Ambiguous Situation / Live-Action TV

• Andor: In the episode "The Eye":
  • Cinta is left behind on Aldhani with Commandant Beehaz's family, who the team had taken as hostages earlier. As the rest of the team escapes through the Eye, we see Cinta walk out and join the other Imperials with tears on her face to watch the Eye. Did she kill the wife and kid, after Vel promised they'd live if they cooperated? What's more, Skeen says earlier that Cinta is the most stone-cold of them all, and also that Stormtroopers slaughtered her whole family, but given the later reveal that Skeen made up his sob story about having a brother with a farm, it's unknown if any of the backstories on the other members that Skeen fed Cassian are to be trusted.
  • Taramyn is killed when Skeen fails to provide him cover fire during the big shootout. We can't be sure if this was deliberate or was it just a natural mistake made by someone in the middle of a firefight who lacks military training. We are never told if Skeen always planned to take the money for himself or if he is just jumping at an opportunity that has presented itself when most of the other participants of the heist are dead or otherwise unable to stop him.
  • Skeen's sob story and lack of scruples also makes his promise to split the 80 million credits with Cassian distinctly untrustworthy, making Cassian's subsequent shooting him dead a potential case of Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us.
• Arrowverse:
  • In the Arrow episode "Dodger", flashbacks to the island show the younger Oliver finding someone tied up and beaten in a cave. He claimed to have been stranded on the island as the result of a school trip and near-killed by Fyers and his men, and begged Ollie to help him. After much hesitation, Ollie decides the situation could be a trap by Fyers and abandons the young man to his fate, leaving it completely ambiguous as to whether he was lying or whether Oliver had condemned an innocent person to a horrible death. A quick shot in the season finale reveals that he was working for Fyers after all.
  • During the brief glimpse of the Batman Film Series universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019), Alexander Knox is seen reading a newspaper with the headline "BATMAN CAPTURES JOKER", despite the Joker dying in Batman (1989). This suggests that either A: much like what Darkseid War and DC Rebirth revealed about the Joker being three people, Jack Napier was succeeded by a Legacy Character or B: in keeping with the fact that Joker Immunity is named after the Joker for a reason, Napier got resurrected or even somehow managed to fake his death.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 6 episode "Normal Again" follows the Cuckoo Nest trope: Buffy is injected with a poison that makes her hallucinate... Or is it the other way around? According to a psychiatrist, who may or may not be a real person, she is in fact getting better: She has been sick all along, and now she's finally waking up from years of catatonic schizophrenia. So, the whole series is either This Is Reality or a mad All Just a Dream with a dash of The Schizophrenia Conspiracy. In the end, Buffy chooses her life in Sunnydale over her life in the mental institution, but the ending leaves it ambiguous whether or not the world she settled for is the real one.
  • It's never confirmed if Riley is correct that Spike is "the Doctor" planning to sell demon eggs in Sunnydale. While Buffy believes it, Spike insists that he was keeping the eggs for an acquaintance, even after the issue is dealt with, and the episode provides no real evidence either way.
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: In season one, though Josh is currently dating Valencia, Rebecca is convinced that he at least did love her at one point, back when they were in high school at summer camp together. However, the brief glimpse we see of that time makes it seem like she was way more into him than the other way around. But that scene was the one in which he broke up with her, so it's entirely possible he did genuinely really care about her before that. Even after they revisit the summer camp later in the season, we get no more flashbacks, and what happens in the present doesn't clarify much (Rebecca recites a very corny love note she wrote at the time; he finds it hilarious how melodramatic it is, leaving it unclear whether he ever wrote anything like that), so it's left permanently ambiguous whether she was projecting onto him back then, too.
• Doctor Who:
  • "Deep Breath": The events just before the Half-Faced Man's death leave it deliberately unclear whether he jumped as a result of his crisis of faith or if the Doctor gave him a helping hand.
  • "Demons of the Punjab": Yasmin Khan becomes involved in a pivotal moment of her grandmother Umbreen's life when she was a young woman. In the two scenes featuring the elderly Umbreen, it's not clear whether or not she recognizes Yaz from that moment. Umbreen giving Yaz a watch that served as a Tragic Keepsake of the events, calling Yaz her "favourite granddaughter", and noting the faded henna on Yaz's hands which she got in 1947 would suggest that she does, but nothing is confirmed.
