ZOMBIE STAGE ROUND 1 ANALYSIS Part 2
Give me your prettiest smile Ta-da! Even if you fall down
You´re still beautifult´s all okay, even when you frown
I love this thrilling moment (Its not bad at all, at all [Sua])
Everything is shining bright (Mizi)
In this sequence we see their audition overlap with the performance in various moments and the difference between them make it all the more tragic
Mizi is the only one who passes the audition and in the song that is represented.
They both sand the strophe at the same time, but Mizi is the only one who sings the last verse
The first three verses express they feelings. Even when its come to this, they still love each other and at the end they achieved their dream of performing together.
And Mizi being the only one saying "Everything is shining bright" when she is the only one who passes the audition is a contrast between what she feels and what she must perform. She cant be happy with passing because Sua didnt.
Even if it hurts, I love it. Everyone says im stange
At last we become one, We´re one hundred percent
This is sung by Sua while she is cheering on Mizi who seems its about to perform as an idol for the first time.
Mizi looks sad, her smile is bitter but Sua takes her hands and when she looks at her she seems genuenly happy that Mizi got to become an idol.
Im guessing by the lyrics that from Sua´s pov it doesnt matter that much that only Mizi fulfilled their dream because they are a unit, they are one and she is happy that Mizi got it, she is happy because Mizi is "happy".
Looking at Sua Mizi looks more relaxed and confident
Mizi lets go of Sua´s hands, the same hands she grabed to take her to the audition and with who she high fived before it, goes up the stairs and looks at Sua before turning her back on her
Mizi stepts into the light and Sua hides in the shadows and when Mizi is not looking at her, her smile vanishes. She´s hurt and sad because she was not chosen and she cant be there with Mizi but at the same time happy for her
LOVE EXPLOSION (singed by both)
The reason the wound still aches (Mizi)
A stinging candy tonge (Sua)
Only you-and ME, just the both of us (Mizi, but Sua sings the "me")
The lyrics just references what I said before, Sua is sad because she wasnt chosen, because she cant be there with Mizi, but happy because Mizi can be there and Mizi doesnt seem to want to be there without Sua but she cheers her up to move forward. Once again aying that they are a unit.
They start a game of throwing knifes at Zombie Mizi not sure why besides the spectacle performance part.
Mizi right know is a product of entertaiment, a doll. And as she is handled by the men with goat heads (I dont know what Beato´s furniture are doing here) she again doesnt move, and doesnt seem to notice, all her movements are void from intention she only performs to entertain others and while Suas body language expresses her shyness Mizi is NOTHING but doll, nothing of her personality can be seen.
And they superpose the images of Mizi being tied by the goat men for the knife game to Mizi in the idol industry being objectified.
One of the goat men does this hip movement when mizi is tied that implies sexual activities and the other goat guy throws a knife at Mizis face whith that fake smile and fake happy/seductive expression and the face lands in Mizi´s face, the same face that is now completely destroyed.
Now you cant see how fake her act is.
Mizi became a sucessesfull idol and now they use her as a walking thirstrap. Sexualized and objectified beyond redemption.
And its eating Mizi alive
Do you remember that confusing thing with Mizi´s eye colour? That always changes between golden and green?
Well, this is Mizi´s eyes before the audition whith Sua
They not have only loose their brightness bt also the color gets less and less bright getting this greenesh shade
I have two theories about this because none of them made perfect sense
Mizis eyes are more Yellow the happier she is, and turn more greenish the worse she feels.
Mizis eyes are more yellow usually, and turn more green the more she lies to herself and to others.
I think the second one is the best take to be honest. In Alien Stage round 1 when Mizi is showing Sua that she passed to graduate Anackt and during most part of ALSNT round 1 in general her eyes are green
When she was with Sua in Anakt we know she was genuenly happy so if her eyes are green it that scenes it must meant that she wasnt but we know she was happy when she was with Sua.
The green lie theorie is more plausible for me because even at that time in Anakt Mizi was lying to others and to herself.
She lied about being naive enought to not know that the losers died, she lied to Sua faking that she didnt know that she was planing sacrificing herself and she lied to herself that she was the villain that planned it all to cope with the lack of control she had over the loss of all the people she cared about, and we know very well that helplesness is one of Mizis biggest fears, trading her innocence for control even if its all a lie to herlsef is very coherent with her character.
