Warning: This post contains spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out MysteryGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery acts as a standalone sequel to the 2018 murder mystery movie Knives Out, but it actually continues one of its predecessor's strangest references. Although the two movies are part of the same series, from a story perspective, they have almost nothing in common besides their lead character, Detective Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig). Rian Johnson, the writer and director of the franchise, manages to sneak all kinds of hidden references and Easter eggs into his movies, and Glass Onion is no exception when it comes to bizarre callbacks.
Glass Onion follows Detective Benoit Blanc as he is invited to a mysterious island owned by Miles Bron (Edward Norton), a wealthy tech mogul who has worked his way to the top through lies and deceit. While staying in the island's titular Glass Onion estate, Blanc is first tasked with solving Miles's murder mystery party puzzles, although the festivities are soon tarnished when a real murder occurs among the guests. Due to the wealth and fame of many of the suspects in Glass Onion, the sequel features several celebrity cameos, and one of these appearances is where the bizarre Knives Out callback comes into play.
Glass Onion Features Another Reference To Gravity's Rainbow
Near the end of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Benoit Blanc and Helen (Janelle Monáe) are in Miles's personal gym, where in the background a large digital screen displays tennis star Serena Williams. Although it initially seems like a video of the athlete simply reading a book, it turns out to be a live stream, with Williams asking the two if they want to do a workout session. The book she is reading before the reveal is Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. While it may seem odd, this isn't the franchise's first reference to the novel, as Benoit Blanc actually makes a joke about it in Knives Out.
In the original movie, Benoit Blanc says "I anticipate the terminus of Gravity’s Rainbow" while in conversation with Ana de Armas's Knives Out character, Marta. Blanc later admits that he hasn't actually read the book and that he just likes the title, joking that "Nobody has" read the notoriously difficult-to-read novel. While this throwaway line is never again mentioned in Knives Out, the Serena Williams scene in Glass Onion continues the Gravity's Rainbow reference all these years later as a gag proving Blanc wrong. It's also a book that Knives Out franchise writer-director Rian Johnson told SFGATE that he loves.
Why Glass Onion Makes So Few References To Knives Out
Despite it being a sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery makes surprisingly few references to the first movie. While this may seem odd to viewers who loved Knives Out, making these movies standalone installments fits perfectly with Rian Johnson's mission for the series. The Knives Out franchise is a meta love letter to classic murder mystery stories, with the movies putting a twist on many of the genre's most common tropes. Much like Agatha Christie did with her Hercule Poirot novels, Johnson wants the Knives Out series to consist of standalone stories solely connected by Benoit Blanc, and Glass Onion: A Glass Onion Mystery proves this unorthodox strategy works.