I always come across this question all over YouTube. The answer seems simple. People don't like to admit that MacReady was the Thing. At the end it's only Childs and MacReady, but Childs is the only one with a weapon. If Childs was the Thing he'd kill a weaponless Macready right away, but he doesn't. Macready hands him his bottle with his backwash in it and Childs takes a drink, so MacReady laughs because he now turned Childs.
shareI think i agree
It also explains how Blair changed when he was locked away, McGready took a sip from the vodka
The guy who tell Mac about not sharing anymore dies moments after. And Mac lured that black guy to his room for 45 minutes
If MacReady is the Thing why would it blow itself up? That doesn't make sense
shareThe Thing has no allegiance to other Things. Remember it was Palmer, who we know was a Thing, who betrayed the Norris Thing when its head tried to crawl away. It would have gotten away had Palmer not turned and said, "You got to be fu**in' kidding."
shareLiterally makes zero sense in relation to MacReady's actions at the end.
shareThat only works if the Thing knows it's the Thing while it's mimicking the person. It's said the Thing only completely takes over the consciousness of the mimicked at certain times like when it's feeling threatened or when it wants to infect another.
shareBut at the end mcready is alone with the Big Monster Thing and still blows It with the dinamite... That leaves him innocent.
shareThey were both human.
shareThe popular theory is that Macready is human & Childs is most likely the Thing but it was ultimately left ambiguous so we have to base our conclusions on the rules that the series has established. Both were human. The Thing cannot repeplicate inorganic material. It spits it out when assimilating someone. In the final scene we see Childs still has his gold tooth and earring. Childs is human. The Thing wouldn't blow itself up. Macready is also human
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