And we also know that she truly loved singing with Sua and in Karma we have this shot
And her eyes are golden. In all of scenes in karma they are golden because in Karma Mizi finally snaped.
When she tries to talk with Sua before round 1 they are golden. When she fights with Hyuna they are golden, when she shots Isaac they are golden, when she beats Luka they are golden.
But when she smiles after Sua gave her more lines in "My clematis"
Going back to Zombie Stage.
Sua gifts Mizi a bouquet of flowers in the back stage. Again we have a shot of their hands togeter, but this time Mizi is taking the flowers away and Sua is trying to reach
The interesting thing about this flowers is THAT THEY ARE CLEMATIS
SUA GAVE MIZI CLEMATIS FLOWERS, but Mizi took them away, gave them to her staff and continue to smile fakely at Sua and ignoring her
She next part is JUICY, We are shown parts of the bodies of Zombies that sang in Zombie Stage before, parts that not too long we learn are choped off and action from the looser of each round
The first two are from people we dont know and no way of knowing if they are important, at the beguining there was a Zombie with one arm missing but we cannot be sure is the same guy from here.
The important part is this one
This are Mizi´s eyes, AND ONCE MORE, THEY ARE GREEN. Because like we will learn in a bit, Mizi was living a lie when she was transformed into a zombie. The description of this eyes are "The eyes of love" I guess for the fake loving look of Mizi´s eyes when she is working as an idol and "Perfect gift" this one im not sure hat it means.
More scenes of Mizi being exploted, sexualized and objectified even portaying her with MEN. We know what Mizi thinks about being near men in sexual context
The next scene is the breaking point.
Mizi and Sua are walking together at dusk. Like the first scene with the rat.
Mizi is about to smoke a cigarette but Sua takes it from her (Repeat after me, Mizi doent like her agency taken away because that happens to her too often and now Sua has done it to her. SUA)
And Mizi hits her. (And her eyes are green again)
Its not even the first time we see Mizi hit Sua when she looses her shit. We have no dialogue but Sua is obviously scolding her for smoking cause its bad for her health
Mizi looks away from Sua beause I bet its not pretty to hit the love of your live, Sua clings to Mizi´s arm but Mizi gets away until Sua hugs her, and Mizi doesnt move.
Sua cries holding Mizi, We dont see Mizi hug her back but she looks VERY upset. Like VERY upset.
She could be upset because of how her life ended up being, because she hit her girlfriend and now she feels guilty, because Sua is annoying, because she needs nicotine and a lot of reasons with the info we have.
But once again we get a paralel scene
This is Mizi from the very first scene, she is the same age, wears the same clothes, has the same haircut and has the bruise in the same place.
But this has to happen earlier than her encounter with the rat and Sua, there is no blood on her face and her eye´s sclerotic is not red yet.
The woman hugging her is obviously her mother, we got a glimpse at her at the ALSNT comic that recontextualized Mizi´s whole character so welcome back, congrats for not being crushed to death by accident this time.
This shot has three possible meanings, once again there is one think has mos probabilities of being true.
Someone in their family abuses Mizi and her mother
Someone in their family abuses Mizi
The abussive mother route its the more likely giving the clues. Mizi lets go of Sua after this flashback
Mizi has a bruise in her cheek because someone hit her, her mother is hugging her and when she remembers that she pushes Sua away, a woman she just hitted and that was hugging her.
Abusers usually dont abuse 100% of the time, abuse victims are manipulared but they are not stupid, no one will be with someone who mistreats them in every interaction.
To maintain control over their victim AND OR (because it can be both at the same time) guilt over the harm they caused abusers tend to show care, and love and understanding to their victims.
They hit you but then they hug you and cry and apologise because they didnt want to and they are so sorry. That is how they trap their victims, because beside the suffering in that dinamic they are also shown sweetness. Thats why its so difficult for the victims to get out or search for help. (There are more factors but this post isnt about that)
What most likely happened is that Mizi was hit by her mother, and her mother then hugged her and apologise while making excuses
When Mizi realized shes in a similar situation she pushes Sua away and yells at her. We dont know what she says, but her face and corporal expresion she seems to be mocking Sua and being cruel to her on purpose.
An option is telling her that she cant say anything to her because Mizi is a famous idol and Sua was rejected.
