My thoughts on: BAP’s One Shot Music Video

(Warning: there’s going to be swearing later on. I can’t help it– this music video hit me so hard.)

Well, I wouldn’t call this a review of sorts, mostly because ‘review’ implies I’m going to be unbiased. I can’t. I’m the least unbiased person ever. I love B.A.P, I love their music and the members, so I’m just going to be sharing my thoughts. Warning: there will be spoilers.

So, who are B.A.P? You can see their wiki, but they’re basically a Korean boy-band (yes, another one). They’re actually going for a tough as opposed to cute image, and their songs aren’t just usual catchy dance numbers that you’d usually associate to K-Pop. And their song One Shot is a really good song.

But first, listen to the mp3. Good? Nice song, right? Good rappers, beautiful singers, powerful tune. Listen as many times as you’d like. Now maybe you’d like to buy the mini-album? You won’t regret it.

Okay, all done? I had to do that, because, damn, I can never listen to the song again without thinking of the MV, and it has ruined the song. It’s not like the MV’s horrible– in fact, it’s the exact opposite. The MV’s that good, that I can’t listen to the song without seeing scenes whir in my head, and distracting me from the song.

The MV’s a story-type, so I will be revealing spoilers. Yeah, spoilers in a music video. So you can watch it now, but I hope you’ll come back and read the rest, ’cause I’d like to believe I’m not rambling to myself.

The MV starts off with the six boys on a luxury boat or something, enjoying a party. Then the real song starts, but first they let us see some nice shots of our boys walking in a hangar. They’ve done something funky to Himchan’s hair. I can’t say I like it.

Left to right: Youngjae, Himchan (with that new hairstyle) and Yongguk

And then the story starts. Leader Yongguk opening up his garage, and his friend JongUp shows up (wow. Was that a pun?), and gets whacked in the head by this really big guy. They call up their friends, and then they watch a video from the USB drive that aforementioned big guy threw at them. It’s their other friend, Youngjae, getting beaten up by some guys. They want $10 000 000 (enough zeroes? Yeah) as his ransom.

And then this amazing-ness happens.

Excuse my poor gif-making skills

That is Zelo, sixteen years old and youngest of the band, doing his scorpion dance. My sisters, who don’t even like B.A.P, were impressed. That is a big feat.

The rest of the video is pretty much the five of them planning how to steal the money. They get guns, Himchan looks hot leaning over a car (literally) and Yongguk shows off his acting skills. Really, Yongguk can act. I usually think everyone’s acting is good (since I can’t act worth shit), but I was really impressed. I really felt for him, and their friendship.

And then I have a little question here. From Yongguk’s flashbacks, we can see that the luxury boat party already happened. So if they’re rich enough to party on a luxury boat, why the hell are they just working in a garage?

Okay, back to the main storyline. So they steal the money. Rather easily, actually. Too easily. Seriously, that bank or whatever should hire a new head of security, tighten the operation. These are five guys, aged from 22 to 16; they shouldn’t be able to steal ten million dollars so easily, even if they are the Best Absolute Perfect. Anyway, the B.A.P guys do it, and Yongguk broods over it. Let me tell you, he really didn’t do much so far apart from brooding and looking serious.

And all I could think was "I wish I could touch Yongguk's bare shoulder."

So then they go over to this underground subway to give the money in exchange for Youngjae. And they look so cool. Seriously, garage guys shouldn’t dress that awesome. Time for snapshot-overload.

L to R: Zelo, JongUp, Yongguk, Himchan, Daehyun

So then they exchange Youngjae for the cash. Except they don’t. The other guys–the kidnappers–shoot Youngjae in the back for no fucking reason. This literally shoved me deep inside my chair. Yongguk’s expression really got me here.

And Zelo really can’t act. I love you, sweetie, but no.Yet his clueless look could not ruin the scene.

But he looks so freaking adorable.

And then Yongguk goes crazy and a gunfight ensues. Yongguk gets shot, Daehyun gets shot (that hurt me a lot– I love Dae, he’s my favourite), JongUp gets shot. And then this happens:

I was previewing the blog entry and this kept repeating. It hurts.

 And I was like: Fuck no.

Not Zelo. He’s only 16! Yeah, I’m just a couple of months older, but he’s just sixteen. I know it seems like I’m overreacting and all, but no fucking way. This whole dramatic scene was really good, and it really struck me.

Oh, and then just to rub it in, this happens:

Himchan! At least he looked cool going down. Unlike Daehyun, who it appears can’t act and so they hardly showed him at all. Sad.

I compensate by showing Daehyun's One Shot teaser pic

Okay, so everybody’s dead. Except the leader of the evil guys. So he’s about to get away with the cash, when Yongguk drags himself up and shoots him. It ends with Yongguk kneeling alone, the only one alive among all the dead bodies of the evil guys and his friends.

The End.

…Or is it?

We rewind all the way back, to when they exchange Youngjae and the money. Everyone’s all okay, when all of a sudden the police burst in and start arresting everyone. And then one guy hands Youngjae a badge.

It’s pretty obvious what happened. Youngjae is a dick.

He’s new in the police force, wants to get some credibility, so he decides to take down both his ‘friends’ and the kidnappers. Makes a deal with the kidnappers, saying they’ll pretend to kidnap him and get the ransom money, and also one with the police– at least he wasn’t lying to them. So the five of them, who stole the money for him, get arrested while he walks away.

That’s how it ends.

There’re two endings, and for a while I debated which one was better. I hate betrayal, and I hate death, especially for such young guys. So eventually I decided upon the second one, since I suddenly realized Zelo won’t go to jail, but just to some juvenile detention center. Not the greatest, but a better end. Although Daehyun and Himchan are so pretty, and pretty guys don’t last too long in prison.

So, what do you think of the video? How about a comment on our Best. Absolute. Perfect. guys? My initial reaction was “Damn, I’d really love to punch Youngjae’s character in the face,” but now it’s pretty much, “Poor Youngjae. He was the second-best actor so he became the evil guy.” Either way, it was a really powerful MV and the only one that has affected me so much thus far.

Good job, BAP and TS Entertainment