Since dystopian teen drama The Society dropped on Netflix on May 10, the internet has been buzzing with fan theories. One strong theory put forward is that the plot of the show is based loosely around the story of the Pied Piper.
Let us explain.
In the fairytale, The Pied Piper, the town of Hamelin in Germany is overrun with rats. One day, a guy comes to town who promises the mayor of Hamelin that he can lure the rats away by playing some lovely rat-friendly tunes on his flute, for a fee.
The mayor agrees to pay the sum and the Pied Piper does as promised and the rats all form a lovely little Conga line out of Hamelin. But on returning for his dosh, the tricksy mayor decides he isn’t gong to pay him after all.
This irks the piper and as revenge, he lures 130 children out of the town with his magic piping who – like the rats – are never seen or heard of again.
You’ve got to love a bleak tale.
In The Society, we know the story starts with a bad smell. We also know, from documentation found by Sam, that someone called Pfeiffer – which means Piper in German – promised he could rid West Ham of the smell, and did, but Sam and Campbell’s father then refused to pay up. You’ll remember that a couple of the kids saw that heated debating happening in the first episode.
When looking at photos of Cassandra, Kelly spotted the bus driver in the background and remembered him from that argument happening in episode one. Further research told them he was called Pfeiffer, from the contracts and letters found by Sam.
So essentially, a disgruntled employee, who was awaiting payment after curing the town from a stinky problem (rats?), got mad and led the children away in revenge.
When you look at it like that, it sounds pretty plausible. What does this mean for the conclusion of the show? We don’t know, as the fairytale ends with the children going missing. For that, we’ll just have to wait for The Society: season two.