De 12 van Oldenheim

In addition to what has already been said, the entire series was overacted and histrionic. I found myself laughing in the most inappropriate scenes. Once committed, however, I had to follow through. The lead actress was so annoying, and a lead detective who would allow her the liberties she took would not be seen in a US production. I gave it 2 stars for the cinematography.

There's so much to like here -- arresting characters, evocative atmosphere, excellent acting, and an absolutely terrific start to the story. But.... given that the mystery, when solved, isn't all that interesting, there's no justification for the many hours of red herrings and silly conversations you have to get through in order to reach the end. Only recommended if you are patient, have a lot of time to spare and you really like hearing the Dutch language.

I stayed thoroughly engaged in this slow burn series with its building maze of mystery.. at first I didn't think it would be any good, too slow.. I tried it again releasing all expectations and judgements... such as what wasn't perfect etc I became engaged in a totally new storyline puzzling mystery.. as the characters developed & I observed the nature of this small town I was intrigued and found myself looking for moments in my day where I could watch a little bit more.. I loved it wasn't all faked it felt like this was real in the way this town communicates with one another and a more harsh way with family members I thought the casting of the actors was perfect I highly recommend this series if you like dark slow burn murder mystery and honestly I had no idea who was behind the murders until it was revealed.. I had no clue.. it was great ! Very entertaining I loved it!

This is not a well thought out series in that the plot is full of holes, with events occurring to fit the story rather than to be logical. Watching all 12 hours will waste 12 hours of your life that you will never get back. The story drags on and on to the point of being tiresome. The acting is not great, the characters all unlikable, and there are so many subplots within the series that one almost needs a spreadsheet to keep track of who's who.

If you are not judging by some impossible standard, you will enjoy this village mystery, currently available on Acorn in the U.S. It's good to see a Dutch production of a story like this in which the characters mostly talk and act like actual Dutch people and not to some generic standard for the international market.

Yes, not many of the characters are "likable", but who the heck determined that characters in a crime or mystery story should be likable? And some of the plot twists are far-fetched, but again that's an artifact of the genre. The ending may be a bit too much like another famous story, but I'll admit I didn't see it coming.

The follow-on "Schouwendam 12" is just as good, or maybe better.