“Character assassination” you’re so right, actually 😭 what the hell happened to Trin? Like all the personal growth he made was in vain it seemed? He ended up right where he started - running away from a painful memory. And it didn’t seem like he did much reflecting in those two years in Paris. What do you mean reading that book suddenly made you realise Tanwa wasn’t to blame for Victor’s death? So he didn’t figure out he was projecting his own guilt onto Tanwa until Moira sent him this book?
I wish we would have gotten more insight into what he was actually thinking during this time (that short philosophical diary pondering did nothing for me). Because without that, Trin just seems like a self-righteous hypocrite and I hate that for him! That really wasn’t how I imagined his character development was going 🥲
Don't worry about the rant anon because I'm also about to go on a rant. The ending for Trin's character lacked finesse and that shit truly is rubbing me the wrong side of my legs hair. It left me unsatisfied as I watched episode 8 fumble this character that I hold in great affection. And while I agree with a lot of the things you've pointed I will be adding nuance to some other
Knowing me and the fact that I loved Trin, this about to be the size of a planet so beneath the read more you will find :
#1 - Why Trin left : the journey to grieving and self-healing
#2 - Character assassination : understanding other people choices, your power and powerlessness within that
#3 - Between philosophical journaling and Moira sending Tanwa's book to Trin : the empty space where Trin's grieving journey should have been
#4 - Missing in action "I wasn't ready to hear this back then." "I know. But you are now." : dialogues that could have easily tied Trin and Tanwa's reunion in Paris together better
#5 - Giving the narrative the time to say what it needs to say : BOC and the curse of 8 episodes series
#1 - Why Trin left : the journey to grieving and self-healing
When Trin left Paris after Claire died, he wasn't running away, they had mentioned before the protest Claire died in that Trin was only there to study and once that was done he was going to go back to his country. They even said it was sad because Trin and Claire made an adorable couple. So Claire's death right before Trin left was at best a coincidence & at worst really shit timing because Trin went back to Thailand with the wounds of Claire dying & him not being able to stop it real fresh. The last words they said to each other weren't the best, and I don't think he ever forgave himself for any of that which is where Trin & Victor's whole relationship come into play but I'll talk that in another section
When Trin left Thailand after the whole Victor-Tawan-Krailert-Naran explosion, he did for multiple reasons to leave.
First of all, Trin being protected by Krailert after the revelation that Krailert never really had that much power to begin with made his whole standing where he was in Thailand weak at best and dangerous at worst. Trin was trying to shake to many things, albeit peaceful, his rebellious way of thinking would have reached the wrong people's ears at some point and even if he was only at the protests to protect the kids, his presence there in itself would have being justification to see Trin as a threat that needed taking care of. Trin, from a political standpoint, needed to leave.
Second of all, if the whole Krailert's boyfriend (Win) getting killed by Dhevi's dad because Dhevi wanted Krailert doesn't show to you that being into men when you are a man was dangerous, Trin literally says it when talking to Kom in Episode 4, Kom told Trin that loving Tanwa was gonna complicate his life and Trin answered "especially here, in this country"
And he is right, they both know it. That's why Kom immediately proposed France to Trin and Tanwa. Furthermore, in episode 8 in their emotional goodbye, Krailert quite literally tells Trin to go away and live the life Krailert never could
Quite simply, Trin needed to leave because he is queer in 1969 in a country that is homophobic.
