ATEEZ Theory TidBits Ep 7 - What did TREASURE Epilogue: Action to Answer contribute to the storyline?
ATEEZ’s fifth album, a mini album, again, released 3 months after the fourth. It was the last album in the TREASURE series.
In this post;
Materials included in the album
Additions to the storyline
Meaning of the album name
Track breakdown
Reactions from the fandom
Important motifs and storyline elements which were added
My perspective on the storytelling (from a screenwriting kid)
Quality of the album
Other important things to note
Conclusions
Action to Answer was the epic (I guess) finale of the TREASURE series, and supposed to be the end of the ATEEZ storyline, kind of. By the end of the album we thought that the group had reconciled with HALAteez and that they had reached the Treasure together... Needless to say, KINGDOM and later comebacks proved this was certainly not the case.
Full discussion below the line.
Materials included in the album
Only the particularly important things, not the random, daily content that groups put out as part of their... existence. Everything ATEEZ does have some references or relevance to their storyline, but that doesn’t mean that all ATEEZ storyline content is created equal.
Album - physical, with two versions
MVs - ANSWER
Dance practice/choreo videos, or other performances, for ‘Answer,’ ‘Horizon,’ and ‘Precious’
The regular contents; teasers, reaction videos, vlives and so on.
Logbook roughly 38-45
Additions to the storyline
The album was a deceptive finale to the storyline so far. We had the cool wrap-up in ‘ANSWER’ - HALAteez and Treasureteez came together, possibly had a truce, and, based on ‘Outro: Long Journey,’ we saw that they had reached their Treasure.
But then we got to ‘Precious,’ which was a bit bizarre in theme for such a triumphant end to a series. And the start of ‘Outro: Long Journey’ sounds great, but then you get to the end, and that voice comes in saying ‘can you hear those voices?’ and everything just goes out the window.
What the hell was that? Which voices? Who what when where why? Was it HALAteez possessing them again and betraying them? Was it the dude in the white suit who showed up at the end of the MV? Hongjoong? Wooyoung?
Anyway, no one knew, and pretty much no one still knows. But it was definitely creepy. So at that point we were pretty sure that we hadn’t seen the end of the storyline, and that it would continue in the next era.
Meaning of the album name
The actions they took in Treasure Ep Fin took them to this answer - the answer we see in ‘Ode to Joy’ as HALAteez sacrifice themselves for Treasureteez to find their Treasure.
Track breakdown
Answer - Reaching the answer - which is interesting. They never tell us what the answer is, and judging from the later albums, I’m not so sure that they found it, honestly. Actually, I suppose that the answer is putting in your all and not being afraid to stretch yourself and things. But that’s like the plot of every coming-of-age film to ever exist.
Horizon - Let’s continue on our journey to reach the Horizon together - goals and dreams and everything in between. An epic ballad made by our one and only Joong.
Star 1117 - It’s sweet and shows their love for ATINY. People still aren’t entirely sure what the 1117 means.
Precious - Most people say it’s literally the ‘evil’ version of ‘Treasure’ - disaster and loss of dreams instead of the hope of a new journey.
Outro: Long Journey - They reached the Treasure - or did they?
Reactions from the fandom
I mean, what do I say except for that everyone loved it? Center Yeosang in ‘Horizon’ was especially a big plus for people. And watching reaction videos is so fun because as soon as anyone sees the dinner table scene where the two groups show up and THEY’RE IN THE SAME ROOM, PEOPLE! And Hongjoong’s toasting himself, adn everything, and anyone who reacts to it for the first time - their jaw just drops. It’s hilarious.
Important motifs and storyline elements which were added
The butterfly showed up - I don’t think it had really been around before, so it’s important
The Cromer and the dining table
the thunder and the flowers that were on the tour hoodies - not entirely sure what this means, but it looks cool as
The Guardians/the men in the white suits
My semi-professional perspective of the storytelling, production and production values, etc
I thought it was a bit of a filler album. While it obviously had importance to the storyline, there were only 5 tracks and only three of them were really important. Of course, they were all well-produced, and the ‘ANSWER’ MV was a masterpiece, which also introduced the FEVER album era. It did a really good job of what it needed to do, and it introduced so many people to ATEEZ. It was iconic and legendary, and, as with all installments of the storyline, was high-quality.
That said, it was kind of like a really high-quality, high-budget filler episode for a cartoon. Think the international specials of Miraculous Ladybug, or the between-season specials of Total Drama. That’s what this was. Important and high-quality, but also filler. Yeah it sounds like a paradox. Yeah that’s what it was.
Quality of the album
It was very good. No matter what the postman does with the package, your ATEEZ albums are going to come out in top quality, without a scratch!
Other important things to note
This was the era that I became an ATINY! Happy two-and-3/4 years of me being an ATINY!
Conclusions
A very iconic album but didn’t do much for them and was kind of boring in terms of the storyline, especially compared to the previous three. Although, I suppose the storyline gets more boring after they’ve established the major elements of their storyworld.
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