Year Released: 2020-present (New Season on PBS September 15, 2024)
Starring: Mark Warren, Maimie McCoy, Darrell DiSilva, Emma Fielding
(PG-13, 90 min. Episodes)
Genre: Crime, Mystery and Suspense, Thriller

“Truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it.” –Emile Zola

Endeavour meets Sam Spade in Amsterdam. Not to mention a little Columbo, Longmire, Vera, George Gently, Brokenwood’s Mike Shepherd, and the grown-up Inspector Morse lurking in the shadows.

And like all those series mentioned above, Van Der Valk also has a terrific ensemble cast, a great blend of eccentric characters, and a setting that is almost a character in itself.

Let’s starts with the titular character, van der Valk himself. Blunt, cynical – at least on the outside – and like the author, Emile Zola, a detached observer. Oh, and I should mention here, that like the other (PBS) Masterpiece Theater foreign productions set is Sweden (Kenneth Branagh’s Wallander) and France (Murder in Provence), all the characters speak with English accents, varying from plummy to almost cockney.

Mark Warren’s Commissaris Piet (Pete) van der Valk enters without knocking, or just strides in uninvited when he means business. Often his blunt talk is a way of dealing with the underlying softer emotions he refuses to show, such as when his partner, Lucienne (Maimie McCoy) has been stabbed:

Piet: [tenderly] If you die on me and I have to break the news to your family, I will deliberately do it very badly. I'm gonna be tactless, blunt, dismissive...

Actually, Mark Warren, the actor, seems a bit like the character he plays, too:

“I think I'm good at looking moody. I'm not much good at analysing myself, but I tend to fit the strange and tortured characters.”

“I'm not into that method acting thing. I just turn up, say my lines and go home.”

Oh, and in the series he lives on a boat, a beautiful wooden one.

Inspecteur Lucienne is his trusted confidante, calm and soothing most of the time, and always wanting to help Piet in his chaotic love life. Later in the series we find out why and understand her concern. She happens to be gay, but that is only one part of her character. And unlike so many females in American detective fiction, she does not vamp around trying to look sexy – I’m looking at you, Vic in Longmire and Hannah of NCIS New Orleans.

Then we have Henrick (Darrell DiSilva) the forensic pathologist, “foul-mouthed, hard living, hard drinking, but also very efficient.” He does not talk to his dead clients, like Ducky (David McCallum of NCIS) or Bathlzaar, of whom Different Drummer has said, “Yes, he is arrogant, full of himself, annoying, always pushing personal boundaries, but strangely, that arrogance usually is justified as he untangles the most complicated cases by noticing the significance of those small, telling details. “

Take Sherlock Holmes’ brain, add Thor’s pecs and attitude, give it a French twist, and – voilà – you have Bathazar.

Getting back to van Der Valk’s patholobist, though: Henrick is a bit peculiar:

He sometimes sleeps on his morgue table and stores his beer in the cadaver drawers!

And we can’t leave out Homeless Frank, a mysterious, omnipresent customer in the cafe where van der Valk and his buddies hang out and toss around ideas about the latest grisly murder. Homeless Frank lives in the semi-haze of perpetual drunkenness, a mystic who often provides a clue to the case overlooked by the professionals. And he is no dummy, either, often revealing esoteric details sometimes crucial to a case.

Now, let’s get to that other character, the city of Amsterdam itself, the one van der Valk is in love with and only seldom leaves. Part of it is the old city with its classic beauty, the river, canals, and old bridges.

Old Amsterdam also includes “The unofficial HQ for van der Valk's team, the 130-year-old Café Scheltema, once the home of generations of Dutch journalists (when it was dubbed the Fleet Street of the Netherlands). It can be found at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 242 in Amsterdam.” It is where van der Valk and his crew go to let their ideas marinate over several tall cool ones as well as many tasty Dutch treats.

The new Amsterdam is very modern, all glass and steel. It echoes the external, impenetrable exterior of van der Valk himself, but he seems most content with water and wood, those soft malleable parts of Old Amsterdam and of his boat. That is the inner van der Valk, the one he tries to keep sealed off from everyone.

Finally, to Different Drummer, two episodes stand out. One centers on what they term free running, but what others call Parkour, as seen in Casino Royale and District B13. Lots of great action scenes and plenty of plot twists, too, in this compelling episode.

Another favorite episode centers around a Dutch version of Jeffrey Epstein and van der Valk’s unrelenting mission to find, disclose, and end the child grooming/pedophile ring that has ruined so many lives.

Add this series to your must-see list, mystery lovers. The plots are intricate but solid, the characters deep and rich, the shots of old and modern Amsterdam foils for the lead detective himself, whom we only think we know. And there are enough esoteric and historical allusions to satisfy those scholars lurking in this audience.

So take a vicarious trip to this classic city and follow our cynical, somewhat shaggy detective who pursues justice above all. You won’t regret it.

–Kathy Borich
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Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

One of the best dishes at the Café where van der Valk and his crew hang out in the bacon pancakes. Here is a little about this Dutch dish, more like crepes that our American pancakes.

Very short history of Dutch bacon pancakes (spekpannenkoeken)

The Dutch have been eating pancakes since the 16th century (and probably longer). In those days bread dough was rolled out thinly and fried in lard. Two centuries later, the recipe became more sophisticated: a batter of buckwheat, milk and yeast and slices of bacon were added. The pancakes were fried over a coal stove. Today the yeast is no longer used and the pancakes are much thinner than in the old days. Pancakes now are as popular as pancakes then.

Try this recipe for Dutch bacon pancakes. Dutch pancakes are delicious and an all-time favourite. Dutch pancakes are reminiscent of French crêpes but the Dutch use fewer eggs for their pancakes, besides they are slightly thicker than the French variety. Toppings for pancakes vary from sweet to savoury.

Bacon Pancakes

Spekpannenkoeken, bacon pancakes and black treacle, are a Dutch invention and delicious! Your city trip to Amsterdam is not complete without a visit to one of the many pancakes restaurants. Why not try and make pancakes at home? Here is the recipe for traditional Dutch bacon and treacle pancakes. –Amsterdam Now

Try them yourself, and maybe with good old maple syrup instead of treacle.

Dutch Bacon Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour

Pinch of salt

2 eggs * 2 cups milk

Thinly-cut slices of smoked bacon

Directions

1. Place self-rising flour, salt 2dl milk and eggs into a mixing bowl
2. Whisk into a smooth batter
3. Add the rest of the milk
4. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes
5. Fry three or four slices of smoked bacon in a frying pan (butter is not needed)
6. Pour on some of the batter (not too much because Dutch pancakes are quite thin)
7. Heat until the top is dry
8. Flip them over and heat for a short time Serve your Dutch bacon pancakes with black treacle.

Amsterdam Now.com