Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart! (Uncut Ver.) (2024)

Halfway through but already perfect

i haven't really seen more dedicated and hard working artist. they invested their own money, and wrote/produced their own series. just them and their small crew. i really do think it's already perfect the way it is. this is a brilliant work. i truly believe that no one can deliver the slow burn enemies to lovers trope better than yinwar. i am completely in love with this series. they did everything from scratch, they improved so much. the acting, the chemistry, the story line?? everything is perfect. i am thankful for their hard work. they gave me something original and amazing that i will always cherish.

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I had so much hope, but I'm disappointed af

I thought we will get a nice action show with some romance inbetween. But we got some action and often with excessive brutality and not much romance at all.
I thought we will get a good script, but we did get a really bad script.
I thought we will get good acting, but with such a crap script, they did the best they could.

The finale was especially painful to watch and for me the worst episode of all.
I can ask myself only, why do so many people like this show?
The characters are comically, especially the bad ones, one-dimensional with no growth, abnoxious or bland. The plot is from a $1 trash-novel and there is not much of romance at all, just egos clashing with each other, without meaningful conversations. They only did try with Joker and his father, but it was not as deep as it should be. The solution was lazily written and done in 5 minutes and that was the highlight of the series. A series with a runtime per episode of ~80 minutes is too long if they do not tell a story, develop the side characters. There is no feeling at all that the pairs grow together except Tattoo & Hoy who are together before the sereis started. :) It just gets boring . There were lots of time to develop a deeper partnership, more cuddles, more kisses between all pairs but instead it was wasted with a meaningless plot.

The only believable person of course was granny :) She had me from the beginning. But the rest is too forgetful. The best thing was the soundtrack, but it was wasted on this series, because there was no suspense in the story only in the music. I can't even say the direction is bad with the script which was given.

As with most shows, it starts with a strong first episode and then it goes down the drain.
I will not watch this again and I hope you have not wasted your time with it too :)

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tried something different

Overall: though it was cool how they tried something different, the tonal shifts and writing didn't work for me. 12 episodes about 1 hour each. Aired uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/jack-joker-u-steal-my-heart-episode-1-l2dlqwi91c?lang=en_us (I watched the uncut version which originally was the only MDL listing, if there is a cut version released at a later date that I can watch, I'll try to update this with the differences)

Content Warnings: past suicide, suicide, attempted suicide, theft, violence/beaten up, blood, bullying, attempted kidnapping, coercion, manipulation, punch, kidnapping, blood

Watch Suggestions starting at ep 5 (uncut timings) (to take out nonsense plot, brutality and focus on the leads' relationship, I might go back thru earlier episodes for suggested timings later)
- episode 5 watch 5:30-9:30 and 16-50:50 if you want to see a caper, otherwise watch 9:30-12:40 and 50:50-56:55 for 2 hurt care scenes
- episode 6 watch the beginning to 9:10, 16-21:40, 24:45-29:30 and 38-1hr2m30s
- skip episode 7
- episode 8 watch 1hr10m45s to the end
- episode 9 watch 1hr4min to the end
- episode 10 watch beginning to 5 and then 12-12:45
- skip episode 11
- episode 12 watch 53:30-54:20 and 1hr 24 to the end

What I Liked
- best grandma ever
- unique premise
- sweet/flirty/caring moments
- fight/action sequences
- grey protagonists
- how Jack called out his coach and then the coach apologized and got his karma
- non cliche female character

Room For Improvement
- tonal shifts between inept comedy caper and brutality/action
- the romance took a backseat to the nonsense plot
- characters were stupid and inept
- because 2 characters relished in violence at the beginning of episode 5, it made me uninterested in any romantic pairings with them involved
- ep 1 started with a flash forward
- I didn't laugh at most of the jokes including the food poisoning/farting
- there were a ton of nonsense things, one example being it didn't make any sense why a character was so angry at another character when the result would have been exactly the same
- failed redemption arcs
- the character acting like someone with less money and then having fake dirt on him was in bad taste and the knock off Squid Game video game thing was completely uninteresting
- a character's instance on something in the NC scene in ep 10 felt dated
- characters just stood around while a character was hauled off by very shifty looking dudes
- lack of trust between romantic partners
- lack of consequences for several characters

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I wish I could rate this higher

It's fun if you want to watch, but don't take the plot seriously and be patient that's my advice.

