Knock Knock, Boys! – Episode 1-2 – Recap and Review

We start on a scene of drunken excess. Three men sleep-mumble around a coffee table piled with empty beer bottles. A fourth man comes in and starts cleaning. Abruptly the other three wake up, look at each other, and then everyone looks at the camera!

Okay, so how did we get here?

Latte is the first one to move into the house. He arrives late and picks a cheaper, smaller bedroom. The landlady gives him a keychain that’s also a bottle opener because she knows what’s going to happen soon.

Thanwa arrives next. He’s early. The house is a mess, and Latte and some friends are passed out in Thanwa’s larger room. He’s the one we saw cleaning earlier.

Peak arrives third. He promises a woman named Jane to “tell everyone” about something and then runs away. He arrives drunk in the night.

Almond arrives last, he’s the youngest and richest. He gets the master bedroom with an en suite bathroom. He mistakes Thanwa for the butler. Then he thinks Peak is the butler. Eventually, he discovers no one is the butler. Once he gives everyone expensive chocolates, all is forgiven.

Getting to know each other via spin-the-bottle-never-have-I-ever

What better way to get to know each other than with drinking and sharing sexual experiences?

Latte drinks to everything, sex with men, women, outside, with transsexuals, etc. He’s pansexual. However, he wants to be clear that he still has a choice in the matter. It’s sad he has to say this.

Thanwa drinks to sleeping with men and Peak drinks to sleeping with women. The way Peak stares at Latte hints that maybe he’d like to drink to the former too. Through confused flashbacks, we see that when he stumbled in drunk that first night, he kissed someone on the couch. He’s not sure who.

As the last arrival, Almond asks how everyone else got there. Peak doesn’t tell anyone about Jane and her mysterious demands, just that he got a job in Bangkok. Thanwa doesn’t tell anyone about the boyfriend he broke up with and left, just that the lease was up at his last apartment. 

Latte tells the truth, he lived too far from school and was always late for class. Even now that he’s closer to school, he sleeps through an alarm that wakes everyone else. 

Am I forgetting someone?

Almond! Almond explains he lied about where he was living to get away from his smothering mother. 

More importantly, however, the guy didn’t drink once during the game. Almond wants his first time to be with someone he likes. This is fair. He even has someone he likes and shows them Jumper on social media. 

When he asks for their help, everyone misinterprets and he has to clarify that no, he doesn’t want sex with them. He wants help getting together with Jumper. No one is interested when he offers to pay one month of rent. Everyone is interested when he offers to pay for a year of rent.

Every episode starts with a flashback, so here’s where we’re going

Episode two opens with Latte and Peak on the couch. Peak pays more attention to Latte’s lips than what he’s saying. Latte goes in for a kiss – cut to black!

We start some earlier day with Almond lying to his mom on the phone about his living situation. Somehow she hears Latte’s alarm and is alarmed, forcing Almond to turn it off and wake Latte. 

Peak and Thanwa, the two who are no longer in school, eat together. This gives Thanwa a chance to wipe Peak’s mouth, but the show gets surprisingly chaste as Thanwa uses a napkin instead of his fingers.

At school, Almond, Latte, and Jumper are in the same class. There’s a chance to get to know each other but Almond gets paired with Latte instead of his crush. He’s disturbed to learn that Latte is an Aries. According to his mom’s fortune teller, an Aries with a high sex drive and a marking “underneath”, will bring him bad luck.

Almond immediately tries to check if Latte has a mark “underneath” like he’s forgotten Latte is wearing clothes. It doesn’t work.

Back at the house, Peak asks Thanwa if he sleeps on the couch. He’s still trying to figure out who he kissed. But Thanwa says everyone sleeps on the couch.

Everyone sucks at helping Almond

Latte keeps Almond from joining Jumper for lunch by reminding him about a meeting. Except he has the date wrong. Once they figure that out, they have lunch with Latte’s friend Lukpeach instead of Jumper. Almond is disappointed, though no one is stopping him from going to see Jumper alone.

Thanwa goes out to have an emotional experience eating crispy pork so he can write a review. As luck would have it, Jumper sits across from him. For some reason, Thanwa doesn’t talk to him there but follows him to the gym. He can’t get in though, because it’s a private gym for people in the building. But what was he going to do in the gym? Does Thanwa see this as a spy mission?

Peak’s work is in the building and Peak is in the gym, but he doesn’t recognize Jumper. Even when they partner up to work out. He also doesn’t help Thanwa get in.

When Peak and Thanwa finally meet up, Thanwa reminds him that Jumper is Almond’s crush. They join forces to help Almond/get the money. First, they will figure out if Jumper is gay. I like that they don’t assume he is just because this is a BL.

Here we are again

Now we’re back to the beginning with Latte and Peak on the couch. Peak dares Latte to kiss him, but Latte whispers in his ear that he’s kidding. 

The housemates have another meeting around the coffee table. Latte stole a spa card from Jumper’s wallet and plans to use this info to help Almond. But he lies and doesn’t tell the other two. That’s okay because Thanwa and Peak also know about the spa and also lie about their progress.

They drink to that while giving each other the side eye.

The next morning Almond’s mom freaks about hearing Latte’s alarm again. Almond goes to turn it off and gets distracted by wondering if Latte has a mark “underneath” again. Naturally, he has to go under the covers and reach toward Latte’s — end of episode.

What am I enjoying about this silliness?

Incompetent as they are, I like our characters.

Thanwa is a born caretaker, cleaning and cooking for everyone. But this doesn’t mean he’s overly responsible. He likes drinking and teasing his housemates too. 

Peak is an airhead. He agrees that he’s the butler without thinking, has no idea who he kissed, and doesn’t recognize Jumper. He’s also the one with a stable job.

Latte is sexually adventurous, a bad student, and will kill bugs with his bare feet. But he’s not inconsiderate or unkind. He apologized to Thanwa for leaving a mess.

Almond is the sweet innocent, who is also lying to his mother so he can have new experiences. That doesn’t mean he wants to be Latte.

These first two episodes do a great job of setting everything up so I can anticipate the romance and conflicts ahead. From Thanwa’s ex to Almond’s crush to Peak’s Jane to Latte’s “mark” underneath. It looks like it’ll be fun.

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