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Finally, I was simply wrong about the Academy sticking to traditional costumes and going for The Danish Girl. They loved Mad Max that much and good for them for branching out to different types of dresses for the first time ever. Still, that was a predictable result as well, as most pundits had picked the George Miller saga to triumph there.

What it all means then, is simple: the Oscars are very predictable if you listen to the cacophony about them on the Internet, and they are even more predictable if you listen closely. The lack of surprises in categories where there was little precedent to choose from (think, e.g., Hateful Eight for score), shows that people willing a win into place can actually happen. But if you pay close attention and see the signs, you can see almost every time where that consensus is obviously wrong (save the random Big Hero 6 or Ex Machina—but that is now only ONE category a year). We have not had an actual, major upset in an Oscar acting race in nearly 15 years.

And so, Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his Oscar - spurring celebration and joy around the world - two relative newcomers with uncertain outlooks also took home theirs, and a Mexican director, of all people, made history by becoming only the third person in Oscars’ history to win back-to-back awards. Mad Max was the night’s biggest winner, netting six Oscars. Only Cabaret and Gravity have more Oscars without a Best Picture win, like Mad Max.

But in the end, the movie about journalism, the movie with steady if quiet support, the movie that gives us hope for the future, that we as a society can do better, that we as a people can save each other from ourselves, triumphed in its own, self-fulfilling minimalist way. In a year that featured one of the strongest Best Picture lineups in over a decade, can anyone really fault the Academy for that?

Thanks again for sticking with us this Oscars year! I will resume some A-List-ing (requests for lists are taken on Twitter and Instagram) for the time being, and return to this crazy, obscene business of prognosticating soon enough.

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