JsonPath filters on multi-nav properties, but fails on single object

I’m struggling to understand what’s wrong with my queries that attempt to traverse a hierarchical JSON output of SAP SuccessFactors OData endpoint. JSON Path recursive descent and filtering seems to work inconsistently: it works on arrays (JArray), but fails on single objects (JObject).

Source/destination types

No specific types, actually, just fiddling with JSON Path JToken.SelectToken or SelectTokens methods output. The business case was to process SAP SuccessFactors REST OData endpoint query results.

Source/destination JSON

Simplified JSON may look like this.

{
	"d": {
		"results": [{
			"__metadata": {
				"type": "SFOData.PerPersonal"
			},
			"property": "value",
			"objectNav": {
				"__metadata": {
				"type": "SFOData.PerPerson"
				},
				"personIdExternal":"1234",
				"arrayNav": { 
					"results": [{
                                "__metadata": {
                                    "type": "SFOData.PerPhone"
                                },
                                "phoneType": "21735",
                                "phoneNumber": "[phone]"
                            }, {
                                "__metadata": {
                                    "type": "SFOData.PerPhone"
                                },
                                "phoneType": "10876", 
                                "phoneNumber": "775715"
                            }]
					}
				}
			}]		
	}
}

Expected behavior

I expect the SelectToken/SelectTokens with recursive descent operator to work consistently regardless of the presence of array or lack thereof.

Actual behavior

Successful query JSON Path "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.PerPhone')].phoneNumber" yields "775715"
No results for JSON Path "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.PerPerson')].personIdExternal"

Steps to reproduce

        [Test]
        public async Task SfODataDemo()
        {
            JToken sfodataJson;
            string[] successfulQueries = new [] {
              "$..results[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.PerPhone')].phoneNumber",
              "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.PerPhone')].phoneType",
              "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.PerPhone')].phoneNumber"
            }, failingQueries = new [] {
              "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.PerPerson')].personIdExternal",
            };

            // read asynchronously from a file
            using (TextReader textReader = new StreamReader(new FileStream(ResolvePath(@"sfodata.json"), FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read, 4096, true)))
            {
                sfodataJson = await JToken.LoadAsync(new JsonTextReader(textReader));
            }

            foreach (string jsonPath in successfulQueries){
              JToken record = sfodataJson.SelectToken(jsonPath);
            }

            foreach (string jsonPath in failingQueries){
              JToken record = sfodataJson.SelectToken(jsonPath);
            }
            
        }

[JamesNK]

_metadata has one underscore.

[AKrasheninnikov]

So I took the sources and by debugging, found that * is to blame in some cases.

Having processed the same JSON with JsonPath expressions differing only in the asterisk before the brackets, the one without asterisk works as expected, while the one with an asterisk returns an empty set.

JsonPath query should succeed:  "$..[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.FODepartment')].name_ru_RU"
[SUCCESS] at 109:43 found {"__metadata": {
  "uri": "https://demo.sapsf.com/odata/v2/FODepartment(externalCode='DEP002051',startDate=datetime'2019-11-01T00:00:00')",
  "type": "SFOData.FODepartment"
}}
...
[SUCCESS] at 409:43 found {"__metadata": {
  "uri": "https://demo.sapsf.com/odata/v2/FODepartment(externalCode='DEP001148',startDate=datetime'2019-11-01T00:00:00')",
  "type": "SFOData.FODepartment"
}}
[SUCCESS] [RESULT] {Отдел блаблабла}

JsonPath query should succeed:  "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.FODepartment')].name_ru_RU"
JsonPath query FAILED "$..*[?(@.__metadata.type=='SFOData.FODepartment')].name_ru_RU" returned an empty set