I'm having trouble adjusting: a "Trinkets" review
I've heard a story about someone who shoplifted. A girl I went to high school with once walked out of Target with a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nunchucks taken out of the dollar section without even realizing it. It was a complete accident, she swore. She never meant to do it. But as I'm writing this, I wonder what would've happened if that one-time incident became something more, kleptomania and shoplifting. What if?
Needless to say, the girls in Trinkets are certainly past the accidental stage of their shoplifting. Based off a novel by legendary chick flick screenwriter Kirsten Smith. three young women are thrown into Shoplifters Anonymous as a result of their behavior. It's the kind of premise that I love, a forced situation that results in the kind of friendships that are strange in the moment but everlasting. My brother had read the novel during his freshman year of high school, so I had high expectations going into this show, especially after a masterfully cut trailer and my own lukewarm reaction to the source material. Was this worth the transaction?
Actually, yes. Although it has some rocky moments, Trinkets is a teen drama that deserves a lot of praise for what it does right. With great acting, impeccable direction and sound design, and tight plotting that works surprisingly well for thirty minute episodes, this show won my heart with its grit that didn't feel plastered on like what I've felt from looking into 13 Reasons Why. Despite what I've listed above and two relationships that could lead into statutory rape, this ended up being a charming show about three teenage girls navigating their shoplifting and camaraderie amidst abrupt changes in their lives, from an abusive boyfriend to a queer awakening to harsh truths all handled with respect. Kudos.
Elodie Davis is new to Portland, Oregon. Living with her father, stepmother, and stepbrother following the death of her mom in New Mexico, she's out of her element among the close-knit culture of suburban high school. The only friend she has is the daughter of someone her dad works with, and she's not even a real friend. Comfort comes in shoplifting, but a convenience store detour following Elodie's first party in Oregon brings her to Shoplifters Anonymous. There, she meets two girls who couldn't be more different than her: Moe, the drifter, and Tabitha, the most popular girl in school. Their friendship begins with a shoplifting-off in the middle of a department store, and although it doesn't look super likely considering where they all come from, they grow closer as they come together to do what they love. But when secrets start spilling, payback is served, and life quickly turns against them, will the girls still have it in them to trust each other?
The premise of Trinkets is familiar to contemporary fiction: a group of people unlikely to get along all coming together thanks to a shared event. I'm a sucker for plots like these despite how cliche they can be. What I like about this show, however, is that Smith and company expand upon the brevity of the book to create something that has impact and can delve into these girls, not just them along for the ride to shoplift. The characters feel intimate, not just like caricatures or stereotypes fitting in their roles. Additionally, they're cast/written to represent people out in the real world; they aren't all heterosexual white women like in the novel. Moe and Tabitha are women of color (and Tabitha's actor, Quintessa Swindell, identifies as nonbinary), and Elodie (like her actress, Brianna Hildebrand) is gay. The side characters follow suit, with Moe's love interest being black, Elodie's "friend" being East Asian, and gay and sexually fluid side characters. It's very refreshing to see these stories represented in a television series, so please keep them coming!
When it comes to those deeper storylines, they allow greater empathy for our protagonists and their struggles. Elodie faces the grief of her mom's death and feeling responsible while trying to navigate a new school and her identity amidst her peers, not to mention what she longs for in a girlfriend. Moe's dad has never really been a part of her life, and because of how she presents herself, her relationship with a boy named Noah must remain under lock and key even though she wants it to be public. And Tabitha feels like she has to keep the perfect facade of her life together even as her boyfriend becomes more abusive and she discovers a secret about her father that cracks the plaster of that facade. All of that was in the novel, true, some of the circumstances being altered for TV, but these issues feel more present here. They matter a lot more, and to see this empathetic energy delivered by impeccable actors (shout-out to the three leads and October Moore trading her Wii Fit Trainer job for a beautiful performance as Moe's mom) is appreciated.
However, two of these storylines lead to relationships that have been considered problematic by viewers of the show. Elodie and Tabitha both fall for people significantly older than them, an indie pop singer named Sabine and a bartender and fellow shoplifter Luca. The former suffers a bit from underlying toxicity and teen fangirl wish fulfillment come to life, and the latter is back-and-forth but has its moments of charm (and at least Luca's better than Brady). However, Luca and Sabine are adults, most likely past 21. The girls of Trinkets are high school juniors, sixteen and seventeen. They are minors that could potentially engage in sexual intercourse with adults, which is against the laws in the state of Oregon, the setting of the show. The actors behind the characters are all of age, of course, and perhaps this is me looking too much between the lines after users on Tumblr called this out, but the implications of these relationships and the romanticizing of how forbidden they are within the context of the show still need to be highlighted, especially if some viewers will be uncomfortable with this material and need the forewarning.
So to alleviate some of that stress, let's dive into the atmosphere of this series. The direction is absolutely stunning, the 4K picture popping with dirty glimmers of color and resounding intimacy. Everything looks polished while retaining the grit this show leaves behind, and there are some beautifully framed moments of characters walking and talking to show that. One of my favorites is the three girls sitting on tables at an ice cream place, the camera poised above the red plastic as they sit against the tops of them. There are also some great angles and seamless one takes and it's brilliant. I have lots of respect for the four directors that worked on this show.
There's also great music accenting the scenes. Indie is the genre of choice, and it makes so much sense for the kind of edgy vibe the fashionable clothing and the direction suggests. The sound editing is brilliant as well, really pulling together the whole aesthetic Trinkets creates. From background tracks playing as Moe rides her bike to a chorus of happy birthday getting muted as Boygenius's "Salt in the Wound" roars to life, everything clicks together. There's even a shoplifting scene where The xx plays. Let's call that a win!
With that, Trinkets makes the perfect binge for your next free weekend. While it does have some of the trite writing that follows edgy teen dramas within its lane, its sincerity and compelling plots make it worth the watch. Plus, with ten thirty minute episodes, it accomplishes what it needs to within the time it has. It's pretty stellar for that, and it features some great talent and a whole bunch of music to add to your collection. If it gets another season, I'll be curious to see where it goes from here, but if this is all we get, I'm happy with the end result.
