#dff analysis

We know that Phee is a boy who falls in love fast and hard.

He's empathetic, and wears his emotions on his sleeves.

He's a caretaker.

We know that despite wanting to know what happened to Non, Phee also can't help trying to think the best of the group he's joined. Even trying to see another point of view when Tan calls Por a liar.

His position as of episode 9 in the story is really interesting... and also heartbreaking, in it's own way.

Phee has one foot in the past, unable to move forward, but his eyes toward the future.

In the past, he'd been in love with Non. Deeply in love. First love, arguably puppy love, but love nevertheless. That relationship ended in heartbreak for them both - Phee feeling as though Non had betrayed him by lying to him and sleeping with someone else (obligatory note that Non was groomed so we shouldn't label it as cheating, I'm just saying from Phee's POV). He was angry and hurt, and he said something awful in that moment that he didn't mean.

Afterwards, Phee is angry. He's hurt. He doesn't know what to do, so he goes to his dad for advice, and his dad tells him that he needs to talk to Non to understand why he'd done it, and move forward. In that moment, Phee doesn't know if he wants to make up with Non or not.

But eventually he takes his dad's advice to at least talk to him, and figure out why he acted the way he did. But by the time Phee is ready to hear from Non, Non is already gone.

Phee is now facing a slew of questions, and a lot of emotions. Where is Non? What happened to him? Did he really run off? Was it the friend group that did something to him? Could I have helped him if I hadn't been so angry? Did my last words make everything worse? Is he still alive? If he's dead, what will I do?

Phee is caught in a situation that many people find themselves in, at some point or another in life. Where a relationship (friendship or more) ends, but you get no closure. He's caught between wishing he knew what happened, feeling guilty, wanting to get Non back so he can talk to him and get answers... while also being basically out of the relationship entirely because he and Non broke up, and never got back together.

Then, Phee meets New, and it's easy to agree to his scheme. For the two of them to switch schools, infiltrate the friend group that was around Non, and see if they can figure out what happened to him. It's easy to say yes to New, because that's what Phee wants more than anything. Answers. He wants to know what happened to Non, but he also wants to know more than that. Why Non did what he did. If they can work it out and get together again. There's so many questions plaguing Phee's mind, and the lack of answers makes it impossible for him to move forward.

But then, at the same time, life moves on. It's been months since Non vanished already (the start of a new school year and it seemed like the old school year was still in session when they finished the movie, so at least a few months). Phee finds himself with a new group of friends. And while he's suspicious of them, he also has fun with them.

Phee isn't the type of person who can wholeheartedly condemn others. He doesn't have Tan's ability to write them all off as assholes.

Time passes, and Phee moves on. He removes the bracelet he once wore, even before he started classes at the new school. Perhaps he did it because he didn't want to give away his connection to Non - but he didn't have to. It was a simple red bracelet. No one in the group would've seen that and connected him to Non. I don't even think Jin would've, though Jin would've noticed it and wondered about it I'm sure. But Phee took it off anyway.

And, later, Phee takes Jin to the spot he once took Non. He takes him to Phee's special place.

While he's there, he's reminded of Non. He talks about Non. But the way he talks about Non is fond and distant. More of a nice memory, than something that's actively haunting him.

And you can tell by the look on Jin's face that Jin can tell. He knows what what Phee is talking about was in the past. Otherwise he wouldn't look so happy (considering we know he has a jealous streak). And Jin definitely wouldn't have seduced Phee if he got the vibe that Phee still liked someone else.

And then, that night, Phee sleeps with Jin. And perhaps Phee was thinking of Non in those moments, but I highly doubt it. Because I don't think the boy who told Non to "get lost and die" over perceived cheating would sleep with someone else while he's still in love with Non. That, and there's the soft look on his face the next morning...

Phee has moved on. His feelings have changed. He wants to find out what happened to Non, but honestly if it wasn't for his connection to New, I'm not sure how much longer Phee would've kept looking. He's young. He's found a new love. That doesn't mean his love for Non never mattered, or doesn't still impact him in different ways. It just means he's healed, and is looking to the future. That's normal for grief and loss. It becomes part of us, but eventually we learn to live with it and continue our lives.