  • "Fugitive of the Judoon" introduces a brand-new incarnation of the Doctor. However, the Thirteenth Doctor and "Ruth" don't have any memories of ever being each other, so where they fit into the Doctor's timeline relative to each other is unknown, if Ruth isn't an alternate version of the Doctor altogether. There is some evidence to suggest that Ruth is a forgotten incarnation from the Doctor's past, but nothing is confirmed. "The Timeless Children" slightly clears things up by indicating that, as the Doctor is the Timeless Child, Ruth is an incarnation from before the "First" Doctor who was subsequently erased from their memory, while still leaving many questions unanswered.
• In Game of Thrones, Sansa's "marriage" to Ramsay creates a giant one. The use of surnames and the ability of noblewomen to retain their maiden name after marriage was established within the show in Seasons 1-3 and by discussions with writers, but there's no agreement in-universe on what Sansa's surname currently is. Jaime considers her as Sansa Lannister in Season 4 while, in Season 6, a Bolton soldier trying to capture her calls her Lady Bolton. Later, Lyanna Mormont hangs a Lampshade by noting whether she is a Lannister or Bolton, while Sansa calls herself Sansa Stark, despite being legally married. In keeping with the series' themes, each person largely uses whatever name most suits their own position. The legitimacy of her second marriage is a second issue, since Sansa was married to Tyrion Lannister before a large crowd and officiated by the High Septon, while the second marriage is conducted before an Old Gods ceremony. In the books, Sansa's marriage to Tyrion is voidable but not void and requires a formal annulment; Littlefinger claims in the show that no annulment is necessary. Some fans believe otherwise since this is Littlefinger, but nothing else has been said on the subject. The second marriage becomes something of a moot point after Ramsay Bolton becomes dog food.
• House of the Dragon:
  • The Goldcloaks go through King's Landing and kill dozens, if not hundreds of people in the first episode, as well as mutilate others (which may well be as good as doing the former). Daemon claims they are all criminals, but it seems fairly indiscriminate by the editing. How much of this is justice with the people involved truly guilty and how much of this is just state-sponsored terror? How much of a difference exists in medieval Westeros?
  • Whether Daemon actually meant anything nasty by his "heir for a day" toast. Viserys certainly interprets toasting to the death of a newborn baby as Mocking the Mourner. The actual scene, though, is played not nearly as flippantly as it comes across in the retelling. The retelling also happens to be provided by Otto Hightower, who hates Daemon and is motivated to make it sound as bad as possible.
• The Handmaid's Tale: While it's not probable that Ofglen/Ofsteven/Emily would survive the ensuing punishment for her joyride, the director intentionally left it ambiguous before Offred's eyes to leave it open-ended while still allowing Emily a final triumph over Gilead. (The second season clarifies that she does survive.)
• Horatio Hornblower: In the second installment of the miniseries (parts "Mutiny" and "Retribution"), it's never fully resolved what happened when the Captain Sawyer fell in the hatchway. It's possible Lieutenant Hornblower, Lieutenant Kennedy, or Midshipman Wellard pushed him, or that the disoriented and paranoid Captain simply tripped and fell on his own. The scene is shot so as to be intentionally vague, and by the end of the miniseries, Kennedy, Wellard, and Sawyer are all dead. For his part, Hornblower doesn't talk about it. The book that these films were based on, Lieutenant Hornblower, was written from Lieutenant Bush's point of view and was similarly unclear. For the record, Kennedy took the blame to save Horatio's career, as he was dying anyway.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): Louis de Pointe du Lac has always suspected that Lestat de Lioncourt had a role in his brother Paul's suicide. (Before he died, Paul did divulge to Louis in "In Throes of Increasing Wonder..." that "...[Lestat is] the Devil. He's here to take souls. He told me so. He spoke to me without moving his lips.") Although Lestat vehemently denies any involvement, he's manipulative and dishonest whenever it suits him, so the jury is still out on whether he's guilty or not. The following exchange is from "Like Angels Put in Hell by God".
  Louis: Did you have anything to do with Paul's death?
  Lestat: No. I would never hurt your brother.
  Louis: It's just something I always—
  Lestat: Never, Louis.
• JAG: In "Boot", someone attacks Austin in the gas chamber, but it's impossible to see who. It's possible that Private Whitley was trying to kill her because she was on her trail, or that Private Johnson was trying to rough her up out of spite.
• Jupiter's Legacy: Did Skyfox really betray the Union, or was he framed by Walter for discovering his plan and forced to hide?
• Law & Order: SVU loves to leave stuff unresolved for the audience to ponder. Usually, it's on the simple level whether the guy is guilty or not (such as in the episode "Doubt"), but sometimes they take it to a much deeper level. The detectives just keep spawning new theories, and none of them gets verified. For example, the episode "Slaves" features a husband, his wife, and their nanny/girlfriend/Sex Slave Elena. They keep the relationship hidden...
