‘The Midnight Club’: Spencer’s Story Explained
The new Netflix series The Midnight Club, based on Christopher Pike’s novel of the same name, dropped on Oct. 7. The series follows a group of teens at a hospice center, and each night they meet to tell scary stories. However, each story has an underlying meaning and is packed with symbolism. Here’s Spencer’s story explained.
[WARNING: This article contains detailed spoiler information regarding The Midnight Club and Spencer’s story.]
Spencer’s story is different from the one the character tells in Pike’s version of ‘The Midnight Club’
Showrunner Mike Flanagan changed most of the stories told in The Midnight Club from the ones Pike included in his book. Pike’s version of the stories wasn’t particularly scary, aside from one or two. However, even though Flanagan only included one of the stories from the book, he used other books written by Pike as inspiration for the stories the teens told in the Netflix version.
Pike’s novel The Eternal Enemy inspired Spencer’s story in Flanagan’s version of The Midnight Club. The original tale features a girl named Rela, but in Spencer’s take, it’s a guy named Rel. Spencer’s story revolves around a VCR that somehow records news broadcasts from the future. He and the guy he has a crush on, Chris, watch the tapes and try to keep certain incidents from occurring. When he sees one about Chris dying, he goes to his house to warn him. However, when he gets there, a device breaks through the window and fills the house with gas that makes Chris pass out. Then, a mysterious figure comes inside and reveals that Rel actually stands for Robotic Experimentation Logistics. The man tells Rel that he comes from the future and turned Rel into a cyborg in an attempt to eliminate all sadness and fear in the world. He also tells Rel he’s the future cyborg version of Chris.
Spencer’s story ends on a bittersweet note
Chris tried to create a better world for everyone. He then tells Rel he’s defective and he has to kill him in order to continue his mission. Chris explains that Rel still holds “the eternal enemy” inside him – fear. However, Rel explains that he’s not defective because he feels things, and by Chris removing those things, he’s giving into fear. Rel tells Chris he’s the one who’s defective, but he loves him anyways. Regardless, Chris still kills Rel.
Spencer’s story in The Midnight Club ends bittersweet because even though Rel dies, Chris learns from his mistakes thanks to a video left for him by Rel. He decides not to embark on his mission to create cyborgs in the future.
‘The Midnight Club’ episode ends with Spencer accepting that he’s loved
Throughout The Midnight Club, Spencer voices his fear that no one accepts him as a gay man. His own mother refuses to visit him in the hospice because of her religious views. However, at the end of Spencer’s story, the audience learns that Christopher gave Rel the HIV virus. He tells the group that he hopes Christopher is loved like he’s loved. Spencer finally accepts that people do love him and don’t believe he’s defective in any way. His story served as the vehicle for Spencer to confess the change in how he now views himself.
Stream all episodes of The Midnight Club exclusively on Netflix.
