Black & White (TV series)

Meet the badass forces of good and evil: Lei Mu Sha, Chen Lin, Wu Ying Xiong, Chen Zai Tian, Li Wen Qi, and Hsaio Ma

Black & White is a Taiwanese police procedural drama that aired the summer of 2009. It won multiple awards at the 44th Golden Bell Awards including: Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor (Mark Chao), Best Art Direction and Best Marketing.

In the port city of Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan, there are two divisions of the police department.

Wu "Hero" Ying Xiong is the top detective of the South Division of the police department (SDPD). Believing that law and justice are the pillars of society, he is a by-the-book investigator who zealously chases the bad guys.

Chen Zai Tian (also called Pi Zi), is considered the top detective of the North Division of the department (NDPD), but appears to be completely incompetent. Newly assigned to SDPD, he drinks coffee, flirts with every pretty woman in sight, drives a yellow Porsche, gets mysterious tips from a fax machine in a restaurant, and generally is a much more laid back person. Or so it seems.

Assigned together, the two must learn to overcome attitudes on both sides and act as a team to protect the citizens, investigating members of the local triad The San Lian Gang, other shadowy figures of the underworld, and even members of law.

Tropes used in Black & White include:

• Action Girl: Chen Lin.
• The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Gao Yi, who hurtles an entire subway train down the tracks to the dead end, after aerosolizing a potent narcotic so that everyone is affected on the train.
• Always Gets His Man: Ying Xiong.
• Amusement Park: One of the episodes.
• Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Chen Lin, at least until she becomes friends with Ying Xiong and Zai Tian.
• Blood From the Mouth: This happens in just about every episode where there is some type of hand-to-hand combat.
• Clear My Name:
  • Pi Zi is accused of being a drug addict for the new street drug Dreamer; however, since there is no official test for it (although the crime lab has a test they are refining and it showed a positive response), he is allowed to remain at his post.
    • It is revealed that the mob boss ran Dreamer into Pi Zi's water supply to help alleviate the pain after his plastic surgery.
  • Ying Xiong is framed for the murder of several key witnesses and the head of his police division.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Zai Tian was a desperately ugly and hungry homeless man, until he was picked up, underwent numerous plastic surgeries, and ultimately ended up as Pi Zi, the handsome rich detecive.
• Eiffel Tower Effect: Practically every episode has the Tuntex Sky Tower (2nd highest building in Taiwan) in the background.
• Good Cop, Bad Cop: The two leads, although uptight Ying Xiong mostly wears black, and Pi Zi mostly wears white.
• Graying Morality: As the storyline progresses, who is the true Big Bad, and which side is good gets fuzzy.
• Heroic BSOD: Ying Xiong in episode 22 when his ex-lover committed suicide and died in his arms.
• Hot Scientist: Lan Xi Ying, the SDPD's forensics technician.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: It is discovered that one of the main police officers is the son of the leader of the San Lian triad.
  • It's actually a little more complicated than that. The San Lian triad's leader thought that Pi Zi was the son of the woman he loved when he was young, so he "fixed him up" (see Dark and Troubled Past above). It turns out that Zai Tian was actually adopted by that woman, who died when Zai Tian was a boy, and that the biological son of that woman is Ying Xiong.
• Mafia Princess: Chen Lin, who is the only daughter of the head of the triad.
• Meaningful Name: Ying Xiong literally means "hero", and Pi Zi is slang for "ruffian".
• Mobstacle Course: Chasing bad guys at the mall.
• Orbital Shot: During several fight scenes, and the boat chase.
• The Syndicate: The San Lian triad
• Thicker Than Water: Chen Lin appeals for help to secretly assist her father's jail escape.
• Train Escape: Ying Xiong discovers that riding the subway is more exciting on top.