The ratings on this site have been wackier than ever these days. I waited patiently for the whole series to be out before starting it while peeking at the ratings every now and then so you must guess how excited I was seeing it with such great ratings.

I started and immediately saw the problem with it, the plot makes absolutely no sense every single character is stupid to a fault. It's so unbelievably ridiculous that it's funny. While watching I kept switching between being so bored my brain would shut down for a few minutes and so amused with the ridiculousness that I couldn't stop watching. I wish they had leaned in to the absurdity of it more, if so it would've been a solid 10, but unfortunately they were serious about it so it's not.

The romance plot was put in the back burner for far to long and when it finally took off it was rushed, like they'd been boyfriends for what 10-12 hours a day or two maybe and they had already decided to adopt a child??!!! whn!!?? How??!!

Anyway it's a happy ending, it's cute and funny and I love Yin and War, but I'm not going to rate this a 10 when it clearly not just because of that, I hope they continue to work together and get better scripts going foward.

I'm going to go bawl my eyes out with the best story and then watch Love mechanics to bring the mood back up while laughing at how dumb Vee is.

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All Plot, No Growth

I’m currently at episode 10, and I think I’ve pinpointed what’s been bothering me. All the characters are interesting and have compelling stories and potential for character development *in theory*. I can kind of understand why a character’s perspective changes after a specific event, but the show often skips over the actual transformation process and jumps straight to the end result.

Take this example (spoiler alert): At the beginning of episode 10, Joke talks to Jack about wanting kids but admits he's afraid he wouldn’t be a good father. This setup is interesting. We then get an extended scene where Joke comforts the little girl after her dad leaves, while Jack watches and seems to think, “You’d be a great dad.” Later, in the same episode, we see Joke introducing his new family to his father and announcing that he and Jack want to adopt the girl.

In theory, we get that Joke would make a good dad, and the earlier scene hints that Jack agrees. But adoption is a huge decision—especially for someone insecure about fatherhood. It would have been so much more engaging to actually witness their decision-making process and see how they worked through those insecurities. Skipping over details like this, which may seem minor but are actually quite significant, makes the series feel less coherent and misses out on potential emotional depth. In my opinion, these omissions rob the characters of the rich, emotional backgrounds they were set up to have.

All this being said - I'm obsessed with it. The start was super boring but after episode 3 I was hooked and can't wait for mondays to come. I definitely recommend to anyone who has free after noon and needs a new obsession.

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great start, but it declined into a lukewarm mess — there is something huge missing here

I want to start this review by pointing out the positive.
This was my first YinWar BL, and I loved their dynamic and acting. While they're not the best I've seen so far, they're really solid in terms of chemistry, tension, and portrayal of their character.
I also want to point out that I absolutely loved the first 3-4 episodes. I was so hooked, but sadly, I was steadily more disappointed and bored towards the end...

This drama had great potential, but it was wasted by unnecessary melodrama, "convenient" writing, unfunny humor, and an overall messy plot. While I loved some of the side characters, some others were quite unnecessary and just there for cheap comic relief or because a villain was needed. There was a lot of screen time spent on unnecessary things, while a lot of other scenes could've needed some more explanation and time spent on them.

I felt like this story just struggled a lot with pacing. Some episodes, we had so many things happen that it felt messy, hard to follow, and quite repetitive in the long run. Other episodes were too slow, spending so much time on unimportant, boring, "funny" scenes that felt so flat. Don‘t get me wrong, I love me some good comedy, but this was just not it.

Overall, there was also a noticeable inconsistency in quality. Some scenes were filmed beautifully, feeling really high quality. Others felt cheap, like they were filmed by some teenagers in their backyard. The sound editing (I know I'm nitpicking here, but it seriously bothered me) was seriously lousy. The music always came in way too fast, too loud, too random, the characters were too quiet, too loud, the background noise changed with every camera angle. It was a nightmare on my headphones. Maybe I'm just oversensitive, but I feel like a BL of this level should be produced with a higher quality. Some of the action scenes were really well done, but there were also too many of them in my opinion.

