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Pretty empty...
Well, here goes another typical korean bl under the belt! Nice production value, warm and rather beautiful cinematography, zero chemistry and a lot of lipstick. A lot!Jazz For Two was one of the first webtoons I ever read a couple of years ago and I remember liking it a lot. The art was pretty, the story gripping and I even found a playlist on Spotify featuring every song mentioned in the webtoon. What I do not remember is the plot just that it was about two boys in high school bonding over jazz!
The drama is another superficial bl romance koreans are known to produce. It touches upon serious issues but it never tackles them in depth. And issues here were many: homophobia, suicide, bullying, assault. The way to deal with these issues? Love, of course! Love, which magically cures mental problems, behavioural problems etc. etc.
Teens are still children, exploring the world and figuring themselves out, so their reactions towards anything outside the instilled norms may turn violent. Care and kindness are not necessarily the standard. They are scared of being different, to stand out and therefore, when faced with the unknown, they tend to reject it violently! This was shown relly clearly in this drama.
The main characters are four boys in an arts high school who eventually form two enemies-to-lovers couples. The actors were correct, the best being Song Han Gyom(3rd lead) who played DoYoon. The worst by far, Kim Jin Kwon(ML). I had trouble recognizing him even though I remember him from To My Star. The costume and make up designers created an unlikable image: oversized clothes and too much make up (nobody has such red shiny lips naturally: he looked really artificial). Moreover, he had no chemistry with his partner.
I would like to end just with one question: is there such a thing as korean drama taking place in high school but with absolutely no bullying?
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The Power Of Music
There's so many people to have sympathy for in this series, whether is was for the loss of a family member, a lost love or a forbidden love that was not allowed to be expressed.There's an enormous transformation in characters from start to finish in these episodes, all for the good.
All the actors were great in this, but I felt an extra special performance from Han Gyeom. What he brought out in his character of Do Yun was really above and beyond. The scene with him and Jung Ha as Ju Ha late in the series in the locker room was such well performed and special written part of the drama. Just fantastic.
The way the writers brought all the story plots together with all the characters at the very end was perfect.
Very enjoyable and a really feel good series to watch again.
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Not bad but not good too
it's just my opinion, I feel that the acting of the cast is enough and the plot is also good enough. But at the end I feel a little unsatisfied ((maybe because of the duration too)).I'm quite satisfied with the acting of the actors. They didn't feel awkward and lived up to their respective roles. However, I feel that there are still some mistakes that I think the audience can tolerate. Like sometimes the actors have scenes that are a bit stiff and some are too fast. As I said before.
Maybe it's because the duration is not too long. But I'm quite satisfied because it's K-BL. I rarely find K-BL that is satisfying for me to watch. Some make me amused and some make me uncomfortable while watching the acting of the actors.
I hope in the future there will be more K-BLs that are good and the plot is also beautiful. Honestly I really like high school love stories like this. Innocent and full of curiosity. I hope the production house and actors will continue to develop in the future.
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A simple series that still somehow manages to break the mold
yk what? i really liked this!i know the ratings really high but a lot of the comments kinda diss this but i think it had some great points and broke out of the mold a bit more than a lot of korean bls i've seen.
the points that i liked:
- Tae ti was a quiet, pessimistic and stubborn trope and he held it out. he really stuck to it and made a lot of plot points more difficult than it needed to be, but all in all it made it more realistic which a lot of types in that realm does not - they usually kinda go from hating and being pessimistic to a sun beam in one ep (like New Employee).
- i liked the back and forth of the couple. See heon didn't just lay flat down - well kinda but 'll come back to that.
- i liked that we got to see the couple together and acc in love.
- THE KISSING being an actual kiss at the end. a problem i've had with a lot of korean bls. i kinda thought after the first kiss that it would be the same but no! v nice surprise .
