Jazz for Two (2024)

A bit discordant

The production looks nice, the cast is okay. The blue hair character Do Yoon is the funniest, I had to rewatch when he pushed Tae Yi off to the side to hug Se Heon, the comic timing was great. The edit pace overall is really slow. Since this is from the same screenwriter/director from a previous drama that totally failed in the romance department, the main couple's romance here is an improvement, but there is still room for more. The characters kissing people without consent is not good, but at least they apologized I guess. I've seen complaints, but the light kissing during the high school times are both age appropriate for these characters and kudos to the actors didn't look jpeg. They also showed their grown up kissing three years later after high school, it's fine ya'll lol.

There is a concerning amount of bullying consisting both of beatings and of a sexual assault nature that are forgiven way too easily. Especially concerning when Tae Yi falls into this category. He deserved to be kicked between the legs for what he did to Se Heon. I get what they were going for in the second couple, but that reconciliation, even just as friendship was way rushed. Joo Ha needed to do way more to make amends for being the violent terror that he was toward everyone. Do Yoon deserves so much better. The reveal about Se Heon and Tae Yi's brother was sad and the conclusion to that felt a bit abrupt as well. The storylines weren't spaced out very well. They should have given a bunch of the time dedicated to bullying to develop the interpersonal storylines instead.

Leia Mais

Slow and smooth

March 31, 2024

Jazz for Two is a decent Korean BL drama. It has some homophobic and violent content so, if you are looking for fluffy and cute plots, then I suggest that this might not be the show for you.

I feel like the manhwa will give you a better understanding of the characters given how short the series is. So there are instances where the plot feels jagged in terms of the storyline of our leads. I do love their dynamic and the chemistry is definitely there. It isn't as strong as what I expected from them, but I guess this is my bias in comparison to the manhwa.

Nevertheless, it was still a fun ride watching Jazz for Two and I hope you guys can give this KBL a shot !

Leia Mais

Made me feel whole bunch of emotions

I went blind into this K-BL drama. Didn't watch trailer either when I decided to see it.

First of all, the actors were eye candy (as usual). The chemistry between the first couple was very very sweet.

The second couple chemistry was a bit abrupt imo. We needed to see more build up. Also, Juhee should have gotten her own partner as well.

The OST was good, but not mind blowingly memorable. However, the Jazz tunes they played were AMAZING.

Idk if Jee HoGeun played the trumpet himself or it was someone else, but it was AMAZING !!!

I also wanted to see what's with the father. Why did he change his attitude so much overnight?

Is it too much to ask for a s2 cause I wanted to see more of the second couple ???

Waiting to see more of Jee HoGeun in future, cause he stole the show for me.

Overall a good watch. Go for it.

Leia Mais

Delivered complex characters and a lovely romance

Typically I don't expect too much out of Korean BLs. Since they're so short, they often can't go into enough depth. However, Jazz for Two managed to balance their short time and the right amount of character depth perfectly, leaving you with complex characters without overwhelming you with backstory.

Yoon Seheon just transferred to a performing arts high school after being homeschooled for years. His classically trained pianist father has only ever allowed him to focus on classical music on the piano, and Seheon is constantly compared to his perfect older brother. However, Seheon really just wants to play jazz, and is hoping this new school will let him break free of his father. However, when practicing in an abandoned piano room at the school, Han Taeyi hears the song and is angered by it - not because it's bad, but because it reminds him too much of his late older brother's playing. Han Taeyi struggles to deal with the grief of losing his older brother, and takes it out on Seheon, only for Seheon to keep pushing Taeyi to become closer with him.

This show delivered on both the slowburn romance front and the entertaining characters. While the side characters didn't get much screentime, the two main characters each had distinct backstories and personalities, which complemented each other well. They start as polar opposites and appear to be enemies, but naturally over the course of the show we get to watch Taeyi deal with his grief and Seheon open up to Taeyi.

My biggest complaints about this show would all be resolved if the show was longer. First, the show tried to touch on homophobia, including internalized homophobia, but simply didn't see it through. It was brought up as a problem but then just disappeared? I also think that we missed out on seeing the early stages of Seheon and Taeyi together, because it seemed like they were fighting and then all of a sudden they were together? We never got to see the conversations or dates between them, and I think it would have helped to flesh out their relationship more. Frankly, we didn't get much time with them in a relationship because it takes so long for them to get together. I love a slowburn too, but I would have liked more happy moments with them as a couple. Also, some of the issues in their backstories (Seheon's dad, Taeyi's brother, etc.) could have used more screen time to really explore more. For the time it had, this show was wonderful. I'd say it's one of the more engaging and deep Korean BLs I've seen. However, the time constraints always seem to be my worst enemy for Korean BLs.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

I will come back to add more of my coments on this show. Firstly, i feel like Song Han Gyeom carried this show. I liked his character a bit too much. This had a grat start but i felt like at ep 6 tat it went a bit off. Overall, i haven't watch muvh bls so i am nit that picky. I give this 7.5 bc i think it had a great start and i liked some parts. Also, when Song Han Gyeom kissed the other guy ( don't remember his name) out og nowhere, it was pretty random. As someone who haven't watch much bls, i think i will have give this bl a lower rating but bc of that scene i make the rating a bit higher .

Leia Mais

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

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

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

Leia Mais