Jack & Jill (2021)

A Good Ending

This series in my opinion has been mischaracterized. It is no more than what you see. It is contrived in parts and perhaps the story is a bit implausible, but it has character and a rather profound message. What appears to be a one night stand is not. Sure, the characters are flawed and the outcome is no shock. But to pretend that it is a one night stand is simply wrong. I know the ending got a lot of criticism but not from me. I thought the ending was creative and somehow fit the character of this short series. I liked the ending a lot and for me it seemed, well , a natural outcome.
To read my full review, please go to BLBliss.com. Thanks.

Leggi di Più

Had potential and then a poor ending (minor spoilers)

Overall: I thought this low budget production was doing a pretty good job but I was disappointed in the last episode (perhaps there will be a 2nd season but ???) It's a quick watch though so you could give it a try especially if you are into tattoos :P

Content Warnings: a slap, non con/dub con*

What I Liked
- I thought the acting/chemistry was pretty good between the two leads
- though the production value is lower, there was a few nice surprises like the scene when it cuts from one location to another with the same action in episode 4
- nice music
- some really sweet scenes like the car wash scene

Room For Improvement
- *non con/dub con, similar to Check Out: Special Episode there is a situation where the pursuee is extremely drunk and the pursuer is either sober or only a little drunk. There are also a few words that are unsubbed and I'd really like to know what was said at that point. But yeah, someone who is very drunk cannot give consent and he was definitely showing resistance...
- what was with the personality transplant in the final episode? And I'm not a fan of cliffhanger endings.
- no matter how angry you are, slapping/punching someone is not okay unless in self defense (which this was not)
- production things like a few blurry shots, too loud background noise, some of the night scenes don't have enough lighting
- fyi vegan brownies don't have eggs lol

Leggi di Più

Had promise but was disappointing.

I'll start with the bad and end on a positive note.

For this short a series, it took a little long to get into the meat of the story, which resulted in a rushed ending, which was insufficiently prepared and too abrupt. I don't mean the last 10 seconds (more on that below), I mean the behavior of Jack leading up to that. The ending twist was totally unprepared - there is no hint of it prior to it happening, so it comes off as a cheap trick rather than as an interesting plot development. It actual severs my interest in any further development of the story rather than generating it.

Jack's sudden change of personality at the end would have made sense it had been properly set up - but it wasn't, and he just turned into a dick, plus what Jack tells the person on the phone to do makes absolutely no sense - nobody would do that, they would just leave. This was a very clumsy setup for the last 10 seconds. Likewise, Jill's physical reaction to Jack's dickishness seemed a bit out of character. It didn't bother me on a moral level, but it was a bit abrupt for his character, who has been kind of pathetic up to this point.

Which brings me to Jill's character, which is so insecure and pathetic that it's very difficult to believe Jack would have any interest in the situation. Some insecurity can indeed be cute, but not an immature and clingy mess like Jill - especially in Jack's circumstances, I just didn't buy it. Maybe Mateo wasn't up to the task of making his character sympathetic, but I'm not sure many actors could have. ZK played his archetype to a tee, but that's still not a sympathetic character unless his arc makes him a good guy by the end. The result is I have no investment in this couple and think they don't belong together and are better off never seeing each other again. Also, if Jill knows the third character, apparently reasonably well, do they really have no social media connection?

Dramatically, to have Jack's transformation into an asshole AND the twist was too much. It should have been one or the other - having both sent the whole thing crashing to the ground and wiped out any of the themes this was trying to explore.

On the positive side, the production quality is probably the highest I've seen in a DYI production like this. The cinematography is good, the editing is disciplined, the sound is mercifully good, the subtitles were timely and well-written, The acting is good - I'm not as sure about Mateo, but he didn't have much room to shine playing a dud like his character. He certainly wasn't embarassing or cringy to watch. I think we've all had a Jack enter our lives at some point and ZK was perfect in the role, and on a shallow note, has one of the hottest bodies I've ever seen and is generous in showing it off.

Story: 4 - I would probably have given this a higher rating if not for Ep 8, which really ruined it for me.

Acting: 7 - This was pretty good, but I didn't really feel the Jill character, and neither actor got a chance to show much range due to the brevity of the series and the narrative issues.

Music: 8 - It was good. Not overpowering, not too repetitive, and fit the scenes rather than using the series to showcase someone's OST.

