[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit. You can find an explanation of what Bible Study is all about here.]
Today, we are taking a look at Jongho's page and really having all of the feelings. Our discussion took place shortly after Jongho's injury and hiatus were announced, so we both really went through it as we watched him struggle with his feelings in the diary book. And now you can really go through it with us as we all think about just how great Jongho the character and Jongho the boy is.
GD: Shall we?
Bobby: Let me get situated
A page that isn't black background with white text, I'm so excited
And also ready
GD: It feels very Halloween
Well. . . I'm devastated after reading it
Bobby: Timing is terrible. Was it San or Hwa who was talking the other day about Jongho coming to the practice room just because he wanted to see everyone
GD: I think it was Hwa, but I can't be sure
Alright, one of us should recap this page. We need someone here who isn't going to be devastated by the act of reading it. I don't know who that person is, but I feel like this is going to be a trying experience for me. So let's just get started.
01: where are we in the story thus far?
Bobby: Well, narratively (leading up to this page), we haven't yet moved on from the last two recaps we've done. Jongho was in the trash cave, Yunho was confronting Left Eye
Our last entry was just some exposition about the world--the second industrial revolution, people live to 200, school lasts for 40 years
I think the one important thing we decided on was that the industrial revolution and Z taking over aren't the same thing. We were well into the revolution before we had the technology to develop a sophisticated AI
GD: Right. We don't recap the page
Bobby: No.
GD: We recap where we are in the story
Bobby: Yes
GD: I'm all a mess. It's fine
Bobby: It's been a minute
A quick note:
So, as you know bc I've said like 20 times, my children are reading The Giver. They recently did a short writing assignment about why people in power fear citizens being too intelligent. We were practicing finding evidence to support a claim and one of the quotes we pulled from the Giver was about how the citizens only have three books: a dictionary, a description of all the community jobs or roles, and a rule book.
And it reminded me of the "basic knowledge and simple principles for living in this world"
GD: Mmmm yes
You don't need to know anything beyond what is helpful for furthering the current state of the world
02: thoughts on the page
GD: I have a couple that stood out
The first being the clear fear from Jongho about being left alone instead of other Feelings about basketball
Bobby: Yes, I was just thinking about that
GD: And then the "the Grimes girl found her voice back" is an interesting phrasing--not 'we found her voice'
We've long suspected for Jongho that basketball wasn't really The Thing, but, we really see it here. The "take me with you" is particularly heartbreaking
Bobby: "The Grimes girl found her voice back" suggests there's story that we're not privy to. Which is often the case, but feels very in-your-face here
Was it Murklins who said that for Jongho it was the team not the sport?
Someone said it
But with the way that Jongho switched so easily from basketball team to music group, it seems it's the people and companionship he craves, not necessarily the thing they're in pursuit of
And it makes sense why he reacted so violently to Mingi leaving
GD: There is a note in the first diary I believe where he says he realized that music is The Thing
but it's hard to know if that's true, or if the The Thing is really this group of people, you know?
Bobby: Tangent alert
GD: Okay. I do have further thoughts on Grimes girl I will be returning to at some point. Saying that now so I don't forget
Bobby: My honors class read Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark, which is an insane story. Premise is that Aylmer is a scientist who has married a beautiful wife who has a little birthmark on her face. Aylmer considers the birthmark a gross imperfection and convinces her to allow him to use (what sounds like) alchemy to remove it. He has a dream in the middle of the story that he basically has to dig the birthmark out of her heart. The narrator notes that we are our truest, most honest selves in dreams
And I see that here--I don't think a waking Jongho would admit that he's really lonely without his teammates and then without his friends. But dream Jongho can and does. In a way
GD: I do think that makes sense, especially with who Jongho appears to be as a character. We've noted too that most of his entries are not very internal and are sort of dry. Where we get his deep thoughts are in these dream-like sequences
What if my whole heart breaks
Anyways.
Bobby: Grimes girl
GD: Yes, on the Grimes girl. A major theme in a lot of ATEEZ's music is finding an inner strength and realizing we have the power inside ourselves. A theme of 'waking up' so to speak. And if the Grimes girl really does find her own voice, I think that would be thematically resonant. It also reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind--we can take these memories (like how to speak) from you and remove them, but you knew how once, and you can learn again.
Bobby: I'd always interpreted it as another member had found it and returned it to her--you know how translations can be a bit off. But I do like the idea that GG was involved in the search and found it herself. And it would make what happens to her in the end make more sense because it shows a bit more progression. She was obviously afraid or maybe just reticent to go get her voice herself--she knew where it was. But after meeting Ateez, she felt a bit more courage. And that leads her to have a lot of courage later.
