#pffffffffff

However, due to some recent… revelations, the guilt is starting to weigh a little heavier. What would have truly happened if there had been a 50/50 split? Is Ranboo really dead? Do our choices actually matter?

Short answer: I have no clue, but that’s boring.

With the long answer, however, I still believe that no matter what the vote favored, Ranboo would’ve died and been reprogrammed solely based on what we’ve seen in the series, thematically and physically. It’s the 50/50 question everyone seems to be focusing on. I mean, I can't blame them; we were so close to splitting the results until someone realized they could vote more than once, but what’s done is done. But I just can't get behind the notion that that was the solution. I mean, logically speaking, even though a poll may look 50/50, the results may have been rounded and scaled due to thousands of people voting (2/2 out of 4 and 20000/20001 out of 40000 will both look like 50/50). Also, thematically speaking, when has the solution to any puzzle ever been to sit on the fence? If "cheating the system" (and succeeding) was a central theme across all three episodes, then I completely missed it.

So hypothetically speaking, let’s say there was a "good ending." What could we, the audience, have done in order to change Ranboo’s fate? Ruling out die and live winning for obvious reasons, and I just talked about why the 50/50 option doesn’t make sense, so what does?

Neither.

What would’ve happened if no one voted? Really, tell me what Hetch would’ve done. As impossible as it seems, a 0/0 split is theoretically possible. Showfall loves to remind us how powerless Ranboo and the audience are to what happens on set, so why give them that power in the first place?

Think about it. Earlier in the third stream, the only time the "all-knowing" Hetch seemed caught off guard was when Ranboo found the exit prematurely. Ranboo would have left right then, ruining the broadcast until Hetch mentioned his friends were still alive. That’s why Ranboo continued. That’s why he went off with a bang. That’s why the broadcast was a success. Because he was forced to make a choice. You or Them. Except it never really mattered.

The choice the audience makes in the end isn’t whether Ranboo lives or dies. It’s whether we humor the monster who’s already plunged the knife in his back or not. His fate is sealed either way; why are we forced to "choose?" Why are we choosing to create an impactful ending for a company that we know doesn’t give a damn about us? Why are we playing right into Showfall’s hands? What is the point of all of this?