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The story is basically about two police officers: Chen Zai Tian originally from the 'NDPD' is assigned to the 'SDPD' and partnered with Wu Ying Xiong; they are opposite in personality. Chen is a bit of a flake, flirts, always hitting on hot chicks, and doesn't take much of anything too seriously. The other is serious, somewhat strict but very dedicated to stopping crime and fighting for justice. They are both pulled into a series of criminal events happening around them, which lead to a lot of people being killed as they try to solve these cases. There is a little of everything petty theft, murder, espionage, terrorists, corruption, all the usual spices. The drama relies on fast pace action and surprising revelations to keep you hooked. Great kick ass fighting scenes!
The acting was solid for the most part, although I thought Zhou Vic's early portrayal of his character seemed almost like a caricature of Capt. Jack Sparrow, but after a turn of events the character seemed to calm down and Vic's performance was better. I particularly liked the bromance and development of the two main protagonists; as the events took their toll on their lives it changed them fundamentally. The character of Chen Lin, played by Chen Ivy was selfish, self-centered and silly on occasion with a tendency to be whiney so she was annoying. There are some interesting secondary characters who develop during the investigation, and others who leave you thinking 'what the hell?'. Also some odd 360 degree changes in some characters which was nonsensical.
The 'love interests' amongst the characters, is not 'romance' but more like 'instant crushes' which change at the drop of a hat. The unnecessary romance story line was all over the place and a hot mess. It did not contribute to the drama, because it was a distraction and quite confusing to watch the so called 'romantic relationships' played out like 'musical chairs. Watch it and you will see what I mean.
The plot though good was convoluted; too many different characters and sub plots, were introduced without much explanation. While it made for good suspense it also lead to a lack of coherence in the drama. You also had supposedly smart characters doing things which instinctively they shouldn't. In one episode a heroic officer looks surprised when confronted by the villain as they are escaping. The villain points to the ceiling and says to the heroic police, "What is that? (pointing to the camera in the ceiling, and with a sweep of his hand)…The cameras are everywhere. This is not the backyard of your house!" (Sorry but that was priceless). Thanks to the script, I did not have to yell at the screen out of annoyance for such stupidity because the villain did it for me.
These are just minor irritants, and not enough to dismiss watching this. Black and White is a well made, exciting, formula crime drama with good action and suspense, a good cast and lots of pretty people (there are NO ugly young police or agents in this drama); it will keep you interested. A good watch.
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Highly entertaining show
I originally watched this show for Mark Chao and Vic Chou and had no expectation at all. I had watched Mark’s Eternal Love Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms and Vic’s The Flame’s Daughter. Interestingly, Vic’s character Chen Tsai Tien is like his character from The Flame’s daughter, they wear white most of the time and also quite comical/joking around type. Mark’s character isn’t this is like his character from Eternal Love, they wear black most of the time and and very serious.In the beginning, I thought the show was very lighthearted and funny. It got a little more serious and dramatic in the middle part. The last part is full of suspense and thrilling action.
If you are looking for romance, there is some but it’s not the main theme of the show. Moral of the story from the show is that not everything is black or white as they seem, a lot of things are in the gray area.
All in all, very entertaining watch, highly recommend!
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The synopsis, I felt, was very misleading. Since it was about more than just killers drinking milkshakes and the president's connections with a local triad. I think what I was most interested in was how their friendship would evolve since they were indeed "as different as night and day." Romance was very minimal, but honestly it wasn't something that was bothersome to me. Focusing on the evolving relationships between all the characters was probably the most important element in the drama. The action was good as well, nothing too intense, but enough to excite you over how it would all play out. The acting was good as well. Vic Zhou and Mark Chao portrayed their roles very well without going over-the-top.
And I actually liked the music played in this drama. Oddly enough I found myself singing along to the opening and closing themes... Very fitting for the drama.
Overall I enjoyed this drama, but I will most likely not be rewatching this again. But I must admit, it's a great drama about friendship and action-packed crime, with an ending that leaves you thinking.
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Good drama that achieves relatively more balance than other action shows that try to merge comic, dramatic or romantic elements to their plots. Watch if 1) You want to see a Taiwanese drama that isn't predominantly a love story, 2) You're looking for something addicting. Don't watch if 1) You like flawless plots and characters, 2) You like closed, everyone-is-happy-and-in-a-couple endings.
