MegGryffindor

Every time a series ends, the gods flip a coin 

I, too, grew up in the 80s and relish every reference of my childhood that the Duffer Brothers have brought back to life. In this season, though, I thought I spotted two examples of what I think is the writing team bringing in references from more recent popular YA fiction. I couldn't swear it's a thing they intended, because so far there are only two I've spotted, but I'll definitely be looking out for more examples on my second watch.

One, which I think is pretty solid, is the symmetry between Will's connection to the Mind Flayer and Harry Potter's to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. 

The other, which is MUCH weaker (and I'm almost ashamed to say I recognized...ALMOST, but not quite), is that Callie's super-ability of making people see what she wants them to see, is the same power one of the Twilight vampires from the Amazon family had. (Don't judge. #TeamJacob)

Did anyone else notice a more recent YA sci-fi reference this season? I'll be interested to see if I find more when I watch it again.

I think IF this is actually intentional, it's an effort to relate more of what's awesome about this show and the way the story is told to a broader audience than just us Gen-Xers. My kiddo is 15 and she digs Stranger Things, but a lot of the really lovable moments go right over her head. 

Jesus Morgalizing Christ. I think the writer's room looks like this: they have three old coffee cans set up on a folding table. Inside one are a bunch of little pieces of paper with the characters' names written on them. In another are a bunch of little pieces of paper with character development tropes written on them -- and somebody messed up and wrote "doesn't want to kill anymore" on about eight of those pieces of paper (there are probably nine total). And in the third can are a bunch of little pieces of paper with different locations or situations written on them.

Pick a character: Carol
Pick a development trope: doesn't want to kill anymore
Pick a situation/location: peace time in Alexandria

Let's do it again!

Pick a character: Morgan
Pick a development trope: doesn't want to kill anymore
Pick a situation/location: on his own, goat farm

One more time for the kids in the back!

Pick a character: Jesus
Pick a development trope: doesn't want to kill anymore (at this point someone should be checking the can, Gimple has obviously stuffed the ballot box with "doesn't want to kill anymore")
Pick a situation/location: smack dab in the middle of ALL OUT WAR

And we all know there are at least a few more examples. 


On a separate note, I can't wait to see what becomes of Chekhov's baby. She'll probably show back up on an opposing camp's side in Season 16. I mean if you following the Morales resurfacing timeline that makes sense--about as much sense as Morales showing back up now, anyway. I had no idea who he was until the twitterverse told me. How did THEY know? I know Rick said his name but has half the fanbase been carrying around a torch for long lost Morales all this time?