Rewatch Value: 3 - I wouldn't rewatch this, but I might revisit all the ZK shirtless scenes. (I'm shallow.)

Overall: 6.5 - I would have given this a 7.5 or 8 if it hadn't been for the last ep.

Leggi di Più

This micro-series, in some moments and with a touch of light comedy (especially in the beginning), was certainly not made to conquer the world of film and series, but for the pleasure of the spirit and the eye of some viewers, and I appreciate that. Sure, even this Pinoy product has some flaws, but they are not important to me to overpower the story and what the poet wanted to say. Overall, the plot actually had potential that was not developed further and the cliffhanger ending was very surprising(!). The acting was pretty solid, especially Jill (Mateo Velasco) I quite believed, nice main song, processing with some minor details, cute shots of washing the car or in the shower. Stuff I skip that doesn't affect my rating: vegan brownies but with eggs (?), episode five is all about how Jill feels (?), some editing could be improved. Overall impression, if you are a positive soul and not a negativist: a pleasant and refreshing peek with a slightly "shocking" ending.


Tento mikroseriál v některých momentech i s nádechem lehké komedie (především na začátku) jistě nebyl vyroben pro to, aby dobyl svět filmu a seriálů, ale pro potěchu ducha i oka některých diváků, a toho si cením. Jistě, i tento pinoy produkt má některé nedostatky, ale ty nejsou pro mě podstatné tak, aby přebily příběh a co tím chtěl básník říci. Celkově měl námět dle skutečnosti potenciál, který nebyl více rozvinut a cliffhanger závěr byl velmi překvapivý(!). Herectví bylo docela solidní, především Jill-ovi (Mateo Velasco) jsem docela věřil, fajn hlavní píseň, zpracování s některými drobnostmi na úrovni, roztomilé záběry mytí auta nebo ve sprše. Blbůstky, které přecházím a nemají vliv na mé hodnocení: veganské brownies ale s vejci (?), pátá epizoda celá jen jak se Jill cítí (?), některé střihy by se daly vylepšit. Celkový dojem, pokud jste duše pozitivní a ne negativistická: příjemné a osvěžující pokoukání s mírně "šokujícím" koncem.

Leggi di Più

Perdi meu tempo assistindo essa bomba

A série é mais uma "série de quarentena" das Filipinas. É nítido que a série é de baixo orçamento, já que os únicos personagens são Jack, Jill, e na última cena aparece Jeff, e a única locação ser a casa de Jill, onde se desenrolam os oito episódios com duração média de apenas oito minutos. Os atores são iniciantes, a atuação pra mim está em seis numa escala de dez. Apesar da primeira cena do primeiro episódio já denunciar como seria o fim, eu senti um misto de sentimentos assistindo essa série, e nenhum deles é bom. Meu conselho é que a pessoa que escreveu faça uma boa terapia, caso já não faça. Não sei se a ideia era mostrar algo real, pois sim, eu sei que a vida é dura e casos como esse acontecem todos os dias, mas criar um personagem como Jill, com seu emocional e autoestima destruídos por um cara que foi um idiota com ele, fazer com que Jack crie deliberadamente uma forma de se aproximar dele mesmo sendo um cara comprometido, fazer Jill se apaixonar propositalmente, inclusive ele verbaliza isso, ouve as mágoas de Jill, derruba o muro que Jill construiu em volta de si depois de se sentir abandonado, para simplesmente voltar para o namorado que é simplesmente o ex babaca de Jill? Quem diabos criou um plot tão ruim? Não vou nem militar sobre a primeira vez deles ter sido sob efeito do álcool já que ambos estavam bêbados (embora eu ache que Jack estava totalmente consciente e realmente tinha por objetivo embriagar Jill e transar). Mas em vários momentos Jack realmente parecia apaixonado, mas a paixão só durou até a quarentena acabar quando ele esfriou completamente e até humilhou Jill, depois ele parecia arrasado, arrependido, mas não fica claro se é porque gosta de Jill e não pode ficar com ele por algum motivo, ou se é apenas arrependimento por fazer sofrer um cara tão legal. A ost é até boa, mas sinceramente, não recomendo essa série, que para mim é péssima em quase todos os aspectos. Talvez uma segunda temporada explicando o comportamento de Jack resolva alguma coisa, mas sinceramente, essa série está entre as piores que já vi.

Leggi di Più