  • Either because Elena is in the country illegally, and also because her conservative aunt and other relatives would not approve of her living in a polyamorous relationship,
  • Or because they have kidnapped Elena and held her against her will until Stockholm Syndrome set in.
  • So, it's pretty much Safe, Sane, and Consensual, polyamory and Casual Kink versus monster and A Match Made in Stockholm. The husband claims the first option, but that might just be Metaphorically True or even Blatant Lies. As for Elena, she never gets a voice in the matter. The kidnapping theory is implied to be the correct one, but if it's actually verified then that happens after the episode is over.
    • The only outright verification given for the monster viewpoint comes from the wife, and only AFTER she has been...
    • A. proven guilty of murdering Elena's aunt without her husband's knowledge or consent.
    • B. force-fed "oh, go ahead and blame it on your husband anyway" by the detectives as a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card.
    • The whole case was started by Elena telling a fruit vendor she was "trapped in a situation she [couldn't] escape from" (in a phrasing that, according to said vendor, strongly implied abuse) and asking him to tell her aunt she needed help, so that suggests she was less than a willing participant. Not to mention she's clearly been starved long-term, that's not usually part of a consensual BDSM situation. It is true, though, that Elena never expressly confirms as much to the detectives.
• Much of Life on Mars (2006), was highly unclear as to what was reality. The spin-off series, Ashes to Ashes, confirms that both worlds were real: the modern world Sam Tyler left behind is the physical world we know, while the 1970s world Sam ends up in is a Purgatory for cops (and possibly others) who died before their time; he, and all of the major characters he encounters there, were Dead All Along.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: How genuine Sauron's attempts at retiring for a simple life on Númenor as a blacksmith, seeking redemption, and what, if any, orchestration he had in meeting Galadriel and the events and feelings that unfolded between them were. How much of it was her doing and how much of it was his doing. As a masterful liar and deceiver, even if he is telling the truth about something it is nigh impossible to trust his word.
• Lost: True to its gnostic roots, it eschews answers about the nature of the universe in favor of personal revelation according to the perspectives of the characters (and the viewers). A close-up of eyes is a recurring visual motif, characters making a decision based on incomplete or outright fraudulent information pops up repeatedly, and questions like "Is the Light spiritual or scientific in nature?" "Is Jacob a god, a superpowerful conman, or a scientist who sets an experiment in motion and watches the results?" or "Do the Numbers really mean anything, or is Hurley mistaking coincidence for fate?" are never clarified, to the dismay of some fans.
• Million Yen Women: The premise of the series is that someone sent five women invitations to come live in a struggling author's house under a set of rules imposed on both them and the author in question. When the household ends up taking in a stray kitten six months into the arrangement, the women can't help wondering whether it is part of the invitation sender's plan or not.
• The Musketeers: Athos's ex-wife Milady de Winter (also an assassin and con-artist) is sentenced to death by hanging for murdering Athos' brother Thomas, but manages to escape. According to her, Thomas was attempting to rape her, so she killed him in self defense. Due to her untrustworthy nature, however, Athos and the other characters don't believe her, and Athos thinks she was simply trying to scam him. However, when Athos asks her if this is true, she seems to be telling the truth about what happened.
• The People v. O. J. Simpson: In episode 5, Johnnie Cochran is pulled over by a cop while taking his daughters to the movies. Cochran assumes he is being racially profiled and almost gets arrested when he gets into an argument with the officer, but the way the situation plays out actually leaves it ambiguous whether the incident was racially motivated or not. Cochran disputes the cop's assertion that he forgot to signal a turn, but before the cop can properly respond Cochran immediately goes into a rant about racial injustice. If the cop was acting in good faith all along, his subsequent response to Cochran's hostility is fully warranted.
• Person of Interest episode 4, "Cura Te Ipsum": We never find out if Reese kills the serial rapist or lets him go. Later heavily hinted (if not outright stated) that he just has him locked up in a Mexican Prison for the rest of his life with a few other individuals he has gotten rid of.
• The Rehearsal: As Nathan gets deeper and deeper into the rebearsals, the lines between reality and fiction begin to blur, leaving it ambiguous as to what's real and what's orchestrated. In particular, Nathan Fielder is playing an exaggerated version of himself—a staple of his work—but it's unsure whether he's playing a character and leaning into it heavily or just having an extended onscreen breakdown, with the implication that he's getting lost into the rehearsals and can't distinguish between what's real and what isn't.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The revelation that Halbrand is actually Sauron throws all their previous actions and claims into doubt. It's unclear how genuine his attempts at retiring for a simple life on Númenor as a blacksmith, seeking redemption, and what, if any, orchestration he had in meeting Galadriel and the events and feelings that unfolded between them were. How much of it was her doing and how much of it was his doing? As a masterful liar and deceiver, even if he is telling the truth about something it is nigh impossible to trust his word.
