At last, I have returned with Part 2 of my 'FAKE LOVE' music video explanation! This one will cover mostly the music video, but I may reference the trailer, so it’s probably best if you go check out that theory first. Come on back when you’re done! Just so everyone is with me, I will be using the EXTENDED version of the official music video for this theory. It has the most amount of stuff in it, therefore, it is probably the most complete storyline-wise. Also, I have to give credit to @serendipitae and @sleepyheadmk786 on Twitter for prompting me to think about 'FAKE LOVE' in this way! I have to admit, I very much just took 'FAKE LOVE' at face value the first few times I watched it, and of course, I didn’t understand any of it. You guys really helped me understand what it meant! (Or at least what I think it means. :3) Thanks again. The main point to keep in mind here is that this video takes place in that weird miniature gap between HYYH and Love Yourself. 'Euphoria' MV does come before this video, so this is during that weird time where everyone is kinda split up and doing stuff on their own, but before and during the time when they hear about Jungkook’s car accident. I know. It sounds weird, it is weird, and there’s not a lot of time in that span. Just go into this theory with that mindset, and I promise I’ll do my best to make it all make sense. Part One - Introduction of Secrets The video begins with Seokjin in a room, going around and closing the curtains. He glances behind him, which is when we can really start. It cuts to a close-up of a flower in a sort-of cage. It looks more like a glass lantern to me, but I suppose those are similar anyway. This flower looks a little bit like a Smeraldo, and it also reminds me of the flower from ‘Singularity.’ The way I interpret the flower in ‘Singularity’ is that it references Taehyung and his secrets. If it is a Smeraldo, and let’s say it is, then it would mean “the truth untold.” In other words...a secret. The flower here in ‘FAKE LOVE’ is referencing Seokjin’s secrets--such as his time loop, the fact that he told the principal about their hideout all those many years ago, etc. He has them (the secrets) locked up in the lantern/cage in the middle of the room, and is closing the curtains to keep the light from hitting it and revealing it. The fact that he's hiding things from the other boys is backed up by two different scenes from The Notes. First: “[...] Our high school years came to mind after we’d had quite a few drinks. [...] Maybe I was feeling tipsy or it was the night air, but I confided all my secrets that I’d never revealed before. “Now I know everything about you, but aren’t the others also waiting for you to share your story? Waiting for you to give them a clue about what happened then?” Namjoon said after listening to my confession. I told him goodbye and headed home. [...]” - Seokjin 14 July Year 22 Second: ""Seokjin, is that all? Aren't you hiding something from us?" I glared at Seokjin. He stared back at me. [...] "Taehyung, I'm sorry. So let's just stop here." It was Seokjin who first opened his mouth. Seokjin was the one who told me he was sorry. Namjoon didn't say anything. He just kept staring at me with angry eyes. "Stop what? Just lay it all out. You're hiding something from us." Everyone's gaze was now fixed on Seokjin. Seokjin gave a look that seemed to tell us to stop." - Taehyung 22 May Year 22 The fact that Taehyung has one of these flowers in 'Singularity' portrays how he knows about Seokjin's secrets, through his dreams and what he overheard on that day in high school. When it zooms out on Seokjin in the room, take a look at how many windows are in the room. Seven. “Wait, just like how there are seven of the boys?” Exactly. Seokjin is closing the windows, hiding his secret from the boys. But when he goes to close the last one, it cuts to Jungkook instead. This is because he’s trying to hide from Jungkook as well, but ever since the car accident, it’s not working. After the accident, Jungkook gets a little suspicious of Seokjin, which is detailed in The Notes. “[...] I went to see Jungkook at the hospital but stayed there for only about ten minutes. For some reason, Jungkook was tense and kept his guard up against me. [...]” - Seokjin 15 August Year 22 All of ‘FAKE LOVE’ is explaining how Seokjin’s secret is crumbling, and try as he might to keep it protected, he can’t. And it’s all Jungkook’s fault. Let’s dive in. Part Two - The Similarities Begin The next big piece of plot we get is when the room implodes on Seokjin. He bends down, covering the flower in its lantern/cage with his body, trying to protect it from the barrage of rubble. Seokjin keeps trying to protect his secret, but it’s beginning to unravel at the seams. Jungkook is slowly starting to alert the other boys, but they don’t want to listen. Next, we start getting into the individual member’s problems, and there’s something I want to point out. Take a look at these comparisons between HYYH and ‘FAKE LOVE.’ See any...similarities? The places that the members are in ‘FAKE LOVE’ is a run-down version of spots from their past. Namjoon’s place is the container-house where he lives. The light is on, like he references in The Notes--he left it on so the other boys would know they were always welcome to visit him, regardless of the time or the reason. When Namjoon looks in the mirror, he sees himself, but he doesn’t look quite...normal. Jungkook can see him through the mirror as well, but he can’t reach him. Namjoon is too deep in his own issues and sorrows to listen, which is actually backed up with a scene in The Notes. Namjoon has shut him out.* “[...] Namjoon had asked me to meet him after his shift at the gas station. And he hadn’t said anything so far. He just continued to drain glass after glass. I asked him if anything was wrong, and he just smiled and shook his head. “It’s just that my life hasn’t changed a bit since I was born. It doesn’t get better or worse.” [...]” - Seokjin 14 July Year 22 * Side note: Namjoon hasn't just blocked out Jungkook. He's blocking out all of the boys. He has very little contact with any of them, especially after July Year 22 (the 2nd time they all went to the beach). He and Taehyung obviously haven't talked after their fight on the beach, and although Namjoon talks to Jungkook at the hospital, both of them mention how awkward and stilted it was. He hasn't talked with Jimin, Hoseok, or Yoongi in months, and he only calls Seokjin to drink with him. Part Three - Recruitment and a Link Then we go to Hoseok. Hoseok’s room is more figurative, as it is referencing the carnival where his mother abandoned him as a child. He’s inside a locked room, and when the door tries to open, he throws himself against it to keep it shut. From this clip, we can notice that Jungkook is the one outside the door. He’s trying to get through to Hoseok, but Hoseok won’t let him. Hoseok has locked him out. A few minutes later, Jungkook gives up trying to get in and simply pushes a Snickers bar through the hole instead, which seems to trigger Hoseok's memory... Next, Jungkook tries to recruit Jimin. Jimin’s room is the practice room from the highlight reel, as evidenced by the mirror/practice barre and the sink where he washes his arm. Jimin sees Jungkook watching him in the ceiling, but doesn’t seem to do anything about it. I can’t tell if Jungkook gives up or if he’s satisfied with his work afterward, when he stands up. Note: The pattern on the wall in front of Jimin. Seem familiar? Also, note these scene cuts. This is showing that Jungkook and Seokjin are obviously linked. I’ve been saying this for a while now, as anyone who knows me can tell you, but I really think that Jungkook is going to play a bigger part in this arc of the Bangtan Universe’s story. (This arc meaning the upcoming arc -- see Summary of BU - The Grand Finale (Part 8) for reasoning as to why I don't think that will be in MOTS:7.) Seokjin looks in the lantern/cage and stands up as well, turning to leave. When we see inside the cage, the flower (remember, the flower is his secret) is gone, having turned to sand. But wait... ...who picks up the sand at the end of the video? Jungkook. What does it turn into as the shadow on the wall? Flower petals. But I’m getting there. (Sorry about the awkward spacing, Weebly's a pain.) Part Four - A Curtain Call and Connections After some dancing, the next plot scene we see is Jungkook running down a corridor. He picks up speed as the floor begins to fall out from underneath his feet, the furniture and such tumbling down with it. The end of the hallway seems to be a safe spot, as he stops and looks behind him before pressing onward with his mission. Throughout Jungkook’s sprint, we are shown clips of Taehyung. Taehyung has a phone in his hand, and is watching something on it that clearly surprises him. If I had to guess, I would say it's probably Jungkook. I don't think he can find Tae, so he simply moves on, but it doesn't matter. Taehyung already knows. ""Seokjin, is that all? Aren't you hiding something from us?" I glared at Seokjin. He stared back at me. [...] "Taehyung, I'm sorry. So let's just stop here." It was Seokjin who first opened his mouth. Seokjin was the one who told me he was sorry. Namjoon didn't say anything. He just kept staring at me with angry eyes. "Stop what? Just lay it all out. You're hiding something from us." Everyone's gaze was now fixed on Seokjin. Seokjin gave a look that seemed to tell us to stop." - Taehyung 22 May Year 22 See, Jungkook doesn't have to tell Taehyung, because Taehyung already suspects Seokjin. Jungkook then tries one final time to reach Namjoon and he gets a little bit further this time. Namjoon and Jungkook mirror (hah, puns) each other as they reach towards the mirror, but it turns out that Namjoon was just