The Duffer Brothers’ have debuted their first TV show since Stranger Things came to a controversial end, and it has received major plaudits from fans and critics alike.
Following up a TV show as successful as Stranger Things can be a huge pressure for any writer, so the first series to come after it ends is subject to massive interest.
The Duffer Brothers have returned to Netflix with Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, with the writers both serving as Executive Producers on the TV show.
Created by Haley Z Boston, the Netflix show has been called ‘terrifying’ in several reviews, with Lucy Mangan of The Guardian saying in her review that the show is ‘so scary it will send you hysterical’.
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This will be music to the ears of Stranger Things fans who criticised the latter seasons of the hit Netflix series from moving away from its horror roots. Those fans may be even more excited to find out though that the series has some direct Stranger Things references that are surprisingly hard to miss.
The reference to Stranger Things comes during a scene very similar to season one of the show
Something Very Bad is Going to Happen has a pretty simple premise: it’s about a bride, Rachel, who develops a sense of dread ahead of her wedding day and becomes convinces something very bad is going to happen at it.
In episode two her wedding dress goes missing, leading her to think it’s part of some mysterious ritual that is going on.
In actual fact it was just taken by the young character Jude who is trying to trick the ‘sorry man’, a mythical creature his Dad convinced him exists.
When his parents go to speak to him about this we see his toys, including figurines of Mike, Eleven, Will, and the Demogorgon, as well as what looks like Fort Byers.
This is not some secret indication the two are intended to be linked though, with his desk also having figurines of WWE wrestlers John Cena and the Undertaker, but the scene itself harkens back to season one’s presentation of The Demogorgon as a myth no one believes despite it being real.
Stranger Things fans were left angry at the reference
Whilst you’d expect Stranger Things fans to be happy at the minor reference to the show in Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, they were less than pleased.
One fan replied saying: “Jesus christ they’re never letting it go huh.”
Another said: “They’re gonna reference Stranger Things in every single thing they make for the rest of time aren’t they.”
Most of the anger from fans of Stranger Things however came from fans of ‘Byler’, the fan ‘ship’ which hoped that Will Byers and Mike Wheeler would end up in a relationship together during the show.
The two figurines are placed together, leading one reply to specifically saying that they are ‘still being queerbaited’ by the Duffers, whilst another quote from a Byler fan simply said: “this is so annoying actually lmao.”
All in all, if you thought that the end of Stranger Things would be the end of Stranger Things discourse, you would be wrong.
Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix, TV, TV and Film
Michael Slavin