Van der Valk (TV Series) Plague on Amsterdam (2022) User Reviews

Adequate...

[hamlet-16 · 6/10 · 19 February 2022]

A fairly standard murder mystery. Nicely mounted ... nicely acted but nothing new here and the use of English accents is jarring.

But worse is I find no real connection with the characters who all seem a little artificial except for Van der Valk himself. Their eccentricities seem a little too bolted on.

Still as I said not bad but nothing new. I keep feeling it could be so much better.

Standard Fare

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 19 October 2022]

Once again, I find that this is like 95% of the cop shows on television. An unbelievable plot with deduction that seems beyond human scope. The whole Spinoza business is nice, but how could they put that all together without some serious forensic help. These guys just have too much knowledge of the esoteric. It was somewhat engaging, but when you have these sort of weak plots, the characters have to pick up the slack. It just doesn't wash that well here. At least the main character isn't continuing his cruelty to his colleagues. The handsome guy deserves to be belittled a bit. His interview with that woman was utterly stupid.

Love Love Love This Show

[kathycole-62379 · 10/10 · 10 October 2022]

Think of this as a dramady with incredible scenery - and that includes Marc Warren as both he and Amsterdam are equally hot on screen. When this show comes on, I am just transported with suspended belief and just enjoy the ride. You know all the main characters will survive and so even the suspenseful parts can be watched with peace. I can't wait for Series / Season 3. In this episode the crew picks up right where they left off after Series 1. I kept wondering if VDV's boss was the same woman or different because her hair was so different. That was actually a distraction and I wonder now if it is a wig due to health problems. I don't think fictional murder stories need to be all that believable and the character who eats all the time - well that IS a portrayal of a real life person. I want my characters to have human qualities.

Nicely played, but a wildly contrived plot

[Tony-Holmes · 5/10 · 8 August 2022]

Saw this today, the first of a second series (UK - ITV) of this more modern iteration of Van Der Valk (repeats of the Barry Foster originals can be seen on Talking Pictures TV). This VDV (Marc Warren) has a whole team of detectives, as befits the modern age, whereas Barry Foster only had one assistant, sometimes nobody.

The team have some nice lines, and interactions with the moody, almost monosyllabic VDV, and the director gives them all things to do to help the story along. Nicely acted, and you get pen-pics of character, the director tries to keep things moving, but as with many 2 hour shows, the pace is a problem, and in THIS one, the plotlines (3 victims of a serial killer, will there be a fourth?) are just horrendously convoluted, with clues from literature, philosophy, etc.

Other reviewers are I see quibbling about "accents" - well, in the original, Foster didn't have a Dutch accent, neither did his boss, or wife, and that didn't detract from the enjoyment. I see one reviewer (Carmen) lashes out at one team member, and the actor, "terrible, always eating or drinking", and mentions Jack Frost as a proper copper. This is ludicrous!! -- many cops in such shows have been slobby characters, or living in a culture-free zone -- (Hill St Blues comes to mind) and Frost (David Jason) was forever trying to stuff down a sandwich, or pork pie, looked like he'd slept in his clothes, was hopeless at paperwork, and had a desk covered with a jumble of files and assorted bits of paper (just like mine!). Some episodes featured him losing files or bits of paper with key info scribbled on them!! Some Irony that Frost is mentioned as a paragon?! In this the actor puts that across perfectly well, doubtless just as directed!

I'd agree with the Dragon review - Decent but boring. Solidly done, actors doing a good job, Warren is a different VDV (now single, and promiscuous) but has some good lines, and a few moments of inspiration to help solve the case. But 2 hours is a lot of time to fill, and like the more modern versions of Maigret, Gambon, and then Rowan Atkinson, the shows were far longer than the original one-hour ones, and it wasn't always that easy to keep the pace going.

Decent, but boring.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 7 August 2022]

Van Der Valk and co investigate the bizarre death and arrangement of a Solicitor.

It's not bad, I have the same feelings here that I did in Series one. It's solid, it's watchable, but I was more interested in Candy Crush than I was this. Even moments of supposed high drama just seemed so unimportant and dull.

Nicely acted, very well made, but a bit on the boring side, was it the story or the production, something just isn't connecting.

Some Dutch cheeses and a nifty peeler do not a Dutch drama make. The mix of accents again was a source of irritation.

I did like the visuals, the shots around Amsterdam looked really nice, I thought the scenes of the husband swimming on that rooftop looked really good.

What's going on with Dahlman's hair, has she been watching The New Avengers? Love Emma Fielding, but she's not cutting through.

