L'heure d'or

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.

Intriguing stoey, but the acting is bad, sometimes even very bad. The extra's do a better job than most of the main actors. Some scenes which were ment to be shocking just make me laugh. Ok, therre are definatly good parts, which show the makers did do some research. How do people respond on violence, what kimd of emotions do terrorist go through, stuff like that. Which made me almost forgive the total absence of bystanders after one of the events. Unfortunatly the researchbudget ran out on the psychology. There obvious was no money left for historical research. When taking the age of the main afghan characters in mind, it was impossible for them to have encounter western troops in afghanistan. In the most optimistical way the russians just left, but it took about 15 year before the UN intervened in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. The actor were way too old to make it believeble they were only living 20 years in the Netherlands. Further more the absurbt way the aivd was depicted (dutch nsi). The writers were peobably smoking some bad stuff or did sau too many american movies. Ow and seeing a stuntperson jump over a fene before falling down was really funny, too bad it ment to be sad and horrible instead. I was able to watch the complete series, so it must somehow be watchable. That is why I give it a 6, even though it was bad and it deserves less points than 6 our of 10.

I have been watching a lot of Dutch shows lately and I prefer them over your average Netflix show. So whenever a new Dutch show is released, this girl is happy!

But, with The Golden hour, Dutch television just went up an extra notch. Boy, was it good. In every aspect: acting (you just forget you're watching and you get sucked into the story immediately), storyline and writing, camerawork and cinematography, but also sets and extra's. I don't know if people who helped bring this show to life are reading this... but I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed watching it. In spite of the very difficult topic.

It had me on the edge of my seat throughout the episodes and I can't wait for season 2 to be released.

Quick note: I'm your average Jane, so I have minimal knowledge of police and detective work. This review is just based on my personal experience as a viewer.

I'll get over the anomaly that was very difficult to take in at first. I just don't get why Mardik decided to go it alone. Wouldn't his tips and investigations have been enhanced with the resources of the police force behind him? And it would have kept the internal affairs/Dutch CIA off his back.

That apart, the fast-paced plot and its developments left not a moment to wonder about any other inconsistencies. In addition there were some moments of human interest stories, one of which was particularly touching.

A second season is definitely on its way as is obvious from the final few scenes. I'll be watching it.