But the past keeps pulling him back, in the form of New, and news about Non. First when New calls him out for sleeping with Jin and asking if he's cheating. Phee's response might be partially a lie and partially the truth. But he's at least lying to himself about why he did it.

I think Phee saying he loves Non is true - he probably does. In a distant way, of someone he lost. He has fond memories of him. He misses Non, too. But I think what he's telling New - and telling himself - about it being "just the same" is the lie. Phee is in denial that he's catching feelings for Jin. He's in denial about the reasons he did it, and he knows that. Because despite sleeping with Jin and flirting with him, he never asks Jin about Non.

Then he gets another reminder in the form of a news article about Non.

Google translate on the right.

That article brings it back - the anger, the grief, the rage. At himself, for what he said to Non. At Non for the lies he told - the reminder of Non sleeping with Keng. At the situation that he found himself in. He's yanked back to the past again, and all the guilt that comes with it.

And in that moment, he shoves Jin away. He lets the guilt and anger win as he draws a firm line. He denies his feelings, denies that he feels anything at all for Jin, and returns to his mission: to find out what happened to Non.

But in that moment, he doesn't realize that he's lost his future. Because he loses Jin. Jin won't speak to him, won't return his calls, gives him the cold shoulder. Won't even smile at him for the next two years.

Phee tries to talk to Jin, two years later. He hasn't moved on from Jin. Because he's trapped in the same friend group as Jin by his goal: learn more about Non. He can't leave the group to get away from Jin. No space. Which means neither he, nor Jin, are able to heal from what happened. Jin is now trapped in the past, just as much as Phee is.

Phee can't abandon New, can't abandon the mission they set out for, because it means abandoning every question that he still wants answers to. It means abandoning Non, once and for all. But in clinging to the past, he can't move to the future either. He can't choose Jin, but he doesn't want to lose him entirely.

In the present, Phee is still caught between the past and the future. The past being what happened to Non and New's scheme to learn information. And the future, his feelings for Jin that he can't deny anymore, that he can't run from. But that he also can't give in to, because of everything with New.

Phee's character is in stasis. He wants to grow. He wants to move on. If he didn't, he never would've caught feelings for Jin, much less slept with him. But he can't. Because of a sense of duty - to Non, who he failed to help, failed to protect. And now to Non's brother, who can't give up looking for him. And as long as New is looking for Non, Phee has to as well, or it means abandoning the very last piece of Non he has left.

But he's also torn, because while he's working with New on his scheme, he wants to protect Jin, the person he loves now. Perhaps even because he couldn't save Non, so now his redemption will be saving Jin?

This scene could be a plot by Phee to get Jin to open up, using his own tears and guilt in that way, but I do think his concern for Jin is real regardless.

Por

Por is a character who does not really change from the three years that past. Maybe he is a bit remorseful but definitely not enough to care to fix things. Non is "gone" and that leaves everything pretty finished off for him. When you look at the line up we see in flashbacks that the more obvious bully is Por. He treats Non like crap, pushes him around, talks bad about him, steals from him, and even lies on him. But when you look at him versus the other members, he's just a basic school bully who comes from a rich family with high expectations.

He is the easiest character to kill off because your immediate thought is, "well this dude is the worst" but is he? Outside of him taking the script which, as we see, is the least of Non's problems, couldn't Non have survived that abuse in the long run? He is fed up with their crap but he isn't completely fed up just about a script being taken. It's everything all at once. Killing Por gives the series the feeling of revenge and unidealistic redemption. You can see why someone would want him dead which is why he had to go first.

Him living would be quite useless in the grand scheme of things. If he had lived up to this point what exactly would his character be able to confess that the general public doesn't know? Everyone knows that script was not his and that he outwardly bullied Non the most. That wouldn't make for a great reveal at the end. His death is purely used to scare the other members and progress the story further. His death meant the drugs can really induce the fear living in each one of the other members of the group. He does not change much in the three years that follow Non's disappearance because he is made to be the character you focus on the most. You immediately hate him (whether or not you agree he deserves death) but he isn't exactly an antagonist. There really isn't one bad guy in this story. Everyone plays direct or indirect roles in Non's demise.

