In The Believers (2024), 3 friends lose everything in a risky business venture and turn to the temple business to pay their debts. The series is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Win, Dear, and Game are 3 young friends who developed a game linked to NFTs that is doing well in its early days.
To get the business off the ground, they borrowed money from a loan shark at a heavy interest rate.
Their app is the victim of a cyberattack which tanks the value of their token and puts them in dire financial straits.
Win is a computer genius who oversees all the crypto-related transactions, Dear is a creative designer in charge of the image, and Game comes from a reputed family of businessmen.
Game is the one who initially approached the loan shark for the money, although they weren’t too worried about the consequences.
One night, some men break into the office and trash it, beating up Win in the process. The trio are forced to come up with a way of paying off their debt or else.
After doing some research, Win realizes how much money there is in the business of running a temple.
He convinces the other two of the idea and they begin searching for the ideal temple to take over.
They find a secluded temple with an elderly abbot named Kiw and a crooked temple services liaison named Tang.
They put forth their plan to Tang and offer him a cut to which he agrees. He convinces the abbot on their behalf.
They begin renovating the temple and building a social media presence to bring in visitors but encounter a slow start.
They decide to bring in a popular monk as a visitor to pull in followers and meet Monk Dol, a charismatic forest monk with a soothing voice.
He accompanies them back to the city temple and is a big hit with the crowds. The profile of the temple begins to rise, but that attention isn’t always ideal.
A local politician decides to sponsor their temple, making a rival out of another temple that houses the district abbot.
Abbot Kiw’s assistant, Monk Ekaichi returns from Bangkok to help with the temple management, causing some unease among Tang and the trio.
The district abbot is unhappy with the rise of this temple and orders Kiw to stop, but things descend into chaos shortly after.
Abbot Kiw is hospitalized due to a medical condition and the trio gets a stay of execution. Tang and some of the monks are accused of selling drugs, and Tang escapes.
Monk Dol, who had completed his visit and returned to the forest temple, decides to come back and help during a time of difficulty.
The trio struggles to pay their debt installments consistently which puts pressure on Game. The drug case also brings the inquisitive eyes of Inspector Yod.
The temple income lowers after the bad publicity, and Win comes up with a new idea to raise the profile.
They decide to make a sacred amulet using special substances from different temples and sell it.
Monk Dol travels with Win and Dear to get these substances, and the monk grows close to Dear. He even finds himself fantasizing about her in his sleep.
Meanwhile, Game works closely with Monk Ekaichi to prepare the temple for the amulet sales, and officially becomes a monk’s assistant.
The amulet doesn’t sell well initially, and Game begins to panic. The inspector harasses him and insists that the trio are connected to the drugs as well.
Game gets into an argument with Win and heads back home to help his family.
Win spends time with rescue officers to market their amulet properly, and they encounter a terrible accident where they can take advantage.
They give the amulet to a truck driver who survived and offer to pay him money if he agrees to tell everyone that he survived because of the amulet.
He refuses the money because he is told by the doctors that he will never walk again. However, he wakes up the next morning and has feelings in his legs again.
He attributes it to the amulet on live television, opening the floodgates for their business. Tang shows up at Game’s house and asks him for some money.
He says that his boss is hunting him down and he needs Game’s help to survive. Game gives him five hundred thousand, but Tang returns with a request for 3 million.
Game says that he needs some time to come up with the money, and hides Tang in one of the family’s warehouses.
He tries to find out who Tang was working for, from Abbot Kiw and Monk Ekaichi but doesn’t get a concrete answer.
He borrows a million from his sister and returns to the warehouse, only to find that Tang is dead.
The sales of the amulet allow Win to pay off their debts in full, but he wants to keep going. Dear feels guilty, especially about their treatment of Monk Dol.
Monk Dol tells Dear that he is in love with her and plans to leave the monkhood but she doesn’t know how to react.
The Police show up and arrest Win and Dear, in front of Win’s mother. Monk Dol is also taken in as a suspect.
Ending explained:
A thorough investigation
The police begin digging into the temple and questioning Win, Dear, and Monk Dol. Monk Dol believes that the trio had good intentions, but his belief is tested.
The inspector focuses on Win because he is the mastermind, but Win doesn’t budge and calls for a lawyer.
Game is on the run after finding Tang’s body, and the police show up at his house. His sister calls him but he doesn’t give her a clear answer.
He gets a message from Monk Ekaichi and rushes to the temple. Monk Dol asks Dear if what they’ve been accused of is true, and she has no answer for him.
The true mastermind
Game sneaks into the temple and goes to Abbot Kiw’s room where Monk Ekaichi is waiting for him.
Ekaichi reveals that he was the one who had Tang killed, and he has been running the operation all along.
He tells Game that there is only one way he can save his friends, and that is by continuing to do what they have been doing, but on a bigger scale.
He connects Game with the politician who sponsored the temple, and she throws out the case against Win and Dear, frustrating the inspector.
They meet up with Game and the politician, who tells them that they will need to the same thing they did with this temple for a provincial temple so that everyone can share the spoils.
A lifetime of servitude
The trio have no choice but to agree and they are dropped off back at the temple. Win immediately splits up from them and heads home.
Game and Dear head inside and find out that Abbot Kiw has passed away, leaving Ekaichi in-charge.
Game returns home and gets scolded by his family for whatever he has allegedly gotten involved with.
Dear packs up her bags and gets ready to leave for the US where her father lives. Win finds the inspector waiting outside his house.
The inspector tells Win that he had a talk with Win’s mother and told her everything. He then reveals that he knows something about Win’s father, who disappeared 18 years ago.
He agrees to share that information if Win agrees to be an informant against the corrupt monks and politicians.
Win is drinking his sorrows away when he notices something in the paper mache project his father made many years ago.
It has clues about what his father might have been involved in as Win recalls his fathers telling him that no matter what he sees, things aren’t always how they seem.
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