Once agan her eyes are greenish, but not as much.
So shes not being sincere but not entirely lying, we know from ALSNT that part of Mizi´s atracttion for Sua comes from the fact that she feels stronger than her, more capable than her, better than her. It doesnt need much to reconteztualize that.
But then Mizi starts crying and her eyes are golden once more, she didnt want to hurt Sua but she knows she did, she is being used by the idol industry and she hurted the person she loves the most, so she runs.
In ALNST its stablished that Sua chose to die in Mizi´s instead because she cant live without her. But in this setting Mizi is not only suffeing she is also pushing Sua away.
We are seeing this scene from Sua´s pov since Mizi started yelling and probably we still are seeing what Sua´s sees when Mizi runs and we witness a zombie going after her
Im not saying Sua let the zombie get Mizi because that way she could be with her but its definetly a posibility.
Back at the stage we are.
Even if we break its all right
Proof of love that makes us tingle
Melting away completely just like this
At last we become perfectly whole
Sua sings this whole part alone and I think its reflecting the scene we will se after this in wich Sua sneaks where the zombies are kept to see Mizi.
This time, a direct reference that Sua and Mizi are a unit.
How light spreads for Sua´s face as she smiles more and more in this scene is part of that. Sua now is with Mizi, and one of the themes of Zombie Stage is that its a never ending show. Now Sua doesnt have to feat being away grom Mizi ever again
When they are posing with the goat men we get a close up of Mizi´s and Sua´s faces. Mizi´s shot doesnt change, she remains unexpresive and only moving to perform, but Sua´s face changes to look at her.
More shots of their fans and again, like when Mizi passed the audition but Sua didnt, Mizi moves forward towards the audience and Sua stays behind
Smile, its okay, its okay
Still, its all beautifull, its okay
Both Mizi and Sua sing this one, and while Mizi is saying it because the song says it for the fans, to keep liking Mizi beautifull and lovely even when she is a zombie and when she doesnt have a face or a identity because there is no problem because she is still hot. It doesnt matter if they turned a woman into a product because she is still pretty enought to be sell
Sua is saying it about Mizi. Mizi is undead, her eyes were took off, she is not aware of her suroundings anymore and nothing in her sugest that a thinking person is still there. But she is no longer loosing Mizi over and over again. Mizi cant get away from her and she will never stop loving her no matter what.
Together until the end (Sua)
Not scary at all, at all (Sua)
This place is already paradise (Mizi)
As they have been doing, Sua sings about Mizi and her while Mizi that is not even a person of her own anymore (at least that we know) is performing, is saying empty words to the public, some words that in Sua´s eyes do have a meaning cause it express her situation
Im very curious about the use of the word "paradise" This part of the lyrics are in korean, the english comes from the official subtitles so I could be VERY wrong
But the word "paradise" in Alien Stage is connected to Ivan and his feelings for Till, and we see Ivan at the end of the mv. (For those who somehow dont know, Ivan´s second subsong "Paratise" its all about how Ivan thinks that Till is the best thing ever and that if he were a parasite that could live inside of him he would be in paradise. Till is paradise.)
Now look at the image from right before this fragment of the lyrics, Thats Sua´s posture when she is singing that, and I think that is a genuine Sua and while she is singing she switches to make a cute dance, transitioning from genuine to performative. Sua does this a lot in the show, and once again Mizi doesnt.
Sua sneaks where the zombies are kept to see Mizi, and in this shot we see that there are more people tied up in the same place, and that Mizi´s face wasnt that damaged before, but still we dont see her eyes. It could be nothing but the tape coverting her eyes is GREEN
Sua´s shadow towers over Mizi, just like Sua´s shadow towered over that death rat at that first scene, but know the infected one is Mizi.
Now Sua is put in the position of Mizi at the audition,
She´s horrified at what happened to Mizi, she is sad that she was hurt, that she was turned into a zombie and essentially killed,
But now Mizi is withing her grasp. Mizi cant get away now, because Sua only needs to be infected too in order of not being separated from her again.
The lyrics said that to us
Living is fine, dying is fine (Both)
We´re one wherever even if you run away (Both)
(Chorus Sua: You are mine, chu)
We´ll rot away together (Mizi)
Its already established that Sua cannot live without Mizi, and Mizi was getting away when she was an idol.
