People are usually told to not judge a book by its cover since the beginning of time. One of Netflix’s newest series takes this phrase to a new level.
The young adult drama “Trinkets” follows three girls on their journey through high school dilemmas, relationships and shoplifters anonymous meetings – where they meet.
The unlikely friendship begins with a shoplifting face-off where the winner takes all of the items that the group stole. The sight of the teenagers together might take some viewers by surprise, as they may not be the type to usually be friends. But of course, Netflix teaches that people perceive themselves differently than who they really are.
Elodie, played by Brianna Hildebrand, is new to the town and high school. As a loner starting fresh, she mostly stays to herself but this changes when she is mandated to go to shoplifters anonymous meetings.
When we first meet Elodie she seems like the standard stereotypical teenager who doesn’t want to listen to her parents and is awkward around many of her classmates. However as the series goes deeper into her life, viewers understand that there is so much more of Elodie than one originally sees.
At a party, Elodie first encounters classmate, Tabitha, played by Quintessa Swindell, who is arguing with her boyfriend, Brady, played by Brandon Butler. Elodie notices when he tightly grips Tabitha’s arm and obviously doesn’t like what she sees.
Seeing him the next day, Elodie drops her entire lunch onto Brady’s lap. This takes many characters by surprise as Elodie hasn’t seemed like the type to draw attention to herself or make such a relentless move on an “elite” status member of the Portland High School society. But, of course, there’s more to Elodie than what’s shown on the surface.
Tabitha, on the other hand, seems to be completely unlike Elodie when she first appears on the show. She’s the typical high school popular girl and lives the lavish lifestyle everyone wants.
As the show dives past the surface of her seemingly flawless being, we actually see just how much her life is more than glitter and flowers. Behind closed doors, Brady and Tabitha’s relationship is in shambles. Not only is he emotionally and sometimes physically abusive to her, he also appears to only be with her because of her parents’ connections to Stanford admission representatives. When she breaks up with him about halfway through the season, he blackmails her into being with him again in an effort to attend a dinner with those college representatives.
Tabitha also has a “finsta,” a fake Instagram account where she posts more of her personal photos. These tumblr-esque posts usually entail her signature mark of a few words written with lipstick on a mirror. Phrases like “What now” and “Happy F****** Birthday” allows viewers to understand what Tabitha is thinking without dialogue.
These, among other activities, are hidden from the majority of Tabitha’s friends and peers. For them, what looks like an amazing life can sometimes be a nightmare for Tabitha.
Moe, played by Kiana Madeira, is also hiding behind her exterior. She is very different depending on who she is around. Her mysterious punk-rock surface is only how she wants people to view her. But behind the leather jacket and platform boots, she hides a different side of herself she allows only certain people to see.
For example, Moe gets called down to the principal’s office often. To her friends, Moe gets called down because the principal is out to get her and she’s in there because she’s in trouble. But in reality, Moe is in the office because she’s speaking with the principal about a college program in Korea that she’d like to attend. Moe, of course, never tells her friends the real reason she’s with the principal in order to keep up her bad-girl persona.
Also in secret, Moe is seeing Noah, a popular soccer player at the school. She wants to keep their hook-ups discrete in order for her to not be involved with the popular clique and keep her image. But as those feelings grow throughout the season, hiding behind her tough act gets tougher and tougher.
Moe decided to keep up her identity as someone unapproachable and rebellious for many reasons, but it shows just how much people are different from what they allow people to see.
“Trinkets” wants to teach viewers that you should never judge a book by its cover with Elodie, Tabitha and Moe being prime examples of that. It is easy to make judgments on people before you meet them or get to know who they really are. However, through drama and conflict, this series shows the benefits of getting to know a person first.
To get to know these characters for yourself, “Trinkets” is available for streaming on Netflix.
By Cammie Dutchess, Features Assignment Editor
jonesdca17@bonaventure.edu
