#dhevi

I'll give her points for getting the tapes and getting Pracha killed the way he killed Veera but I refuse to see her as anything other than a despicable villain.

I understand divorce or her husband's death wouldn't reflect well on her given she comes from a known military family BUT she willingly chose a gay man and was aware her choice resulted in his lover being killed, doesn't really matter she didn't agree with killing Win.

So the entire time she made advances at Krailert she was aware her touch was not consented to and he had no desire to be with her physically or romantically, all while he tried (and eventually failed) to respect their marriage because in his mind she was just as a victim of this arranged marriage as he was.

Well she wasn't, and just because she didn't actually kill Krailert or Naran doesn't mean she didn't manipulate Krailert to filth to make him stay with her. He said he made his choice but what other choice did he have without getting anyone else hurt?

She even manipulated Veera even if she might've had feelings for him. He could see she was in a loveless marriage and constantly made little gestures without crossing the line to make her feel happy and loved while she chose all of this on her own.

She's not a badass she's just very bad.

There are no excuses to anything she did to Krailert. Dao was betrayed too and has an influencial family but she didn't seek out hurting Naran in any way that would endanger him or affect his life.

This is the face of a man who spent years trying to be Dhevi's husband at least as a companion realizing his guilt was misplaced because he was manipulated all along and he can't escape.

Let me start by saying that I love Shine the Series. I’m so invested in it that I write fanfic for the show, which, for someone who doesn’t have a lot of free time, should tell you just how much it means to me.

That said, one thing that stands out while watching Shine is how the female characters often seem to exist primarily to support the emotional journeys of the male leads. Take Claire, Trin’s first love, for example. Her tragic death after joining the 1968 Paris student protests leaves a deep scar on him. Her final words, urging him to stand up for his own country, stay with him as a moral compass. But we never really get to know Claire beyond the role she plays in shaping Trin’s development.

Then there is Tanwa’s mother, whose suicide adds another layer of trauma that defines him. We also see women like Dhevi, Trin’s aunt, who is trapped in a loveless and childless marriage, or Dao, Naran’s fiancée, who struggles with her parents’ disapproval while unknowingly participating in a relationship overshadowed by a secret affair. Even Moira, who initially stands out as a strong presence, ultimately seems defined more by her series of lucrative marriages than by a personal arc of her own.

One might argue that, in a show with only eight episodes, there simply isn’t time to explore side characters in any real depth. And to be fair, many supporting characters, regardless of gender, remain somewhat sketched in rather than fully developed. But what stands out is that the women are not just underwritten; they are sacrificed. Claire dies to catalyze Trin’s political awakening. Tanwa’s mother dies to deepen his emotional wounds. Dhevi and Dao serve as cautionary examples of what happens when women are trapped by social expectation or left in the dark. Even Moira’s arc is shaped more by the men she has married than by any interior growth we’re shown.

This is not a fate shared by the male supporting characters. While they may not all receive detailed arcs, they are not reduced to emotional stepping stones or narrative casualties. The imbalance lies not in screen time, but in how pain is assigned, and whose pain is allowed to exist for its own sake.

In the end, it is hard not to feel that Shine uses these women more as narrative tools than as full characters. And while the show gets so many things right, this is an area where it still has room to grow. The hope is that future episodes or future series from BOC will meet that challenge by treating their female characters as more than just collateral damage, and giving them stories that can stand on their own.

(Post written as of episode 4)

Are you hungry? I'll prepare something for you. I don't think I can eat anything right now. Sorry.

"Aren't you Mr. Padoem's son?"

"And now you're a burglar?"

What she did is despicable.

Y'all either didn't watch a good chunk of the last episode or are endorsing rape.

She's not a poor victim trying to reclaim a little bit of dignity. She is part of a system that uses power to silence and coerce those oppressed.

She is part of a military family and used to get what she wants with the means at her disposal. This makes sense to me, on a narrative level. We knew Krailert was doomed from the start, because part of that world.

I’m really curious about what their relationship is like. Because, for now, it seems like she loves him, while he doesn’t care that much. I understand that they didn’t get married out of love, but if their marriage has been like this from the start, that would be sad.