Bel-Air Gives Jazz & Hilary A Much More Hopeful Romance

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Bel-Air episode 4.

Peacock’s Bel-Air repeats the romantic connection between Jazz and Hilary, but gives the characters a much more hopeful love story. In Bel-Air season 1, Jazz is much more suave and charming, which contrasts his original Fresh Prince character as Will’s goofy friend who essentially harassed Hilary to no end for multiple seasons. Fresh Prince’s Hilary, who was much more shallow and vain than her Bel-Air counterpart, always rejected Jazz’s advances, though the reboot suggests she may be more open to him as a romantic interest.

Bel-Air episode 4 follows Hilary and Jazz in an extremely friendly setting, with both connecting to one another outside of their relationships with Will. Hilary comes to the record store that Jazz owns to hand out materials for Uncle Phil’s campaign, but soon offers her assistance in giving Jazz’s store a social media presence. As Hilary’s influencer talents give Jazz’s business a bigger reach and Jazz’s kindness helps Hilary finally be accepted into an influencer house, the two quietly flirt with one another, hinting at a twist on Fresh Prince’s Jazz and Hilary storyline.

The difference in Bel-Air is that Jazz isn’t incessantly pursuing Hilary for a romance she doesn’t want, pining for her, or harassing her and the Banks about dating her, as he was extremely casual in their interaction in Peacock’s series. The reboot also changed Fresh Prince’s dynamic in that Hilary was equally flirtatious with Jazz, with no sign of annoyance from his character as Fresh Prince viewers would expect. Rather than making Jazz’s unfruitful pursuit of Hilary a running gag in Bel-Air, the series is giving the characters a chance at a real romance, which feels more likely to come to fruition considering their personality changes. Since Hilary isn’t shallow like in Fresh Prince, Jazz’s status as an outsider doesn’t turn her away, especially since their connection isn’t simply based on his friendship with Will.

Jazz’s Bel-Air character is also much more innocent, as he seems to blush when he and Will talk about how Hilary helped give him an Instagram presence. In dramatizing his role, Bel-Air has rejected Fresh Prince‘s notion that Jazz is only really used for laughs, as his presence was either based on being rejected by Hilary or literally being thrown out of the house by Uncle Phil and Geoffrey. Similarly, Hilary no longer looks down on Will Smith’s West Philadelphia upbringing and, by extension, Jazz’s background. By allowing for a real romance between Hilary and Jazz, Bel-Air is proving that these characters are far more complex than their original counterparts, and will add another layer to the show’s themes of not judging a book by its cover.

While Hilary’s main romantic interest in Fresh Prince was her news coworker Trevor, who met an untimely end while proposing to her, Bel-Air has yet to introduce any other love interests for the eldest Banks daughter, suggesting Jazz may serve a more prominent role in her story. Just as Bel-Air‘s Will Smith is learning to adjust to a life of privilege, his arrival is giving the Banks children their first real look into a more normal upbringing, which Hilary and Ashley both seem to be taking advantage of. Jazz and Hilary’s chemistry made them one of the greatest dynamics in Fresh Prince, but the sitcom missed an opportunity to use their relationship as a way to show Hilary’s humility and Jazz’s maturity in their character developments. While Fresh Prince never utilized a real romance between Jazz and Hilary, Bel-Airis finally making a more hopeful use of their pairing.

New episodes of Bel-Air drop Thursdays on Peacock.

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Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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