GD: This is how I'd interpreted it too. It was only on this read through I thought maybe she had found it herself
[Editor’s note: We go off on a whole tangent/rant about twitter and entitled concert-goers here. It has been cut for everyone’s sanity. And for maintenance of good vibes.]
Bobby: Grimes Girl
Did we have anything else to say about her?
GD: No except that canonically, I'm filing it away as a 'she saved herself'
Bobby: Two plot notes: 1. Yeo's gas mask seems to be functional, 2. The smoke isn't immediately effective. We've already talked about how/why Jongho isn't wearing a gas mask
GD: I imagine the smoke as like a slow descent into madness. Like it takes a while for you to start to see things that aren't there. I don't know if that makes sense
Or like, maybe you see one or two things, but it takes a while to be transported into a whole new memory. But we've also talked about how maybe some people, particularly those with undealt with trauma, may be more susceptible to it
Though yes, this does answer the question of whether or not these gas masks work at all. They do; Yeosang's does.
Bobby: I do like the idea that dealing with and accepting your past makes you less susceptible to the smoke, but I don't know that it's fully supported by the text. Bc, like you said, maybe Yeo's mask just works and Jongho's didn't
Clearly, Yeo's mask works ON Jongho
GD: Right
Bobby: We could go fully off book and say that it's not the mask at all but Yeo's presence that is keeping Jongho grounded in reality. Yeo pulls him out of the dream before he even puts the mask on his face
GD: Interesting. I don't hate it
Bobby: Presumably, there aren't 8 full gas masks to go around--ten if the Grimes siblings are also wearing them. All of the members seem to be doing jobs in the smoke. So maybe it's being with each other that helps.
GD: I think in a community where isolation is expected and encouraged, that also makes sense
Bobby: Isolation unless you're in a controlled environment like Prestige
GD: Even then, don't you get the impression that students talking to and interacting with each other isn't actively encouraged? Except for the 'ruling class' of Thunder
Also, I do love that KQ has been selling me the villain merch for years, and I didn't realize
Bobby: I remember reading that and thinking "Are you sure, KQ? This is really the name you're going with?"
GD: I assume the intern has her reasons
[Editor’s note: It has been recently confirmed that “The Intern” is in fact a “she” and we here at Auntiny & Co. rejoiced.]
Or that someone forced the intern to change the name for their own reasons
Someone at KQ has Reasons
Bobby: Wait--wasn't it Jongho's knee that was injured?
IRL, I mean. Right now.
Am I confused
GD: I think so. And that's what Twitter thinks, but as far as I know, KQ never clarified where the injury was located. They said it was related to a prior injury, but he's had a prior ankle injury and a prior knee injury
Bobby: I've read two reviews of the concert now that both say it was an ankle injury
GD: His last announced injury pre this one was an ankle injury at the LA concert. KQ made an official announcement about how he hurt his ankle on the stage and that he would be missing the second concert, etc.
But, people assumed this time when KQ said that this injury was related to his prior injury that they meant his injury from when he got hurt in that bus accident, which was his knee.
Bobby: Huh
Okay
The theme of this bible study is "not being on topic"
GD: I do wonder if our hearts and minds can't fully tune to this page because of the real life injury that Jongho is currently suffering from
it is a lot to look directly into the face of
Bobby: I don't know if it's that or if I'm just generally distracted today bc it's Sunday and atiny twitter must be in shambles
GD: Perhaps a combination
Any other thoughts on the page?
Bobby: I don't think I'm capable of further Thoughts
I also feel like this is the diary I'm most familiar with for whatever reason, so I don't have a lot of new thoughts
Praise and prayer time?
GD: Yes
03: praise and prayer
GD: I very excitingly have several praises
One, Mingi and Hongjoong look incredible for altered states, and I'm so happy for them. Two, ateez went live several times this week and gave us excellent info--like San and Seonghwa updating us on Jongho, and Yunho talking about Wooyoung almost missing the platform in Sunrise and how funny he thought it was. And three, Yunho's ice cream prince look at the Singapore concert
Bobby: I'm introducing a new thing which is a prayer request--a thing that is bothering me that I wish to release
I ordered a Season Songs Jongho that has gone into the usps ether and no one knows where it is. It hasn't been that long, but we all know about my track record with 2ho and the mail
GD: Oh no 😦
May he find his way to safety
[Editor’s Note: He did.]
Bobby: For good things, I am happy about my cricut which is tangentially Ateez related. I am happy about the PCs that have made it to me safely this week.
I am happy about all the things they've been hinting at that are coming "soon"
GD: Hongjoong saying they all shot things in the US has me very excited
Bobby: Oh and my PC binders being finished
GD: A lot to be happy for!
Be the light
Bobby: Halazia
We will be back next week to continue our discussion of Jongho's page by each building our own sermon around a line from it. Until then, may the light of Halazia guide you, and may Jongho be resting and recovering well.
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