an attempt by the writers to deceive the audience rather than the other characters

I felt this was exactly what they did.

Frozen gets praised for subverting Disney Princess Movie tropes, but it is still a Disney (Princess) movie, so when they have opportunities to do some great stuff with the story, they just don't. I would have liked to see the "true love's kiss" that didn't work -- but then, the princess must only be kissed by the true prince! We can't have a sullied princess!

I'm not satisfied with "Hans is a sociopath." I do accept Hans as a sadist, however. The evil monologue is entirely to make Anna suffer. I like to think that he was about to go through with the kiss, but being fairly certain it would not work, he stopped at the last moment instead of laughing. No, I think he may have even been a little afraid that a kiss might work. What does he know of magic, after all? I also think that he could have accepted marrying Anna in order to get a place in Arendelle, but when Elsa's magic was revealed, he felt -- but didn't show -- the same revulsion to sorcery as did Wessleton. Being a bigot and a sadist would be villainy enough for me.