Now something horrible happened to her, but Sua finally doesnt need to worry about being abandoned, Mizi cant go anywhere and Sua can stay with her. As long as they are together it doesnt matter.
The lyrics are pretty clear with that, the only detail that is also curious is again the use of a word that in this universe is related to another character.
The song name is candy scar I think trying to romantice the jewels that grow in the body of the Zombies but I think its at least worth mentioning that "Scar" is one of Till´s themes
Till´s post time skip desing is very characterized by his scars, that piece of missing ear and the scratches at his neck, one of his most important comics is also called Scars and his second sub song, that is the final piece of his character arc is also named "Scars" and in the chorus he says "Scars remember everything"
That links directly to Ivan, because Scars is the direct cofirmation of what many people still denies, Till corresponded ivan´s feelings. In that song Till is talking to him after he healed and while Ivan wanted to be forgotten to not be something that hurted Till he instead turned into a scar
Scars are whats left after a wound heals, and Till was also the character that more often we saw injured by far.
We had Paradise before and now Scar.
As I say it could mean nothing or it could mean things.
I have been repeating this like a broken record but here it comes again.
Focus on Mizi and Sua´s hands and the lack of agency or action Mizi shows. Sua´s posture is straight, she is firm and she is holding Mizi´s hand, Mizi is leaning and she is not holding back Sua´s hand, Mizi has always been insanely clingy when it comes to Sua but now she is neither rejecting her because she is going throught things, neither corresponsing.
We get a glimpse of Mizi and Sua on happier days and they annouce the results, once again Sua looses.
Sua changes the way she holds Mizi´s hand. Mizi seems to react but doesnt reciprocate.
Sua gets closer and we see overlapped three moments in wich Sua kissed Mizi.
That thay Mizi killed the rat, When Mizi became a Zombie and Sua sneaked in, very probably the moment Sua got infected, and right now when the show ends and Sua has lost again.
Sua´s bittersweet smile :c
Because Mizi isnt even inside that head anymore. She doesnt react to Sua´s touch until Sua is already kissing her
HYUNA YOU FREAK WHY ARE YOU BLUSING
She is disgusted in the next shot, but that is normal so the one that intrigues me is this, She looks like someone who just fell in love ar first sight akfjshfksjgh
now the reason why I think we dont have to worry about the losers being killed.
Sua looses so the goat guys grab her while Mizi sings and in the screens we see "auction"
They extend Sua´s arm on a table and we have seen that they chop off parts of the idols before, we say Mizi´s eyes after all.
Mizi stops singing either to breathe in or because she finally realized that her wife is being butchered but someone else continues with the song.
Someone is whistleing the same song and we have a shot of the rat at the beguining and RAIN starts to fall.
RAIN LIKE THE ONE OF ROUND 6 AND THAT TILLS MENTIONS IN SCARS
And right before the credits roll, MY BOY IS BACK
Ivan is back ladies and gentlemen, im so NOT used to see Ivan chained that untill I locked in and saw the dark hair and the fang I thought it was Till.
He breathes out, a bit like referencing the breathe in of Mizi earlier and it ends there.
Mizi and Sua have mayor parts of their faces gone, that part of them is crystalized. Ivan interestingly doesnt, his face is mostly untouched and the crystalized parts we see are on his wrist and in his neck
For now we dont hav anything so the only thing left to do is to wait for round 2 or for a comic.
The last thing I want to coment is this post I saw on bluesky
This person is absolutley right.
We know they took Mizi´s eyes, and the eyes at the logo are greenish too, they chop off Sua´s arm at the end of round 1 and she wears long cloves, and the arm at the logo ALSO wears long gloves. So probably that intestines and that heart that we also see at the logo are parts that they took from Ivan and Till.
In the panflet shown at the teaser Zombie Stage only had two rounds and then a Grand Finale only for Luka so it would make sense that the parts are from the contestants that are actually competing agains each other. Hyuna is not referenced because in Zombie Stage she is an external factor much more than she already was in Alien Stage and Luka is his own thing.
Luka could be the Bunny in the logo if he is there but lets not get ahead with so little info.
I liked it a lot, I missed them so much and they are back and they are suffering again because we cant have anything pretty in this world
I cant wait to see what happens next.
stormborns
pixelskylines
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