He also can be seen as a foil to Non. Where he has money, name recognition, and everything he "should" want in the world, he is miserable. He doesn't get affection from his parents and when he does it all comes from a lie. Then you have Non who is poor, relatively friendless, and an outsider. They make the perfect bully and victim in any type of media. But this show is not about a bully and his one victim. It's about what can happen when you break a person down so far they have nothing to lose. So, for that reason, Por can't change. He can't be remorseful (and I do not count about to be paled to death and whining as remorse) or filled with guilt because that is besides the point.

Let’s start with the pair flat vs round characters since “flat” is the aspect I’ve seen many define Jin as:

Flat characters: They often typify one major character trait (e.g., good, evil, funny, smart, etc.) and have no depth.

Round characters (or multi-dimensional characters): They have several traits that are evident, have multiple layers, and are most like real people when it comes to complex personalities. They also have more complex and developed backstories than flat characters (but this doesn’t mean a fully detailed backstory since that can become redundant, it’s more about highlighting the important parts).

Then there’s another pair of opposing aspects that are important, static vs dynamic characters:

Static characters: They don’t experience any major emotional or mental changes throughout the story. You could say that they feel like the same character at the end of a story as they do at the beginning.

Dynamic characters: They experience emotional and/or mental changes throughout the story, which leads them to become different persons/characters. There’s an evident change in who they are at the end of the story compared to who they were at the beginning. This change is often positive (but doesn’t have to be).

A character can be flat and static, round and static, or round and dynamic (I don’t think I’ve ever come across a character that’s flat and dynamic because, logically, those would cancel each other out).

Another pair of aspects I would like to mention is passive vs active characters:

Passive characters: They don’t do much to further the plot. They don’t have any goals and motivations (at least none that matter to the story).

Active characters: Their actions are what keep the plot rolling. They have goals and motivations that drive their actions (and those usually matter to the story).

Flat and static and round and static characters are usually passive characters because they have no or very few goals and motivations, whereas round and dynamic characters can have many complex ones and are, most often, active characters.

To summarize Jin quickly before I present the actual “evidence” of what we’ve seen so far in DFF, I would say that Jin is a round and dynamic character who is monthly active (but has also shown to be passive, depending on the circumstances). This is far from being flat.

But let’s get into the good stuff, the “evidence”:

What We Know and Have Seen of Jin

These bullet points are based on what we’ve seen from episodes 1-11):

Jin is a character with romantic/idealistic views, which could be linked to his artistic soul (since he’s into photography). I feel like some of his actions can be explained by him having an artistic soul.

He lives in a big house that feels remote. Every time we’ve seen him there (so far), he’s been alone (no family members around). I would presume this is common in Jin’s life as he could bring Phee over and have sex against a window for everyone outside to see without Jin being bothered about it.

He stands up to the others (arguably half-heartedly) when they bully Non.

We’ve also seen his reactions several times whenever Non was mentioned after his disappearance. Jin seems far from as unbothered and casual about it as the others who just want to brush it off.

When he develops feelings, they go deep (seen with both Non and Phee).

Reciprocation is important to him as well since he chose not to do anything with Non (even though he liked him) because he knew Non had a boyfriend. It shows up with Phee as well. Jin is the one who suggests Phee stay the night, but he does so after Phee brings him to the lake and shares the significance of that place with Jin (suggesting that Phee made the first move).

He prefers clear communication when there are feelings involved (as shown when he asks Phee what they are to each other).

He clearly connects feelings with sex considering how quickly he got attached to Phee and wanted to know their relationship status.

There’s, at the very least, a sliver of jealousy in him considering how he reacted when he saw Non kiss another boy’s cheek (Phee’s).

He’s emotional and ends up making rash decisions and mistakes in the heat of the moment (e.g., the video).

When in a heated situation, he’s usually the one making an effort to calm it down (like when Non threatened Tee/the group and several times during the whole situation when the gun switched ownership between Fluke, Tee, and Phee).

He doesn’t mind jumping in to defend people, even when they’re being threatened at gunpoint.

