diff --git a/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape-test.sh b/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape-test.sh
index f354d3c..56894c2 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape-test.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape-test.sh
@@ -184,6 +184,42 @@ out="$(run_report "$root")"
 assert_contains "same-line annotation removed: counts 2, so it was worth 1" "$out" \
   "  baseline DEVIATION: the tree carries 2 tests marked \`@FailsOnEmulatorApi37\` but the baseline says 3 — update FAILS_ON_EMULATOR_API37_BASELINE"
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 4. A run the abort truncated, with fewer failures than the baseline: NOT a deviation.
+#
+# `expected` comes from `Starting N tests`, printed before anything can abort, so it still
+# answers "is the marked set the size the baseline says". `failed` is a tally of what actually
+# ran, and on a truncated run the tests after the abort never start. Measured on 2026-09-05, two
+# api37-debug dispatches of the same four marked tests: 4/4/4 and then 4/3/3. Announcing the
+# second as "one now passes" is the wrong reading, and #120 is the standing lesson about a notice
+# that is wrong often enough to be skimmed past.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+root="$(make_root "$FIXTURE_DIR" 3)"
+cat > "$root/gradle.log" <<'TRUNCATED'
+> Task :app:connectedDebugAndroidTest
+Starting 3 tests on test(AVD) - 16
+There was 2 failure(s).
+Test run failed to complete. Expected 3 tests, received 2. onError: commandError=false message=INSTRUMENTATION_ABORTED: System has crashed.
+TRUNCATED
+out="$(run_report "$root")"
+assert_contains "truncated run: the truncation is reported"  "$out" '  completed cleanly: no'
+assert_absent   "truncated run: the short failure count is not a deviation" "$out" 'tests failed, the baseline is'
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 5. The same short failure count on a run that finished IS a deviation.
+#
+# The pair is the point: case 4 must not have bought its quiet by disabling the check outright.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+root="$(make_root "$FIXTURE_DIR" 3)"
+cat > "$root/gradle.log" <<'CLEAN'
+> Task :app:connectedDebugAndroidTest
+Starting 3 tests on test(AVD) - 16
+There was 2 failure(s).
+CLEAN
+out="$(run_report "$root")"
+assert_contains "clean run, short by one: the deviation fires" "$out" \
+  '2 tests failed, the baseline is 3'
+
 echo
 if [ "$failures" -eq 0 ]; then
   echo "e2e-report-shape-test.sh: all checks passed"
diff --git a/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape.sh b/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape.sh
index 7b42321..48c10af 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/e2e-report-shape.sh
@@ -252,8 +252,22 @@ if [ -n "$baseline" ]; then
     if [ "$expected" != "unknown" ] && [ "$expected" != "$baseline" ]; then
       deviations+=("the runner started $expected tests, the baseline is $baseline")
     fi
+    # `expected` is compared on every run and `failed` only on a run that finished, and the
+    # difference is the truncation this file already records rather than compares. `expected`
+    # comes from `Starting N tests`, which is printed before anything can abort, so it answers
+    # "is the marked set the size the baseline says" whatever happens afterwards. `failed` is a
+    # tally of what actually ran: on a truncated run the tests after the abort never start, so
+    # comparing it to the baseline announces a deviation about the framework dying rather than
+    # about the test list. Measured on 2026-09-05, two api37-debug dispatches of the same four
+    # marked tests: 4/4/4 and then 4/3/3, the second having lost the last test to the abort.
+    # Announcing that as "one now passes" is exactly the wrong reading, and #120 is the standing
+    # lesson about a notice that is wrong often enough to be skimmed past.
     if [ "$failed" != "unknown" ] && [ "$failed" != "$baseline" ]; then
-      deviations+=("$failed tests failed, the baseline is $baseline — every test carrying the marker is expected to fail on this image, so fewer means one now passes and more means a new one joined")
+      if [ "$completed" = "**no**" ]; then
+        echo "::debug::$failed of $baseline marked tests failed, on a run the abort truncated — not compared"
+      else
+        deviations+=("$failed tests failed, the baseline is $baseline — every test carrying the marker is expected to fail on this image, so fewer means one now passes and more means a new one joined")
+      fi
     fi
   fi
   if [ -n "$marked" ] && [ "$marked" != "$baseline" ]; then
diff --git a/app/src/androidTest/java/org/libremediaconverter/FailsOnEmulatorApi37.kt b/app/src/androidTest/java/org/libremediaconverter/FailsOnEmulatorApi37.kt
index 8db3c5a..d53d372 100644
--- a/app/src/androidTest/java/org/libremediaconverter/FailsOnEmulatorApi37.kt
+++ b/app/src/androidTest/java/org/libremediaconverter/FailsOnEmulatorApi37.kt
@@ -54,13 +54,18 @@ annotation class FailsOnEmulatorApi37
  * **The fourth carrier is the one to read that sentence carefully for.**
  * `pickingAFileThroughTheSystemPickerFillsInTheFileCard` was marked on 2026-09-05 for aborting
  * `system_server` rather than for failing (#108), and on the gating leg it passed two runs of
- * four. The count still holds on the advisory leg, and that was **measured rather than assumed**:
- * `api37-debug.yml` run 34008889182, dispatched with this annotation as its filter, reports
- * `expected: 4, received: 4, failed: 4` (and `completed cleanly: no`, which is this job's normal).
- * It fails there because it runs alongside the rotation test, which takes the framework down first
- * — so the reason this line did not have to become two numbers is a property of the advisory leg,
- * not of the test. If it ever reports three failures out of four, read that as this test having
- * got lucky rather than as an image that improved.
+ * four. It fails on the advisory leg because the rotation test runs before it and takes the
+ * framework down first — measured, `api37-debug.yml` run 34008889182, which reports
+ * `expected: 4, received: 4, failed: 4` with the four in the order Media3, Media3, rotation,
+ * picker.
+ *
+ * **But a second dispatch of the identical configuration reported 4/3/3**, having lost the last
+ * test to the abort rather than to anything about the test list, and that is why
+ * `e2e-report-shape.sh` compares `failed` only on a run that finished. `expected` is compared
+ * always — it comes from `Starting N tests`, which is printed before anything can abort, so it is
+ * the field that answers "is the marked set the size this number says". Read a *clean* run
+ * reporting fewer failures than this as one of them now passing; read a truncated one as the
+ * framework having died, which is this job's normal.
  *
  * So: adding or removing a [FailsOnEmulatorApi37] means changing this number, in this file, in
  * the same diff. The report says so on the run itself if you forget — it prints the tree's own