#it'll get proven wrong for sure but eh who cares

[yujeong]

Does Great actually smoke?

Alright, so there's this really stupid theory/meta/whatever you want to call it that came to me out of the blue and I'd like to share it. As some people have already mentioned, while we've seen Great smoke during episodes 1-5, we never actually saw him smoke during episode 6, aka the episode that showed us what actually happened in the real timeline of events up until Great got shot. (Whether that changes remains to be seen.) To touch on that, let's start from the beginning: When does Great smoke? Episode 1: On the sidewalk before Korn takes it out of his hand, when he's stressed and confused about seeing 4 minutes into the future. Episode 2: He isn't seen smoking. Episode 3: On his balcony, thinking about all the fuckery that has happened with his power, then he notices the clock changing to 11:02 + the lighter scene at the bar Episode 4: He isn't seen smoking. Episode 5: On his balcony after his fight with Korn, then he notices the clock has changed to 11:03. Did you notice a pattern lmao. Besides the fact that he's seen smoking every other ep, the other pattern is that his smoking is inherently related to the 4 minutes ability. There had been a theory a while back when the poster had been shared, which said that 4 Minutes might be deeply connected to fire, instead of water (although it could very well be connected to that as well), because of the colour of the poster:

It's blue/light blue and we know that "the hottest flames are those that burn with a violet, ultra-violet, indigo and blue color," as well as that "these blue and purple flames indicate the presence of a more intense and efficient combustion process, typically reaching higher temperatures than their yellow or red counterparts." (source) All of the above make me think that Great doesn't actually smoke! It's a narrative choice, a metaphor and a way not-real Great can deal with his anxiety in his dream state, instead of the medication he was using in the real timeline. Thematical relevancy aside, why does Great imagine himself smoking when he's not? Well. Here comes my crazy theory. Besides Great, who else from the main cast do we see smoking? TONKLA!

Tonkla's smoking habit is critical to his character in a way, because Korn hates smoking and he hides that he's doing it from him. (I also really, really want to know why he's smoking slim cigarettes specifically, to the point of wanting to tag Sammon on Twitter and ask her about it, but anyway.) Why am I making the connection? Because of this:

My other theory is that Tonkla killed Title and shot Great back to back, on the same night (because he's wearing the same clothes and because it wouldn't make sense to shoot your second target another day at the risk of being caught for the murder of the first). This lead me to believe Tonkla will be smelling of cigarette smoke by the time he reaches Great, which then led me to believe Great's subconscious might have grabbed on that and tried to make sense of it. Hence, "turning" Great into a smoker. Does this make any sense whatsoever? Probably not. Do I care? No, because I crave for Tonkla to have an effect on Great greater (heh) than the bullet inside his stomach :)