No wait, I’m not done here:
If the fans get where you are going and ARE STILL HAPPY, you KEEP GOING THERE. It shows they’re invested and your story craft is setting up and paying off properly.
It is not a sign you need to M Night Shamaylan things until narrative is fuckin dead and “surprise endings!” reign supreme. If no one can guess what will happen, you don’t have a plot, you have deus ex machinas strung together like a child’s macaroni necklace. It might be endearing and beloved but its hardly a fuckin masterpiece.
To be utterly frank, this is where “NO SPOILERS! NO SPOILERS EVER! NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO BREATHE ABOUT THE PLOT UNTIL IT’S BEEN OUT ON DVD FOR FIVE YEARS” attitude has left us – And the studios ACTIVELY encourage that shit because first week viewing numbers are their whole lifeblood.
Sure, an “oh shit” moment is great, but if you’re doing it well, I should have that moment watching the show the second, fifth, or hundredth time, knowing how it will go. If being surprised were truly so important to a narrative, why even make a Shakespeare play? Is anyone out there still hoping Romeo and Juliet still get together at the end? Why make mystery novels into movies? Spoiler warning: Hercules Poirot gets the bad guy. Movies that directly follow historical events? Clearly worthless.
Come on, now. Sure, try not to spoil shit for people intentionally, don’t be a dick, but can we calm the fuck down and can Hollywood stop pushing this shit both in social media and with business choices like this?