The third installment of this is that Trin needed time away to process Victor's death. Like I said at the start of this, Claire's death left a huge size hole in Trin that he didn't really even have the time to process before he went back to Thailand. One could even said he got his PTSD done at Claire's (yes I think I'm really funny). While Victor's relationship served as redemption for Trin's guilt, the reality is Victor ended up dying anyways, despite Trin's biggest efforts, and it would have been quite frankly impossible for him to get better in Thailand after losing Victor like this. It was just too close to where the loss happened, like I can still hear Apo's agonizing screams in episode 7
Now that we've established why Trin needed to leave and that he wasn't running away, here's where I think Shine (2025) started to fucked up, which I will follow in the next section
#2 - Character assassination : understanding other people's choices, your power and powerlessness within that
It started with what Trin said to Sucha when he came to ask Trin for help with Tanwa, "This is something he has to face on his own" in episode 8
I immediately made a post saying literally who is this? because to me it could not be Trin, comparing it to Trin & Tanwa conversation version of "it's rotten work, not to me not if it's you". Someone answered to that post with Trin is in a lot of pain and reliving his trauma rn because of Victor's death and Trin saying "In love we share both joy and sorrow" couldn't be compare to this to judge how out of character Trin was acting. And while I do agree with some of that, the character who has been the most consistently about communication refusing to go see Tanwa the person he loves, who is clearly distressed, even if only to say goodbye, makes no sense to me. You have to understand, Trin had initiated a "what are we" conversation with Tanwa fucking Three (3) Times. You cannot tell me the character who says shit like this (Episode 4 and episode 6)
Would just leave the person he is supposed to be in love with without a fucking word! This scenes aren't only there to further the romance plots, they are there to tell you Who Trin Is, and Trin is Someone Who communicates. Always. He is quite literally the only character on this show who doesn't consistently run away from a confronting conversation. And while Trin is mad at Tanwa for hiding the protest from him, Tanwa did choose to tell Trin about the protest anyways, and Trin did reach the protest in time, even if Victor still died.
This now brings us to Choices. Going to the protest Was Victor's Choice, as much as it was Claire's choice back in France when Trin failed to stop her. Trin knowing sooner wouldn't have changed JACKSHIT, not only because Victor would have gone anyway but also because there was just bigger forces at play here than Tanwa, Trin, Victor or even goddamn Krailert. Trin spend fucking 6 episodes trying to convince Victor and the students that their minds were more of a weapon than doing the protests cuz the protests had risks of violence and death (he is wrong btw you need both intellectual thinking & writing and real life protest & sometimes violence too to make real change), and yet he STILL had to go save Victor's ass in episode 6 & Victor STILL was at a protest in episode 7. This, and I cannot stress it enough, WAS VICTOR'S CHOICE. Nobody could have convinced Victor otherwise. Like I'm sorry you think that fucking Tanwa would have been able to stop Victor? The guy Victor's been having a pissing contest with to have your attention & affection? When even YOU the guy VICTOR IS IN LOVE WITH COULDN'T???? Acting like Tanwa let Victor die because he didn't try to stop Victor is an insult to Victor's memory and the choices he made and everything Victor believed in PERIOD. As I'm saying this, I'm not heartless, I know & understand this is all Trin sadness, guilt and anguish showing and the reality that nobody but people who were in this equation to literally kill the students are at fault is simply alien to Trin at that point of time because he is hurting too much, and he was simply just not ready to hear any of what Tanwa would have had to say at that point of time yet. (episode 7)
And you know what, I would have allowed this whole mischaracterized lap in judgement, misplaced guilt over Victor's death, Trin needing to leaving without saying a word to Tanwa and the last time they interracted being Trin punching Tanwa if they had just showed us Trin's mourning journey and him coming to the conclusion I just came to himself in France. But the reality is they didn't, and only Moira sending the book for Trin to finally read Tanwa's justification made Trin reach back to Tanwa, which brings me to the next part of this rant
#3 Between philosophical journaling and Moira sending Tanwa's book to Trin : the empty space where Trin's mourning journey should have been
(Episode 8) To me Trin saying this in episode 8 should have been an indication that he came to the conclusion I came to in #2 e.i. there wasn't anything Tanwa could have done to stop Victor from going to that protest, going to the protest was Victor's choice and it should be respected, Trin for the second time chose not be a coward and put himself in danger to save Victor and even if he knew about the protest sooner wouldn't have been able to save Victor a second time either way cuz there were way bigger forces at play than any of them could have predicted or fought against. Accepted that he did his best even if he failed and accepted that Victor followed his heart to the very end.
Now the way to show this in the series would have been quite simple actually. The other person in the equation that Trin stopped talked to because he needed to grieve was Tanwa so the way to show how far into the grieving process Trin was would have been Trin slowly introducing Tanwa back in his life again. I really thought that's where we were going when we got that scene from episode 8
Other ways they could have shown this would have been for example Trin on the phone with Kom & Kom mentioning a party where Tanwa's band is playing and Trin softly asking how Tanwa is doing. Or Kom sending Trin a pic of Tanwa's band playing and Trin putting that picture near the Origami Tanwa made him. Hell, they could have just shown us Trin taking the Origamis out of his suitcases or just looking at them at a time he particularly missed Tanwa.
