[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit, and we are archiving the posts here on our site. You can find the original Bible Study posts here.]
Welcome, friends, to another week of Bible Study. Today we're taking a look at Jongho's page as he heads off on a solo (?) adventure.
01: what are your thoughts on the page?
GD: So we shall start: what are your thoughts on the page?
I have a lot of them, but the thing that really sticks out to me is the last paragraph where it seems like he believes Strictland is the dream
BobbyJ: My first thought is of course Jongho's the one they send into a scary cave. My second thought is do the gas masks even work? Or did he take it off at some point? My third thought is I find it hilarious that he seems already so over the science fiction aspects of Strictland
GD: It's nice that he says what we're all thinking: "I don't even know how someone can abandon a voice and find it back"
BobbyJ: "the new energy extraction thing"
That line rings with exhaustion to me. Perhaps I'm projecting
GD: It's very practical. He's like look, I've never seen a voice before, so if you want me to find this, you're going to have to tell me what it looks like.
I had not noticed before that the energy inside it is specifically said to be blue. Well, we've discussed this specific part before after Halazia came out, so I'd probably noticed it, but I hadn't really thought about it in consideration with our growing color theory thoughts
BobbyJ: There are a lot of details to track
I am, once again, struggling with the timeline. His first line about how he hears a basketball but feels he's misheard tells me that we're in media res, but this is before he's fully drunk on smoke. Actually, I suppose I'm not struggling with the timeline. Just that I never noticed before that him getting drunk is a process not instantaneous like I'd assumed before
GD: Yeah, it seems to slowly affect him as he goes deeper in this cave. I have a lot of questions about the gas mask and why they thought that would work.
BobbyJ: Where did they get it? The Grimes I suppose, but why would they have it if it doesn't protect against the smoke? Perhaps the smoke is particularly concentrated here?
GD: Yeah, that was sort of my line of questions too. They didn't come with a mask, so someone had to have given it to him, which could only be the Grimes. But if the Grimes have it and think it will protect them, why doesn't it work for Jongho?
BobbyJ: The yellow smoke is kind of reminding me of the Harry Potter Mirror of Erised. As in, people seem to hallucinate the thing they most want
GD: I was thinking about that too, but Jongho changed his mind on basketball at the end of Diary 1--he seemed to suggest that the thing he truly wanted now was music, not basketball, and that maybe he never really wanted basketball anyways
BobbyJ: It's hard to 180 like that so suddenly though. Perhaps there's a part of him that secretly wanted basketball to still be the thing. He may have regressed the more time went by after things fell apart
GD: I don't know.. I don't think so. I'd be more likely to think it was a "he wished for a simpler time" if it's showing what they want and not just past moments of happiness
BobbyJ: Or like, the desire for fulfillment but in this moment with all the strange things happening, that desire manifests as his old basketball dreams instead of the new dream that recently fell apart
GD: Yeah, the line "I was looking for something, but I couldn't remember what it was" feels very layered to me, but perhaps I'm just reading into it. Because, yes, he was literally looking for the voice, but he was also looking for his dreams, looking for what he wants to do and be, looking for happiness--and he seems to have forgotten all of those moments in the warehouse too.
(I have no idea if that makes sense, Geoffrey came by and started talking to me, so I lost my train of thought in the middle of it)
BobbyJ: No I get it--he was searching on a literal and metaphorical level
GD: I think that's why to me, this feels like a regression.. not what he actually wants? Like, it's giving him some balm that makes him forget about what he really wants.
BobbyJ: I'm pretty sure there's a fairy tale trope about resisting temptation--like walking in the woods and staying on your path instead of getting distracted. It happens in, I think it's the Two Towers? When Frodo, Sam and Gollum are traveling through the swamp and Frodo gets lured by the lights. It reminds me of that. Being distracted by things you can't have and straying from your path
GD: lol sirens
BobbyJ: stop
GD: But also will o the wisps? Is that what they're called
BobbyJ: Yes. That's what I was searching for
GD: But also the fact that sirens do do a similar thing--a temptation that takes you from the path you want--shows that it is a story trope. A temptation for a character to overcome
Is it the basketball that says 'victory is mine'?
BobbyJ: Yes
GD: This sort of reminds me a bit of Hongjoong? Like, what Hongjoong wanted at the beginning was to be a star. And the whole victory is mine thing implies that Jongho wanted basketball because he wanted to win, which isn't that different.
BobbyJ: Yes, I think we talked about that with Jongho's part 1 entry
GD: We are due for a Jongho main character moment.
BobbyJ: I've been saying
GD: Because he has actually grown and changed a lot, and I feel like we haven't had any focus or shining light on that?
Well, at first I agreed with you because it's Jongho, but now I'm agreeing with you for story reasons.
BobbyJ: I think that narratively speaking the purpose of this entry is to show us how powerful the smoke is by seeing it take down our strongest boy. It helps prepare our hearts for Left Eye
GD: It takes him down easily while he's wearing this gas mask too
BobbyJ: Right. And he doesn't overcome it himself. He needs help
GD: I like the "is it deja vu" line for no other reason than it's one of the next title tracks and I think that's clever
BobbyJ: Would be fun if they had subtle tt hints in all the diaries
GD: I was just wondering if we’d find a hot chili pepper or the word bouncy in world 1 if we looked hard enough. I don’t think we would. But I would be delighted if we did
BobbyJ: No. Confirmed.
GD: 😮💨
I have a lot of questions and I don't know how to phrase them. I feel like I have some sort of point brewing somewhere, but perhaps it's not quite ready to be made
BobbyJ: Perhaps it will come with the writing practice?
I'm just thinking about how if this were a video, I can picture the basketball rolling into frame being the transition into the hallucination
GD: Who's diary entry tells us what the yellow smoke is from?
BobbyJ: I think we don't learn that until part 3. Or maybe epilogue
GD: Ah, no wonder I can't find it here. I wanted to check something. But, perhaps this means the thought needs longer to form.
Anyways, I think it's interesting that the android guardians are getting drunk on the yellow smoke, and that when Jongho inhales it he experiences his past, and I have some unformed thoughts about it
Any other thoughts on this page?
BobbyJ: I don't think so.
GD: This feels fast for us. Should we go on to the sacred practice portion? or break? Isn't this normally all we accomplish for part 1?
BobbyJ: Normally yes. Didn't we also get Jongho part 1 done in one session?
GD: Wow it's like we don't want to spend a lot of time with Jongho, which is obviously the least true thing
BobbyJ: I think it's because he's so practical minded that his entries don't contain a lot of metaphor
Normally, we wold have finished with Patron Saints, but Bible study ended a bit abruptly. We'll be back next week with our sacred writing practice. Do share any Jongho-related thoughts below or let us know who your patron saint of the week is.
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