To sum up, this drama had a great start and potential. It just didn't live up to that. I wouldn't really personally recommend it, it's certainly not a masterpiece, but if you aren't too picky about the writing, plot, and characters, it's still enjoyable. If you aren't putting too much thought into it, it's totally alright to watch. I just felt like overall, there was something huge missing from this drama.

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A tale of two shows

My ratings would give this a 6.5 but I'm giving it an 8.5 because despite the complaints, I still enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching YinWar.

This is a show that tried very hard to walk the tight rope of social commentary whilst still being an entertaining show.

YinWar have cemented themselves in my head as the BL couple who will tear my heart out with a smile on their face. They know how to play with the viewers feelings. I also respect that. I don't like it but I respect it. War remains a very emotive actor.

Plot ~ There was so much going on that I don't even know how review properly. It definitely has it's pitfalls. The middle arc really just felt like an 'eat the rich' rant, where you would be expecting to see deepening feelings between Jack and Joke, some kind of building tension with the plot but really we just see elitist assholes playing monopoly with real buildings, some Thanos style ring, and Jack being repeatedly tricked by the boss while Joke repeatedly saves him, in his own way.

Also, Joke is meant to be this 'Master thief' but really, he's just very lucky because every heist goes wrong in some silly way, simply for comedic effect. An example of how this show tried hard to be two things at once.

Tattoo and Hoy are the classic kind of dumb but really useful side characters. Even at the end, where characters are about to have their heads blown off, Hoy and Tattoo are still a ridiculous mess. That can be irritating to be watching something intense and serious, and then switch to another scene, where a character is just a complete moron.

Then there's Save and Hope who you will hate with a passion for obvious reasons but in the final episode, it'll be like hey, all's forgiven, it's fine. Now they're nice guys, we're going to forget about beating people within an inch of their life and tricking them into investing in their savings into doomed stocks LOL It's all the big bad's fault who really just wants vengeance for his own parents.

The upper elite are the true bad guys and they don't really care, and continue to live their elite lives without consequences because, it's the big world order that the show is trying to talk to you about but doesn't want to get too serious about it.

The show touches on some pretty serious topics surrounding the effects of poverty, how the rich play with other people's lives, and there's two suicides because of it. But it's never far away from that cartoon slap stick style of humour that a lot of asian shows use. And that can leave many feeling very angry. My bias for YinWar kind of spared me that but I can imagine for the average watcher, this just may seem ridiculous because it's hard to blend such serious discussions on life on top of childish hijinks.

As for the romance, they went with slow burn for this one. In fact, I wouldn't even call it a burn, it's more like a gentle simmer LOL The way they look at each other or press their heads together, that might be too subtle for some that it may feel like there's no romance at all, until an explosion of feelings.
The first kiss makes me think of the Bad Buddy kiss, where there was no need for talking anymore at the point. And the following sex scene, actually was pretty realistic. I like seeing sex scenes where the characters are fumbling around with their clothes and who's doing who because in a real relationship, that's what happens. And I appreciate it being depicted as so.
And I can't not mention my favourite kiss scene, in the final episode because, damn, get you a lover who is willing to get blown up with you, in a passionate embrace LOL

Kind of wanted Arun and Tattoo to be a thing but, considering everything, I think it's ok that it was just hinted as very early feelings and I'm not too upset about that.
I'm glad that Rose, in the end, ups her own game a little. Rather than waiting for a husband to be the next 'horseman' that is in fact her, who will be a big boss in the end and she embraces that because she now understands what it feels like to be the little guy.

Overall, I did enjoy this show. It's not what I expected but I didn't feel that it just went off the rails. It kept a consistency throughout the whole show, which is that tight rope walk I mentioned, between trying to discuss very real world topics and still being an entertaining show by Thai standards, and it'll land on you or it won't.

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Sometimes more is worse

Yin and War's talent and dedication to delivering a complete, well-produced and high quality series is undeniable. They are some of the best BL actors today and the commitment they put into this is evident (since they themselves financed this series).

Technically speaking, Jack & Joker is a spectacle. It has beautiful photography, impressive and realistic settings, the characterization of the characters is a highlight, the performances are all top-notch and the fight scenes are impeccably choreographed.

And when it comes to chemistry, there is nothing to comment on. Here they give a lesson.

