#padoem

[superfandomlife]

"Turn the speakers off! This is not a hippie concert!"

"But this isn't your event either, dad."

Shine - Episode 05 (2025)

Bonus:

[fromperdition4]

I deeply appreciate Krailert's passive aggressive response here.

He's toeing the line, with his 'customer service' smile. He'll concede that Trin (like Tanwa) is young and hot-headed. He shouldn't have spoken to a powerful man like Padoem, his elder, with so little respect.

But he'll defend Trin too. Because it wasn't their family who just caused a scene.

Why should he take advice on 'discipline' from a man who so clearly failed to raise his own son?

[fromperdition4]

Padoem is Wrong

(I mean, obviously - but objectively too!)

When I first watched episode 2, Padoem's dismissive attitude toward Tanwa obviously bothered me - but it's infuriating to rewatch, given what we know now!

Tanwa never 'dropped out of school' - he just changed his major and has delayed graduating:

He doesn't have 'nothing to [his] name' - he's the lead singer of a famous band!

And he doesn't just 'burn through [Padoem's] money' - he earns a living, both as a singer and at the record store:

We know Padoem isn't ignorant of the last two points (at least) - after all, he was at the moon landing party and he went to the record store when he wanted to kidnap talk to Tanwa. The issue isn't that Padoem doesn't know his son, it's that he looks down on Tanwa's choices.

Not graduating on time (or with a major his dad could respect) is just as shameful as dropping out. Getting famous in a flashy band is worse than having no public reputation at all. Spending any of his inheritance while going to school for ten years and working a low-class job is a complete waste of Padoem's money.

In hindsight, it's interesting that Tanwa only fought back against the last point -

He won't bother defending his choices at school or his very clear accomplishments as an artist, but he's also not going to let his dad take any credit for how he lives his life.

[fromperdition4]

Prioritizing the Ones We Love

In episode 6, Naran accused Krailert of being selfish - that he only cares about his loved ones, and has no regard for anyone else.

In episode 7, we saw multiple characters prioritizing the people they love:

But it's actually only Padoem who fits Naran's description.

Padoem orders his son not to go to the student protest because he knows there will be casualties. He not only doesn't care about the student protesters, he stands to benefit from the violence. He may have even been involved in planning it. He's cold, ruthless, and only cares about his own blood.

In contrast, Trin is the furthest away from being selfish with his priorities. Among the students, he cares most about Victor, and he tries to get him out first, but he always does what he can to save others too.

Tanwa initially prioritizes Trin's safety by keeping him in the dark - he brings him home to spend the evening together, away from whatever has been put in motion (that they're surely powerless to stop). But he ultimately realizes it's wrong to hide this from him. He tells Trin what he knows, even as he still desperately wants him to be safe.

Quick tangent: anyone else think that Tanwa would have told Trin right away, if he'd found him at the university instead of at home? After all, Trin would have already known about the protest then. Meanwhile, if Tanwa had any doubts about his dad's warning, they were pretty well erased by seeing Krailert make up his own excuse to send Trin away.

Tanwa does also try to intervene further, by paying his dad's bodyguards to let him outside and telling Victor that something bad was going to happen. Although he could have tried telling other students too, I can't imagine it would have been any more effective - he's the son of the businessman directly involved with the Huay Kam Saeng project. Even if he got a couple students to believe him (like his fanboy Narong), the event wouldn't have been called off... And Victor would have still been in the line of fire.

Finally there's Krailert, who thinks he has some power to protect people. Even if he can't go against his duty, he can minimize the risk to the students. The military will be at the student protest one way or another, but by pushing back against Pracha, by taking the lead, he can surely control the outcome...

But of course, Krailert isn't really in charge and one of 'his' men goes against orders to cause chaos that Krailert scrambles to reign in. That he fails to reign in.

Naran was wrong about Krailert only caring about his loved ones.

But despite how he feels, despite what he tried to do, they still ended up at the same, awful, outcome.

[fromperdition4]

Drawing Lines

It's interesting how two requests can be so similar - drawing lines around their lives that they don't want their partner to cross - but so different too.

Trin's request is pretty damn reasonable: Tanwa doesn't need to come to his work to pass him cute notes (no matter how insecure he may be feeling at the time), and he certainly doesn't need to be so disruptive while doing it. After all, Tanwa joking around could have serious consequences for Trin's job.

Tanwa's request is... more complicated.

From Trin's perspective, he had to step in to stop Padoem's assault on Tanwa - he was stood in a room full of people just watching Tanwa get beat and still provoking his dad to do more. Trin's not going to stand by and watch someone he cares about get hurt - not anymore.

But from Tanwa's perspective, Trin stepping in was both pointless and dangerous. Tanwa knows his father; he's used to their fights and to his dad being violent with him. He knows how hard it is to control himself, to keep things light, when his dad's forceful control makes Tanwa so angry.

He also (thinks he) knows his dad's limits. It's understandable for Tanwa to ask Trin to stay out of it for his own sake - to protect him. Because he doesn't want to see Trin hurt either.

The problem is: he immediately undermined his warning by brushing Trin off, yet again

Because asking Trin to stay away from his dad isn't the first time Tanwa's drawn a line to separate his life from Trin's.

This is just the first time he's said it out loud.

[fromperdition4]

Tanwa: Running from Expectations

Okay, so at the big picture level, this conversation is showing us the contrast between Trin and Tanwa's life philosophies: Trin is interested in making change for the collective good (while arrogantly assuming he knows what's good for others), while Tanwa seems to be happy living in his own, individual, world.

At a smaller level, though, I think this conversation is hinting at the difficulties Tanwa has had with his family.

Tanwa's dad is Padoem Chatbodi - a stern and wealthy businessman, who has just signed on with the military to build a new power plant on 'their' land.

And we know from both this episode and the trailer that Tanwa and his dad absolutely hate each other.

I think it's a pretty safe to assume that Padoem doesn't approve of Tanwa's lifestyle or career choice. Like most wealthy fathers, he probably wanted his son to take over the family business, or at least be part of respectable society. Not go galivanting around in his long hair and sequined suits, high as a kite, flirting with anything that moves...

But Tanwa doesn't define himself as the son of Padoem Chatbodi. He's run from that life, and found his own happiness as an individual, with no connections tying him down to earth.

...hasn't he?

[fromperdition4]

I'm fascinated by the way Tanwa's smile falls in this moment.

Because, for once, Padoem is right - Tanwa did come to see him because he was worried. I think his 'plan' was just to gauge his father's mood/stress levels, by riling him up a little. He'd stroll in with a smile on his face, pretend to be there for his guitar, and see if his dad would argue with him, like normal.

But his dad staring wistfully at his mom's picture, caressing it so tenderly, isn't normal. Not anymore.

Because Tanwa hasn't seen this side of his father in a long time. Padoem's likely been overbearing, insulting, abusive since his wife died (if not before) - and Tanwa's long accepted that.

So to get a glimpse of how his dad could be, to realize he can be gentle when no one's around to see...

That's gotta make it all hurt even more.

[fromperdition4]

Looking forward to seeing Tanwa smash his dad's guitar next ep. That's gonna be cathartic.