Only in Amsterdam

Once again, I wonder about the principle character. He has no charm, no kindness, no positive qualities. It seems that all he does is boss others around and then take credit for their findings. I know that could describe the strong silent types, but he seems to have no emotions either. The one sister has been treated like dirt by her father, a fundamentalist, and strikes out against him with severe actions. The plotting is so slow and there are long speeches. The young guy who is really indispensable. S given no credit for anything. When he slams his hand to get Van der Valk's attention, I had hoped he would tell him off. We're not there yet. By the way, Barry Foster was a hundred years ago. These episodes are virtually unavailable and have no bearing on this new series. Nevertheless, I'm not sure I'll invest another hour and a half on the third episode.

While a little better than the first episode this still has major shortcomings largely due to a lack of believability. While the plot starts well it becomes a confusing tale of identical twins (that old chestnut). The fact nobody, not the victim's family, employer or anybody else thought it was important to mention to the cops that she had a twin stretched credulity to breaking point. Then there's the lesbian nun with an with the erotic art fetish who seemingly belongs to an order that allows her to wander around Amsterdam at will and indulge her every whim although it has to be said that the understated performance given by Juliet Aubrey in this role is one of the few pleasures this episode provides even if, in the end, the character is incidental, at best, to the outcome. There were less picture postcard shots of Amsterdam this time around but there were more recognisably Dutch accents which is a good thing.

After being one of those that enjoyed last week's episode I was looking forward to this, I hate to say it I was bored to death by this one, the story was so slow, it took an age to open up, and when it it finally did it was a muddled, and confused storyline.

I was a little unsure about Warren in the last episode, he was actually slightly better here, a bit more assured, just a shame the script wasn't so sharp. I'm getting a little irked by the way his character is treating his new, young colleague, the chip on his shoulder seems to have grown.

Always good to see Tim Dutton, even if he was somewhat wasted. Once again we get a mix of Dutch and cockney accents.

It did at least end on a high, the last five minutes was at least exciting and grilling. Unfortunately that final burst was unable to make up for the other 85 minutes.

I wasn't fussed, 4/10.

For a mini series of only 3 episodes you don't really expect any duds.

This though is exactly what we get here. Ok, so the adverts don't exactly help the pacing, but this is so slow and dull at times.

Performances so silly they belong in 'Death in Paradise' and little sense of originality,if there was a hint this shouldn't be brought back, this is it.

I'm not European, so I don't know how popular Catholicism is in Amsterdam, but the portrayal of the nun is so off, it's almost funny. What's not funny is what they show as "Catholic". Nuns don't usually wear the rosary around their necks, but at their waist. A Mother superior would absolutely NEVER hear someone's confession. Only a priest is to do that. Etc, etc.... It doesn't take much to verify these things. I wish shows would do the research, because then the public watching gets a very skewed idea of what Catholicism (or any other belief system that is being portrayed) is and what the tenets are. It happens so often that I just shake my head and wonder why writers can't just find out the truth about something before they add it to their scripts.