I Will Hit You (2022)

Surprisingly charming and worth the watch: a short review

This show has an interesting yet fairly standard premise -- but with a twist.

The story of "tutoring someone and then falling in love" is a classic Thai trope, and is the staple plot thread for this show. It is incorporated well into the story, which in and of itself is a feel-good, wholesome romp with incredibly poor comedic timing and misplaced sound effects. This may seem like a negative, but for this show, it manages to make it part of the charm. The acting is "over the top" but not "OVER THE TOP over the top", matching the acting to the tone intended for the scene. The sad bits were sad and not overly dramatic, and the funny bits were hilarious to the point I was curled up in pain from laughing. I enjoyed the evolution of the dynamics between characters, and the show managed to make the misunderstandings actually funny rather than stress-inducing. I loved the twist of the Watphlu gang all dressing like 80's greasers -- this just added so much more to the vibes of the show.

The music is a running theme throughout the show, in the background just linking bits together, and the cinematography is fairly standard decent quality with nothing too special.

Overall, I'd recommend watching this on a day you need a pick-me-up or just want to watch something wholesome.

Leggi di Più

One of the most underrated BLs

When I started this series, I will admit I had a hard time adjusting at first, something about Thi drove me crazy. But I fell for Noey and his crew almost immediately. And over time, as you see the evolution of Noey and Thi this truthfully becomes one of the shows with the highest rewatch values (for me at least). The characters are dynamic, the story, although not flawless, is light and entertaining, and the music is truly 🤌🏼😮‍💨

I wish this show had a higher score on MDL, because it truly is a solid BL. I think part of its low score may have to do with the somewhat pg nature of the show. This isn’t at the level of LITA or Kinnporsche, or even a GMMTV show these days in terms of spice. Its pillowy soft and sweet like marshmallows.

If thats the kind of show you like, this is for you. If you want spice and lots of kisses, you wont find what you want here. Me? I’ll probably do a rewatch in the near future.

Leggi di Più

This series will knock you down

If there is one thing that I appreciate in a series is a well written character and this one doesn’t disappoint. Although there have been countless series with young characters in love, this one just hits you differently. This is all because the series takes its time developing characters and their relationships. There is no love at first sight or true feelings hidden behind friendship or raw overwhelming emotions. Instead, we get genuine interactions between characters, inner monologues explaining what the characters feel and true portrayal of relationships between siblings, friends, parents and lovers.

Although on the outset the story is about a good guy falling for bad guy to ultimately show him the error of his ways and turning him around, this one is so much more. We have Thi, a shy, naïve and studious college student who due to multiple unfortunate circumstances ends up being a tutor for Noey who is a delinquent and a leader of a local gang. During their multiple interactions Noey starts to have feelings for Thi while Thi, although disapproving of Noey’s ways thinks he is cool.

The story moves at a slow pace taking time to show Thi and Noey and their characteristics. Thi may be naïve and a coward but when push comes to shove, he doesn’t run away from a fight. Noey on the other hand has a softer side and only his family and close friends of aware of it. What makes watching this series an entertainment is the performance of Tar (Noey). He has done a remarkable job portraying a young delinquent with a heart of gold. You can feel his frustration as well as his love in various scenes. He alone carries the weight of this entire series. Next is Ohm, the guy who plays Noey’s best friend. The brotherhood between the two characters is portrayed rather astoundingly throughout the series. I didn’t enjoy the role of Thi as in many scenes he appears way naïve for his age although I do feel that Bom who plays Thi has done all that he could to play this faulty character.

In conclusion, this series wins in my book for a great storyline, wonderful actors, some good cinematography and nice soundtrack. I watched all the end credits to enjoy the little dance between the 2 characters.

Leggi di Più

Good use of clichés. Quick Acceptance and Inconsistency.

The most important thing I care about in BL series is that the increase in the feelings of the characters for each other is embroidered and the audience is made to feel it. This series started really well, even with the strange behaviour of the character Thi, I generally enjoyed the first episodes. Since the series was generally good, I watched the first 8 episodes with great expectations and excitement. However, it did not meet my expectations with the description of love and BL part in the 8th episode and beyond.

----Spoiler-----

The thing that tore me away from the series, which I hate in most BLs, is the nonsense of falling in love at once. I want the love to slowly flare up and grow inside the characters and explode when it is no longer controllable.

Another thing I hate is when Noey says "actually you are better, I want you now" overnight and suddenly starts flirting.
Accepting being gay so quickly and acting like it's normal is nothing but "I'm only gay for you" bullshit.

This story could have been much more passionate and exciting by using the storytelling in the first episodes.

