[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 back to our weekly deep dive of the ATEEZ diary books! We are now on the third entry of the Zero: Fever Part 2 diary book, which focuses on San.
The members have just narrowly escaped the android guardians thanks to the trickery of Hongjoong, which you can catch up on here: Part 1 & Part 2. Today, we will be discussing the page in general, and we will return next week for our analysis of it. (My apologies for the lateness--my excuse is that I thought I had scheduled this and I didn't, which in fact, isn't much of an excuse at all.)
01: what are your thoughts on the page?
GD: Our second page of this diary is San, which is interesting, because the order itself must be important. They are not going in the normal ATEEZ order.
BobbyJ: What was our line of importance last week?
GD: It was the "what matters now"
BobbyJ: I didn't mark the line in the outro either. Why am I falling apart?
Okay. I've caught up
GD: Well I was reading part 2 of our Halazia study and it's upsetting how wrong we were given what we discovered in the world diary
BobbyJ: What were we wrong about?
GD: The walls around strictland. Just our whole conversation about it reads as totally insane. Not necessarily wrong, but stupid in light of the fact that we had the answer
BobbyJ: Right. We weren't wrong necessarily. Just a little dumb. Which according to Wooyoung is okay
GD: Right. Okay, to start officially, what are your thoughts on San's page? I still think it's of note that we start with San's page
BobbyJ: I haven't even read it yet. I've been dealing with my own incompetence
GD: I guess I'm a little surprised that San doesn't seem more.... happy? Like I know the guardians and all that, but as the one for whom the group was important... he seems sort of disconnected from the group? He talks about the setting, but doesn't join the others in their playing.
BobbyJ: So this is one of my issues with the remaining Fever diaries as a whole. For the most part, it almost doesn't seem to matter who is speaking. Because a lot of the entries are strongly narrative and, excepting a few entries, you could easily switch out who's narrating
GD: Well we get more of the blessed Bobo here, so can only be San
BobbyJ: Could be Wooyoung though. But I guess I could argue that San is still processing what's happening. I have a note to myself to track his emotional insight and I feel that matches up with someone who is taking everything in before acting out
GD: Here's my problem
BobbyJ: Only one? Impressive
GD: Why bring up Bobo now? What relevance does Bobo have to the really important information that San does give us, which I didn't ever notice because I've always been so distracted by Bobo. San tells us that this space is basically almost exactly the same as the reality they came from? Like geographically, they are able to walk the same paths and know where they're going in the dark because they've spent so much time around the warehouse in their own world. What's different is the water is cut off--which matches what we learn in World 1 Diary--that they've made little bubbles to cut the places off from each other. So they are presumably at the edge of a bubble right now.
So why bring up Bobo.
What does Bobo give us? They could've just told us that it was the cliff face they used to dance at the edge of, or look at the water on the horizon. Why Bobo. It has to be to tell us something about Wooyoung's character, right? That he is the type of person to save something for the people he cares about?
BobbyJ: I think first that San is just making connections. He's recording his own thoughts. So, he sees that cliff (??? I have so many questions about the geography) and his strongest memory there is when Woo saved his childhood toy/plushie/???. So it's not necessarily that Bobo is important to the story as a whole but that it's important to San. So as he's taking in his surroundings and realizing how similar it is, he's making those emotional connections. Because that's the sort of person he is.
GD: My understanding of this geography is basically that it's a cliff with a small valley at the bottom that has a river running through it.
BobbyJ: Right. Is Seoul known for its cliffs? I've always assumed that's where this was meant to be set. Or is it supposed to be entirely fictional?
GD: Having never been to Seoul, I have genuinely no idea. But I would assume it would have to be outside of the city center a bit just for the fact that there does seem to be an abandoned warehouse for people to congregate at. They do talk about going to the Han river. So it can't be entirely fictional... and likely not too far outside of Seoul
BobbyJ: I'm just going to. . . put that down.
I find it interesting that San describes the Guardians as "creatures.” Also that he says "I would not have believed all the sayings about the different dimensions and the Cromer." Which implies that Hongjoong has told everyone what's up at this point. So I guess quite a bit of time has passed since the escape
GD: Right, I was going to say the same thing. We're left to infer a lot about how this escape has gone. And looking ahead to Wooyoung's entry, we will be left to infer even more. Too distracted by Bobo
BobbyJ: Also I've never realized it's nighttime. Which makes it weirder to me that they're playing around instead of seeking shelter or food or something
GD: I guess... well, here's my thought:
The fact that they're "playing" is more of a strange translation thing? And it means more like, hanging out and laughing and being the group that they once were. So, I think this is supposed to show their general happiness and having found one another again in spite of the terrible circumstances. Which is why I guess it's notable to me that San isn't joining them
BobbyJ: It makes perfect sense to me though. I think he's meant to be very observant and he seems to be taking in their situation at a much slower pace than the others? Or maybe they aren't taking it in at all, just sort of going with the flow. Maybe that's why we start with him. He notices how similar things are to the other world, perhaps before the others do. I think that would be a side effect of moving so much
GD: San, as the one who often has to leave, would probably be more cautious by nature too--more distrusting of this new found togetherness
BobbyJ: It's a survival skill you learn when your environments constantly change
GD: Right. It does make sense. I still struggle with Bobo. But I suppose I'm willing to put it down
BobbyJ: Well, we discussed last time that Bobo was like San's tie to familiarity? So, he could still be searching for that familiarity. An anchor in the chaos. He hasn't yet learned that Ateez could be that anchor for him. A stretch, yes.
