Penoza

This woman "carmen" does nothing 'wrong', but is involved in a multitude of crimes and killings all in the name of protecting her family even thou she loses 2 husbands, a father and a sister. A bit unrealistic at times but a good drama to watch that is full on and entertaining. They probably milked it for a bit too long (5 seasons). The first 2 seasons are the best. Carmen is portrayed beautifully. She is a standout in the acting department in this series. Some of the acting for nat, luciene, and storm is a bit weak at times. Berry plays his role well. As i said they story lines goes off the rails the further the series goes which is really quite normal. Overall it was a decent watch.

This series goes from good (series 1), OK (series 2) to bad and boring (series 3). And now there's talk about a series 4. Please don't.

The series is about a woman (Carmen) whose family is in the drug business. As her husband is killed her happy family life is overand she becomes very much involved in the business.

We all know these kind of stories, but being set in Amsterdam and with good acting the first series was very good.

Series 2 brought in some new characters and was pretty much OK, although it didn't have the good story lines.

Series 3 was completely unbelievable (Carnen takes on the Russian as well as the Mexican Maffia).

So if you wanna see some decent dutch acting, watch series 1 and leave it at that.

Penoza is one of the greatest series produced by the Netherlands. After her husband is being killed, Carmen decides to take over the role of leading an organized crime scene to protect her children. But being a mother and a "godmother" is not all that easy. She is under continuous attention of the police, and every now and then getting close to convictions. Members in her family are turning against her, and when she discovers the secret of her father she is almost devastated. The competition with other gangs leads to liquidations and cold blooded killings. But it never gets too bloody for the viewer, all goes in a very realistic play of drama and thrills. Exciting inside in the real underworld. Great actors, great roles and a fantastic story are the ingredients of an exciting series you don't want to miss!

... really a series to have been watched week to week when first aired, for streaming makes it increasingly-repetitive, tending towards very boring when viewing more than a couple episodes at a time... and there is no 'crime-family'-story, just the female lead character continually saying she-wants-out but never leaving her life of crime-death-suffering

... what the show does do to some degree is to showcase the absurdity of wars-on-drugs, as they are futile beyond any-all measure... as with any class of drugs billions of dollars are involved, and whenever a small, unscrupulous-element seizes control, there will always be unending numbers of others wanting to take over... bodies piling up very quickly

... there are several very strong as well as weak performances, the weaker ones don't really sink the couple early seasons, but eventually the entire production suffers under their negative weight... so watch the early years, enjoy them for what they are, then quit or you'll-get-what's-coming-(to-you)

'The Godfather' explored the problems of an essentially good man trying to escape from his criminal family; 'The Sopranos' explored how such a family might live amongst the ordinary upper-middle classes. Dutch drama 'Black Widow' blends both these themes, as its protagonist is a mafia widow who finds herself lumbered by her murdered husband's criminal debts. It's strength is in displaying the ambiguous relationship that such this person (and the other non-combatants in the family) might have with their bread-winning relatives. But it lacks the operatic quality of the Italian drama 'Gomorrah' (my favourite mafia story of the year), and it's also lacks that drama's rich portrait of how organised crime permeates civil society. Overall, it feels mostly plausible, and well-plotted, but I found it a little hard to care about Carmen, our semi-innocent heroine who merely wants to continue her good life without having to pay for it.