He’s Into Her Review: This Filipino Hate-To-Love Story Gives You A Memorable Couple

He’s Into Her is a coming-of-age teen romance following the haters-to-lovers trope and based on a novel of the same name. It is my first Filipino drama (actually the second I have seen a little bit of ‘On the Wings of Love’) and I loved it. The reason I watched it was because umm….as usual I saw a fan-made video of the lead couple on YouTube and I felt curious. Back then, the show was available on YouTube so it hardly took me time to start watching it.

The show starts with a very Boys Over Flowers-ish plot where a poor girl rubs the school’s most popular boy the wrong way and consequentially has to face the wrath of his loyal followers. That’s how it starts but the show later takes a course of its own.

Even if the show has nothing new to offer story-wise, it gives you the beautiful pairing of Max and Deib, or as the actors are famously known DonBelle. Its clichéd storyline did not bother me much as I was totally in awe of this beautiful couple’s sparkling chemistry.

He’s Into Her (2021) (10 Episodes)

Maxpein del Valle (Belle Mariano) lives with her grandmother and maternal uncle in the small village of Mindoro. Her mother passed away several years ago and had only one wish for Max, which was that she get good education. Her estranged father Maximore Luna (Richard Quan), who lives with a family of his own in Manila, invites her to live with him and complete her education at a premier institute in the city. On her grandmother’s insistence, she agrees to go live with her father and his family but only for a year.

In Manila, her father’s family especially his daughter, Elle Luna (Melizza Jimenez) is unhappy to see Max and gives her cold vibes. Max is enrolled in Benison International School and is in the same class as Elle. Elle however, tells her to not talk to her and behave like strangers in school.

On her first day at school, she gets into a fight with the school’s most popular boy, Deib Lohr Enrile (Donny Pangilinan), who then decides to bully her to teach her a lesson. But Max is not the one to give in easily and she fights back. Her toughness appeals to Deib and he slowly falls for her. Max too starts developing feelings for Deib but she hesitates to act upon her feelings as something from her past holds her back. 

I enjoyed watching ‘He’s Into Her’ because…

…I loved Max and Deib’s clichéd hate-to-love, rich-arrogant-boy and poor-strong-girl’s story. Max comes from a small village and a humble background. One day she meets with a minor accident as her rickshaw gets hit by a fast-moving luxury car. As the rich owner of the car steps out, Max grabs by the collar and they share a moment as they gaze into each other’s eyes (I know I know so lame, right?). The rich owner seems to be in a hurry and brushes her off and moves on.

When Max reaches her new school (courtesy of her super-rich dad) she meets Zarnaih Marchessa (Criza Taa) who shows her around and introduces her to Alpha 3 who are the most popular guys in the school. Deib Lohr Enrile (Donny Pangilinan) and his two friends Yakiro Tobi Yanai (Rhys Miguel) and Lee Roi Gozon (Joao Constancia) are like a wolf-pack of sorts in the school and girls are all crazy about them.

On the first day itself, Max sees Deib rudely yell at a girl who is a fan of his and creates a poster with his personal pictures. Angry, she picks a fight with him. When she realizes that Deib is the same rich guy who had hit her rickshaw she gets even angrier and smacks him hard across his face.

Deib may be a spoilt arrogant rich boy but he is also a decent guy so instead of reacting to the punch he decides to walk away to avoid creating a scene.

But this does not go down well with his well-wishers and they ask him to allow them to teach Max a lesson. They form a group and play harmless pranks to trouble her. Max slowly learns their bullying pattern and fights them all single-handedly. Seeing her grit, Deib slowly falls for the pretty strong girl.

One day, Deib and Max are caught by the principal fighting in the school premises. As a punishment, he asks them to work on an anti-bully project together and prepare a PPT that they will have to present in front of their school. As these two start working together, Max feels drawn to Deib while he too struggles to contain his growing feelings for her.

The biggest difference between this show and BoF is the bullying tactics, which have thankfully been toned down. The pranks in the show were harmless because this isn’t 2009 where bullying is taken lightly and molestation is no big deal. 

The show is a huge success and I feel it has a lot to do with the main couple Max and Deib. So, let’s understand the character of Max.

Max’s mom passed away when she was young and her father was never around so she grew up with her maternal grandmother and uncle. Her humble upbringing taught her to rely on herself and no one else and so she works part-time to support her ailing grandmother. However, she craves love and likes a guy who does not respond to her love messages. But she still writes him emails because she has no other friend to speak to.

When she meets Deib she sees him as an arrogant rich boy who treats poor people like dirt. She clashes with him in the classroom, in the canteen, and everywhere she sees him because she is angry about the way he treated her after the accident.

Actress Belle Mariano is a fresh new version of the feisty and spunky Geum Jan Di from BoF. She is gorgeous and acts decently well. Even if Max goes overboard with her display of guts and courage, Belle still looks cute doing it so it’s fun to watch her.

Coming to Deib, who may seem like a mean spoilt boy but is actually a lonely teenager craving for his mother’s love and appreciation (yup a cliche main lead). He has a backstory showing a troubled past which he is constantly trying to correct. He may be angry with Max for hitting him in front of the whole school but he is not shown to have any intention of getting even with her. He is clearly a good boy who hides behind fake arrogance to protect himself.

Actor Donny Pangilinan is probably the second most-handsome version of Goo Jun Pyo (number 1 is Lee Min Ho duh!! ). For some strange reason, he gave off a very Noah Centineo vibe. He does not resemble him but something about him reminded me of my beloved Peter Kavinsky.

Donny did a great job as the handsome and popular Deib. He looked the part and to a great extent even did well as the character. I like both Belle and Donny and would love to see more of their work.

…I love Donny and Belle’s on-screen chemistry. I understand why fans have been rooting for DonBelle to become a real-life couple because they really look good together. I too enjoyed the show because it was good to see this young couple fall in love.

There are other couples too in the show and I liked Machiko and Tob the most. They don’t have an elaborate love story but I like them together. I’m hoping they get more screen time in the sequel.

There is a handsome second-lead too who suddenly awakens in the second half of the show to create conflicts between Max and Deib. However, by then I was so much into Max and Deib that the second lead seemed like an unwanted distraction. Of course, his appearance made Deib up his game but still…

 

I did NOT LIKE ‘He’s Into Her’ because…

…it was highly predictable. It doesn’t have anything you haven’t seen before. It has all those scenes you see in other romantic-comedy dramas such as an accidental kiss, the girl tripping over the boy, school subjects discussing true love, and so on. But, honestly, I was okay with it may be because I was seeing all this after a long time. Also, it’s a fluffy show meant to entertain its teen viewers and I’m sure it hit the bull’s eye with this one. 

 

Where to watch He’s Into Her?

I had watched the show long back when it was available on YouTube. However, seeing the success of the show, the production company has converted it into a two-part movie, which is available for subscribers on Netflix and their own website i.e. iWantTFC.  

 

He’s Into Her has a young, fresh cast that does its best to give you a fun teen rom-com. Though the story offers nothing new, the cast acts well enough for you to like their characters.  

I give ‘He’s Into Her’ 4 out of 5 rating. Watch it only if you are okay with teenage clichéd dramas with a gorgeous cast. I recommend you watch it only for the amazing chemistry of DonBelle. 

 

Image Courtesy: iWantTFC

 

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