Unpacking the

The next installment of my deep dive into #SKZ lore... hope you enjoy, as always please do share your own thoughts and interpretation!

[@GolyenHighway]

The dancers seem to represent outside forces controlling their actions. They seem to act like puppeteers & stop them from doing certain actions. This is where roles start with the members.(I'm excluding Woojin, because his role transfers to Changbin when he leaves) -Chan is the leader, Key Keeper, and initially the holder of the compass, and later also watches of over the glitch. -Lee Know is the support. He is always somewhere in the background doing something to help the others. He drives vehicles. He provides emotional support. He is just always there. -Changbin is the balance & drive. (Balance was Woojin, but when Changbin took it over he passed drive to Han) He is the one to settle arguments, and not pick sides. He is the one to encourage the others to keep going when they are exhausted. -Hyunjin is the Way Finder. It's his role to look for alternate routes. He looks at everything in a different way than the others. This will set him at odds with Felix & the others sometime, because sometimes the best path isn't in the direction you want at first. -Han is the motivation. He provides the encouragement to continue. He gives the reasons why they are doing what they are. Taking over as drive as well just expanded his influence. -Felix is the Navigator & compass keeper. He is tasked with knowing where they are going. He keeps them in the direction they need. He knows where they should be, but how they get there is often at odds with Hyunjin. -Seungmin is the cartographer/record keeper. It is his job to keep track of what has happened, where they have been, and to provide maps. You will always see him with either a notebook, a map, or a camera. This is why he was at odds with Hyunjin in Side Effects because he was making note of a dead end & tempers got high. -I.N is the hardest to place. But he is the GLITCH. He is the odd one out from everyone. From the beginning. In the I Am Not trailer, we saw him leave the bus when he saw his clone. This wasn't supposed to happen. He is the glitch that starts everything. He will be constantly slightly out of sync with the others. He will be looking in a different direction. He will seem to hear things that the others do not. We are not sure if he was replaced, or was just not supposed to get off the bus. Glitches in the screens will happen more around him. Chan eventually starts keeping his attention on what they are doing. It will be his job to keep I.N from deviating from their path. I.N will show knowledge that he can't say and end up sad because of it. I.N represents the reason for their journey, the idea that there is something out there that is different than what they are given. In the Side Effects MV, we see the results of taking the "road not taken". They are constantly wandering, driving across paths they have taken before. Sometimes following roads that others have left. But constantly trying to find new ways. They run into dead ends. They see countless evidence of what has gone before. As the lyrics said, "It hurts more because they thought it would be easy." They are having to find a way to build their own roads...And that is never easy. Tension & tempers run high as they deal with stress from things they are disappointed in, or not sure about. The ideals they had in the beginning are under a lot of stress, and they are having to really try hard to not have those change in ways they aren't aware of. We also get a glimpse of the floating city that appeared in the sky in Hellevator. It represents another choice that we can see, but not completely understand yet. We see two moons with different phases in the sky as well. They are different paths that lead to different places in time. At the very end we see Hyunjin laying on the ground under an overpass. He seems to have left the group after the argument with Seungmin to cool off. We also see that Chan has the compass still. He is the one to make sure that Hyunjin is safe with them again, because they are stronger together. The key in the water seems to be to the truck that they then abandon. Again, another road.

[@oolola]

Ahhh, this is all blowing my mind! I thought I was getting a handle on it, but there's SO MUCH lol. I'm totally compelled by the idea of them having roles that they persist in, and I will start to be on the look out for that. That was not really on my radar other than Chan being clearly the leader. And I LOVE the idea of I.N. being the glitch. That is just so fascinating-- as I go I'm going to really have fun exploring what the story is saying with that. And the tease of the floating city that we don't understand, gesturing to more to come and tying back to Hellevator -- that combination of looking back and looking forward storywise is so compelling. Thank you for giving me all of this framing and interpretation! It makes it even richer and more fun to go on this journey.

[@katjalovesmusicals4337]

Skz lore is always a little vague to me, but thats because I always feel there are still puzzle pieces missing. And also, because it is never fully fleshed out anyway. So youre always guessing. And as much as I like to theorize , there comes a point when I just get lost in the many many many possibilities and options and theories. So many stays have theories and some are quite adamant about them. I am not one of those. I know that the idea of multiple universes is big in skz. So you'll always see different versions of themselves, in different worlds. Your thought about the dancers possibly being other versions of themselves is a valid thought. I always saw them as all those thoughts and fears etc that hold them back, make them doubt themselves, but it could also be the two versions of skz in different worlds, after different choices, both experiencing the side effects in headaches. Another thought I had a few times while watching this mv, mostly because we see Skz asleep on the bus later in the mv (and skz sleeping on the bus returns later), that it's also possible that version is simply dreaming of havinv made the other choice. That Skz in that field isn't real. And that me seeing the universes split at the bus stop is just me loving that idea too much (reminds me of a fav film called Sliding Doors). But I do think it is about a universe split. The sleeping is a little too interesting though, especially because if returns later. The key..yes...well, the series is called Clé, french for key, and Miroh means Maze in korean. And we have the district 9 (which stands for their own little haven, their safe place - so definitely not the city, that much we do know,) Unlock concert...they are unlocking something in this series, in this storyline. And clearly leaving keys behind...losing them. Closing off paths. Dont think its the elevator because elevators keeo returning. But the truck doesn't. Although it looks like an elevator key. Levanter is supposed tk be the end of this particular storyline, although I do see it continue. I think its the end of maybe a part of the entire story. Btw make sure to include SkzFlix in your analysis when you get to that point. It is very much a part of it, even if its not an mv or unveil. Hope you'll be able to continue this. I very much enjoy your videos and even though I pretty much only offer more questions, I love theorizing about this. But I fully understand real life. Take care with your side effects

[@oolola]

Ahhh, the idea of them dreaming it all blows me away!! It makes me think of this one shot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (sorry old reference) where we see her in an insane asylum -- it's never returned to but the suggestion is there that the whole thing (like, the whole series!) is her fantasy. They never return to it -- it's just a gesture to the idea -- and I can see reading the sleeping SKZ on the bus that way! Though in a sense that's not quite as -- I don't know -- productive a narrative path as actually having multiple iterations and choices and a more butterfly effect take, and given Megaverse, it seems like story wise they definitely went with the alternate universes/realities path overall. Also I love the ideas of the dancers being the things that hold them back: and I think that the notion of using backup dancers as story/thematic elements is just so cool. They could be extras, but no, they're key! Thanks for pointing to SkzFlix! I will definitely make sure to include those as I go. I do want to keep going with this, I'm enjoying it so much! And I really appreciate your sticking with it and commenting as I go. I wish I could keep to a faster schedule, but I'm also feeling like as long as I return to it when I can, that's better than not!

[@katjalovesmusicals4337]

@@oolola there is only one SkzFlix, unless they end up making more which isn't very likely at the moment. Haha old reference. I had another association and that one is much much older: St Elsewhere, where everything end up being a day dream of a little autistic boy. Bit of a cop out and I doubt a kpop group like this would go for something this simple. So I agree with you. I do keep wondering why they are sleeping on that bus and later busses.