- LOVED the second couple so much and i wished we had more time with them. And i liked that they didn't just get together immediately but they kinda was just dating at the end - would've liked to see their 5 years later tho. im kinda a sucker for bully/ bullied couples (toxic traid from my side sry:/)
what i didn't like:
- the way that Tae He reacted after See heon kissed him.... they should've tackled that bc wtf was that? and the fact that See accepted it was kinda crazy:/
- The brothers story was not really my cup of tea but i see that it tied it all together nicely i just don't like love stories with a bad ending...:/
- what's up with Tae seeing so so so much of his brother in See but still wanting to be with him romantically?!!? kinda weird imo i feel like they could've made a crucial distinction at some point to make it less odd.
- The central plot line in the beginning was that See couldn't play jazz bc his dad didn't want him to, but it loses its form a lot and they just don't address it later really. it just seems odd that his whole life was planned from him but then he runs away when his dad finds out, and when he comes back he gets the most whatever "go to your room" from his dad and we never see the dad again? like what?
But overall a very good series and even though it's quite repetitive they still change it up to not make it boring - simple but good series
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Has flaws, but overall a good watch
Unlike all the reviews hailing and praising the source material, I'm going to HEAVILY disagree with that.If you have not read the webtoon and plan to, maybe come back to this after you've read that.
Anyway, despite some shocking scenes in this series, the way the story progresses is very in-tune to the life stages that the characters are in. They're all teenagers, in a highly homophobic world, and they're all in highly emotional situations. I prefer the story in the series, as the source material involves not only a very concerning power imbalance between an older man/married professor and a student, but also how extensively abusive Juha is originally meant to be.
The common complaint is that Taeyi was out of line in one scene the most, but his development and the rage he felt means he was going to explode and Seheon happened to be the one not only making his way into Taeyi's life, but the one that Taeyi felt was making him have to process his grief. Unless if you've lost someone extremely close to you, you won't understand the rage that takes over you and your rationality. Grief is never a clear and straight path, and you don't always move forward. Plus, he's an actual child in this and I think people are going in a bit too hard on him after having such a traumatic and tragic loss then having to process how someone has come into his life and makes him happy (something he tries to convince himself he doesn't want).
Then there comes the whole mess between Juha and Doyoon... I do not think Juha deserves any kind of sympathy if we want to use the source material. In the series there is at least room for some different type of conflict, but the webtoon only highlighted how bad of a person Juha was.
Because of this and the gross the situation between Taeyi's brother and Seheon's father, I don't agree that the source material is better. Even the progress of the relationships is lackluster in the webtoon but I think we had a good thing starting with the series adaptation and the changes/omissions that it had.
Still, until LGBTQ+ productions are taken seriously, given proper funding, and are seen as actual necessary media in South Korea (which they are), we are going to have to take things as they are able to be presented sometimes. I only say this lightly, because even productions like Love for Love's Sake managed to pull of most of the original source material or adjusted it to create a more condensed but still relatively loyal to the story series without sacrificing the queerness it is based on.
Jazz for Two had so much more potential, and it saddens me we could've had more, but I personally enjoyed it and most specifically the complexity of grief that this series gives an insight to. The only real flaws are that it needed a lot more time and better dialogue between characters. And although others want to see more from Juha and Doyoon, I'm okay with never seeing that come full-circle.
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This is like Given but by South Korea
I will be very very short. This was giving me a very Given-ish vibe all through, I absolutely loved Given. And I like this too. Very nice cinematography, well chosen cast, nice music. But the actual plot, however nice, is very much undeveloped. Like This could have been a whole 12 episode series with 1 hour each and I would not have minded, but with such a short span and underdeveloped characters is what miffed me a lot.Idk if there is any chance to remake this with more details, because this has potential, for all three couples (including the older bros) to show more.
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Flat. Couldve been so much better.
Went in with decent-good expectations as JFT had fairly high traction when it aired and I watched months after but that was my first mistake.I’m all for a good simple plot but this drama was just very flat. For a good portion of the drama, it was just angst with minimal plot development.
2 of the ML are just mad for majority of the show and then 180 which I found funny.