Joseph Milson was very good I thought, the trouble is, I thought he was a cut above the regular cast, he had real charisma, I'm still struggling to warm to the regulars, the mortician is the exception.

Not bad, but underwhelming, 5/10.

At least the city of Amsterdam looks pretty

[Emberweave · 4/10 · 2 October 2022]

I was looking forward to this second series of Van der Valk. My mistake. The beautiful shots of Amsterdam were not enough to compensate sitting through this convoluted mess. None of the characters are developed in any sense, so there is no one to care about. The plot itself is tenuously held together by an alleged connection to Spinoza, but everything feels contrived. It's as though the writers used wikipedia as their source material as opposed to having any actual knowledge about what they were writing about, and that includes the crimes and the characters.

I'm glad another reviewer referred to the Joanna-Lumley-in-the-Avengers hairdo. I was confused by it and now I know why it seemed familiar, yet out of place. I don't have a problem with the variety of accents, like others, but I do have a problem with the sound of bacon sizzling every time someone inhales on a cigarette in every flipping show these days. Peter Jackson has a lot to answer for with that opening shot of Aragorn's pipe and the crackling noise. That does NOT happen when someone inhales on a cigarette. It's annoying, distracting, unrealistic, and pretentious.

I also have no problem with the Brad character eating all the time. What is an issue is his total incompetence. HOW is he even allowed to be on the police force? He is such an idiot that he is a detriment to public safety. And the coroner is an annoying cliché. That oh-so-jaded attitude and the stupid flippancy of his dialogue is tired and not entertaining or original.

The one bright spot in this entire episode was the performance by Beatie Edney. In spite of the mediocre dialogue, she gave her character an inner life and energy that lit up every scene she was in. She even managed to keep from being upstaged by her sizzling cigarettes. Whatever work she did off-screen to try to come up with three dimensions for her character, it paid off. She was memorable in a good way.

And now to the spoiler: That whining, pathetic boy-man who kills three people because he had to move was just so stupid. Whatever social issue the writers were trying to make here, it did not work. AND, throughout the entire episode it's pointed out that this killer is left-handed. The officers try to trick several suspects into writing something to see if they're left-handed. One guy even takes a pen in his left hand, dips it in ink, but OH! Wait! He switches to his right hand to use the pen! Well, at the very end, our Left-Handed Killer, who is wrapped in explosives and ready to blow up hundreds of innocent people, is holding the detonation stick IN HIS RIGHT HAND.

Plague on Amsterdam

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 13 August 2022]

Second series of new Van der Valk and still no theme tune at full throttle.

It is like watching Jurassic World where they give you a slight teaser of John Williams Jurassic Park score.

This story starts with Marc Warren's Van der Valk being surrounded by a group of female tourists who wanted to be given a good time by him. Barry Foster never had such an invite.

The murder of a lawyer who successfully managed to evict some squatters of some land leads to a murder spree. A social media marketeer is the next victim, followed by a property developer.

The deaths are linked with the life and writings of Dutch philosopher, Spinoza.

It was too convoluted and just got sillier and sillier. It emulated the Hollywood serial killer thrillers rather than a police procedural that old Van der Valk was about.

Even some of the main cast look bored.

Plague on Amsterdam

[studioAT · 3/10 · 8 August 2022]

ITV have chirped proudly that the first series of this reboot got 6 million viewers. I would gently make the point to them that it aired during lockdown when people were watching any old drivel.

This is decent, well made TV crime drama, but it feels like it has been assembled out of a kit. We have seen all these character types, every situation and interplay before elsewhere, and done better.

It doesn't really matter what I write here, as a 3rd series has already wrapped.

"Rubbish"

[carmenjulianna · 1/10 · 7 August 2022]

Luke Allen Gale is the Worst Actor Ever.!!! His character is totally not needed and rather worthless, useless and simply illiterate...!!!

He absolutely brings nothing to the character or the series drama, and he appears to always have a mouth full of food each time he's at all present on screen? Who on earth cast him in this drama needs their head testing??? As he just cheapens the whole concept of what a serious detective is all about..(eg:-Jack Frost, now you're talking) Each time he appears on screen he is eating and consuming something.. Can he even read has? As he has absolutely nothing to contribute to the investigations... He needs to go.. Why are the female cast wearing atrocious wigs? It's laughable really.. Are they so cheap that decent wigs couldn't be obtained.. The whole cast needs a whole new reshuffle, otherwise I truelly cannot believe this drama is good enough to continue and I'm out... The Director isn't doing what they're paid to do...:(