De 12 van Oldenheim

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.

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!

The production values are very good: cinematography, editing, audio - acting and writing are decent most of the time, aside from one character whose temper is repeatedly violent - it's hard to believe he wouldn't face consequences for that early on. I loved seeing the Dutch scenery and buildings. It's fairly involving, up to a point. I had high hopes for it.

The ending, however, is incredibly unsatisfying. Implausible and forced, it made the whole series become a waste of time. Even the ending itself is a waste of time, laboriously going back through every disappearance even though once the explanation is supplied it is totally unnecessary to do that. I certainly hope more Dutch series will make it to video streaming services available in the US, but please don't waste viewers' time again with such an abortion of a conclusion!

This 12-episode series was a pleasant surprise for my wife and me. Good acting and a well-constructed plot hold your attention throughout the series. There is some believable detective work throughout although progress is slow early on. The conclusion is believable. I don't know what all the negative reviews are about. We are giving it a fairly high rating and would definitely recommend it.

I thought this was brilliantly done - a weird, suspenseful journey filled with twists and turns that had me baffled right through to the very end. I'm frankly shocked by the negative reviews posted here. Of course, even Beethoven had his critics: after a performance of his Symphony No. 7, he was described as being "ripe for the madhouse" and that he "must have been drunk when he wrote it." What were those critics thinking? And what were these reviewers thinking? Forget the naysayers - this is an excellent, brain-stimulating series. Bravo!