Elmo Lê van sets his gaze on infinity. Today: the end of Knock off.
A thought I made myself during the first episodes of Knock off: if Pommelien Thijs were to focus on diving or shot put, would she win Olympic gold with her fingers in the nose? In other words, how talented and versatile can a 22-year-old be?
Pommelien Thijs (actress, singer, designer) has been the bipolar, bulb-swallowing Louise for the past ten weeks. She plays the daughter of a doctor, lives in a villa in Knokke and is therefore not exactly a woman in her twenties who travels along the North Sea with the coastal tram, but in an Alfa Romeo Giulia from the 1960s. Her character has everything to horrify , but thanks to her great acting performance – no one portrays confusion better than her – you even get sympathy for Louise throughout the series.
Willem De Schryver plays Alex, next to Louise’s love, the type with a head and haircut that is made to end up on top of a toga. He is the insufferable jerk with a father (Geert Van Rampelberg) who is actually an even bigger jerk. Alex is how you feel Knokkeboy represents, the archetype of a fils à papa. And De Schryver easily bends that cliché image to his will. What applies to Pommelien Thijs also applies to him: remember his name.
The performance of Thijs and De Schryver alone makes that possible Knock off it’s worth it. Knock off a program title may be like a puddle of diarrhea – you’d rather walk around it -, behind the clumsy name is a fantastic series that starts with Euphoria reminds (Gen Z’ers with a too high libido on the drink and drugs) and towards the end rather against Big Little Lies (the drama, tension and accompanying climax).
Give a hamster a drop of liquid ecstasy, and what happens in the animal’s brain must be comparable to the trip from which the script of Knock off originated. If you highlight some events – ending up in the sea with an overdose in your sister’s wedding dress, being impaled through a wine glass, having sex with a stripper in a wolf suit… – the series seems like chaos, but screenwriters Nele Vandael and Luk Wyns have managed to keep the overview.
Even more: Knock off is a series that looks away easily, but that also has something to say. The different storylines are strong in themselves, but have the overarching theme that those who have money and status are always in the winning camp. However, the writing duo does not shit cheaply on the rich, because life also has shitty moments for those who drape their cashmere sweater over their shoulders.
Knock off is fast, engaging, simply excellent. So good that you almost forget that the series Knock off is called.
Can be streamed in full via VRT MAX. From August to see on VRT 1.
