#the imagery in this was soo absolutely gorgeous I’m in love

[carebeardean]

🌹❤️🌹DBDA Valentine’s Day fic recs: can’t see the stars for the clouds 🌖🌞 by the beautiful Alex! @tumblerislovetumblerislife

“So, what do you do around here?” Niko asked, when all the introductions had been handled, and she and the cloud goddess – Crystal, a pretty name for a pretty goddess – stood just within sight of Edwin and his sun god suitor. After all, being chosen as a chaperone for this celestial courting was the highest honor imaginable – unless you were the moon god’s best, and maybe only, friend. Or not anymore, by the look of Charles’ easy smile and the loosening line of Edwin’s shoulders, visible even through the veil. Niko sure hoped so. It would be nice for Edwin to get a friend out of this union, at the very least. She hoped for more, but then, she’d always been a romantic.

Or: The star and cloud goddesses must chaperone the courting sun and moon gods. However shall they pass the time?

[penzyroamin]

Hi I know it’s been a bit but I’m the confused bi anon. I really really appreciated your response and it wasn’t too long. You made me feel a lot better. I was wondering if you could maybe suggest some books, tv, movies with bi female characters. Thanks soo much for the entire last response . You are absolutely incredible and so sweet. This means more to me than you could ever know❤️

of course!! i’m glad that my first response helped <3

disclaimer of course: i’m not bi! so i’m not an Authoritative Source on bi rep and what people want to see more of. i do actively seek out stuff about lgbtq+ characters, specifically girls and women, so i have some recs! however, i’ll also be adding some things that some bi folks i know have recommended because while lesbians and bi women have a lot in common, these are at the end of the day representing them, not me :)

extra-super favorites will be bolded! i’m putting this under a read more because... i read a lot of books. and recommended a lot of them.

books:

her royal highness by rachel hawkins-- this book is a pretty easy read-- don’t expect any massive revelations about life from it, and you’ll have a good time!!! essentially, a bi texan girl named millie, after having her heart broken by her friend-turned-sort-of-gf, goes to boarding school in scotland and ends up rooming with the princess, flora. if this sounds outrageous and sappy, that’s because it is! and i love it! sexuality isn’t a BIG part of this book, but it’s discussed, and it’s just a generally fun enemies-to-lovers story about a bi aspiring geologist and a no-fucks-to-give lesbian princess and them falling in love!

fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe by fannie flagg-- hello this is actually my favorite book! unlike hrh it is... a LOT to read. it essentially follows 2 stories-- one about a housewife named evelyn and her friendship with an old woman named ninny threadgoode who she meets at the old folks home her mother-in-law stays at, and the other about the stories ninny tells her about her sister-in-law idgie and her partner, ruth. the book was published in 1987, and ruth and idgie’s story is set during the great depression, so they aren’t actively labeled as lesbian or bi, but it’s made obvious enough through coding and the fact that ruth has relationships with men prior to idgie while idgie spends her entire childhood pining after ruth. both storylines are fantastic-- they have a lot to say about the lives of southern women in the 30s and 80s, and about race relations at both periods. i’ll warn you that there are depictions of extreme racism and of abuse, but it handles both delicately. it’s a critical piece of southern literature, and a landmark for lgbtq+ storytelling. as a bonus, my copy has a bunch of great recipes in the back, so if you read it you might chance upon an edition with those in it. if you like poignant period pieces about wlw relationships, women losing their damn minds, and abusive men getting what they deserve, this is the book for you! you will sob. this is a fair warning.

you should see me in a crown by leah johnson-- i haven’t personally read this one, but i’ve heard great things about it from everyone i know who has! an anxious black bi girl in indiana has to win prom queen at her mostly-white school in order to get enough scholarship money to go to the college of her dreams, but ends up falling for mack, another girl running for queen. 

