ATEEZ: idk give us the cowboy dancer latin romance street food wedding chili pepper tarot psychic flash mob silk suit cinematic bald cap court drama

director: anything else

Okay, so this is something I know others have noticed too, but I've never seen anyone really connect the dots here, and after the Golden Hour 5 concept trailer, I feel the need to put it out there.

I think Sopro has had it out for Hongjoong since the beginning. Hear me out.

It starts in Ice on my Teeth, when it's heavily implied that the members are chess pieces, with Hongjoong as our King.

But if you watch Ice on my Teeth, other than the group dances and one shot of him surrounded by ballerinas, our Pirate King is completely isolated by himself in the mansion.

And there's one shot of the King with his head cut off.

The mirror is cracked and the crack runs right through Hongjoong's neck, cutting his head off. A fallen King, isolated alone.

This was the warning that danger was coming for our Captain. Something was going to capture our King.

Then we have Lemon Drop, which I know everyone also caught. Yunho (or at least I think it's Yunho) locks Hongjoong in a hot car during a heatwave. Isolating our Captain again.

He even wakes up and stares into the camera while lightning flashes like he's aware that something is wrong. And when he...teleports into the elevator he still looks haunted. He knows he's being manipulated.

And since Lemon Drop (imho) is the shared dream Sopro gave them after Wooyoung activated it then this is all Sopro's doing. Sopro went after the Captain the second it could.

Then there's In Your Fantasy, where Hongjoong, bathed in red light, rips off his Captain's armband, something Hongjoong would never do.

THIS IS A WARNING.

He's being manipulated, his power over ATEEZ being usurped by something stronger. He's not in control.

Sopro is.

Then we have Ash, where Hongjoong seems to be trapped on a Moebius strip. Once again isolated. Is this a timeloop? Was this inevitable?

Then in Adrenaline, everything falls apart again when Wooyoung and Sopro invade and take over the space pirates bunker. Hongjoong starts the video in control, the Black Pirates in perfect lockstep around him.

But by the end, after a Yunho vs the other members fight, they have fully succumbed to Sopro's power. The Captain is no longer in charge.

And that brings us to the Golden Hour Part 5 concept trailer.

Hongjoong seems to be the one fighting Sopro's influence the most. He seems, more than anyone, to know that Something is Wrong.

Which is why Sopro is once again drawing a target on our Captain's back.

Asdfghjkl there’s SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE

Aside from the Mean Girls of it all (!?!)

“Someone’s married”

“Getting summoned to court”

“He’s in the back”

The lowercase “e” below a portal?? Next to Sopro

Bad, Boy, Ateez, A to Zee

11 (???)

“GOLDEN HOUR NEVER ENDS” (!!!!!!)

And the one that made me scream:

“A ❤️ ? <- Chase her”

Like the ? from the balloon? The third dimension???

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON

general points: everyone in the mv is serving all the time and the styling is impeccable, especially the backup dancers during mingi’s rap but that might just be me being a lesbian

into the interesting potential lore!:

there’s a bird guy at the barbershop

for some reason, the barbershop has a yeosang shrine, which bird guy is looking at

when sopro’s eyes turn red, bird guy’s (who’s looking at the yeosang shrine) eyes also turn red