But apparently I was wrong because no other "Trin going slowing back towards Tanwa" moments were shown before Moira sent Tanwa's book to Trin which means I have no idea what Trin was even doing or how he was progressing grief wise for the 2 years he was in France. Even with Trin's philosophical blablabling about choices, it makes no sense because we have no scene showing that Trin figured out that Tanwa wasn't at fault in Victor's death, that HE wasn't at fault in Victor's death by himself which again doesn't make sense for supposedly the most emotionally intelligent character in this show. It doesn't make sense to me that, after calming down, there is just no indication of Trin figuring out that "the love was there, it didn't change anything, it didn't save anyone, but still it matter that it was there" regardless of Moira's intervention and Tanwa's explanation of his pov of these tragic sequence of event
So in reality, at the place where Trin's grieving journey should have been, aka where we should have seen Trin getting a better understanding of and going back to the man he loves, slowing forgive himself and finally letting go of Victor's tragic death, there is a giant narrative hole, which bring me to the last installment of whatever this rant is
#4 Missing in action "I wasn't ready to hear this back then." "I know. But you are now." : dialogues that could have easily tied Trin and Tanwa's reunion in Paris together better
We are at the very end of this show and Trin somehow didn't figure out Tanwa wasn't to blame for letting Victor walk to this death before Moira sent Tanwa's book to Trin, and you know what sure. Fine. Whatever. C'est la vie. Anyways Trin is finally reaching back to Tanwa which is what I've been looking for and I take my wins where I can get them. He is desperately calling everywhere and trying to fly back to Thailand. Okay. (episode 8)
But then during their reunion there wasn't any acknowledgement of like anything? Trin, Mr Communication, didn't really acknowledge that he not only misjudged Tanwa but at the time he was too emotional to listen to anything Tanwa would have had to say anyways, and the emotional reaction he had that involved punching Tanwa, for who he got real fucking mad when Tanwa's dad was slapping him around in public and Tanwa didn't let him get involved in it. Like after we've established that we were not shown Trin's grieving process or Trin's slowly letting Tanwa back into his heart, we are just not going to even show them talking about the event that caused the biggest fallout of their relationship?? And yet they will ended up kissing and going back together immediately after not seeing or talking to each other for 2 years????
The worst part is this would have been a pretty easy fix. All the scene would have needed after Tanwa asked if Trin wanted him to sign the book would have been Trin saying "I wasn't ready to hear this back then." and Tanwa answering "I know. But you are now." It is SO fucking simple it's stupid. And then this scene (episode 8)
would have made sense, cuz it would have symbolized them both deciding to start all over again, on a clean slate where both Tanwa and Trin's hurts were acknowledged and both of them decided to get on the track of getting better together. But this isn't what happened, this scene is 1h26mins into a 1h30mins episode, which was the very last one, and we don't even get a single glimpse of the rekindling of their relationship at all after a 2 years of separation. This show then ends with them old and married. So once again we are left with another hole in the narrative
#5 Giving the narrative the time to say what it needs to say : BOC and the curse of 8 episodes series
For all of these reasons, the transition between the last time Tanwa and Trin saw each other and them meeting in Paris & getting back together feels rough at best and completely undeserved at worst. It doesn't feel like Trin learned anything or grieved anyone properly. From my pov (and I guess anon's too) we have no actual insight on if Trin did any reflecting in Paris for the 2 years he was there or not
From this whole meta, what is the most flagrant here is that there are scenes that are missing, that, if they were present, would have made it look less like this character was fumbled at the very end of a show he is the main of. And unfortunately this isn't only Trin, a bunch of other characters and relationships in this show have the very same problem, and I can't help but blaming it on the fact that they had to fit all of this complex narrative into 8 episodes. Had this show been at least 2 episodes longer we would probably not even have to have this conversation
I will end this meta with just wishing BOC a very full length 12 episodes show, for the sake of the audacious stories they are trying to tell, but also just for the sake of their viewers
Well that's all folks, hope this all made sense
