Bull Fighting

Chinese Title: Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao (literally, do you want to bull fight)
Year: 2008
No. of episodes: 17

Theme Songs
"Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao" - TANK - opening
"Zui Jin Hai Hao Ma" - S.H.E. (Have You Been Well Lately) - closing
"Ai Lai Guo" - S.H.E. (Love Came By) - interlude

Cast
Hebe Tian as Yi Sheng Xue
Mike He as Shen Ruo He
Lee Wei as Zi Chong
Jian Chang as Sheng Xue's father
Ai Wei as Ruo He's father
Ding Chun Cheng as Roma
Gao Yi Xiang as Tank
Cyndi Chaw

Foreword
I have a confession to make. Despite knowing that they are mediocre productions and characterized as "idol dramas" for a reason, I have a serious soft spot for Taiwanese series. With some exceptions, they are usually so bad that they're good, if that makes any sense at all. Actually... that doesn't make much sense. Neither does this series.

Plot

Due to a childhood incident, Sheng Xue (the 3000th tomboy female protagonist to hit the Taiwanese idol drama genre) has an emotional attachment to the basketball court on 13th Street. Every year, there is a battle between two rival schools to determine who controls the court for that year. When Ruo He and his team loses to end their 9-year winning streak, Sheng Xue vows revenge against him. However, when she realizes that they lost because the other team used dirty tactics, she confronts them and tells them off. Here, she catches the attention of Ruo He, who describes her as a girl unlike any other he's met (feisty, tomboyish, and yet easily pleased).

Unfortunately, just as Ruo He is deciding what to do about his newfound feelings towards Sheng Xue, he realizes that her long-time childhood friend/bodyguard, Zi Chong, carries a major torch for her. When Sheng Xue tells him she sees Zi Chong only as a brother, Ruo He becomes more confident in confessing his feelings. By this time, Sheng Xue has also begun to like Ruo He, though she doesn't quite understand her own feelings because she grew up without a mother and in a family full of boys (i.e. she has had no female influence in her life to teach her matters of the heart).

Things get complicated when Ruo He's CEO father asks him to do all he can to take over/buy the property owned by Sheng Xue's family. Ruo He refuses, and is then set up with the daughter of some wealthy businesswoman, though he still loves Sheng Xue. Sheng Xue then takes matters into her own hands and tries to complete all the "impossible" tasks assigned to her by Ruo He to gain five minutes of private time with him (presumably to convince him that he loves her and they should get together). Ruo He then successfully gets out of his arranged marriage, his father's company is saved by Sheng Xue's father, and he proposes to Sheng Xue in the end. Yippie.

Review

I had a really hard time writing the plot summary because the pacing is really off in this series. I was so confused, you see, and I'll try to explain why. I found Ruo He's behaviour in the beginning similar to Dao Ming Si's in Meteor Garden. He loves the girl, doesn't realize it, but does a bunch of crap to hurt a girl who doesn't even love him yet (forcefully kissing her, scaring her by trying to kidnap her, etc.). But then, in a matter of only 2 episodes, he seems to back off and completely give up on a relationship - though he already knows that Sheng Xue only sees Zi Chong as a brother.

Then Sheng Xue, who at first seemed nonchalant towards everything related to dating and relationships, suddenly goes all out to "bull fight" and make Ruo He realize that they can indeed be together. Again, this happened in a matter of 2 episodes. The worst part was when Sheng Xue insists that Ruo He give them a chance, and says that if she wins a basketball match against him, he has to give their relationship a chance. She asks if he accepts the challenge, but I was just like "huh?!" at the words she used: "do you want to bull fight?". She's trying to win a guy's heart and she asks "do you want to bull fight?" I was laughing in disbelief at the way she phrased the question. What kind of guy in his right mind would want to be with such a girl? I was so completely confused.

The acting is pretty much average, good enough compared to other idol dramas but definitely not earth-shattering. I still don't find Mike He hot and he's definitely not one of the stronger actors compared to some of the other popular Taiwanese actors now. He's improved, but I'm not going to run for his series any time soon. I think this guy has potential, but he doesn't know how to pick scripts. He keeps picking characters that have no growth, no depth, and no development, so I get bored watching him act these characters.

Hebe (of the white-hot Taiwanese girl group S.H.E.) was a surprise. This girl can definitely act and manages to still convince as a tomboy with lots of spunk despite having the pixie-est face to hit Taiwanese TV since Rainie Yang. Her best scene was the one where she confronts Tank and Roma - there's something thoroughly entertaining about watching some tiny girl tell off a bunch of huge guys. She also sings the interlude a capella in one of the later episodes and she can sing like nobody's business. Finally, someone who can actually sing and act (unlike many Hong Kong cross-over "artists", who can do neither and yet still do both). A very good performance.

I was also pretty impressed with Lee Wei's acting. At first I thought he looked so much like Kingone Wang that the resemblance was quite scary. Then I realized that he was a much better actor than Kingone, and yes - don't shoot me - even Mike. His performance was so much more engaging than Mike's that I found myself cheering for Zi Chong and Sheng Xue instead, despite knowing that nice guys always finish last in Taiwanese series. To be fair to Mike, I felt that Zi Chong was a much more well-rounded character and his back story was a bit more developed. And guess who Zi Chong ends up with? Irony of ironies, Ruo He's arranged fiance, played by the actress who played Xiao Zhi in Meteor Garden - I could barely recognize her with her long hair.

Even the actors who played the fathers were average. I thought Ai Wei was too young for the role, while Jian Chang puts a bit more fire in his performance. Cyndi Chaw (from It Started With a Kiss fame) had a grand total of 3 scenes in the whole series, and I hardly noticed her. The young actors who played Tank and Roma, though, were pretty good despite their limited screen time.

I would describe this series as "cheese gone wrong". Whereas other idol dramas are fluffy and cheesy, they still manage to affect on some level (which explains why they are my guilty pleasures). Bull Fighting, however, is just all cheese. Too much cheese was happening at the same time and it moved from cheese to cheese way too quickly - so quickly that the cheese didn't have time to really take affect and be heartwarming, heartbreaking or even affecting. I'm sure many 13-15 year old girls were sighing and swooning during the scene where Sheng Xue and Ruo He play basketball and the duck feathers were flying everywhere - I laughed.

If I had to compare, I would rate this one at the bottom of the idol drama ranks, somewhere above Why Why Love and Green Forest, My Home but way below It Started With a Kiss, Meteor Garden, and Devil Beside You.

To Watch or Not to Watch, That is the Question

I finished this series in 3 days and I am sure I'll forget about it in the same amount of time. Unless you're a major Mike He or S.H.E. fan, I'd pass on this one. This series isn't even fluff - it's mist.