@rooprect said:

"You might find yourself asking if it wasn't the hand of god that dropped these glasses... And if he didn't, who did?"

Judd reacts with a sudden surprised look, as if he clearly had an idea. How do you suppose he interpreted "who did"?

a. god

b. devil

c. nobody

d. himself, judd

...in other words the film ends with an allegation of

a. theism

b. misotheism

c. nihilism

d. existentialism

My first guess would be that Judd, being a classic existentialist character, would say that he himself "judd" dropped them, or possibly "nobody" if he was tending toward nihilism. But the sudden surprised look, as if something new & frightening dawned on him, indicates it had to be something he hadn't thought of before. That leaves us with either "god" or "the devil". I'm using simplistic terms but what I mean is, it's either a benevolent force or a malevolent one. And since Judd already dismissed "god" as ridiculous, then that sudden look of shock might be him guessing that some dark force did it.

Well either that or something like the ghost of Pauly which would also fall broadly into the category of a malevolent force (to him). Any other possibilities I missed?

I think the overall portrayal of Judd's character is that unlike Artie, Judd's character has a certain amount of inner conflict within himself. That he isn't completely devoid of compassion or exhilirated by evil the way Artie is. I can point to many things in the movie to show this, the way that his main focus throughout the movie isnt really about proving hes superior, its more so about his admiration of Artie and his desire to please him/to prove to him that he is superior just like him (just like Artie).

It's the way that Judd struggles with doing evil deeds (because he does have a conscience no matter how hard he tries to proclaim he doesnt at times) like when he tries several times to convince artie not to kill that man on the road and his warnings to him that they almost murdered that man, the same with how much he struggles and breaks down and is unable to sexually assault Ruth. A lot of the times when I hear Judd make claims about superiority and of the such it comes across as partially Judd trying to convince himself more than anyone else. There's a reason Artie and Ruth both tell Judd that they both don't truly think hes evil- they have insight and are able to see the conflict- the sadness in him.

I think the only logical understanding of that reaction from Judd at the end is that either he feels a certain amount of guilt and shame boiling up from the surface and starts to wonder maybe it is God punishing him for what hes done and/or wondering if there was something subconscious within him that made him intentionally drop those glasses due to an underlying desire to get caught for something he actually feels guilty for.