@landlessbud wanted me to shout out red, white, and royal blue by casey mcquinston-- you’ve almost definitely heard about it before (first son and prince of wales, enemies-to-lovers with a side dish of political drama), and it is primarily about a mlm romance, but nora is a fabulously fun bi girl side character and there’s a lot of great stuff about figuring out your sexuality in it.

leah on the offbeat by becky albertalli-- i’ve read a lot of complex thoughts on this book, and mine are... i like it! it’s flawed, sure, and i wish it had handled a few things a little better, but you know what? it’s cute as fuck! leah is a fat bi drummer, and she’s super cool! abby is a great love interest, and she goes through a whole bi realization throughout the book. all in all, it’s just a fun wlw high school romcom with a couple solid dramatic beats and a lot of goofball shenanigans. also, if you were an american girl kid??? one scene in this book will make the entire experience worth it for you.

harley quinn: breaking glass by mariko tamaki and steve pugh-- hey, we’re in graphic novel territory now! this book is RAD. a really neat look at gentrification, community solidarity, giving people what they deserve, and fantastic lgbtq+ found families. teenage harleen quinzel is taken in by a group of drag queens, and is caught between two sort-of love interests-- mysterious vigilante the joker and classmate and community activist ivy-- and the different forms of protest and resistance they represent. the art here is STUNNING, and it’s a great read!

laura dean keeps breaking up with me, by the great mariko tamaki with art by rosemary valero-o’connell-- the vast majority of the characters are lgbt, with a lesbian main character, and the supporting cast including a bi nonbinary character, a bi girl character, and two mlm characters! this is mostly a piece about modern lgbtq+ teenagers and the way toxic relationships take over our lives. it’s one of the most cathartic things i’ve read in a LONG time, and especially if you’re at a point where your sexuality feels kind of vague, this is a great read because it embraces that vagueness by not needing to clearly label the characters and celebrates whatever point of clarity the characters are at. probably some of the most gorgeous art i’ve ever seen in a book, with a beautiful black-white-and-pink color scheme and a really neat approach to visual storytelling.

movies:

i don’t watch many movies, because i get bored really quickly hskdhskhds. but the movies i DO watch are usually gay!

wowie zowie its fried green tomatoes again!-- fannie flagg came back to adapt this into a film and HOT DAMN is it just as good. the plot is primarily the same, with some stuff obviously cut or trimmed to make it a two hour movie instead of a 450 page books fhsjdhsjhds. mary-louise parker plays ruth!!! it got a GLAAD award and an oscar nomination, and god it’s good. there are a couple scenes in here that i think are going to be in my mind until the day i die. the level of pure butch energy that idgie radiates in this film is a one-hit k.o. and it KILLS me.

birds of prey-- listen. this is not a profound movie. harley’s bisexuality isn’t emphasized, and romance is basically nonexistent in this movie. there is some... quite graphic violence. that said, this movie is so fucking fun. it’s mostly just a bunch of women fucking up everyone who crosses them while margot robbie gives a gleeful performance that you can just TELL she enjoyed the fuck out of. the last 20-30 minutes of this movie are the absolute best part, with a long sequence that kind of reinvented what an action/superhero movie could be for me. again, bisexuality isn’t a massive part of this-- it’s mentioned, and then harley just continues on in her gloriously campy outfits and breaks peoples’ knees. again, i CANNOT overemphasize just how fucking good the last 20-30 minutes are. this movie knows what it is and it embraces it. also, women beating people up in costumes that don’t horrifyingly objectify them is always a plus!

imagine me & you-- i’d be remiss if i didn’t mention this one, considering it’s probably one of the most iconic wlw romcoms. a woman named rachel, while at her own wedding, meets a florist named luce, and they fall in love. it’s a very sweet look at questioning your sexuality when you were already secure in it, and rachel’s husband wins “most genuinely understanding guy in a wlw movie” award. it has a lovely happy ending, and articles have been written about the importance of rachel being a bi character who a) gets a happy ending and b) isn’t shamed for figuring out her sexuality later on or slutshamed. this is just... a sweet movie. it’s the romcom a lot of us need in our lives. also, a LOT of floral imagery.

tv shows:

ok, i’ve got a confession. i reaaaaaaally don’t watch much tv. seriously, the only shows i’ve watched a substantial amount of recently have been parks and rec, schitt’s creek, the good place, and gilmore girls. i have a really REALLY short attention span.

that said, eleanor from the good place is bisexual!! the good place is a really wild ride, it’s half afterlife comedy half philosophical musing, and it will almost certainly make you gasp, laugh, think, and also probably cry. also, eleanor is just buckets of fun and she, like many of us, is often blown away by tahani (jameela jamil) and her beauty.

ummm shows i haven’t watched entirely or at all but that have bi women in them and seem pretty good: black lightning, sex education, jane the virgin, arrow. 

