collecting stuff like a magpie

“Well, I have a room that the landlord uses for storage. With a little cleaning, it could work as a bedroom.”

“It still hurts. Blow on it for me. Hurry up.”

“Why should I?”

“It really hurts. Please, will you? Please.”

“Fine. So naggy.”

"This was my first time meeting Hui Loek To. Back then, I never imagined anything would happen between us."

"Most of the time, I want to end everything in this multiverse. But every time I think of Lin, it always makes me happy. And if this world can make the two of us stay together, I will wait for you."

Uranus2324 (2024) dir. James Thanadol Nualsuth

Tin thinks he’s the system Phob wants to dismantle, but Phob has never seen Tin that way. He has never seen Tin as part of the system. Instead, he’s always seen him as someone trapped within it—someone who never chose the privilege or power that came with his position.

That's the problem. They’re both wrong.

Tin has never treated Phob as lesser. He has never seen him as anything other than his equal. And because Tin never acted like an elite, Phob convinced himself that Tin wasn’t really one—that bringing down the system wouldn’t hurt him, and wouldn’t take anything away from him.

But Tin is making a similar mistake in the opposite direction. He can’t quite see how much bigger Phob’s revolution is. He struggles to separate Phob’s fight against the monarchy from what he interprets as a personal hatred of the royal family. So instead of seeing Phob as someone fighting against an entire system of inequality, Tin sees him as someone who simply can’t love who he is.

Phob is now serving as a member of the government and has to see the consequence of the revolution at the political level. It appears to me that Phob and Jam were in fact idealists. They thought that the new government should focus on the greater goals a society should pursue and was willing to advocate radical change to reach those goals. They refused to accept injustice and were hoping for fairer society for everyone. That's why they are so offended to see that the new government isn't that different from the previous one. They don't understand why.

There is a perpetual struggle between idealism and reality. Unfortunately, and I'm saying that without being so well-verse in politics (even though I know every choice is somehow political), there are challenges that have plagued political entities and a revolution can't exactly change them in a few days. The idealist society for whom Phob and Jam fought provides a view of how it ought to be with the principles that have to be in place in order to achieve it. However, it's a long-term goal or something to strive and in between there will be failures and trials they didn't envision.

On the other hand, Tin became a teacher in a small school and can witness a different side of the new government's actions. He isn't witnessing them on the political scale that could be considered the macro perspective. Instead, he sees it through a micro perspective. He can see how individuals' decisions and actions shape the overall system. By becoming a teacher, he is in contact with the future generation and this way he sees how people make choices and respond the change in society.

It's a truth that the expansion of literacy helped reduce within-country inequalities. Those students now have the right to education and it brings with it huge empowerment and benefits. Reading and writing will help these children in the long term. As for now, they can "dare" (I'm using here Tin's words) to aspire to something else. By promoting education, the new government is also working on reducing poverty and offering those children who may not have the same chances under the previous government to have greater life choices for themselves. Regarding Tin, he is being a driven force in those changes by teaching these students. He is becoming an actor of the change too.

One of the clearest examples is prince Vasin. We have seen how much he loves Tin, even feels sorry for making his son's life hard. And we have seen that he in some ways was one of the "good" royals, he treated his staff well - for example taking care of Phob's education - and from what we have seen he runs his household well. And considering his reaction to Chatt's crimes, Vasin himself didn't embezzle or took bribes.

But prince Vasin also firmly stands on the side of the monarchy and traditions. To him that is the correct world order, and while he treats his servants well, to him they are just that, servants, that's their place in his world. And also despite knowing how the old world order has hurt Tin, he still wants to uphold it.

And then on the other side we have Kitti, Phob's commander, for example. Who claimed to have common people's best interest at heart before the revolution, but now supports censoring the media suppressing the "wrong" kinds of opinions and cozying up with the right kind of royals and wealthy people, accepting "gifts". Phob is right to wonder whether they are turning into the very thing they fought against

And then we have Tin and his grandma, who are trying to adapt and find new meaning for their lives. I loved the way we see Tin taking in the struggles of people, and realising what schooling could mean to the kids from lower class families. And how he as a teacher could help them, and how the way government supported education made it all possible.

So at the same time as Phob's faith in the ideology he unwaveringly supported till now started to crumble, Tin has started to see something good in the chances too.

"You don't seem to be doing too well yourself. Is everything okay?"