Let's Talk About that Crazy 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Post-Credits Sequence!
If you were lucky enough to have stayed in your seat after that climactic Fifty Shades of Grey elevator moment, then you’re probably still reeling from the surprise post-credits scene that the filmmakers added for true fans. Now we’re even more excited for Fifty Shades Darker: The teaser made it clear that the filmmakers know just what fans want to see and they are going for it – all while going deeper into the Fifty Shades mythology than anyone saw coming.
Related: Fifty Thoughts We Had While Watching ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
Obviously, spoilers ahead for those who haven’t seen the film yet. So for those still here, let’s get into it…
The scene opens with her in her apartment, reading a book — and she hears a noise. She looks up nervously, and we hear the door click shut: Clearly an intruder. A shadow approaches, and then we see the back of a woman entering into frame. The camera pans down, and we see a gun. Ana gasps, grabs for her flip-phone and says what we’re all thinking: “Leila!” Yup, guys: Christian’s disturbed, former slave has come for a visit. Sadly, we only saw her from the back so we never saw who has been cast in this key role, but the guessing games are running rampant. Our best guess: From the hair and the swagger, it definitely looked like either Sofia Vergara or Judy Tenuta, both of whom fans have been clamoring for as dream casting even before the movie was announced! (Speaking of dream casting, we’re still dying to know who will play Christian’s Mrs. Robinson, Elena Lincoln. There will be a revolt if the filmmakers don’t go with one of the Grey-hounds’ top picks: Judi Dench, Hoda Kotb, or Doris Roberts.)
Watch: California Drive-In Catching Heat for Very Visible 'Fifty Shades’ Screenings
The scene may have only lasted half a minute, but a close eye revealed earth-shaking Easter eggs aplenty. For example: Did you spot the to-go bag sitting on Ana’s kitchen counter? The logo on the side was from “Slap ‘n Pickle,” the BDSM deli that Christian introduces her to earlier in Darker. Will we get the pastrami orgy scene? Unlikely with an R rating, considering the MPAA’s hang-up about sexual acts featuring cold cuts. (Remember how they ordered Adrian Lyne to cut all of the olive loaf out of 9 ? Weeks?) But we can dream!
And a big wow on this: Did you notice that the photo album on Ana’s coffee table was labeled, “Sea World Trip”? What an obvious tongue-in-cheek reference to the wildly popular Fifty Shades fanfic series “The Spank Tank,” which imagines a very Ana/Christian BDSM relationship amongst aquarium fish. James has always demurred when asked about these stories, but this proves that she’s got quite a sense of humor about her influence. (Meanwhile, with the second “Spank Tank” book, Ben-Wa-ter Sports, still on the Kindle bestseller list after 43 weeks, a film adaptation of that series seems inevitable. Who will they get to voice the mysterious and wealthy hammerhead Finn Sharkson? The series’ cadre of fans, who call themselves the Spankful, have been clamoring for either Freddie Prinze, Jr., Fred Ward, Fred Durst, The B-52’s Fred Schneider, Fred Savage, Freddie Roman, or Judd “Fred” Hirsch.)
The 'Fifty Shades’ Scorecard: We Chart All the Ways Christian and Anastasia Get Busy
But we’ve saved the most mindbending reveal for last: When Ana grabs for her phone to call for help, we ever so briefly see a quick closeup of her contacts, and right above Christian’s name is “Chris Becker.” As Ana would say: Holy crap! As you may remember, Chris Becker is Ana’s unlikely partner from the Eisner Award-winning Marvel Comics Fifty Shades spinoff series, The Unfloggables, which imagines Ana as the head of a vigilante team who defend subs from Masters in violation of their contracts. Chris died in issue #17 at the hands of supervillain Mefisto, who had refused repeated subpoenas to reimburse his sub for her linen dry cleaning (Article V, section ii of their contract). Could the filmmakers be incorporating that noncanonical story into Darker, too? With Elena and Ana’s skeezy boss Jack Hyde, that could be one too many villains, but come on: Wouldn’t you love to see that story play out on the big screen? (My dream picks to play the rugged, wisecracking Chris: Channing Tatum, The Rock, Robert Davi, Dave Coulier, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, Sen. Mitch McConnell, skating commentator Scott Hamilton, a CGI’d version of the dad from the comic strip “Rose is Rose,” the Noid, reedited sound files from the original voice of Garfield the cat, the late Lorenzo Music, or Meryl Streep with a crewcut and a fake mustache.)
Phew, that was a lot packed into just 30 seconds, and has me counting the days until Fifty Shades Darker. Did you guys spot anything I missed?
Watch an interview with the cast of Fifty Shades of Grey below:
Image credit: Universal