if you haven’t already watched it, do not believe what people are going to tell you about watching glee. it will drag you into a pit of despair and white men rapping, and it’s quite biphobic to top it all off.

i hope you enjoy at least some of these!! i tried to include some of my own favs and some that were pointed out to me, so i hope that at least a couple connect with you and make you feel better. again, the bolded ones are my 100% favorites. i love you and i’m glad you reached out again!!! feel free to send some more asks later on <3

[fallingin-like]

november 11

taller than giants by @allforthebee ​ [requested by @horton-hears-a-doctor-who]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this wonderful fic is a lovely take on neil and andrew as best friends in university. it’s a softer version of these characters but maintains the great dynamic between them we’re familiar with.  this fic will break you apart and knit you back together.

this fic was such a joy to reread. i remember reading it for the first time, eagerly waiting for the next update because i was so invested in the story. even now, when it has been a while since i’ve last read it, i immediately recognized the name when it was requested. the thing that i remember the most was how amazing you are at creating tone. you do an amazing job integrating the characters into this au and creating the relationships between them.

parts that i really enjoyed:

”the press of his cheek against the kitchen window as he tried to capture the storm clouds that lined the sky like soft, gray wool.” the imagery of this is so beautiful, i love the contrast i feel between the storm and the softness of the wool. something comforting but also frightening.

this whole section on neil’s childhood. we get a picture of what was happening, but more importantly, how neil experienced it. we see the things that he focused (the blue hair, the spaghetti-o’s) there’s such a sense of melancholy when i read this, but also a distance that tells me how neil has separated himself from the child that he was. 

”’my phone died.’ it was only a partial lie. technically, it was wedged between the seat of his car, but it could be dead” i LOVE scenes where we see how neil rationalizes half-lies. they’re funny, but because it’s so neil.

”matt continued, oblivious to neil and allison, who were holding a silent contest on who could maintain their eye roll longer.” ahh you do a fantastic job establishing how everyone interacts with each other, the easy-going relationship that exists.

”right, you’re neil josten, which means you’re fine and you don’t swing.” LOL add on that he has a smart mouth and that’s basically a character summary

”sunlight dripped from the sky, seeping into the cracks of the sidewalk and spilling bright against andrew’s pale head.” oh my goodness, what a gorgeous sentence!!! 

ahhhh the arizona conversation is so cute!! i like this sort of nickname, it’s so fresh and also helps me know where the fic is taking place (bc i do not know anything about american geography. i spent the longest time imagining palmetto was near california??)

andrew is an early education major!! that is sooo soft. it’s likely very fitting for this au as well! canon andrew i can’t see wanting to spend that much time around people, but you cannot deny that he is a caretaker. especially with his rough childhood (although i hope it wasn’t so bad in this au)

”do i have to get you a necklace, zoey?” oH my i don’t get a lot of pop culture references because i don’t watch much tv but wOW what a throwback.

”he watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky dripping honey, pale and gold, bright against the faded dashboard of his car.” how are you so good at writing these descriptions of the sky? so so wonderful how you paint the scene

”they sold everything from cigarettes and beer, to fungal cream and laxatives. it wasn’t the greatest. but it was the cheapest” what a mood

ANDREW TEXTING NEIL WHILE IN THE SAME ROOM AS HIM THIS IS SO CUTE

okay okay okay. i know that i have been raving about your imagery, but this scene of andrew and neil going out at night is so amazing. i can’t even describe how much i love it. you do such an amazing job at capturing how neil sees andrew. neil keeping all of his test shots of andrew? ahhhh but i love so much this bit on andrew and the mood “neil smiled and took another photo of andrew drenched in moonlight” i think this is one of my favourite sentences. i reread this and felt so strongly. i don’t comment often on fics, something i have been getting better at this year. but when i first read this fic i was so blown away that i couldn’t not comment. when i came across this sentence i knew that past me hadn’t been able to leave without telling you how i felt.

