Shauna is The Princess Bride and Melissa is alive

Melissa has made two separate references to The Princess Bride (1987), and I think this is foreshadowing her being the eighth survivor.

In the film, Westley (Melissa) will do anything for Buttercup (Shauna), and anything she asks for, he does, nodding along and speaking the phrase “as you wish.” The audience is told that when Westley tells her “as you wish,” he is really telling her “I love you.” This is a nod to his love language; Melissa’s love language is likely acts of service, and she wants to do whatever she can for Shauna and we can see in the trailers for upcoming episodes that she wants Shauna to come to power if that’s what Shauna wants.

Westley and Buttercup are then split up by circumstance; he isn’t good enough for her due to financial imbalance in their respective classes. We already know that regardless of what happens to Melissa, she isn’t the one who ends up with Shauna. Perhaps this is because Melissa is gay and Shauna is bisexual, and when push comes to shove back home, it’s easier for Shauna to run into the arms of Jeff, being that it’s the ‘90s, while Melissa is unable to be with a man. Westley is believed to be dead, and I believe Melissa will go into hiding in some way, likely faking her death. I’ve seen theories that Lottie might help her fake her death, although I’m not exactly sure why or how they’d get away with that.

Back to the parallels, Buttercup is set to marry Humperdinck, thus she would become the princess bride. You know who else married royalty? Shauna. She married the homecoming king.

Melissa is likely the stalker and she’s back in the adult timeline, but Shauna doesn’t expect Melissa to come back because she truly believes Melissa is dead, which is why she accuses Misty of being up to no good. I think Melissa is probably still in love with Shauna and ready to steal her back from Jeff, just as Westley did to Humperdinck.

Melissa = Westley Shauna = Buttercup Jeff = Humperdinck