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Why Black and White is My Favorite F4-Related Series

Normally I'm not such a huge fan of F4 and I had some disappointments with Vic Chou until his surprisingly good performance in Mars.  Black and White was one series that had a real chemistry into its cast.  Now I'd like to talk why it's my favorite F4 related series.  The series was written by Wu Luoying and Chen Huiru, both female writers.  They did a very good job writing the series and may have been very important writers as well.

Here's why and I believe I can learn to write better characters by examining this drama:


The conflict of  the two main characters.  Chen Zaitien is a somewhat corrupt cop while Wu Yingxiong is your honest, clean cut cop with an attitude problem.  I just love the conflict of these two was priceless or some occasional funny scenes (like when Zaitien bought underground weapons).  I thought about how Zaitien as a character was a complex character.  I also would think that both actors Vic Chou and Mark Chow carried their acting with all their heart in performing the conflict of characters.


The protagonists' relation to each other as well as conflict of power.  Janine Zhang's role as Lan Yixing (the forensic expert) kind of starts to harmonize the two conflicting forces of the happy-go-lucky Zaitien and the clean cut, serious cop Yingxiong.  I thought that she was a balancing force between men and a probable ship tease.  On the other hand, a complex love triangle for Chen Lin (played by Ivy Chen) occurs between the two, it leads to some so-called paternity problems which Yingxiong eventually gets stuck into.  I love how Yixing not only attempts to balance the conflict of Yingxiong to Zaitien, which creates lots of emotion.  Plus, the actress Janine Zhang knows how to act out her role so well!


Complex mysteries that start to unravel as the drama progresses.  The San Lian Hui are not all that bad compared as a local mafia, though they appear to be the main antagonist at first.  The complex gray areas start to show (although that paternity issue was a drag) start to show up. San Lian Hui is a more honorable mafia than the secret threat that was passing the dangerous drug known as Dreamer.  We have the question who is behind who, how and why.  Sarkozy's role starts to unravel in such a marvelous way to lead, to where they get such power can happen within the political arena.  The protagonists are somewhat powerless against this mysterious force that menaces them throughout the series, neither the characters nor the audience have a clue but it starts to unfold.

Loads and loads of suspense, unexpected surprises with tons of action.  It's very hard to predict what could happen next, who is who, plot turns happen and it does create some issues of what life is.  The title itself called black and white is addressed with the fact that not everything is obvious.  In between black and white are gray areas that need to be discovered and figured out.  I love how the show's storyline isn't predictable, it's really hard to predict the first time through... and I mean just expect that even those who we expect to be clean cut aren't.  I just love how the twist and turns happened at every angle of this cool drama!


Not to mention Vic Chou's really unexpectedly good performance.  I was about to turn off the DVD when Vic played the crying scene but no, he really was able to carry out that crying scene.  I mean I was pissed off at Love Storm it was hard for that image to get away from my head.  But post-Love Storm Vic Chou practically undid his poor performance in Love Storm, starting with Mars.


Above all KEEP a sharp eye for the complex character relations.  Not all the characters are as they seem.  Some of them may soon stab you in the back, others are nobler... in this rather complex mystery police drama!

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