Marvel has turned the device of a post-credit scene into a punchline. 

But Rosebush Pruning serves as the rare reminder of how a tag can be used for more than merely teasing a sequel, and/or the payoff to an earlier joke.

While prior scenes have already established the possibility that the voiceover might mean we’re watching a depicted episode of the main character’s fictional podcast, by the time the credits roll after all the plot’s twisty mechanisms, we may have forgotten all about his peripheral side gig, and the meta interpretation it suggests over the whole narrative.

And then, the post-credit sequence makes it explicit. In the quiet walk out of the theater, now that the movie has ceased providing any new info to focus on, it may occur to you that “the predatory protagonist becoming the prey” definitely sounds like the invented pitch of serialized storytelling.

Saving this final moment until after the credits — which audiences may not stick around to see — almost de-emphasizes how much Rosebush Pruning wants to suggest this meta-reading as central to understanding the story; placing it before the credits within the movie proper could’ve felt more like a resolute confirmation, as opposed to nothing more than a glibly-winking sendoff.