As crime series go, this one is a little different. Based in Amsterdam, everyone speaking perfect English, something is bothering the main character and the bad guys either known from the start or via a reveal at the end. I enjoyed the series, the characters grow in each story and the plots were good enough to guess the baddie with a sub plot or 2 running through all 3 episodes. It was not as bad as others make out (IMOA) - give it a watch.
11 Reviews
Enjoyable..enough
hazangel-8991023 November 2021
Yes this series is slow but I rather enjoyed it. Brad was by far the most animated and interesting character (the pathologist coming in a close second). It would have been nice if it were renewed but there are a slew of other detective shows to choose from.
A good remake
PhilGranite12 May 2020
I liked the 2 parallel stories, the vlogger murder and the revenge plot in this episode, well constructed and acted. Mark Warren is very much a reinvented Van der Valk and I think he plays it well in a modern setting. I would rate the series as a whole as 7/10 though the first episode with the kidnapping and the witnesses was the best of the 3. I would like them to bring it back for another series.
So bad it's funny
philipfoxe11 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I'm actually enjoying this series even though it's wildly incredible. The cops meet up in a cafe which has only them and a street alcoholic as customers. Everybody smokes for some reason. (Rebels, right?)
Ludicrous continuity. VdV walks into a studio, pulls out a stepladder e voila! He climbs up the ladder, opens a ceiling lighting panel and pulls out a metal case with the fungi/thread samples inside! Hdf did he know it was there? The initial murder was carried by someone who seemingly avoided all the cameras. How? This could have been half decent if they had a decent script, plausible storylines, and developed characters. And showed us real Amsterdam. I'll still watch the next series.. but strictly for laughs...
Why on earth the bad reviews?
agnabeya10 May 2020
This is the best new series I've seen for ages. There have been enjoyable ones- but this was fabulous from the First few minutes of the first episode. Terrific actors, intriguing story line, characters you care about and all set in the beauty of Amsterdam! I am so stunned by the horrendous reviews, I find it hard to think they are genuine. I just cannot understand comments like-'boring'. For me it was VERY far from boring. I am hoping the next series won't be too long. The backstory in tonight's final episode was intensely acted- and leaves me wondering just what the haters think is a good crime series. Everyone should try this for themselves- and not bother with reviews-good or bad. I will be very disappointed if it is not renewed.
Pedestrian Contrivances
Hitchcoc19 October 2022
I will watch the start of Season 2 but things need to change. It is a very typical police detective show with all the cliches. At least we are let in as to why this guy is so angry. That said, the vloggers are quite dull and it seems a bit impatient. Don't understand why things got so dramatic. Finally some recognition for the statistics guy (like he as a lifesaver). Stupid actions on the parts of the police. The final scene is so ludicrous as to be laughable. It would have been good if the frying pan came into use as a weapon. Anyway, better writing (with a bit of spark) and a plot that has some intricacies.
A new low
rjmacdonald-6181610 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I'd already been unimpressed with the stilted dialogue, unconvincing plot and wooden acting of the previous episodes but tonight hit a new low: the big action sequence finale. I can only assume the director decided to throw in every cliché and stupid mistake they could to dispel any last iota of credibility.
Van der Valk's team, armed only with two pistols and a frying pan, choose to duke it out with a heavily armed gang in a public space full of innocent civilians. Nobody tries to call for armed response backup. No attempt is made to get the innocent bystanders out of harms way. Everybody splits up. Time after time the cops are miraculously saved from being shot by bullets deflecting off tissue thin metal grilles (without damage to the metalwork). Van der Valk is finally saved by a member of the team shooting the lead villain in the back, without challenge, with der Valk directly behind him in the trajectory of the bullet. It was painfully obvious that not one of them should have been issued with a firearms licence. In the days of modern film making we've come to expect the dialogue and plot to be sacrificed in the name of fitting in a good action sequence from time to time, but I've never seen a half baked plot stretched to fit in something so unbelievably bad.
Mark Warren has done some good acting in his time, but no amount of close-ups of his blue eyes staring into the middle distance can redeem this nonsense.
Van der Valk's team, armed only with two pistols and a frying pan, choose to duke it out with a heavily armed gang in a public space full of innocent civilians. Nobody tries to call for armed response backup. No attempt is made to get the innocent bystanders out of harms way. Everybody splits up. Time after time the cops are miraculously saved from being shot by bullets deflecting off tissue thin metal grilles (without damage to the metalwork). Van der Valk is finally saved by a member of the team shooting the lead villain in the back, without challenge, with der Valk directly behind him in the trajectory of the bullet. It was painfully obvious that not one of them should have been issued with a firearms licence. In the days of modern film making we've come to expect the dialogue and plot to be sacrificed in the name of fitting in a good action sequence from time to time, but I've never seen a half baked plot stretched to fit in something so unbelievably bad.
