Van Speijk (2006–2007) User Reviews

Doing ''The Shield '' the Dutch way

[Ryu_Darkwood · 8/10 · 12 September 2007]

This show reminded me of ''Hillstreet Blues'' and the more recent '' The Shield ''. Meaning ambiguous and flawed police-officers that are confronted with social issues and difficult moral choices. Everything transferred to the multicultural society of modern-day Holland.

It's a nice attempt to bring us quality television with an edge. Most of the police shows are safe and uninteresting formats without any decent character development. Van Speijk has a multi-layered plot from the viewpoint of totally different characters in the squad. From a racist detective teaming up with a Turkish colleague with connections in the mob, to a greenish young girl, a divorced father and a violent cop with a shady past. This colorful cast of characters is one of the main attractions of the show, though I think they'd better narrow it down a bit in the sake of storytelling. Especially in the first season it felt chaotic at times.

My main criticism on the show is that they often don't find a good balance between satire and realism. At times it almost feels insulting how they treat subjects concerning our multi-cultural society. Of course the Turkish guy has contacts with the mob, of course a Pakistani boy tries to kill his sister for having a relationship with a Dutch man, of course there will be a Jihad-like kidnapping if a Arabic girl is intent on joining a beauty contest, etc. And what about things like the guy from the countryside being a culture shocked enigma or someone without a job being a bag of potatoes!? If there ever comes a third season, I really hope that they tune down these clichés. Excellent as the show might be, it could use some realism to strengthen it.

Excellent Dutch television

[Dutch90 · 9/10 · 9 August 2006]

Van Speijk is definitely the best Dutch police series right now, surpassing Baantjer and Grijpstra & De Gier as my personal favorite Dutch series. With its fast pace, good scripts, multiple plot lines and wide range of stories it has accomplished more in terms of character development than Baantjer did in more than 10 years, and each episode has more content than a whole season of Baantjer.

Van Speijk is radically different from Baantjer and G&DG; while these series have virtually no multi-episode plots and always feature a new, unrelated story with each episode, some of Van Speijk's plots stretch over the entire season. This creates even more anticipation for each new episode, because you'll want to know how things continue with the characters. Also, each episode features a set of several shorter story lines, mostly concerning guest characters. These vary greatly; in one episode you have a Chinese immigrant searching for her missing daughter, then there's a Muslim teenager who wants to commit suicide because he is gay. With plots like these Van Speijk also refers to contemporary political issues in the Netherlands.

What is also great is that the characters are far more developed- they all have different personalities and backgrounds. The series is very diverse and doesn't seem biased towards any particular group- there's a deeply religious character who constantly refers to God, an atheist character who swears a lot, a racist character, a gay character, a troubled Turkish character with a family crisis, etc. This combination of politically correct and incorrect characters makes the series refreshing to watch- it is an objective reflection of society as it is, not a subjective image of how some people would like it to be. Van Speijk does have a flaw here, though- the huge ensemble cast of 11 actors causes characters to shift in and out of the background depending on who the writers decide to give a plot line in an episode. ER, an American hospital series in a style not unlike Van Speijk, did a better job at giving all main characters equal attention thanks to its smaller cast (in the beginning, at least). Then again, I can't think of a Van Speijk character I'd like to see dropped as they're all interesting and full of potential.

Another minor annoyance is the fact that the Talpa website (Talpa is the channel that airs Van Speijk) features extensive background info on the characters. I'd rather see them develop over time, with the writers thinking of new things while the series progresses, instead of having everything already pre-determined and knowing what to expect. It just seems like a lazy thing to do.

Technically, the series is also very good- the camera work is good, and the production values are very high for Dutch television. In the past falling pianos, gunfights, cars crashing through stalls and other stunts were much too expensive for Dutch TV, but Van Speijk raises the bar considerably in that respect. Some find scenes like these to reek of sensationalism. I won't deny that, but this doesn't take away from the quality of the story lines and just makes things even more fun to watch, like icing on a cake makes the cake taste even better.

Aside from the flaws mentioned above, I think 13 episodes is too short for a series with multi-episode plots. I'm afraid this is going to cause some plots to move too fast and start too early in the season in the future. What Van Speijk needs is 22 episodes per season, like ER, which allows more time for plots to be enveloped.

Another thing that somewhat annoys me are the forced 'standard elements' put in episodes. All episodes except for the series premiere begin with a briefing in the café near the police station (yes, I know this is not possible in real life) where the foul-mouthed garbageman Jules 'de la Tourette' barges in, and end with a compilation of scenes with music on the background followed by a final scene where character Altan Uslu's story progresses (he's definitely the best and most developed character in the series). The music scenes always start with a scene where someone turns on a radio or whatever, giving a reason for the background music to be in the subsequent scene. This is forced and unnecessary- you can just begin with the music right away, it doesn't need to originate from something in the episode. Imagine if every scene with background music in Star Wars started out with an alien orchestra playing it for no discernible reason at all. These 'standard elements' feel out of place in an otherwise very variable series and would be better suited in Baantjer or Grijpstra & De Gier.

Despite its flaws, Van Speijk is a great series to watch; I'm definitely looking forward to the new season in 2007.