Basic Trope: The ending of a work is left open to interpretation.
- Straight: At the end of a work, Alice is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Her husband Bob, who was there, claims that Alice fell by accident. Another character thinks Bob pushed her so he could be with Charlotte. Another character believes Alice threw herself off the cliff out of depression over Bob's affair with Charlotte. Nothing is ever proven and Bob walks free. The viewer is left to speculate which of the three ways Alice really died.
- Exaggerated: Not only was Bob there, but also Charlotte the maid, Danny the butler, Ethan the colonel, Faye the gardener and Gabriel the priest, all of them with their own motivations to kill Alice and equal share of evidence pointing towards each of them, but the show ends before it can reveal who dunnit or if it was an actual suicide or accident.
- Downplayed:
- Alice was shown to be deeply depressed throughout the work and wrote a suicide note, so the most likely interpretation is that she killed herself.
- Bob is shown to be quite dodgy and have been trying to kill Alice, so it's the most likely that he murdered her.
- Alice was not depressed and Bob is not murderous, so it's most likely to have been an accident.
- Justified: The work is Based on a True Story, where what really happened to Alice was never proven.
- Inverted: ???
- Subverted:
- Word of God states that Alice's death was an accident.
- The sequel reveals that Bob murdered Alice.
- Double Subverted: The sequel produces evidence suggesting that Charlotte, not Bob, pushed Alice, and it ends without proving which one of them is guilty.
- Parodied: Gainax Ending.
- Zig Zagged: Flip-Flop of God keeps suggesting different ways Alice could have died, and several continuations of the work keep hinting at possible ways Alice could have died.
- Averted: A witness sees Bob pushing Alice and other evidence is found, proving that he murdered Alice.
- Enforced:
- The writers think ambiguity is sophisticated and clever.
- The Season Finale Cliffhanger didn't generate enough interest to greenlight the next season, cutting the series short.
- Lampshaded: At the funeral, the minister says, "And though we may never know what happened to her..."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: "So, how did Alice die anyway?"
- Conversed: "Why did it end before we found out if Alice died?"
- Played for Laughs: Alice's grave reads "Here lies Alice Foster, R.I.P., died of...who can say?"
- Played For Drama: The uncertainty of how Alice died upsets those who are close to her, as it prevents closure.
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