These are just a few points off the top of my head. But it shows that we still know a lot about him even though his backstory isn’t as explicitly shown as, for example, Non’s, Phee’s, or Tan/New’s.

Now, let’s look at Jin from the aspects of character creation I wrote about above.

Flat vs Round, Static vs Dynamic, and Passive vs Active

First and foremost, Jin displays several traits and characteristics. He’s friendly, naive, emotional, desperate to be close to someone (possibly because he feels neglected), selfish at times, selfless at other times, impulsive, helpful, courageous at times, etc. This is not the mark of a flat character.

He also experiences emotional and mental changes throughout the episodes we’ve seen so far. If we look at the timeline of the series chronologically (starting with 3 years in the past), Jin seems open and friendly, his romantic/idealistic views are intact (which are shown when he, for example, stands up for Non against the bullies), and he clearly has good feelings for Non.

At the present point in the series (when they’re back at the house in the woods), he’s a lot more closed off (due to what happened to Non and his own part in that as well as the way Phee treated him in the past), his idealistic views are not as intact (he’s gotten used to liars, even told a fair few himself, to the point that he’s not very surprised when Phee confesses about who he and Tan really are), and rather than having good feelings for Non, he’s weighed down by the guilt of his part in Non’s downfall.

Even though these are some examples that illustrate his turn for the worse (or is it?), it’s still a mark of a dynamic character rather than a static one. If he’d still been the naive, idealistic, happy person after all the shit that’s gone down the past 3 years of his life, I would’ve been scared for him (or of him, because that’s just semi-sociopathic behavior). Luckily, Jin has grown to realize that the world isn’t always as great as he might’ve thought and how destructive his own rash decisions can be.

We’ve also been shown time and time again that Jin’s role in the story is important (and bigger than some upset viewers would lead you to believe):

Jin was the one who convinced Non to write the screenplay for the movie.

He defended Non (arguably half-heartedly).

He convinced Non to finish the movie (arguably manipulated him out of selfish desires).

He filmed the video of Non and Keng.

He lied about Non’s disappearance to the police (but, I mean, who would want to cooperate with those corrupt fuckers?).

And he is the one who’s trying to calm down the messy and heated situation at the house (together with what we’ve seen recently of Phee).

This is not a small role. It’s not an insignificant role. He’s the one who took away Non’s parachute in the middle of his tragic downfall, escalating the whole thing. That’s no passive character waiting for things to happen.

And, on the subject of his actions, we can also see his motivations behind them (without having a fully-blown background story).

For one, his romantic/idealistic views are what led him to get angry (alternatively felt betrayed) when he saw Non with Keng and decided to film the video (yes, it was a decision of his, and it turned out to be one of his biggest mistakes). He makes an active decision and he has a motivation for it.

He later finds out how the spread of that video (which he filmed) affected Non (when he threatened them at the house). Jin has felt guilty ever since (which makes him a better person than some of the others). The fact that he actually shows remorse when he talks to Phee about this shows that he has grown and hopefully learned not to make rash decisions based on his emotions (his reaction to Phee’s rejection, for example, is to stonewall Phee rather than hurt him, which is a step forward). A flat and static character wouldn’t grow this much.

As I mentioned above, I feel like some of his actions can be explained by him having an artistic soul. One of them is that he can see the beauty in the mundane (even in the things that others see as ugly). We can take Non as an example.

All the others call him greasy. They think he’s disgusting. Jin, though, is fascinated by him. In one scene, we see him look at Non through Por’s new camera (with heart-eyes, I might add). In another scene, he stares at Non as if spellbound. This could further explain his attachment to Non and his desire to keep Non close.

Another action that can be explained by Jin having an artistic soul is that he knew exactly which buttons to push with Non when he convinced him to stay and finish the film.

Artists of all kinds know what it’s like to be attached to their work (I’m speaking from personal experience). Jin pointing this out to Non (knowing that Non has an artistic soul just like Jin) could’ve been unintentional since he might’ve spoken from his own experience, but it could’ve also been an ace in his sleeve to keep Non close (for selfish reasons).