”neil took another look at the flimsy menu, his eyes lifting over the edge to see andrew staring at him. neil blinked. he was used to it, but there was something different in his eyes.” i would really like to know what was going through andrew’s mind during this. 

andrew avoiding neil actually broke my heart. you know when you read something angsty and you get a physical reaction? that feeling of pain just in between your ribs that hurts but also feels strangely good? that is how i felt. neil’s uncertainty of what’s happening with andrew, not sure if he was in a relationship with someone else, the tension between them at dan’s show? when neil finally confronts andrew and he just keeps interrupting him, i really can’t handle it. i think you made the right decision, splitting up the chapters but i’m definitely thankful that i’m rereading this when all the chapters have been published. neil’s interaction with kevin made everything more lighthearted at first, but wowow “… a slow burn eased into his chest, filling his lungs with lighter fluid. he took in a steadying breath. he needed to keep the flames in his chest from scorching kevin day” loved this!

ahh renee and neil’s conversation was so good, soo validating. neil’s uncertainty is so heartbreaking

as much as i like certain fics that include when andrew is jealous, i’m kind of glad that nothing happens between kevin and neil. it would be too much too soon. 

neil forgetting his key is so full circle, the idea of him spending nights sleeping in his trunk, wrapped in blankets until andrew comes and collects him makes me so soft. “some things aren’t worth losing” i love this phrase. i’m curious, when did andrew leave it? that evening/day? before then?

all of the pictures of andrew, i can’t quite explain how i feel when i read about neil looking over all these memories of them. there’s something just so lovely about it all

the resolution of this was just so perfect. 

as you could probably tell, i absolutely adore your descriptions of the weather and how they correlate with neil’s mood. you were so good at building tension and finding a way to resolve it, when i was reviewing this, i had to stop after chapter 3 because i couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next, i needed to finish the fic before i could go back and take my time going through it. i loved your characterization, you made everyone feel so real, and this fic flowed so nicely because of it. i liked the way that you captured neil’s sexuality, and the confusion that he had, i saw myself in it. the way that neil and andrew’s relationship develops through this fic is so wonderful to witness, the way that they learn about each other and themselves. what a beautiful fic, thank you so much for writing it!

[scoundrels-in-love]

Things I love about Encounter, in no specific order:

Park Bo Gum’s acting has gotten either even better since I last saw him or this is just a role that makes him shine in all his talent or both.

Song Hye Kyo is beautiful and from moment she came on screen, I just wanted to see light return to her eyes, it was that much of amazing portrayal. And when it did, and when she smiled, my heart just wooshed!

The friendships in this drama so far have been so precious. I am glad it seems Jin Hyeok’s friend won’t be 2nd female lead because I’m so in need of m/f friendships that are purely platonic. Soo Hyun’s secretary softly calling her out on her interest and like, dropping formal speech to let her know news are important and personal... Everything has been beautiful so far.

The writing, omg. Some things were predictable, sure, but still well written. Like them missing each other for 5 minutes and her not coming to the cafe meeting. (But she didn’t even see the note it seems, aww). But the show kept surprising with the airport meeting, for example. Where he drew such a subtle but powerful line and their expressions of soft wistfulness spoke volumes.

I actually did not predict the employment part, though in retrospect it makes sense. I just didn’t think they’d really go that far, wowww.

I absolutely love how they absolutely gave Jin Hyeok’s character moments of true Ditzy Female Lead (the morning after he was drunk, him running away from table and bus line is exactly like that), but not forgetting he’s a man that’s interested in a woman.

And Soo Hyun is not made less of a badass just because she is also woman with budding feelings or want to experience simple life. She’s still cool at her work, she doesn’t get reduced to be humor factor in sudden clumsiness around Jin Hyeok or anything of the sort! He gets that part still, like with the claw machine, but we get extra layer of him being openly honest as male leads would that ‘she’s cute’ - in her presence and victory, not her failures.

The fact they’re both making tentative steps toward their interest in each other, this is not one-man show. We get to watch him glance at the toy like a high schooler, her keeping the shoes so preciously or putting on the watch from Havana - something no one but her will know, but it makes her happy. The way they keep wanting to find each other, etc. I could go on. The chemistry of both actors and characters is OFF THE CHARTS!!

They are trying to find means to be equals. He called out her for the ‘grudge’ and they laughed it out. He is technically at her mercy, power wise, but he knows that her trusting him with this is actually making her vulnerable, hence the number on hand thing. Him softly voicing ‘I want to make you happy, unbound to you by work’ that made my heart flutter and I wonder if he even understand the depth of that implication!! You basically said you want to date her already, holy heck!!

