De 12 van Oldenheim

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!

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.

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.

Murder lurks under the surface of a small Dutch town. The plot is like a classic suspense movie's and brings to my mind Ten Little Indians, The Mousetrap and Murder on The Orient Express. If you pay close attention you might suspect someone--and things are a little too neatly explained in the final episode, but there are lots of quirky personalities and possible murderers in this village with idyllic scenery where everyone knows everyone else's business. Main players do a good job of acting. Very enjoyable!

First exciting few episodes ran a bit long. Last three seemed filmed in slow motion so I had to speed through to finish. Only wish I never started to watch this interesting cast. The chaotic direction ultimately grew too boring for me and no longer could tolerate scenes that prolonged the conclusion.

Cast with chaotic direction.