Penoza

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!

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.

This series is by far the best Dutch tv serie ever made. I've watch season one to three for at least 10 times. This series gives a good view into the Dutch crime scene. Since i'v worked as a prison guard i know this series gives a good inside view into Dutch crime. Not all the actors are that good but over all the character build up is pretty good. You really feel sorry for Carmen when she does everything to protect her family. Season one,two and three are really good. But after that it is getting real bad. And to complete the mess they cldsed it up with a really bad movie. But still i love the first seasons very much and will watch it again in the future because it still amazes me.

The first two seasons of Penoza are definitely worth the while. Good story, good cast and they kept everything somehow realistic. However, the decision to give the kids of the main character Carmen a more prominent role from season 3 on really killed the show for me. They are such poor actors (especially the girl) that I found myself not able to watch the show anymore. Twice I have tried to finish season 3 but everytime I just find myself so annoyed about these actors performances that I have just given up. Too bad because I held the show in such high regards the first two seasons.

'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.