One of them is intense and too serious. The other is a party boy and too carefree. But they're both good cops and they are gonna have to work together.
B&W is a 2009 release that is rated 95 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 24 55-minute episodes. Per Wiki: "The drama was nominated in 2009 for 11 awards at the 44th annual Golden Bell Awards, winning 5," and "Two prequel films centering around Chao's character, titled Black & White Episode I: The Dawn of Assault, and Black & White: The Dawn of Justice, were released in 2012 and 2014 respectively." At times the acting is flat and the dialogue uninspired, but overall, it's respectable, as long as one doesn't take it too seriously. The plot is pretty good; there's plenty of intricacies. In the final analysis, it maintained my interest when others shows, at the same time, did not.
Is B&W alittle silly? Yup. My family asked what I was watching and mocked Chen Zai Tian's hair. I pointed out it's a 15 year old show. I think his hair is nice, except it's heavily metrosexual and requires lots of product. B&W is on a certain level. It's slightly corny, cheesey, inept, with occasionally somewhat stiff and unnatural acting, and it seems unpolished and low budget. It's also fun. The cast is quite attractive (even with one of the FLs looking like she's 14) maybe that helps. Looks won't hold a viewer's interest for 24 episodes, though - not most viewers. I've seen shows where I couldn't make myself watch anymore. I haven't actually dropped many shows but I have dropped shows unofficially by letting them play on while I simply stopped watching - because I couldn't force myself to any longer. B&W successfully kept me tuned into every episode. There's something to be said for that. Every time it made me roll my eyes it made me do it with a wink and a smile. It doesn't take itself that seriously. The effect is light and fun.
B&W it's based on a compilation of true life cases with its own fictionalized spin applied. In the closing credits it says that "the case is known as "Troy military fraud" and... Over 1000 officials were charged... The accused include the minister of national defense, chief of the southern district PD, Senate Speaker, and the Military Committee chief... key persons in this case... died unnatural deaths one after another, while the secret training program by the ministry of National Defense was revealed following the murder of Lan C-Yin. However, all the relevant records vanished..." I did a goog but didn't find anything - I guess the records really did vanish! No matter what they show on the screen, I always assume the truth is worse. Much worse.
B&W is one of 9 Taiwanese shows I've seen; all but one are on the 2009-12 timeline. The same actors often show up in these features. Vic Zhou (Danger Zone: The Dark Night, Mars) portrays the half-cop-half-playboy Chen Zai Tian - "Shrek". Xiu Jie Kai (Light the Night, They Kiss Again) is Ma Xiao Ming / Huang Shi Kai, one very interesting hot dog vendor. Mark Chao (Eternal Love, The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity) is the uptight and fussy Wu Ying Xiong. He's a good looking guy and his acting is pretty seamless up until ep29, when he really impressed me in an emotional scene. He killed it. Ning Chang (Banquet) is Lan Xi Ying. Here she's coldly analytical. She's in Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (I rate eps 1-49 at 9.3, but I stopped there, at a happy ending. I learned what was coming and didn't feel up to the rest of it). There, she plays an emotionally charged concubine. She's fantastic. Ivy Chen (Midnight Foodstore, More Than Blue) is Chen Lin - she actually looks like the man who plays her father. Sonia Sui from The Fierce Wife-8 shows up. She's terrific. The screenwriter & director is Tsai Yueh Hsun (Mars).
There's love in the air, but it doesn't all work out. The interpersonal relationships and romances are handled nicely. The characters are distinct and thoroughly fleshed out.
As for the art and filmcraft, there's plenty of nice touches. They dress in black and white often. Several mysteries are rolled out in the early episodes. There's a mysterious fax machine with cryptic tips - now, that ain't weird... Another weirdness is how our playboy tests positive for dreamer, a new illegal hallucinogenic. He appears genuinely stunned and seems to have no clue why it's in his system. Ep11 has a strange and unexpected twist; the plot is getting thicker. Our two leads and a third good guy try to take down a big paramilitary bad guy in episode 24 and they can't do it. I kind of like that. Our leads are real people, not machines. There's a killer moment in which a bad guy sits in his car at the docks, waiting to flee 🇹🇼Taiwan. Another car pulls up and squares off at him a few hundred feet away. Slowly the window opens, a hand emerges and places the police siren on the roof. 🎵Rock and roll music cranks. It's a well done scene.
One assassin talks about behavior modifications made while he was training. They tried to eliminate all compassion and empathy so that he would feel nothing, even for children. It didn't take. So he quit. Don't think things like that are fiction. They are already trying to meld man with machines.
They put a lot of effort into the plot. There's twists and turns and additional levels of complexity. Who's worse, the corrupt cops or the triad? It's a gray area. The production, overall, is closer to B movie work then the top of the line. However, I think it's respectable overall. People who like strict realism will not like this show, just be warned.
As the credits roll, we are told revenge is being plotted. 🔄The cycle continues.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣7 📝6.7 🎭7 💓🦋🎨6 🎵/🔊6 🔚7 🤗4.5 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡5.6 😅2 😭3 😱2.5 😯3 🤢4.5 🤔4 💤0
Age + violence; Language: $h!+. Rated TV-15
Re-📺? Highly doubtful, but once was fine.
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
⚡/😱 -
C🇨🇳: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
K🇰🇷:
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Glitch-8,
K2 8;
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Private Lives 8.1;
Inspector Koo-8.4,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Vagabond-8,
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Beyond Evil-7.4
The First Responders-8,
Why Her?-8,
Uncle Samsik-8.4,
Blood Free-8.5,
Signal 8.6;
Iris-8,
D. P.-8.4,
Awaken-8.7,
The Man From Nowhere 8.9,
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4
🇭🇰Hong Kong
A Beautiful Life-
Don't Go Breaking My Heart-
The Defected-8.2
Hong Kong West Side Stories-7.5
🇹🇼Taiwan
Age of Rebellion-9.5
The Fierce Wife-8
Two Fathers-7.5
💓K🇰🇷 :
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10
Japanese🇯🇵 lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5.
