Red Light

One of the best thriller-drama series ever written. Set in Antwerp and Amsterdam, it provides deep insights in the prostitution scene, the related legal and illegal activities and the thorough, complex police work needed to restrict it. Halina Reijn's and Carice van Houten's performances are both excellent; their relation dynamics unsettling. Both entertaining and very impressive.

It started off great and couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I got to episode 5 and found my attention wandering because the storyline began to drag. Especially the woman cop's story which just repeated itself scene after scene and it got to the point where I began to fast forward everytime her scenes came on. The same old thing over and over, on and on with her husband. Maybe she sorts it out by the end but I don't care. I think I'll jump a few episodes and watch from 9 onwards. I'm sure I'll catch up and still know what's what. Good story and excellent acting from all concerned but like many tv series these days they contain too much padding. I keep shouting at the screen Get On With It. (Well, I've tried to submit my review but apparently it's too short so I'll just find some more words to pad it out - a bit like this series.

I love watching foreign dramas, especially Flemish ones, and had very high hopes for this drama. The plot, characters, portrayal, and direction were superb. I binged watched the first 7 episodes and although some of the scenes and the story were very difficult to watch I enjoyed it.

The character of the Opera singer I found neurotic, insecure and really quite vacant. The "Madame" a selfish but desperate woman who insisted on staying with her controlling and really quite nasty boyfriend.

The star of the show was the police lady. I found her and her character very engaging and I sympathised with her plight.

I've not watched the remaining episodes for two days now as I found the whole bargaining for the baby thing quite disturbing, but more importantly the trafficking and exploitation of girls by men even more so. Morally I can't separate what the world should be, and unfortunately is, and thus I'm not sure I can watch the last two shows. I think for a happier life shows like this, that touch on prostitution, drugs, adultery and violence need to be absent from my life.

Dutch drama series haven't been all that good lately, and I've never been that big of a fan of both Halina Reijn or Carice van Houten, let alone in things they made together... That said, this whole series turned out to be rather surprising. Especially Reijn is convincing, along with Derwig's character and their whole relation/family dynamic. Van Houten plays decent, but goes a little over the top at times, especially with the accent.

Flemish supporting cast is doing great; good dynamic between Ingmar and his helpers. Also great role by Koen de Bouw who shows something is troubling, but doesn't give it away until the end.

Only character that can't get any sympathy out of me is Neuville's, but I don't think that's so much bad acting, as it is rather poorly written; wannabe deeply psychologically traumatized, but always remaining rather shallow to the viewer.

Would have been better as one long movie. Main story line is good, I found it dragged on too long. First few episodes were really grabbing, lost interest halfway through, still watched until the end.