THE STORY
First Taiwanese show I dive into that isn't dominantly a love story, and I'm quite surprised. Without being anything out of this world, the plot was relatively coherent and the action scenes, relatively well-done. The drama has enough suspense and cliffhangers to keep you watching, but still leaves room for a complicated love square, some comedy and a few dramatic scenes. The two main characters are well-developed, and at least one of the two main girls is likeable. There's also a good play with the title of the drama, Black and White, because at least one character starts out seeing everything in two colors, and ends up having to recognize that much of the world is actually grey. There's a few things that irked me while watching. Sometimes, characters randomly appear at some places to find clues and there's no explanation as to how they got there. Characters betray others or act in a certain way without any explanation. Plot elements are presented once, and then they never go back to them. The ending, without being incoherent or overly dramatic, is also a bit dissatisfying.
THE ACTING
Vic Zhou and Ivy Chen were great and had terrific chemistry. Janine Chang was good; Mark Chao, every now and then. Overall a good cast, well-fitted for their roles.
THE MUSIC
So-so. Good for the show, not a good match with my tastes though.
REWATCH VALUE
Definitely rewatchable.
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This review may contain spoilers
What did i miss?
This is the polite title.The alternative one could be "A huge pile of crap!"
And a Sub Title is "Everything in this drama is random"***
Only one good thing came after i watched this.I have realized that is really hard for me to drop any Drama no matter how bad it is.Now i can finally relate to all of you out there who are members of the "Never Drop Disease " Club.I should definitely join you!
I kept watching it even i couldn't be engaged neither to the story nor any of the characters,just because of my stubbornness (call me mule!)my curiosity and mostly because of the many positive comments and reviews.It has so many 10's i thought
"wtf i don't see here?'"
Afrer all everything is a matter of a personal taste and Black & White totally proved this to me.
I have read alot about it.
I've read about :
-The Bromance.Everyone praises the chemistry between the two male leads.Iam sorry but i couldn't feel it.Yes of course their lines meant to present and show a great bond but all the feelings should've been conveyed stayed only on papers.Even if the word Bromance is too heavy,you can replace it with the word Brotherhood(which is one of the biggest ironies of this show,lol!)still i felt something was missing.If you have watched "The Devil Judge" then you surely know the definition of Bromance.Here..not even close to this.
-The Romance.Iam so glad i never invest into any romance at all.Here,fortunately,it was too light to annoy me.But i have to make a comment about it because if you love a nice,sweet and healthy romance,iam telling you,you won't find it here.The phrase"is complicated" iam sure came out of this series!
A Love triangle that sometimes turns into a quartet and some others into a pentagon!Go figure!Don't be scared everything is on a platonic level!
What bothered me though, was the "I will always love you,want and desire you and i don't give a shit if you are my brother or not" attitude of one of the main female leads.It wasn't spicy,juicy or intriguing.It was just a turn off(and im not prude when it comes to twisted stories..)
I put the spoiler tag in this review because i cannot fully justify my opinion without giving away some spoilers.Im sorry for this.
-The Twists & Turns.Come again??Everyone and i mean everyone talks about some super wow twists and turns,which meant to leave me shocked and totally surprised.
Im not a smartass ,lol,and im not telling you that aren't any(although from one point after was way too predictable,i couldn't take it as a twist.)
But all of them were unrealistic,unbelievable,ridiculous,stupid,silly,out of place and totally lame,to me.I love when im caught off guard and a script can captivate me with unexpected outcome.Just please make this outcome more logical and don't give me some lame events for the sake of awe!I felt like the writer wrote the main story and during he had an epiphany and added an extra story,and again another one after this and at the end he put them alltogether to create this mess.Yeah,that is what i got.
-The Black,White and Grey areas and some character development.What kind of development did you guys see?Where were the grey areas our protagonists walking through??Did you see any depth in any char at all?Did you see them struggling or fighting their inner demons or something similar?Because i didn't see any of those.
One guy is a cheerful,lighthearted,funny and the flirtatious type,takes nothing serious.The other is the strict one,stick to rules and laws,hot-headed,During the whole Drama he only once bends the rules and just for the sake of another turn(again everything is written to fit the lame twists!)