One thing I really enjoyed and that is the music selection - the instrumental pieces fit the atmosphere really well and overall made me enjoy the drama a lot more.
Casting and cinematography is also done really well ; gorgeous actors with the visually appealing scenes almost makes up for the lack of plot depth.
Was surprised to discover Song Hangyeom (Seo Doyoon) was an idol as I found his acting really good (and I found him so goddamn handsome).
For what its worth, team did their best with what they had to work with. Solid drama for sure
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Had so much potential!!
I am so conflicted with this drama, it could have been so good. I liked the casting I thought all the actors were great and both couples had great chemistry, its just the story really sucked.It started out so well, I fell in love with Hangyeom lol and was rooting for both pairs but literally the last few episodes tanked my rating. The script got very homophobic and bad but then all of a sudden they were madly in love? I couldn't get behind it plot wise but I tried to look past some because I really loved the couples. If you took the actors and put them in another story with a better plot and script then I think they could make a great BL.
Anyways, it was fine. I am sad at what could have been and will hold out hope that they will pair these guys together again and make something great.
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It's not terrible but not perfect
I thought it was going to be alot better than other people said. By the clips I've seen on YouTube it looked really good so I wanted to watch it.The part I enjoyed was the minute or 2 cameo with Da Yeol and Tae Hyun from A Shoulder to Cry On. 😍
I learned some of what they said was improvised (behind the scenes) so it made it more funny. The director/producer was like let's see what they can come up with. 🤣
Anyways, the acting was good though. Se Heon did get on my nerves at little bit.
My favorite character was the friend. He lit up the room and had his funny moments. Especially the last episode when he pushed Tae Yi down on the ground (little hard) and didn't care at that so he could hug Se Heon. I'm like omg can you be any rougher. 😭
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Music to the heart
This is a sort series that mad a big impact on Jazz... for two. We can all relate to loss, but something about how they leave us makes it even worst. This story unfortunately has one of the worst ways. However, I like how they handled the situation, making it seem real, how the persons left behind deal with the loss. Even worst is when someone reminds us of what we lost.The most wonderful thing is finding that one person that can remind you of what you lost but still find happiness in the new things they offer. It was fun and flirty to see the first meeting, to the first piano session, they had ups, downs and confusion. I honestly loved how they made him confused because his lost prevented him from understanding it. It was a healthy situation that they handled well and the romance that followed was organic. I am very happy to see the older brother step up and take responsibility for his actions, though nothing was his fault, he ensured that his little brother didn't have the same faith that he did. He has my respect.
Loved this series, So if there is a part two, I'm here for it.
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Not Really The Best One!
I was really excited for this drama. I thought that it had potential. But after watching it, I don't feel that anymore. With this cast, the drama could be made better. Acting was okay but not par excellence. The friendship between taeyi and doyoon coud be portrayed in more depth. But it was not so. Doyoon and Juha's relationship deserved more screentime but they didn't get so. I was disappointed that even till the end of the drama, taeyi and the other guy got screentime. The friendship between the four could be portrayed better and in depth. Overall, its good to watch once.Was this review helpful to you?
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Endearing story about loss, grief and letting go.
Very lovely story and I enjoyed the actors immensely. The cinematography was lovely and the sound of the cicadas made me giggle. They reminded me a lot of the ones played in Japanese dramas. The faces the protagonists made when playing music was so passionate I could feel it. Ultimately it reminded me of how situations we may not address in the present tend to be fated to come back again in the future. How one brother ignored his love and it ended in the suicide of the object of his affection only to see his younger brother weighed down by that very same mistake was incredibly fascinating to me. The way they were brought together through the music of someone else’s love was so heartwarming. This is true for the second couple as well. Love and forgiveness brought them together it showed compassion and grace. However the series does suffer from a few pitfalls. It was too short and could have used at least another two or three episodes. I would have loved to see the situation with the sister resolved, she came off as a good person caught in between several destinies but I suppose life is like that sometimes.Was this review helpful to you?