For example, in this series, Noey should have started to have feelings for Thi from the very first moment. In fact, all the signs he saw around him should have pointed to Thai and Noey should have realised this slowly.
If Noey's story was like this:
He realised that he was falling in love in a platonic way.
If he had run away in fear of the growing love within him (here he should be cold to Thi)
Then, if he couldn't escape his increasingly intense feelings and got closer to Thi and used everything around him as an excuse for this rapprochement, this series would be legendary.
Yes, it looks like clichés from a distance, but this series proved to us that it can handle clichés really well in the first 5 episodes. And there is also a reason why clichés are clichés.


AS ANOTHER WORD: This series hooked me very well with the first 7 episodes. Of course, there were scenes with nonsense and exaggerations, but hey, no one is looking for the perfect BL here. But we have seen a lot of BL similar to this style. the first half is good and the second half goes downhill, but still unforgettable.
But unfortunately I don't think this drama will be memorable because of Thi's character's inconsistent behaviour and undevelopable personality. In a series, if the cute character (uke in webtoon language) is not endearing enough to the audience (it can be endearing even if it is very aggressive, annoying), that series is not remembered much.

Leggi di Più

soooo slow-paced

I would give this series a 10 for all the nice details put together, for the beautiful camera movement and especially for the adorable young actors... BUT the action soon becomes sooo draggy that literally nothing happens for long long minutes. I totally understand that life is like that, mostly relying on small gestures, but for a drama i expect something different.
Maybe it's just me losing patience?
..............................................................................................................................................................................

Leggi di Più

I Will Knock You was fun, light hearted, and entertaining….exactly what I needed to watch.

From the retro atmosphere…to the enchanting garden grove restaurant…to the reverence at the Buddhist Temple…to the innocent romance….I was enthralled with every moment of it.

What I found especially intriguing..and encouraging..about this production were the numerous scenes showing the unfailing respect and reverence that the trouble making gang showed towards the monks and the Buddhist temple.

I hope to see the two main actors together again in another comedy BL series. I rated it a 9 out of 10.

Leggi di Più

ITS SO WHOLESOME

This is my first time commenting on mdl, since I love the series so much so I decided to just post my take on it. It's going to contain very little spoiler on their characters, but I think its safe to read if you need a push to start watching it.

I am pleasantly surprised to have such a strong attachment to this series. It started pretty childishly at first, and it took me 3 episodes to actually find myself getting interested in the progress of the story. But it got so MUCH better after about 2-3 episodes in if an overdone romcom is really to your taste. Noey is a high schooler here, and I think he would be about 17-18 yrs old, while Thi is his tutor (albeit unwillingly) and is in his third or fourth year in university, so I supposed they have 4-5 years gap.

I shared the same concern about the age gap in the series, and was a bit skeptical about how they would pull it off, if it's going to include problematic tropes, for instance, grooming. But it wasn't the case at all when Thi was actually a coward. He cowered a lot in front of Noey who always kinda bossing him around and Noey is actually a very narcissistic jerk. And the relationship between them was 98% led by Noey alone who pursued Thi in the end. Thi only opened up to him in the second half of the series but he never NEVER made a move on Noey inappropriately.

At the same time, there are some viewers who are displeased with the lack of enthusiasm or effort coming from Thi because it seemed that Noey was the only one who tried to make it work. But I couldn't be any more grateful for that. This series would have gone so wrong if Thi immediately entertained Noey's attempts. I feel like Thi is very conscious of where they stood, that it is wrong for him to reciprocate the feelings Noey have for him, and he is also confused I would say. So as much as it is disappointing that we couldnt see Thi giving more in this relationship, it is the best decision for them and there are still moments where Thi takes care of Noey, supporting him in his lessons, goes out of his way to protect Noey even if he's not so brave.

And I have to applaud for how slowly they developed feelings for each other. How it didn't just happen overnight. Noey only realized his feelings for Thi halfway in the series, and his romantic azz intensifies afterward lol. And it also left a lot of time for us to see their lovely moments before the series end. I couldnt stress enough how much I enjoyed it and the ending was perfect. Maybe some would say it's a little rushed, but I think they wrapped it well and gave us a good closure.

Lastly, this story is very red flag done green and i love it.

Leggi di Più

It becomes a great series after the first six episodes or so

I feel like splitting this series in two parts for this review (the first six episodes and the last six) because I had a very different impression from each part. While I did end up enjoying the series a lot and I believe it deserves this 9 out of 10 I chose as my rating, I still need to express a complete opinion about it.

