Add that check to the not-equals helper and update the json value implementation to mark all non-scalars as not-equals.

src/bin.rs

@@ -145,7 +145,15 @@ impl CompareContextElement for serde_json::Value {
         // Handle other serde_json::Value
         match other.to_any().downcast_ref::<Self>() {
             None => (),
-            Some(other_json_value) => return self == other_json_value,
+            Some(other_json_value) => match (self, other_json_value) {
+                // Non-scalar values not caught in the renderer by the
+                // identical-path shortcut are always not equal.
+                (serde_json::Value::Array(_), _)
+                | (_, serde_json::Value::Array(_))
+                | (serde_json::Value::Object(_), _)
+                | (_, serde_json::Value::Object(_)) => return false,
+                _ => return self == other_json_value,
+            },
         }
         // Handle string literals
         match other.to_any().downcast_ref::<String>() {

src/renderer/renderer.rs

@@ -285,6 +285,20 @@ impl<'a> DustRenderer<'a> {
                     .iter()
                     .map(|pair: &KVPair<'a>| (pair.key, &pair.value))
                     .collect();
+                // Special case: when comparing two RVPaths, if the
+                // path is equal then dust assumes the values are
+                // equal (otherwise, non-scalar values are
+                // automatically not equal)
+                if Self::are_paths_identical(&param_map) {
+                    return match &parameterized_block.else_contents {
+                        None => Ok("".to_owned()),
+                        Some(body) => {
+                            let rendered_content = self.render_body(body, breadcrumbs, blocks)?;
+                            Ok(rendered_content)
+                        }
+                    };
+                }
+
                 let left_side: Result<&dyn ContextElement, WalkError> = match param_map.get("key") {
                     None => return Ok("".to_owned()),
                     Some(rval) => match rval {