BTS “Run”

Annyeong! ANN-FREAKING-YEONG! They’re finally back! I’m glad I checked today…I forgot that Korea is ahead of us (me) or I wouldn’t have checked for their new music video until tomorrow!

The music video starts, and it’s black. Just black. One of the members is standing (it looks like V, but I am unsure) and then you see him falling back. He splashes into water, but then it’s Rapmon, throwing something into a coffee cup and the coffee splashes out. He’s got a lollipop in his mouth (I’m assuming that this is meant to symbolize cigarettes like in the first) and then he sticks it in his coffee and then takes a sip. In The Mood for Love (in Korean) 2 flashes onscreen.

Rapmon is walking on those train tracks, either the same, or similiar to the ones from I Need U. He chucks his (cigarette) coffee and then knocks on one of the train cars. The music starts and the doors open and the scene changes to a party scene with all of the BTS members having a good time. You see Jin with a camera, like in the teasers.

You see a flash of V falling into the water, but then Jin’s being shoved against a wall and spray painted on. But it’s alright, he’s having fun. Rapmonster and V are spray painting as well, but I guess the cops show up because they take off at a run. It then switches to Jin, who’s building a house out of cards, but someone gets pissed and knocks it over. He brushes it off at first, but then he starts to look really upset.

The chorus starts, and like I Need U it cuts to a scene of all of the members together. The chorus says ‘run’ and you see the members running with their colored hair. But then, Jin is in the water, and some of the members are walking as if in a daze, and others are banging their heads against the wall. You see V and Rapmon are caught for their graffiti and shoved against a cop car. But they’re looking at each other, and they’re smiling, having fun, slaying bias lists like always.

You see a shot of J-Hope. He’s waking up in a hospital bed and Jimin is standing over him, holding a pillow with his flaming orange hair. Hobi is extremely excited to see him. Now they’re all having a pillow fight and feathers are flying everywhere, but guys, they are having the time of their lives.

It switches, and you see Rapmonster opening the train car. But now, it’s just a train car, full of feathers and he picks up a playing card like the ones Jin was playing with. Now it’s Suga. He’s upset, throwing things and shoving things off of tables. Jungkook tries to calm him down, but he brushes him off. Suga’s yelling, obviously devastated about something. Jungkook tries to grab him to control him and Suga pushes him back. Jungkook gets upset and punches Suga in the face. Suga gets mad and pushes Jungkook, who falls into the side of something. Suga picks up a chair and throws it, breaking a mirror. The music pauses for a second and you see Jin’s card house falling into a pile and Jin is just looking at the camera. You see another shot V falling into the water.

There’s a shot of BTS in almost-slow-motion partying, all except Jungkook, who looks very upset and just sits on the ground, looking at the camera. The camera pans out and BTS is no longer there, it is just Jungkook. BTS is running again, and they’re just running, being brothers, having fun. They’re laughing and getting their pictures taken and just enjoying themselves.

J-Hope is sitting on a hospital bed, but where before he was playing with Jimin, he’s sad and upset now, and lays back down the bed. Now all of BTS is laying in a field, similar to their teaser images for I Need U. They’re all together and Rapmon is blowing away a dead dandelion. The song pauses and BTS is sitting in a truck, absolutely blocking traffic. They’re against the truck and all of them are yelling, running through traffic an spitting on cars…being delinquents. Now, Jin is driving the truck and BTS is running away after pissing off a lot of people. Jin stops the truck and they all get in.

Jimin opens his bathroom door, but BTS is partying and having fun in there while Jimin is looking at them like ‘WTF’. Jin pulls him in and he falls into the bathtub. He’s splashing them and they’re splashing each other, having fun. You see V in the water, he looks like he’s fighting something, and then you see more shots of BTS running.

BTS are walking away, but Jungkook stops and just looks at the camera and the video goes black.

V is getting out of the water from the original scene in the music video where he fell. The video goes black, and credits start rolling and you get to see shots of the music video being made and Butterfly plays while the credits roll. Wait until the very end, because you then see BTS all together on a beach, but it’s just a picture that Jimin is holding burning in the bathtub, just like in I Need U. Flower petals fall and you see a shot of In the Mood for Love 2 and then the date with the word ‘forever’ beside it.