• In Russian Doll, it is never explained in-universe why the time loop is happening. Nadia and Alan also speculate that there are multiple timelines where they are still dead, and that they are actually returning to a different timeline every time that they die. The show also drops hints that that there may be other Nadias that still exist in her final timeline. Lead actress and Co-Creator Natasha Lyonne didn't confirm or deny this idea, stating that she was "interested in what the fan theories would say."
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: In the episode "Tapestry", Picard is in a coma and sees Q, who claims to be God and takes him back in time to see what life would be like if he'd never gotten into a fight with a Nausicaan as a twentysomething and gotten his heart replaced with an artificial one. When Picard dislikes this new life, Q claims to have undone it, and that's when Picard wakes up. While the part about Q being God is unlikely, since he's been reprimanded by other members of the Q continuum and his antics suggest that the world would be more unpredictable if Q was God, what's ambiguous is whether he dreamt it all while unconscious or if Q really did send Picard back in time. On the one hand, nobody had been recorded to have had a coma dream that complicated and Q has powers so he could've easily done all that he appeared to do. On the other hand, it's surprisingly generous that Q would give Picard a second chance. Picard himself ends the episode wondering which it is.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the episode "In the Pale Moonlight", Sisko and Garak go on a mission together. When two people are murdered, Sisko suspects Garak and feels bad about associating with a potential murderer, but Garak never confirms or denies that he did kill them. He did use to work for a shifty secret organisation, but he also lies a lot, including claiming he committed crimes he didn't really commit.
• Star Trek: Picard:
  • In "The End Is the Beginning", Narek whispers to Soji, "I think I'm falling in love with you." It's ambiguous whether his feelings are genuine, or if it's part of his plan as a Honey Trap.
  • In "Broken Pieces", Seven of Nine as a Borg Queen declares that "Annika still has work to do," which could either be Seven speaking in the third person, or the micro Collective releasing her deliberately for some purpose.
  • In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", it's unclear whether it was Narek or Sutra who murdered Saga.
  • In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", it's uncertain whether Altan Soong merely deactivated Sutra or terminated her.
• Star Trek: Voyager: When Seska gets pregnant, she claims she stole some of Chakotay's DNA and used it to impregnate herself, however the baby turns out to be her boyfriend's. It's unknown if she did steal the DNA but failed to impregnate herself, or it was all a lie. She does look surprised, but that could have been an act.
• Succession: Logan had typed out a document saying he wanted Kendall to take over. But then there's a line in pen under/over Kendall's name, and nobody's sure if it was underlined (meaning Logan privately reaffirmed it) or crossed out (meaning Logan changed his mind) — and since Logan's dead, they're never going to know what he thought in the end. Kendall spins it in his favor, though it nags at him.
• The Twilight Zone (1959):
  • In "Eye of the Beholder", Rod Serling's ending narration raises the questions of this world and why it is, before saying the answers make no difference.
  • In "Two", the episode takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear war that devastated the world but the time period is left vague. In his opening narration, Rod Serling says that it is "perhaps a hundred years from now. Or sooner. Or perhaps it already happened two million years ago."
• The Wheel of Time (2021):
  • Toward the end of s1e4, Rand finds Mat inside the house of the farm where they've been taking refuge, with all of the occupants having been stabbed to death. Mat has been acting strangely due to the influence of the Shadar Logoth dagger, but there's also a Fade in the same room; it's unclear which of the two did the murders.
  • In the season 1 finale, Moiraine is rendered unable to channel due to actions taken by the Dark One's human representation. The show doesn't explain whether she's been stilled, i.e. permanently severed from the One Power, or merely shielded indefinitely. The appearance of what the Dark One does resembles a shield being tied off, a technique from the books that hasn't yet debuted in the series.
• The White Princess never definitively confirms that Perkin Warbeck is indeed Richard of Shrewsbury, one of the missing Princes in the Tower and the York heir to the throne, or just a very convincing and charismatic imposter sponsored by Yorkists who have every reason to want their family back in power. His female relatives mostly come to believe that he's the real deal by the end (and Lizzie, despite her reluctance, acknowledges his resemblance to "their" father).^note In real life, historian consensus is that he was an impostor.

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