Jazz for Two (2024)

I loved this series, despite the many imperfections. There are some violent and homophobic moments, but this is what school is like for some people. We always claim we want realism, and the bullying was pretty real. I owe it to the children subjected to this on a daily basis to watch to gain an understanding as to how they live.

The series should have been longer so they could resolve some of the plot holes, and explained why Jazz of all genres was the forbidden fruit. It also would have been nice if they had paid homage to some African American jazz legends such as Coltrane, Bird, Armstrong, Davis, Nat King Cole, etc. Jazz, Blues, Ragtime are all genres started by African-Americans in the early 20th century so why would Korean kids in the 21st century feel so connected? There must be a reason, but they didn't explore it. I'm not even that into music, and I think this should have been a 12 episode series to be more expository. Too many loose ends and we didn't even get to see the conversation between big bro Yoon and Taeyi.

Read More

decent

the drama itself started out very strong and really captivates the audience. Even the little cameo is very cute!! sadly by the end of the show it sort of just feels very repetitive and boring almost. the last episode also felt so rushed like they fit an entire arch in that last ep. they definitely could have taken out some more pointless stuff to help put the overall arch in different eps too. I do think if you're gonna do more than one relationship at least don't give them all such similar situations / troupes. it felt like all 3 bl relationships had very similar troupes

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

ALMOST GOT A STANDING OVATION

The plot is nice, intricate and somewhat logical. You might think it's not logical at all, but when you place yourself in the characters' shoes, you'll know why they at the way they did. Still, plot holes and cliches are still there.
For the acting, however, it's not good when the main character can't cry. Taehi didn't shed any real tears in the movies, thus, I can't feel him. The other actors did great on their parts.
The camera work on this series is very basic, it did its job, but didn't not stand out.
Overall, i'm impressed by how the story is planned out and organized. I would recommend every bl fan friend of mind to watch this.

Read More

conductas abusivas

me gustó y me quedé esperando más de la pareja secundaria en vez de la primaria...
la historia se ve que es buena pero NO FUE BIEN DESARROLLADA. es como que, al ser pocos episodios, hubieran querido meter todo a las patadas. Taeyi abusa de Seheon al meter sus manos bajo su remera y tocarlo sin consentimiento y a la vez humillarlo verbalmente, para a continuación Taeyi ser perdonado como si no hubiese sido nada del otro mundo. no tan solo no refleja lo realmente abusivo y grave que fue eso, sino que ni siquiera fue totalmente consciente sobre sus actos, sus disculpas fueron vacías y ligeras.
si bien Jooha golpeó a Doyoon en el pasado, puedo entenderlo. considero que se reflejó bien el tipo de dolor y trauma de Jooha: el sentirse más seguro a su zona de confort, aquel sentimiento de soledad y de ser ignorado al que acostumbra y sentirse en alerta porque, finalmente, alguien genuinamente se acerca e interesa en él, entonces intenta alejarlo porque no puede aceptar que eso suceda. aún si estuvo mal todo lo que hizo, el abuso de Taeyi contra Seheon me pareció más traumático y no fue tratado como debió de serlo.
finalmente, creo que Seheon fue tan acosado y abusado por parte de Jooha y Taeyi que me parece increíble que no se haya visto realmente "tocado" ni un poco por eso.

Read More