GD: It was sort of where I went too though. Bobo is his constant, and this is where Bobo fit into the world. (I do also think it tells us something about Wooyoung that's important too)
BobbyJ: It's interesting that we specifically learn a lot about Woo in other members' entries.
Why does he say "our" Bobo. Why not "my" Bobo? I know pronouns can get weird when moving from language to language, so maybe just a translation issue?
GD: Yeah, and I think 'our' specifically can have further nuance? Like it could mean cared about by multiple people. Or even like a beloved item? If he means our in a literal sense, it does give more evidence of it being a pet that was adopted by all the boys in the warehouse. That just seems unlikely to me given that San is normally the one who mentions Bobo
BobbyJ: I don't like the pet angle because if that's the case, where is it now? I just feel like Bobo is a bottomless pit of questions. And I am just going to pretend it's a plushie from San's childhood that he once dropped off a cliff accidentally that Wooyoung brought back up for him
GD: I agree. I also think thematically, it tells us more about Wooyoung saving Bobo if it's a stuffed animal than an actual pet. A lot of people would save a living creature. Not as many would save a toy for an arguably grown boy
BobbyJ: We see repeatedly that Woo cares a lot about other people in very tangible ways. Mingi calls it being "nosy" because he knows how it feels to be on the receiving end. But that's for later
GD: I will throw the diary and my ateez collection away if Twitter ends up right and Woo is a traitor. That's how strongly I feel that he's not a traitor
BobbyJ: Name one time twitter was right about something other than hair colors
GD: I have some questions about the last line and about what we read last week
"What Hongjoong had thrown out the window was a piece of glass similar to the Cromer, not the real Cromer."
What. Similar to the Cromer how? Did this piece of glass happen to be Cromer shaped? Or was it just shiny and this is them like.... idk
BobbyJ: I told you the guardians are dumb
GD: We talked about how stupid it was that the AGs were fooled by it, but here even San said it was similar
BobbyJ: Similar in that they are both glass is what I'm thinking. Or perhaps it was glass broken from like a drinking glass or old hourglass or something. But Hongjoong says it's "under" his foot. So idk
GD: It just reads like perhaps all of ATEEZ also thought the thing that HJ threw was the Cromer, and they're relieved that it wasn't actually.
BobbyJ: I feel like they didn't all see clearly what was happening. It is dark after all. But one would expect androids not to be hindered by darkness.
My thing is that narratively, I don't understand why the AGs don't take the cromer straight away since we're about to lose it again in the very next scene. So since everything has a purpose per Bible Study guidelines, what's the point of the episode with the glass?
GD: I think the moment of togetherness (that San doesn't really partake in) is pretty important narratively, actually. Because I do get the feeling that the rest of them are relieved to be together--like this is the "oh being together is important" moment.
BobbyJ: It's an odd choice for it to happen off-screen so to speak. That our narrator is thinking his own thing while this important reunion is happening
GD: Right--that's why it's so notably weird to me that San is not here in the moment that matters. Like I understand why for his character, but it's weird.
BobbyJ: Like, what San is doing makes sense for his character but not for the story as a whole
GD: Yes. It's like last week, we saw Hongjoong say 'what matters is the group', and now, we see the rest of the group saying the same thing. But San is over here like 'and that's where Bobo was'
BobbyJ: I think that by limiting themselves to 8 first-person entries plus intros/outros, they couldn't tell as much story as needed to be told. Because I feel that the group having a reunion and realizing how important it is to be together is a necessary plot development (if a bit early maybe), but we're left to infer that's what happens. Because the narrator they chose for this segment is internalizing things rather than celebrating. You get a much clearer understanding of the story in TWM I think because they didn't use first person narrators
GD: Which, is an interesting choice in itself, and I do want to hit on that when we get there. If we watched the diary film, would we see a cromer shaped object just chilling in the warehouse pre Halajoong giving it to HJ. Sorry, I'm still stuck on the piece of glass. We should probably do our sacred practice. Which is to build a sermon with a line that sticks out to us oh no
BobbyJ: It would be amazing if there were a Chekhov's piece of glass
GD: I feel like there has to be. If only I look hard enough for it.
And that's it for our thoughts on San's page! Next week we will be back to build our sermon around it and try to build some meaning from it!
Let us know your thoughts on Bobo or anything else that stuck out to you!
Comments