts to Mr. Bratt packing up the scrapbook.

Sarah visits Nora in the psychiatric ward and finds out what happened with Lucas. Later that day in the library, Mr. Bratt gives Margot a scrapbook to hand over to her mother and to see for herself. Margot opens the book and sees a vision of her mother talking to Ben and then to Harrold. 

She sees the darkroom mentioned on the next page and heads over to the AV room. She sees a vision of Harold and Sarah developing pictures in the dark room and realizes her mother was friends with Harold. Later that day, the friends arrive at the meeting spot, and Margot claims her mother knew Biddle.

Sarah approaches Victoria, questioning her about Nora’s treatment, but Victoria justifies her actions. Victoria doesn’t believe Nora’s claims and expresses how everything they have built can come crashing down.

The group arrives at the theater, and Margot explains to her friends that she needs to be in the location mentioned in the book to see the vision. Isaiah stops her, claiming it is too dangerous. Margot decides to proceed regardless and sees a vision of Harold begging Sarah to help him. He holds her hand, and she feels weird about it and leaves.

The friends realize her eyes have gone completely black, and the pages begin to flip on their own and stop at the page of the Biddle House.

The scene switches to Colin arriving at the hospital and running into Sarah. Sarah questions why he is here, and he takes her and explains that he has been sleeping with Nora. Sarah is heartbroken to find out about his actions. Colin believes her moving away is the verdict, as she did not give him a reason.

Sarah approaches Nora and confronts her about the affair. She, however, switches topics to what is more important, assures her that she isn’t crazy, and advises her to stop taking the pills to stay sane. Later, Nora is offered the pills, pretends to swallow them, and throws them away.

The kids decide to take Margot to the Biddle house and use the scrapbook there. Harold shows Margot a few kids sneaking into the house. She shows her how he was forced down into the basement and burned alive, leaving Margot to burn in the fires. Just then, her friends arrive and pull her out of the basement.

They witness their parents stealing a briefcase from the house and running away, leaving Harold to die alone. The kids are shocked at the revelation.

They realize Biddle is getting back at them for their parents’ wrongs. However, Isaiah refuses to believe it, claiming there has to be something more. They wonder what is inside the briefcase. Mr. Bratt walks out and invites them over to show them what is in the briefcase at the end of Goosebumps Episode 5.

The Episode Review

The floodgates open, and Goosebumps Episode 5 goes full throttle on the intriguing revelations, quenching the curiosity of what exactly has been causing the hauntings and why they have been happening.

The chapter finally gives us a holistic view of the history behind the recent hauntings placing the main focus on their parents’ involvement in Harold’s death. However, the kids seem to have gotten awfully close to what was in the briefcase, however, what secrets does the briefcase hold? And why did their parents steal it? Still remains a mystery to the kids.