Trinity: Complete First Season

"Guard the project, protect the Dandelion Club." This is the mantra of the secret society at the heart of Trinity, a British TV show that only got one season back in 2009 and is finally released on DVD here in the US.

Trinity College is an elite school where the rich and powerful send their children. But like any other school there are also scholarship kids and a few outliers who buck the trend. On one level of the show, this is about young people going off to school and figuring out who they are and who they want to be. On another level, there is some sort of conspiracy going on where a few of the faculty might be performing experiments on the students. Half the show are kids in relationships and running for student offices and the rich rubbing against the not so rich, and the other half is intrigue using names out of the King Arthur legend and hints at doing evil to save the world from some hidden threat.

Being a British show, it is a bit lighter on violence than a US audience might expect a show about secret societies to be. There aren't elaborate chase scenes and shoot outs, and someone doesn't die every episode. But being a British show, it has a much more casual and graphic attitude toward sex. The students don't just kiss and breath heavy, even without stooping to pornography levels here you get to see the whole climax of sexual encounter. There were a couple breasts, quite a lot of male ass, and even a decent showing of flaccid penis, something you'll likely never see on US Broadcast TV.

One thing I was hoping for, and is common among shows in the UK, was the plot to get wrapped up in the single season, with a second season needing to come up with an entirely new plot or wrinkle. And despite being very well made and quite enjoyable, that nothing is really solved and in fact it ends with more mysteries than it started with and it did not get a second season, Trinity is ultimately a bit disappointing.

For me, however, the 8 hours I spent watching it was totally worth it just for the arrogant and sinister Professor Maltravers, played extraordinarily well by Charles Dance. It amped me up for watching him return as Tywin Lannister on Game of Thrones next week.