Mark Warren has done some good acting in his time, but no amount of close-ups of his blue eyes staring into the middle distance can redeem this nonsense.
I have to say I was so disappointed by this final episode of the he first series.
Sleepin_Dragon10 May 2020
Van Der Valk and his team are drawn into the world of fashion, to investigate a murder.
The advert leads with 'leaving the drama behind with Seat,' they certainly did that with this episode.
I honestly found this the most boring two hours of drama imaginable, it was excruciating, and incredibly pretentious, the story was too clever by half, confused and messy. I know what they were trying to do, show how wrapped up people are with vlogging and social media, how it matters more even than human life, they just got the mix badly wrong. The characters were all awful, Christina Cole was totally wasted.
The world of high fashion isn't hugely appealing. I'd only they'd all taken one of those tablets! The shootout scene was cringe worthy, belonged in a 1940's gangster movie, shocking, unbelievable beyond belief.
Shows like Foyle's War and even Maigret were axed to make way for shows such as this.
Abysmal, 3/10.
The advert leads with 'leaving the drama behind with Seat,' they certainly did that with this episode.
I honestly found this the most boring two hours of drama imaginable, it was excruciating, and incredibly pretentious, the story was too clever by half, confused and messy. I know what they were trying to do, show how wrapped up people are with vlogging and social media, how it matters more even than human life, they just got the mix badly wrong. The characters were all awful, Christina Cole was totally wasted.
The world of high fashion isn't hugely appealing. I'd only they'd all taken one of those tablets! The shootout scene was cringe worthy, belonged in a 1940's gangster movie, shocking, unbelievable beyond belief.
Shows like Foyle's War and even Maigret were axed to make way for shows such as this.
Abysmal, 3/10.
Death in Amsterdam
Prismark1010 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The important part of Van der Valk in the Barry Foster television shows was his wife Arlette.
In this episode she turns up in flashback as a corpse. Which explains why Van der Valk is so miserable and having a liaison with the law student who is also a part time call girl.
The main story is murder in the ethical fashion industry, a vlogger's corpse is broadcast life on the internet. This is followed by another death, this time on the catwalk.
Then there is a Banksy type graffiti artist who is implicated in the deaths. He turns out to be a Syrian asylum seeker who knows some really deep biblical texts. We know this because that drunk in the bar where they hold their briefings used to be a priest.
There is another plot relating to Van der Valk and his boss Dahlman once putting away a crooked cop. The crooked cop's son is after revenge.
I'm afraid to say that in this series, Van der Valk came across as a generic grumpy cop. Worse were his sidekicks who are straight out of central casting. At least they should had killed off de Vries, the dog was more useful than him.
By the end of this episode I was laughing at how inept it all was. The murderer who showed ingenuity in the way the deaths were carried out, was shown to be a quivering wreck.
There was a shootout and no one called for more cops when some bad guys with guns turned up. One cop goes to a restaurant kitchen and takes a saucepan to defend himself, kitchens tend to have knives. A ridiculous episode with all the imagination of the story titles in this series.
In this episode she turns up in flashback as a corpse. Which explains why Van der Valk is so miserable and having a liaison with the law student who is also a part time call girl.
The main story is murder in the ethical fashion industry, a vlogger's corpse is broadcast life on the internet. This is followed by another death, this time on the catwalk.
Then there is a Banksy type graffiti artist who is implicated in the deaths. He turns out to be a Syrian asylum seeker who knows some really deep biblical texts. We know this because that drunk in the bar where they hold their briefings used to be a priest.
There is another plot relating to Van der Valk and his boss Dahlman once putting away a crooked cop. The crooked cop's son is after revenge.
I'm afraid to say that in this series, Van der Valk came across as a generic grumpy cop. Worse were his sidekicks who are straight out of central casting. At least they should had killed off de Vries, the dog was more useful than him.
By the end of this episode I was laughing at how inept it all was. The murderer who showed ingenuity in the way the deaths were carried out, was shown to be a quivering wreck.
There was a shootout and no one called for more cops when some bad guys with guns turned up. One cop goes to a restaurant kitchen and takes a saucepan to defend himself, kitchens tend to have knives. A ridiculous episode with all the imagination of the story titles in this series.
ITV are hopeful, I am not
studioAT11 May 2020
Again, decent enough, but has this show done enough over three episodes to warrant a return?
ITV clearly think so, touting the DVD as 'Series 1' and apparently having scripts for a second series ready to go.
For me though this is another inferior reboot of a show best left alone.
ITV clearly think so, touting the DVD as 'Series 1' and apparently having scripts for a second series ready to go.
For me though this is another inferior reboot of a show best left alone.
Lacks originality
WhiteTigerRedPhoenix6 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is just another crime series with a miserable, unpleasant, bullying lead. He is of course miserable because his beloved was killed by a bad guy he was trying to put away, and in the last episode the bad guy's son, also a bad guy, comes after him to avenge his father.
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