Van Der Valk Season 4 Episode 3 Review: Hope in Amsterdam, Part 1

For the second plot in a row, a homicide case quickly connects to a past mystery on Van Der Valk Season 4 Episode 3, “Hope in Amsterdam, Part 1.”

An environmental activist is killed in an exhibit based on her work. Though there’s been tension between her and her boyfriend, the behavior of her business partners soon becomes shadier during some suspicious-sounding phone calls.

Security footage offers the image of a young singer who disappeared shortly before going on tour and was assumed to have killed herself. Her father has maintained that she’s still alive since she went missing and appears to be proven right.

The news seems to rattle current suspects even more while drawing some new ones out of the woodwork. At the end of the episode, the team chases one down, only for him to be hit by a car when on the verge of surrendering.

Elsewhere, Piet and Lena have reached a relatively stable point in their relationship. The rest of the unit is still working well together, but are catching on to the fact that something serious is up with Hendrick, however much he might try to pretend otherwise.

I’m interested to see if there’s something more to the fact that this season seems to focus on cases that have connections to others that happened years before. If the same does happen in the final plot of the season, the connections are likely to be personal.

For now, we’re seeing the same pattern play out as in the first two episodes of the season, where dividing an episode that once played for an hour and a half into two 45-minute long halves can make things feel a bit disjointed with questions yet unanswered.

I do think the play of intriguing viewers works a bit better in this installment. Chances are that our current victim’s activism was a direct motive of her murder, but also that everyone we’ve met so far has been a red herring and we’ll need to tune back in to see the true killer.

The missing woman now appearing on camera is even more incentive to tune back in. Beyond her reappearance, there’s little obvious connection between her and the murdered  woman, but there’s evidence we’ll learn more when finally meeting her in person.

I do still feel these first halves are being a bit rushed, especially at the end of this one. We know very little about our last potential suspect of the hour and the final chase scene is too frenzied for us to learn much more until he’s mowed down.

Thankfully, apart from when they’re in a foot chase, the team gets a bit more leisure in their interpersonal scenes. With no ex-girlfriends about, the tensions are reserved for the people being interrogated instead of each other.

It’s especially fun to see Lucienne tease Piet over his questions about her desire to become a mom. There is a hint of something underlying that teasing, but as his current relationship is going well, that potential will a slow burn if it ever does play out.

Once again, things get more sobering with Hendrick. Everyone now seems to realize that something is going on with him, but nobody yet knows what. That may mean this will drag out over multiple seasons—or that things will come to a head at the worst possible moment.

 

What did you think of this episode of Van Der Valk? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Van Der Valk airs Sundays at 10/9c on PBS.

Follow us on X and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!