These are only a few examples of all the facets of Jin’s character, yet, I feel like it’s quite clear that Jin is far from flat. He’s a round, dynamic, and (mostly) active character who plays a big role in the series.

Jin is just as much a main character as Non or Phee (to mention a few) because he’s always had a very central part of the story.

Conclusion

Is Jin a flat character? Absolutely not.

Could he have been developed more (at least up until the 11th episode that we’ve seen)? Yes. Just like White and Top.

(I saw somewhere that someone commented that Sammon had said that her regret was not having developed Jin more, but this is just hearsay, so take it with a pinch of salt.)

But do we need Jin to be more developed? Not really.

We don’t need a full-length backstory for every character to understand them. I believe that characters should be able to stand by their actions without needing a backstory to explain them. And that’s exactly the case with Jin.

He doesn’t need a sob story to make him feel human, like, for example, Por (even though I really, really, really don’t want to admit that Por has, a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty, microscopical sliver of humanity in him). Jin doesn’t need a fully developed backstory like Tee because he wasn’t the kind of asshole Tee was (even though Jin’s mistake was big too). Jin’s actions and motivations are shown through the character itself rather than told through the backstory.

Just because your expectations of a character weren’t met doesn’t mean they’re flat or badly written. Just because you want Jin to have a bigger role doesn’t mean he has a small one. Just because you want to see more of Jin’s backstory doesn’t mean he’s underdeveloped if you don’t get more. Just because you aren’t explicitly told/shown Jin’s backstory and reasons for doing what he does doesn’t mean it’s not there. Sometimes you just have to read between the lines.

Ep1

When they start talking about Non for the first time. He's shown like this several times during the conversation, and he stops "wearing" them when he starts talking about remaking the film.

Tan briefly wears the horns as he and White are trying to use the phone. Then White wears the horns after they realize the phone won't work.

Ep2

Jin wears these blurry horns when he tells Fluke off for not taking care of Por like a proper doctor-to-be. He also has a skull on his shoulder.

Ep3

When Por starts seizing and Fluke urges White to help him look for a sewing kit. It's juuust slightly off center, so it's hard to say if they meant for him to be wearing the horns here or not wearing the horns.

Ep4

He never quite wears them properly in this scene, but this is a very odd framing (similar to Jin before) that happens repeatedly, beginning when White asks Fluke if there's anything he can do to treat Top, who they've just put on the couch after he came back to the house covered in green vomit and promptly fainted.

Tan and Tee both avoid fully wearing horns as they react to Por's body, but White wears them properly.

Someone calls over the walkie talkie. I can't tell if Tee briefly wearing the horns is intentional or not, but Tan and White are unmistakable.

Fluke demands the walkie talkie at gunpoint. This time Tee seems to be wearing the horns properly.

White's worn every single pair of horns in this room now, while Tan has switched to avoiding fully wearing the horns ever since Fluke started talking about Tee and co. having killed someone.

White is even wearing blurry little horns in the background while the camera focuses on Tee.

Now White has finally taken them off, and Tan's put them back on! This is when Top starts laughing on the floor.

Ep8

Although they're only passing by, the shots line up perfectly so that both Jin and Non briefly wear two sets of horns each. A couple others in the group get close, but no one properly wears them besides those two, even in passing.

What it all means

Non

Non wears the horns as the group arrives at the vacation house. It's fairly straightforward why: his true motive isn't to finish the film, it's to hurt the others in the group.

Tee

Tee puts the horns on when White's safety is a factor, but only after he resolutely decides to prioritize White's safety over his own, and only when an ally (Fluke) is the one threatening that safety.

Now that he's made the decision to prioritize White's safety, it could be that his interests no longer align with those of the group because his top priority is protecting White, and he may do so even at the expense of himself or the others if it comes to that.

But speaking of Tee, am I the only one who thinks this is him in the symbolic pre-release video?

A lot of people say this is Phee, but tell me those aren't JJay's legs.

I don't think Tee is our killer, but maybe he'll do a little more than just act at the expense of the others...

Phee

Phee puts the horns on the moment Tan starts asking questions about Non. The most obvious reason is because he's pretending that he doesn't know who Non is. It may also indicate his true motive: he's here to find out info about Non.