Overall, the story has an interesting premise, but the first six episodes were not able to give it a proper start. The pace of the events feels way too slow, and the dynamics between characters are off as well.
Noey was portrayed well and caught my attention enough to keep me watching for more episodes, but Thi's characterization was handled very badly, showing some backbone for about ten seconds per episodes and then turning back to his shy, fearful and goofy self - and I don't mean it in a good way.
These first six episode could have been useful to put more emphasis on Thi's characterization and the dynamics between Noei, Thi, their friends and their families, but instead they seemed mostly full of nothing. I felt like they could have been cut down to three episodes with a better pace.

Starting from the ending of the sixth episode, the events and the dynamics get a lot better, and this is also where the series starts shining bright. Thi also earns his own proper characterization and starts showing his own presence next to Noey, making their moments together a lot more enjoyable and endearing to watch. The way the feelings of both are portrayed along the way was also beautiful and left no room for any annoying "will they, won't they?" as the episodes went by.
The groups of friends were also shown much better, especially Noey's gang, with Thiw as a special mention. The "bad boy" element was not just used as a fancy aesthetic and multiple elements of that life were taken into consideration for the plot, which I really appreciated.

A very memorable series, I highly recommend it!

Leggi di Più

I will knock you? Yes, please!

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the series. I was mostlly worried how were they going to pull of the age gap between Thi and Noey, a university student and a minor who is still in high school. In the end, I really enjoyed the fact that Noey was the more badass one while Thi was sweet and shy. I think this really helped push their relationship into a good direction. We can see a lot of growth from both of them, as well as all the support characters.

I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers stories and this one delivered. The differences between the main two characters are very interesting and it's an absolute joy watching them grow as individuals and as a couple. It was fun and interesting to see Noey and his bright coloured shirts, slicked hair and love for old music, in contrast to Thi and his absolutely adorable sweaters, bursts of courage and inner monologues.

The fact that Noey, who is younger, is the one in control of the relationship really hits different. I really appreciate how the makers of the series aproached its making, especially after I found out that the two actors have a 9 year gap in real life, with Tar (who played Noey) still being a minor during the filming. Also, hats off for absolutely brilliantly done end credits scene that was on point for every single episode. The ending was absolute perfection as well.

We get some cute and fluffy moments, some awkward romantic scenes, a few fight scenes and a bunch of comedic scenes. It had some cringe scenes, but what series doesn't? It's definitely a show that will keep your spirits up and make you laugh out loud.

Leggi di Più

Noey's character really carried this series

This is a story about a cowardly tutor who meets a quirky gang leader.

The first 2 episodes or so were a little over-the-top, but when Thi eventually starts tutoring Noey and the pair start spending more time with each other, that’s when I Will Knock You’s magic begins.

Noey and Thi’s developing relationship brings with it a pleasant warmth. The standard structure of BLs these days features some form of intimacy scene at the halfway mark. Not IWK, though, as physical contact is few and far between. Not this show, though. And it doesn’t need to – well-written love stories do not need to rely on love scenes to convey romance.

Thi’s interactions with Noey, who is just so quirky and charismatic as a character, carry the series to its full potential. All in all, the show was a breath of fresh air with interesting characters and a well-paced storyline.

Bonus points for its vintage-sounding OST!!

Full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/i-will-knock-you-2022-bl-review/

Leggi di Più

Quirky but cute and lovable

The starting of the series strikes me as being a little strange. Is it a story set in the 1990s or something? The setting and the set seem rather quaint. It wasn't until smartphones were featured and some explanation of Noey is emulating people from his father's generation that I started realizing that the story is set in contemporary Thailand.

And then we have Noey behaving like someone with multiple personality disorder and different personalities surface at different times. Sometimes the way he behaves is baffling. While somewhat explained, the quirkiness of Noey's character doesn't really seem all that purposeful. I mean, why doesn't he get a smartphone or something? But perhaps it's what makes this series special?

Once I got over the oddness, I found the series pretty engaging. There are a lot of funny scenes, but some might take issue with how it trivializes (or even glamorizes) gang violence at times.

I like it that the series doesn't take the sappy route, with Thi having feelings for Noey, who is going after a girl at first, and going all lovesick. To be sure, Thi does find himself attracted to Noey but his feelings are ambiguous. It can be both a good and bad thing that it's hard to tell where the series is headed, if anywhere at all. Sometimes it feels episodic, but somehow it kept me watching maybe because it doesn't take too much effort to watch and enjoy.

The series does become better after Noey decides to hit on Thi instead of going after the girl he is at first interested in. Although it feels a little random , the turn in the plot marks the point where the series gets more interesting. But it may take some quite a bit of patience before getting there.

Leggi di Più