The music, the visual imagery, absolutely how hecking gorgeous the whole drama it is.

The photography aspect. I’m so weak for that. And I love how he showed her the photos, so taking care of any doubt-ish moment before it’s obviously used in next episode. Honestly, his openness would need another bullet point but it’s getting long.

Things that worry me:

Her ex. I hope he has a plot arc that’s about him owning up and taking control over his life, maybe really marrying the girl he’s dating, instead of trying to get Hyun Seok back for any reason.

The mothers. Ugh. I don’t want this to be Something In The Rain except worse all over again.

The length of the drama. I understand this has to be full length project, but I worry how much drama for sake of drama will be added in and how screwed the story can get by the end of it. I am literally afraid to get hyped because of how badly this can run off course, and with high percentage at that, out of sheer amount of episodes it needs to fill consistently.

I wish 2nd female lead is given some depth and not made into a bitch. Like, automatical reaction to her for me was Thot-be-gone and that’s just... Why do we gotta have that.

[adoringdo]

EXO Theory Pt. 8 - Time to find the spy!

Hoooboy, I did not expect this mv out so soon, but bless it for coming because I was really struggling with coming up with a solid theory just from the Countdown teasers themselves. (Like, honestly, there was just too much going on, and no real story so I just got a bit overwhelmed tbh!) But anyway, this song is a certified bop, MV is amazing and my boys are gorgeous.

Let’s get into this!

<<– First Part  |  <- Previous Part  |   * Theory Masterpost

Sequence of MVs:

MAMA/History/What Is Love  -  Miracles in December  -  Romantic Universe  - KoKoBop  -  MAMA 2016 VCR  -  (Parallel Universe)  -  Lucky One  -  Overdose  -  Love Me Right  -  Wolf/Growl  -  Lotto  -  Coming Over  -  Pathcodes/Call Me Baby  -  Monster  -  Electric Kiss   -  Sing For You  -  For Life  -  (Parallel Universe)  -  Lightsaber  -  RF_05  -  Power  - The Eclipse  -  MAMA 2016 Performance

So for this one, I’m gonna focus on Xiumin to start. IMO, Xiumin’s the most interesting character initially. The first real thing we see of him is him using a video camera, clearly watching (or even recording) someone.

Later in the MV we see that this person is Sehun.

I’ve spoken a bit before about my theory about Xiumin and Suho (x); Xiu specifically is a character known for archiving the experiences of the members as they fight against the Red Forces in this dream plane. As such, I’ve often linked him with D.O, who’s omniscience allows him to monitor the members closely. Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen Soo and cameras linked often.

However, this is the first time we’ve ever seen Xiu in the monitoring position. In fact, you could even claim their roles in this MV are a little reversed, as we actually see Soo very stagnant in the film room - mostly laying down, or propped up only by TV screens that aren’t displaying actual picture.

I’ll come back to this in a moment, but I do think this will link back with the events of Monster nicely.

Anyway, Xiumin is filming Sehun who is opposite him in the apartment building complex area the members seem to be stationed at. 

We see both Sehun and Chanyeol have parts like this where they are very personal with the cameras. However, where Chanyeol’s is quite energetic and crazy, Sehun’s is a little less extreme; he’s quite lazily rolling his neck around, and the whole effect is a little more trippy.

Sehun’s IMO resembles some scenes from the KoKoBop MV... and guess who those scenes belong to?

Good old XiuSoo. Of course, it’s not a direct parallel, but I do think the scene is very reminiscent. And I do remember saying in my KKB post that Xiumin is seen interacting with the KKB pills often in the MV, and one of the members Xiu and the pills are seen with is Sehun.

There’s definitely a connection being made between Xiumin and Sehun. I think I’ll have to look more closely at that on a rewatch because I’m a bit lost to what they’re trying to communicate here.

However, I did place this MV just after the Monster and before the Sing For You MV, the second of which Sehun had a very main role.

Sing For You is not an MV I’ve necessarily spoken about before, because it’s a bit self explanatory imo. But it does link in with Sehun. I’m sure you’ve all read the theories about the loneliest astronaut (represented here by Sehun) and the loneliest whale, and how the two are meeting in this MV. IMO, there’s a little more to Sehun’s role overall in this particular story.

