La Hora Dorada

The most notable part of this series was the general ineptness and response time of Dutch police.

After a terrorist attack occurs in the center of Amsterdam at a market or mall, the Dutch security forces, which appears to consist of roughly 10 men, is called up out at their house in Groningen or Maastricht. After taking their morning cappuccinos they decided to bike to the scene of the crime. On children's bikes. This all left ample time for the terrorists and victims to get to know eachother.

Besides this, the 4 low-IQ'd employees at the Dutch FBI (aivd) are only focussed on interrogating the main character's wife, all while one of them is dating the boss of the main character(?).

The acting varies and the story is flat out predictable. The action scenes are actually pretty ok except for the realisticness of it all.

This leads to a rating of 3 or 4 stars. But in the NL we call that a masterpiece! I recommend.

One of the best Dutch series I have seen. I will also honestly say that I am not a big fan of a lot of meaningless action, that is, without a plot, but here there is an interesting and also strong story. Most of the series is filmed in Ede, not Amsterdam. It's great to have chosen another city, because Holland is muuuch more than the tourist massacre of Amsterdam.

It even seemed a little short to me due to the great variety of action that barely let you move and keep you on the edge of the chair, a lot of tension and very exciting. Time goes by very quickly watching this one.

The actors are all quite good and the the action scenes and editing do not disappoint.

Of course, as in every series, there are always stupid and unrealistic moments, like the racism present, and the torture of a minor and her mother are taken out of context. On the other hand some of the passive decisions of the Dutch police are quite realistic.

Don't miss it if you like action combined with a good story. And.. I'm waiting for the second season. Please don't take too long.

The series in intriging, gripping and a nice piece of action if you do one thing....turn your brain off.

The series is based upon plot devices, entirely on plot devices. A very simple, 'I have to go because my daughter is in trouble' statement could have reduced this series in half. Really. That is all that was needed, and something that 99.9 % of the population would have done. Instead there is silence(for no reason at all except to give the story a plot)...and that is how this entire series go.

All cops are stupid and incompetent, investigators are the bad guys for no reason at all, and the victims are so uncharaccteristically dumb that yo are actually rooting for their death(I was upset when one victim got away).

The protagonist (and his friends) purposely put themselves in danger for no other reason than to have another episode. Also, people routinely teleport to where they need to be without rhyme or reason. I need to magically be at bad guys' apartment without divulging how I got here, done. Bad buys show up at the random warehouse on time...done.

Ridiculous plot. If the main character did early in the series what most normal people would have done under similar circumstances this series would have been cut in half. Not to mention that if the Dutch police is as incompetent as is shown in this series then I pray for the Dutch people. They are in deep trouble. I suggest that the NYPD send some people to Amsterdam to give the police some pointers.

You might be surprised to find out that according to this series the Dutch police in one of the most liberal countries in the world also tortures innocent people and uses children as human shields.

Otherwise it is a great series ( Not ).

Until the last ( and quite frankly ridiculous episode ). There is quite a lot of shoot outs and gory, terrorist based violence. That is where the initial investment in the main protagonists takes speed. Unfortunately, we get sidetracked on a few occasions with random characters that don't give anything to the plot. Add to that, innumerable flashbacks all covering the same scene - I think I couldn't one of the same repeat scenes at least half a dozen times. Back the ending of the series itself ; the episodes 4 and 5 were gut wrenching and extremely well done ( although the rookie/ hero cops were soon forgotten in the plot ). The last episode smacked seriously of a budget that simply ran out and the direction and script became the principal victim.