"Van der Valk" Redemption in Amsterdam (TV Episode 2023) Poster

(TV Series)

(2023)

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7/10
Another solid episode.
Sleepin_Dragon26 June 2023
Van Der Valk and team investigate the death of a Museum curator, who is dramatically killed with ceremonial sword, interestingly the victim was a former neighbour of Jasmijn, who killed her two young brothers some years ago.

I haven't always been sold on this show, but I honestly feel that it's starting to get somewhere, it's been on a definite upward spiral, this was pretty good. A good story, decent set of characters, a pretty exciting ending, overall it's pretty good.

I did enjoy the presence of the two new characters once again, I think the changeup has been a positive thing. However it feels as though one is settling in naturally, one is feeling a bit more forced, you decide on that.

It definitely benefits from having two experienced actors here, Jaye Griffiths and Aden Gillett both perform very well, I'd say they're perhaps both a cut above the other guest performers.

Herman Zaal wins the prize for the most weird character of the year so far, never mind a coffin, I bet he sleeps whilst hanging upside down.

7/10.
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6/10
Redemption in Amsterdam
Prismark102 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Ric van der Molden is a controversial museum curator on the lookout for valuable items from Holland's former colonies. He is also embroiled in an argument about no returning items pilfered from those colonies.

Ric van der Molden is stabbed to death by a sword at a party. Van der Valk goes through a host of suspects, Max Langenburg an antiquities collector who owned the sword that killed him. Herman Zaal a true crime fanatic.

However Van der Valk had known the victim from some years earlier. He was the neighbour of Jasmijn Brahm killed her two brothers and then burnt the bodies. His testimony helped send her down.

She has been out of prison for some time, lives in Amsterdam and is now married with young children. When a former cop who investigated the Brahm case is killed, she once again becomes a suspect.

Only Van der Valk finds that Brham's police supervisor Hanna Zuiderduin is zealously trying to guard her privacy.

There were several interesting issues in this story. The almost black market where sacred antiquities taken from tribes in Indonesia are traded. The reluctance to give it back. One suspect is a young female activist who targeted Ric van der Molden attitude to reparations. She becomes a suspect as she cannot verify her alibi of where she was at 5.00 am in the morning.

The story took a left turn when it emerges that Jasmijn Brahm could be innocent from her brother's deaths. Van der Valk investigates 'false confession syndrome' like it is something he has never heard of before. The actual reveal of the killer and their reasoning was tripe.
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6/10
half cup o' coffee
kyrenaika17 April 2023
There's a character on the previous case who admonishes another character for saying "she" and then goes on to say "she, her, woman, or worse, girl" to show that she is some sort of warrior in the war of identity assumptions, but never actually sets him straight on what that interpretation should be, and still forces him to apologize for doing something wrong. But then ... but then, has the damn gall to say to him on this case, "don't judge, chess-boy". So the diminutive version of the female human is the absolute worse in her opinion, but she readily trots out the diminutive version for the male human whenever she pleases with no fear of reprisal.

So whether she is deliberately written in this hypocritical vein (to show that her character is atrociously self-aggrandizing and hypocritical of others) or whether the writers are unaware of what massive hypocrites they are (for thinking all this is perfectly acceptable), like the half cup o' coffee metaphor's humourous reply (either way it ain't fit to drink), either way, it ain't fit to watch.

Never mind the cliche story lines and the wooden acting by lesser characters and the equitable casting with dialogue completely unrelated to the case subject matter, the path that this show has taken in the third season will likely be its downfall. Will it get a fourth season? Doesn't matter, it ain't fit to watch.
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