But the script, unfortunately, does not work. I like the initial plot of the story being about a thief with a thousand faces who helps the poorest and a boy with a heart of gold who is forced to collect debts.

Unfortunately, the series starts to invent unnecessary plots that take away much of the shine that the first episodes have. Another point is the excess of poorly developed characters.

Save is an example of this. At no point does the series show his relationship with Jack to the point where we believe they are best friends (which is why all the betrayal seems out of place). He has no story, no development and in the end he gains an importance that feels misplace.

Hope is another character who appears and disappears from the series and who always has different motivations each time we see him.

Nang is another character who adds nothing to the story. She has an air of mystery and power surrounding her presence and it seems like she will have some importance in the story, but in the end nothing happens.

Rosé is another character who is only there to create drama between the main couple and fill up screen time.

But what really bothers me is how the series wastes the potential of Tattoo and Aran being a couple. All the elements were there, but they never go anywhere.

I really like Jack and Joker's relationship, especially in the first episodes, but all of this ends up being affected by the plot.

The Four Horsemen game is one of the worst decisions the series makes. I like the social criticism present there, but it makes the story too fantasy-like. And that's when things lose their way.

Joker's robberies become lazy and full of script conveniences. The pace of the series becomes tiresome. I hate Boss's plans (one minute he wants the necklace, then he wants the ring, then he wants to win a game, then he wants Jack to marry Rosé).

It's plot on top of plot on top of plot and the series forgets to develop the characters and what they're feeling. This whole ring thing is so cheesy and honestly takes away a lot from the quality of the series.

The final plot twist kind of invalidates all these episodes and makes us question what the purpose of all this bullshit that Boss created was.

Honestly, it's a very long and somewhat tiresome series. I love Yin and War and in terms of acting and chemistry, they delivered everything.

But the script ended up being bloated with so much narrative and plot when a simple story with good development and well-crafted characters would have worked better.

And despite all this, it is still a BL with exceptional quality and great actors. I just wish for a more thought-out script.

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They stole my heart; why does it have to be them again?

This self-produced labour of work is a story of two possibly fated lovers: Jack, who righteously cares for those around him and does not choose the easy way out because he's seen how things can go from good to bad to worse when dishonest measures are used, and Joke, who intensely cares for the good and warm-hearted and would do anything to make sure his loved ones are free.

The show does a decent job of reflecting the issues faced by the working class, the depths to which one can sink when choosing illegal measures (eg, collecting debts from loan sharks or straight up robbery) and what the repercussions of such methods can be. It does not shy away from being honest, although sometimes, it could do with a little more grit and passion. There were times that I felt that the heist scenes could have been more...professional, or at least a little less leaning on luck. But in the end, it makes sense that the heists are the way it's shown since the characters involved are not people with abundant cash flow or connections and it helps to show how impulsive one can be when in a stressful situation.
So ultimately, it does not take away from the messaging and the romance.

Speaking of romance, since it's a slow burn, we can see Jack & Joke having these little moments of falling in love sprinkled throughout the show. Yin and War have done a fantastic job at speaking through their eyes with each other and their chemistry keeps you hooked.

The show is also a good reflection of flawed yet tight friendships. Hoy, Tattoo and Aran are funny, sweet and deserving of all the love in the world. Bonz and Prom have excellent comic timing and Mark is such a cutie, after a few episodes, I really wanted to keep him in my pocket.

A hero is only as good as the villain and honestly, the villains here will make you want to go across your screen and finish them. Boss and Carbon are so easy to hate and they must be applauded for it.

A special shoutout to Grandma, Toi Ting and Rose, these three girls stole hearts so easily. They were the consciousness of the show in a way and it made for a pleasant watch.

The music, cinematography and direction of the show are well done. I want to applaud the action scenes, they were so well executed and it kept the balance between pure action and comedy.
The writing shows the characters, especially J&J, being fairly opposites but still fitting together perfectly. If one is logical, the other is impulsive; but when they team up, they can do wonders. And why do they team up? Because at their cores, they both have an extreme sense of justice and want to make the world a better place for the people they love.

All in all, I'm proud of YWPB for venturing into producing something that would push the boundaries of romantic shows and doing it quite well.

So should you watch this show? YES, a thousand times yes. It is one that you won't regret.

(Same review posted in the regular ver of J&J page)

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