These 2 guys most of the time lives in a colorful world...
***All the random stuff
-The main story.Well,we see 2 -really good looking-police officers,fooling around,flirting,drinking,partying and occasionally doing some police work.
In the first 3 eps all was about a new drug came to town,called Dreamer and the operation to catch the drug lords which eventually failed.And i thought ,"ok this is one of the plotlines the story will be build around"
The next time something was mentioned about this drug was at episode 16 if im not mistaken.You get my point,right?
In early episodes some murders occured which left unsolved and we got no info at all about them.
The writer decided to give a face and a name to "a" Villain,We saw him max 5 times within 24 eps,in some brief scenes,lasted less than 30 secs each.. A decorative villain.Of course later we get to know that another bad guy was behind him and the writer also added few other bad guys just to give us a variety.Oh don't forget to mention a shady organization which makes brain surgeries to create cold blooded soldiers/killers with no empathy.
Also add some corruption,some dirty politicians and what a drama could be without the necessary dirty cops too!
Few characters added throughout the course of the story,without any background or any information about them.Just randomly appeared to take a part to the hot mess.Some bad guys turn to be good guys and vice versa .I think that is the reason everyone talks about turns and twists...Give me a solid ground to be really shocked about those revelations!
3 episodes before the end,within max 5 mins,they gave us some explanations about all those random stuff,which was the point my blood boiled and i felt i was treated like a complete idiot..Im not exaggerating.It was a 5 mins monologue giving some infos about all that happened.Lame,sloppy and totally unsatisfactory writing.
Few words about acting.Average at its best.I don't care if by that period Mls were rookies or experienced.They performed like a camera was following them the whole time.You know what i mean,right?
Fighting scenes.I always make a comment about them because i appreciate any good choreography behind them.Here all were too bad and considering this is an action drama that was a bummer.The most annoying detail though was the silly punch sound over those scenes.
I could easily give less stars.I gave 6 just because i didn't want to cancel all the hours i spent.Yes,iam trying to make me feel less bad about my decision to start it,lol!I do not recommend it.It has nothing to offer.
Over & Out.
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This review may contain spoilers
There is a special place in my heart for 2K Taiwanese dramas...
In my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh", and "nah", this rates a "liked".This one took me awhile to get through, but to be fair, I generally have about 10 - 15 dramas on my "currently watching" list at any one time, so it can take me awhile to get through one--and also its rare that I actually get through one all the way, so that should say something about this drama at least.
I started this for Mark Chao since this was an early work of his and I liked him as an actor after TMPB. I also appreciated Vic Zhou's character. And while there is a comparison to Jack Sparrow, I think he pulled it off.
To me, this was a typical, 2K, telenovela-type drama which overly dramatic emotional scenes and plenty of places where logic did not apply--especially towards the end. There were so many times when I was shouting at the screen "Shoot them!" when a "hero" was having a dramatic moment with the enemy instead of just shooting them (a la Indiana Jones against the sword fighter). Or how none of the heroes seemed to be aware that security cameras existed and then were surprised when the enemies knew where they were all the time. I could go on.
Like many other reviewers and commentors, I could not get the romance portion. It was not even a love quadrangle. More like a love...pentangle? Octangle? Let's see if I can figure this one out: Wu Ying Xiong always liked Chen Lin (speaking of characters with zero logic...) but then sleeps with the fake Interpol Agent; Chen Lin liked WYX in the beginning then transferred to Chen Zai Tian (who seemed to return it at least in the beginning?); in the beginning Lan Xi Ying (one of my favorite characters) seemed to like WYX, but then seemed to transfer to CZT (who seemed to return it at times?) but then at the end they implied she now liked Cheng Nuo (the assassin)? And as to who CZT liked...Chen Lin? LXY? He Xiao Mei?...anything with XX chromosomes? And then they never resolved it. Oh & Ma Xiao Ming / Huang Shi Kai who like CL.
This was a good filler drama for when I was bored with the others I was watching or just wanted to turn my brain off for a bit. I don't regret watching it as both MLs were nice to look at, did decent work, and carried a decent (if periodically illogical) storyline. I won't rewatch it, though.
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