Loneliness is a key theme of the whole video, but Sehun is the loneliest because he literally is alone in this story. Originally Tao was Sehun’s counterpart, but he’s now gone from the story. And then in Lucky One we saw Chen and Sehun put together, but tbh... that doesn’t seem to have stuck at all. So... now he’s all alone.

But SFY is a video of dichotomy; members disappearing and reappearing, fighting and celebrating, anguish and joy. The reason I’ve always had it after Monster is because of the revelation of Baekhyun’s traitor double-spy ending, and it shows the members in SFY coming to terms with that betrayal they thought they were witnessing.

And that’s why it’s such an interesting MV, because it’s showing that even though the members fight and get lonely, they can always depend on each other to fight against the RF. And this is echoed in For Life.

Now I might be in the minority, but For Life is one of my favourite EXO songs I just think it’s so beautiful. And the MV is honestly so good, even though there’s only 3 members in it. But think about those 3 members, and their roles in SFY and Electric Kiss.

It’s no coincidence that Kai is echoing ChanHo’s fight in SFY, and it’s even less of a coincidence that these are the 3 members in FL. Kai is the key to getting the Heart of the ToL, Chanyeol has been often partnered up with Baekhyun (even if that slightly changed in EK) and Suho.. well Suho we know is well and truly secured by the Red Forces, so why is he in the FL MV?

Well, because the whole MV is about Kai giving himself up to the RF. Like a few of the EXO MVs this one ends as it starts, with Kai getting the bracelet and driving off into the red mist. The whole journey the girl goes through with Chanyeol and Suho is cyclical, meaning it keeps repeating until the end event of Kai for real leaving the dream state and being captured IRL is completed. 

And this never ending cycle is representative of their entire situation. No matter how hard they fight against the Red Forces as they are, it’s hopeless. Most likely because of the spy.

Now we all know that EXO themselves have told us there’s a spy in the Monster vid, and that this spy is the reason that Baekhyun doesn’t have an orb at the beginning of Power. Electric Kiss is them coming to terms with the likelihood of having an actual spy in their midst, and trying to decide who it is. Baekhyun was cleared at the end of Monster, as he was found to be a double-spy on the side of EXO, so it has to be someone else.

And this is why we have Xiumin watching Sehun, because who’s more likely to be a spy than someone who doesn’t have a partnership with any other of the Guardians?

And let’s be honest, Sehun’s probably the only one who’s not had a real role to play in the overall story, so I’d wager he’s at least a little suspicious to some of the others. 

Let’s not forget also the time he almost shot D.O in the Power MV, and just who is he talking to on that radio? And in Coming Over being the only member sans BaekSoo who doesn’t destroy one of the Red Forces controlled cameras.

It’s a little suspect, sure, but I don’t think Xiumin comes to this conclusion of Sehun being the spy, ultimately because of Monster. There’s absolutely nothing in that music video to even cast a doubt on Sehun. So, instead, we should be looking at who is strange in Monster.

IMO there are only two possible candidates once we eliminate Baekhyun: D.O and Chen. First I’ll talk about Soo.

Now I actually made a post about why I thought Soo was the spy from the Monster MV alone (x) so I’ll mainly talk about him in Electric Kiss. In Monster we see Soo clearly watching the members through the use of the security cameras that can be construed to also being the Red Forces eyes through a lot of the MV sequence. In Electric Kiss, we don’t get this. What we get, as I mentioned earlier, is Soo relying on Xiumin to be his eyes instead.

We have a history of seeing Soo and Xiumin in particular in connection to monitors, but this is different as the monitors in question aren’t displaying a picture. And in fact, Soo throughout the whole MV seems to be sort of absent? Like he’s not really doing anything, he’s just by himself (with the exception of a small visit from Xiumin) and he’s lying down covered in tapes. It’s as though he’s kind of been consumed by all his watching and it lead him to the wrong conclusion (Baek) and he’s dejected and given up? Either that or he’s lying low trying to distance himself from the confusion of the spy hunt.

The only other really interesting thing here is the scene with Soo facing off with the woman in the other car who’s pointing a gun at him? Now I have no idea who this person is (I really thought it was Chanyeol cos of the hair colour and the transition into this scene but when I froze it turns out nope haha) but this is a weird scene. It could be insinuating something, but I think we need the full version to really figure this out?