looking at himself again. I'm not sure exactly how to interpret this, but my first thought was that Namjoon refuses to listen. I doubt he'll be of much help to Jungkook on this matter. And with that, we get to Yoongi, the last but certainly not least. He smashes the guitar, foreshadowing (or referencing, depending on the timeline) his fight with the girl. Jungkook peers in from inside the boards on the fireplace at the same time that a small plume of fire goes off outside the window. Yoongi obviously hears him, as he glances over at the boards, but he ignores him. Maybe he only saw the fire. Who knows. Either way, Yoongi has boarded him off. At the same time, we’re getting flashes of Hoseok, who eats the Snickers and falls back onto a pile of candy. The pile of candy swallows him. I...don’t have much explanation for that. Yet. Just hold your horses. Then, we cut to Jungkook. Somehow, he has seemingly made it under the house to a hidey-hole with a waterfall and...a pile of sand? Interesting. Very interesting. Jungkook stares at the waterfall for a moment before going over to the pile of sand and picking some up. He lets it fall through his fingers and when he does, flower petals fly into the air. Jungkook watches the petals fly across the waterfall. When they vanish, a door opens out of the water. These events cause absolute mayhem for the other six. Part Five - Buy One Mask, Get Six Free For Jimin, the walls open up and water spills out. For Yoongi, a fire starts in the middle of his floor. For Taehyung, the phones on the walls start flashing incessantly. For Hoseok, the candy...eats...him. "Er, maybe not him?" No. Even Hoseok. At first, this may seem odd, or even unrelated. But this part is figurative. They’re letting their fear in. Letting it wash over them, letting it swallow them, burn them, overwhelm them. That doesn’t mean their fear is water, or candy. It simply means that it’s their childhood fears. Hoseok being abandoned, Jimin and the arboretum, Taehyung and his unanswered phone call--that is what it’s referencing. If you think about it, this is quite relevant to our current era, Map of the Soul. "You are me and I am you, now do you know?" Like Suga says in Shadow, you have to accept the dark part of yourself to become whole. Jungkook enters the secret hideout hole, walking down the hallway. At the end of it is a locked door. Remember that key from the trailer, the one that I told you to forget about? This is where it comes into play. He takes out the key, and unlocks the door. It opens into a room with six empty coat racks and one clothed one. Hold on. Before I get to the cloaks, look at the room. Seem familiar? This is the same room from earlier in the video, where Seokjin was. See the debris all over the floor? That’s from when the room exploded. See the windows with the curtains? All the lights have gone off except one and the windows aren’t open anymore -- that’s why it looks different. All the windows (that we can see) are closed. The boys don't want to listen.
Jungkook stares at the coat rack for a moment. It holds a cloak and a mask. Break for dancing. .............. And we're back! After the song ends (as does the gorgeous choreography), we see a clip of Jungkook, wearing the cloak and holding the mask, walking in an outdoor setting. They are on the other side of the gate by the magic shop from the trailer. Six other masked men greet him--you guessed it, the boys. After looking at the rest of them, Jungkook puts on his mask as well. Moments later, we are all jumpscared to death by a giGANTIC BRICK FALLING ON THEM. Why the brick falls on them, that I can't explain. But the masks and the cloaks I can at least take a stab at. The concept of the black cloaks and even the masks are nothing new in the BU. From 'FIRE' to 'FAKE LOVE' and everything in between, people in all black have been seen time and time again. They take many forms with many different cloaks/clothes, but one thing is always the same -- they always interact with at least one of the boys in some way. What I think this video means by the masks and cloaks is it is showing how all the boys have secrets that they're hiding, not just Seokjin, not just Taehyung, not just Jungkook. All of them. Since none of the boys will listen to Jungkook, he retreats into himself. He joins them, putting on his own mask to hide his own secrets. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, am I right? Thank you for reading my theory / explanation for the music video for 'FAKE LOVE'! There are definitely parts of this theory that are a little shaky, and even though this took longer than I expected to write, it really seemed like no time at all. I hope you enjoyed, even if you didn't agree! <3 - Ilona O'Connor
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AuthorI'm just a tiny ARMY and multistan that wants to contribute. <3 Archives
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