The Believers (not to be mistaken for The Exorcist: Believer, though oddly connected by the common thread of religion) is a Thai drama that follows three budding entrepreneurs’ over-ambitious drive to make money. A product of today, the show is a thriller that covers the journey of the three leads, Win, Game, and Dear, as they decide to use organized religion for their capitalistic gains. Though, at this point, they’re desperate because they’re indebted to a vicious loan shark. Kids, don’t overdo it. Anyway, the first season follows the three business partners as they go from being broke and scared to mooching off of the innocent. The show then integrates a drug cartel into the mix that operates through the temple (yikes, controversial!). As time passes, the story gets more complicated, and just like Win, Game, and Dear, we realize that this isn’t as small and simple as we’d imagined. See, they think they have an original idea; it’s the easiest way to launder money, religion and faith; however, what they don’t know is that it’s been happening for years. Additionally, the things that happen behind temple doors are unknown to commoners. At the same time, there’s dirty politics even amongst Buddhist monks, and nobody is safe from the filth of the world today. The first season ends on a massive cliffhanger, which shows Win that the story is much bigger and older than he could ever have imagined. Though a second season of The Believers isn’t confirmed yet, the open ending leaves us hoping for another. So while we wait for it to be announced, let’s get into some theories and expectations for The Believers Season 2.
Spoiler Alert
What Does Ae Want From Win, Dear and Game?
At the end of season 1 of The Believers, Game doesn’t get caught by the police, but Ekachai coerces him into working for him and the politician sponsor Ae. It seems Ae and Ekachai had plans brewing much earlier, and the three besties simply became pawns in the big picture. Now, Ae threatens the trio to work under her or face death, just as Tong did. We know for a fact that despite their failed endeavors, the three are great at marketing and selling the product at hand—the temple. We can be sure the business will flourish under them. While Dear wanted to quit the business, especially after learning that Monk Dol was in love with her, making her feel like she really messed things up, she is now forced to work with Win again, whom she wanted time away from. I suppose we can say that Dear got closure from Win because she finally realizes his greed is more important to him than anything else, so we can imagine that in season 2, she will not be interested in being together with him. However, it’s a real shame that she can’t pursue her dream of becoming a designer because she’s so good at it, and she had the perfect way out of the temple-running business.
On the other hand, Game is worried for his family and will do anything to keep them safe. He has no choice but to work for Ae. We can imagine that Game and Win will make amends in The Believers season 2 because, in order to beat the bad guys, they’ll have to work together. We know for a fact that they do really well together, so it’s only a matter of time until they fight it out aggressively, forgive each other, and then make a plan to safely exit the temple business. Now that the cops are also found to be corrupt, we can’t really tell how the kids are going to manage to escape. Maybe they’ll take the help of the common people, the faithful, to get rid of those who have perverted faith.
What Will Win Do?
It seems that when Win visited the abbot, we can imagine that the abbot tried to tell him that Ekachai was the one poisoning him. Even when Game asks the abbot later who Tong is working for, he tries to point in the general direction of Ekachai, but Game doesn’t get it, ultimately getting Tong killed. At the end of The Believers episode 9, Win discovers that the paper lamp he made with his father has some hidden secrets. It seems his father was involved in a similar situation 18 years ago, where his faith was used against him. Maybe his father had learned that the money he was giving to the temples was being misused. Or maybe he was involved, just like Win, in a game of ambition. First, we will learn exactly how Win’s father went missing 18 years ago. Or, more like, for what reason? Then, we can imagine that Win will want to take revenge for whatever happened; after all, his mother is still stuck on her father’s return after all these years and leaves it up to faith to answer her prayers.
Will Monk Dol return in Season 2?
Personally, I found Monk Dol to be a very intriguing character in The Believers. He’s a monk who is confused about his faith and develops feelings for Dear. At the end of the first season, he decides to go back to the forest and leaves Dear behind, despite having confessed his feelings for her. This is because he learns from the police that the trio were allegedly running drugs through the temple and simply using Dol as bait. Dol is left devastated and realizes that he must stick to his faith and not return to being a regular human being. I feel like Dol could return in the second season because he’s an interesting character and has a lot going on. His subplot isn’t really complete either; will he be able to get over Dear? What if Dear suddenly chooses to reciprocate Dol’s feelings since she’s realized Win doesn’t deserve any of her love? It’s possible Dol can help the kids get out of their miserable situation with his voice, which has mesmerized so many.
I suppose a second season of The Believers could focus on the bigger organization rather than the three protagonists. Of course, we’ll learn more about them and see them try to escape the corrupt world, but it will expose a whole new side of the temple-running business, possibly more controversial than this one! So, here’s hoping we get The Believers season 2.