So let’s move on to Chen. Boy do I have a lot to talk about with Chen. When I first watched Monster with the intent of making a theory I was kind of convinced Chen was some sort of traitor or something, but as time went on I started to doubt it and decided he was actually meant to be the good character for some reason. But with Electric Kiss now I’m not so sure.

Throughout a lot of the Countdown teasers there was a particular set of glitchy images that was in almost every teaser. In fact, I think it’s only absent in Suho’s?

The images contain a lot of words in various languages, love, paper, personal, the earth, cloud, so on. One word that’s repeated a lot in these teasers is Flower. I’ll come back to that. The images are important too, we get a lot of nature imagery, the sun, teeth, flowers and most importantly this eye motif is so, so prominent.

See, it’s very in line with the Eye of the Red Forces that we’ve heard referenced a billion times. With this eye, pictured in Kai’s teaser, it’s opening from within a sun which represents Baekhyun, but there’s also lightning striking around it. Now, the lightning can be explained by the title of the song Electric Kiss afterall, but then there’s Chen’s teaser, right?

We have extreme closeups of his eye which transform into weird skull imagery, the sun and a lot of red stuff. 

That’s not to say it’s definitive, right, because there’s been Soo imagery throughout the story too. Most significantly in the Pathcodes.

Chen acts very odd in Electric Kiss though. We see him running through a corridor and coming across a weird mannequin.

Many of the images in this sequence above seem eerie. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s appearance of the doll thing, but whatever. Especially the 2nd and 3rd images from above seem to be signifying there’s an importance in these actions. The 5th reminds me of the scene from Monster.

And the first reminds me of Soo from pretty much every MV haha.

Let’s jump back to Monster and Chen for a second though.

This was the first thing that really alerted me to a possible traitor Chen. The way he’s defiantly looking at who’s locking them into the car (Baek) as though he knows exactly what’s going on. Lay looks as well, but I kind of expect Lay to look as he was frantic during the whole MV, probably because the MVs centred on his counterpart being the traitor, right? But why does Chen look like that? And the scene where he’s turning amongst the crowd seems to be signalling a similar kind of look too. 

Here, too, when the members sans Baek are sitting at this table, only Chen is standing in the centre with his arms resting on two other members in a kind of controlling kind of way. His overall disposition in this MV is just very strange. It’s kind of similar in Lotto too when he’s not reacting to the police coming at him with guns.

Tbh the only real issue I have with believing Chen is the spy is the motive. Like, he and Soo are meant to be protecting the Tree of Life together; they’re the main guardians. And tbh Chen hasn’t seemed to have any indication of even knowing that Baek is the Heart, so how can he be responsible for the orb being missing at the beginning of Power? At least my thoughts about Soo being the non-intentional spy had the backup of that ‘The War’ poster with Soo shooting at Baek’s orb.

But there’s one last thing I can think of that might incriminate Chen.

Well it might incriminate both Chen and Soo tbh. At the end of Electric Kiss we get this montage with all the members in the room, with the image of the eclipse in the background. Baek’s in the middle, and he seems to have been paired with Kai now... which kind of makes sense, as they’re both integral to escaping or trapping themselves with the RF. XiuHo as always OTP 5ever apparently, and Sehun and Chanyeol are all alone why couldn’t they just be together? But importantly, we have the return of ChenSoo who were the OG main Guardians. Now, in this MV and Monster we’ve kind of seen D.O lose his footing a bit, and Chen acting strange. So why have they decided to pair up again? 

Well, if you notice, in the room there are two trees. This again points back to the two halves of the ToL from the beginning that I guess ChenSoo were charged with hiding. Now, while Baek is the heart, there’s probably still some significance to the half of the tree that Chen was looking after, but maybe he resents being left with the less important half? More likely IMO is that if Chen is the spy, it’s similar to Soo’s case, with him not really meaning to be a spy in the first place.

Tbh I dunno. It’s one of those two, or both of them. Either way, this MV is about trying to find out who the spy is, and the RF manipulating them by causing such a dissent.. at least that’s what I got from it. Also there seems to be a race going on judging by Suho with the flag but we need the full version. I’ve watched this MV about 100 times over the past 24 hours and like 10 times in 0.25 speed, the Countdown teasers probably more and I’m still confused so like...yeah. I’ll probably do another post about the others at some point, there’s just so much info haha.

I petition for more EXO in black tracksuits, thanks.

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