He takes the horns off when he starts talking about remaking the film, and he didn't wear them while looking for or watching the film, so it's likely that the film has nothing to do with his true motive. The film is just a means to finding out info about Non.

Phee is most likely not our killer.

Tan

Tan puts the horns on very briefly when he and White are trying to use the phone to call for help. It could be a coincidence, but they lined him up perfectly for it, so who knows? He also puts the horns on the moment they get contacted on the walkie talkie.

Pointedly, he does not put the horns on when he sees Por's body, and he avoids putting them on again after Fluke says Tee and co. killed a person. He then puts the horns back on again when Top wakes up.

Whatever Tan's motive is here, it seems that it involves preventing the group from contacting the outside world, but not causing people to die. However, it's possible that he may be responsible for Top's current condition, even if he had no intention to cause anyone to die. Maybe he thought Top would just run around and scare people a little, not that he'd go full psycho.

Either way, Tan is also most likely not our killer.

White

Surprisingly, little White is the one who wears the horns the most.

He wears them quite firmly when he and Tan are trying to use the phone, he sort of wears them when Fluke urges him to help find a sewing kit, and he practically never takes them off through the entire sequence of the others reacting to Por's body, someone calling on the walkie talkie, and Fluke having his meltdown. The only time they firmly come off is when Top starts laughing.

Speaking of Top, White has that weird "skull on the shoulder" framing when he and Fluke are talking about whether Fluke can do anything to treat Top's condition. Perhaps a devil on his shoulder? Is he being tempted by some unknown darker impulses? Is that why the horns almost never come off again after that point?

Whatever White's motives are, like Tan, they seem to involve preventing the group from contacting the outside world. But unlike Tan, it seems that White may be okay with people dying.

Now here's the thing― White comes across as very delicate and meek in the show so far, but just look at how his and Tee's relationship dynamic is symbolically depicted in the pre-release:

This is very different from the White we know. This White is powerful, aloof.

Por was the public leader of the group until he got impaled and replaced by Phee. Tee was and still is the shadow leader of the group (aka the real leader).

So if White has this much power over Tee, that makes White the actual leader of the group, especially now that everyone's at the house except Phee and Jin.

Is White our killer? Is he assisting our killer? Is he murder-neutral? Does he just want to see the world burn?

Jin

Let's start with the chronological first time Jin wears the horns: when the old group arrives at the vacation house to try to finish the film, just before Non loses his marbles on them.

Jin's motives are starting to fall out of alignment with the group, but perhaps it's everyone else in the group who's changing, not him. A little while later Por tries to murder Non, Tee and Top kidnap Non, and Fluke doesn't care about any of it. Jin is the only one who is opposed to all of this, as he has been to their treatment of Non all along.

The chronological next time Jin wears the horns, it's when Fluke tells Tan that he'll go tend to Por so that he doesn't die before Uncle Dang gets there, and also so that he won't be scolded by Jin again, because Jin keeps hounding him about it.

...To which Jin immediately shows up and scolds him lmao

Jin then wears the horns and has the skull on his shoulder, after which Fluke calls Jin a "good-mouthed good-hearted man" (derogatory).

Could it be that Jin, for all the times he keeps urging Fluke to save Por... doesn't actually mind if Por dies? Does he have a little devil on his shoulder, telling him that Por deserves it?

After all, Jin witnessed Por try to kill Non, and in cold blood too― Por waited until Non was unconscious before he went to attack.

Now, here's a very interesting pair we have yet to see manifest:

What's their connection, and why haven't we seen any hints of it yet? Why would White be angry enough at Jin to shove him? Why do they otherwise seem like they might be working together?

Maybe I'm overanalyzing at this point, but...

The skull positions are interesting. Maybe the skull on White's shoulder isn't a devil on his shoulder... maybe White is the devil on the shoulder. Maybe White is the devil on Jin's shoulder.

And what the heck is this???

Jin records as Tee(?) beats someone bloody.

Is Jin our killer? Is White our killer and Jin is assisting him? Is Jin just incredibly chill with the idea of bad people murdering each other?