For starters, I really, really, really enjoyed the music video. However, if you watch I Need U first, it will make all the difference and you’ll be better able to understand the video. Guys, this video looks like it took a lot to make, so let’s congratulate everyone who was involved with the production or edition of the video.

Okay, so, here is my theory. From the original I Need U music video, only Jin died, versus all of the members, as I had originally thought. The first clue to this was in the teaser trailer where Jin took a picture with all of them, but he later realized that it was just himself. At first, I thought that it was Jin who had survived, which would have explained the missing members, but upon watching the music video, I’ve changed my views. How’s that for a plot twist?

In the original I Need U, you got to see bits and pieces of how close the members were and how much they meant to each other. This is further emphasized in Run and it makes a lot of sense, if my initial theory is correct.

So, here it is. Jin died. I’m not sure how, because it wasn’t particularly highlighted in I Need U. It could have been suicide, or it could have been an accident, but where I originally thought that he poisoned himself with the flower fumes in I Need U, I now think that the flower petals were more meant to symbolic. There were six petals, one for each of the remaining members.

The members are close, really, really close. You can see just how much they mean to each other in the cuts of them together.The death of Jin affected each of them in a different way. J-Hope turned to drugs, Jimin tried to drown himself, Suga tried to light himself of fire, Jungkook and V were both depressed, and as for Rapmonster…he seemed like he was just moving through life, but not really living. Whether they tried to commit suicide by overdosing or drowning themselves, or lighting themselves on fire, they all tried to die (except Jungkook). But, nobody succeeded.

Hobi didn’t overdose, he wakes up in a hospital bed. Assuming that Jimin was in the hospital as well, because he tried to drown himself. Jungkook and Suga…they’re both pissed and upset, at the world, at each other. Even though Jungkook was trying to calm him down, he failed, and Suga broke a mirror, leaving Jungkook to feel scared and upset. Rapmonster and V didn’t necessarily die in I Need U, but it was heavily implied. The cuts of all of them together? Memories. Jin is dead, but they’re remembering the times that they had with them, together, because they’re broken now, each with their own problems, trying to find their way and trying to get past this stage in their lives.

There wasn’t that much of Jin in this video, but again, that might be another clue to the fact that he’s dead. As for Rapmonster…I think his story-line could use some work. From the beginning in I Need U, he had a less prominent story-line. All of the members had something…Jin, the flower, Jimin the water, etc. Rapmon, however, was shown in a gas station, and that was it, minus the cuts of them together. Here, you see him in the beginning. He goes back to the train tracks and reminisces about the times that they’ve had together and the memories that they’ve lost. I think that Rapmon was the one who was affected the most by Jin’s (supposed) death. I say that because while he didn’t officially try to kill himself, you can see the most change in him from the cuts of them together, to the cuts of him now. By that, I mean that before he was fun, full of life, now, he has a ‘whatever’ attitude, hangs by himself, does whatever.

I think I only have one complaint about this entire music video. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO V? I really, really, really loved how the continuation of I Need U was actually a…continuation. You can clearly see how the videos tie in and the songs aren’t exactly alike, but can be seen as similar. However, where the other members’ story-lines are better explained (except maybe Rapmon), fans are left wondering what happened to V. If you don’t remember, in I Need U, V kills or almost kills a man who is physically abusing his…sister, or girlfriend, or wife. The teasers showed V in tears, and he’s upset as he washes the blood off of his hands and calls someone on the phone. But…what happened? In the teasers, he jumps into water, and then again, in the music video…so…did V then succeed in committing suicide? Come to think of it, most of the solo cuts of V were of him in the water. So, Jin is not only dead, but V has committed suicide as well.

As for the song…the song was amazing. I liked the type of R&B feel it had to it and the members’ voices matched well. Except maybe Jin, because he had like no lines. I don’t know, maybe I just need to go back and REALLY listen to it, but upon first, second and third listen, Jin’s parts are lacking.

So, what did you think? Do you agree with my theory? If not, what do you assume happened?

I Need U (Original Ver.)

Run

See all of their teaser images below.

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FIGHTING