The Saw series prides itself on its tried and tested formula that has seen nine movies as of date. Its success hasn’t slowed down either, with Spiral being one of the highest-grossing horror films of 2021 at the time of its release. The core ingredient of these movies has been its plot twists that usually happen by the climax but can also take place earlier, captivating audiences all the same.
Jigsaw was a killer who planned everything out to its minute detail, but this had the side effect of viewers predicting a twist before it happened. The incredible twist of Jigsaw being part of the Bathroom Trap in the first movie made fans too savvy in this area, and some of these twists were all too easy to see coming.
Dr. Gordon's Role As Jigsaw's Accomplice
Dr. Gordon’s fate was frequently speculated amongst fans due to his absence spanning six years. However, his brief appearance in the opening of Saw 3D served to spoil the reveal of his role as Jigsaw’s secret accomplice in the end, as it was too on the nose.
Gordon gave a clearly villainous monologue to Bobby Dagen before disappearing from the story entirely, making it obvious that he would show up for the movie’s twist ending. It was also set up due to Mark Hoffman steamrolling through the cops the whole time, leaving no doubt that Gordon would be the one to put an end to him in the conclusion to fulfill Jigsaw’s threat of Hoffman paying for breaking the rules.
The Unconscious Bucket Head Trap Victim's Survival
While Logan’s truth as Jigsaw’s successor was a surprise to some - as well as his identity as one of the participants in the Bucket Head Trap - it was a foregone conclusion that the man had survived. This was due to Jigsaw not showing his death, which never happens unless the movie wants to use the ambiguity as part of a twist.
Eventually, it was shown that the man did survive, as the last shot of him getting sliced by the razors was only brief and Jigsaw arrived to let Logan go. Most viewers would have also guessed that the same victim was the next Jigsaw since he was the only mysterious character in the film.
Jill Was Aware Of Jigsaw's Plans
Saw VI had the twist reveal that Jill had been at the site of the games in Saw IV earlier, and fans were far too used to the sinister quotes in Saw for it to be clear when Jigsaw was being sincere. Saw V showed his wife Jill receiving Jigsaw’s possessions alongside a video recording of him as part of his will.
Its contents weren’t shown in order to imply that she was horrified with what was inside, but Jigsaw’s lack of hostility toward Jill and the latter’s own accurate “guesses” to the police about his plans in Saw IV were enough to confirm that she was in on the whole thing.
Agent Strahm Would Be Killed By Not Entering The Coffin
Every movie in the series has had Jigsaw and his apprentices be truthful about the consequences of playing against the rules, only for victims to ignore it. The ending of Saw V had Strahm overlook the warning Hoffman gave in the tape for the Glass Coffin trap and seal Hoffman inside it.
It was entirely obvious that the tables would turn on Strahm, especially since he’d ignored a similar warning at the beginning of the movie and ended up in a trap. The coffin was revealed to be the way out of the room as Strahm was crushed by the walls, which avid Saw viewers would’ve seen coming since just about every prior character had displayed similar behavior.
The Code To The Antidote Safe Was On The Nerve Gas House Victims
The Nerve Gas House victims were told that the combination to the safe containing the antidote to the poison was at the back of their minds. Xavier realized by the end that it was written on everyone’s necks in colored writing.
Due to Jigsaw’s tendency to be literal, many would have guessed that the hint of the combination being “over the rainbow” was alluding to everyone in the room since the participants were exactly the number of colors in a rainbow and that it was hidden either on the back of their heads or neck.
The Fatal Five Were Supposed To Survive Together
In Saw V, while the Fatal Five’s test did bring some of the more creative traps in the Saw series, they also made it easy to predict the ending. The twist was that the people didn’t have to die and could have survived each trap, but this was spoiled in the second trap itself.
Here, the tunnels to hide in to survive the explosion were far too large for just one person to fit in, meaning it was intended to be occupied by more people. The first trap also revealed that one person could have retrieved the keys for everyone’s locked collars, and it was only a matter of time before the plot attempted to use this as a twist.
Jeff Would Take Jigsaw's Life
Jigsaw’s style was such that even his final line in the Saw series was to throw a final twist toward the main character. After Jeff Denlon ignored Jigsaw’s offer to forgive him, the latter played a tape that revealed Lynn would die since her shotgun collar was connected to Jigsaw’s life and that their daughter was also trapped.
This first half of this twist was easy to see coming since Jeff had failed all his other tests beforehand where he hadn’t found it within him to forgive the people responsible for his son’s death, and there was no way he would forgive Jigsaw. The twist of his daughter was also simple, since she was the one Denlon unaccounted for.
That Bobby Wasn't A Former Victim
Every survivor of Jigsaw’s traps ended up horribly scarred physically and mentally, with quite a few becoming his apprentices. For this reason, fans weren’t shocked with the intended twist that Saw 3D protagonist, Bobby Dagen, had lied about being a Jigsaw survivor to become famous as a self-help guru.
Bobby had shown no trauma from his experience and was too comfortable to show his “scars” from the ordeal. There was also the fact that there were no mentions of him in previous movies where there were hardly any survivors, leaving little doubt that the twist of him being a fraud was coming
Rigg Was Never Supposed To Complete His Game
This was another twist that became predictable due to Jigsaw’s knack for being literal. Rigg’s tape told him not to do anything as his hero complex was his main flaw. In the end, it turned out that by finding the location of Hoffman and Eric Matthews, Rigg activated traps that killed the latter.
Rigg’s tests beforehand were all shown to be winnable without his intervention, which made it simple to predict that he was never supposed to keep proceeding. With Eric also receiving a similar test in Saw II, it wasn’t difficult to see the same kind of twist in this movie.
William Schenk Being The Spiral Killer
The apprentices/copycats in Saw are all established as important characters before the reveal of their truth, and William Schenk was the only one who fit the bill in Spiral. In addition, his supposed death offscreen - where his body couldn’t be identified - was an obvious setup for a final twist that he was the Spiral killer.
Schenk showed up in the end acknowledging his role as many had expected, at a point where everyone apart from the main character, Zeke, was already dead. Add to that, Schenk’s unseen death was too fishy for it to not be a swerve as the other characters’ tests were shown in detail.