Good companion piece to for example a collection of eye-witness accounts of the First World War, or a bundle of Trench Poetry. It provides sound and footage. All relevant departments have done their homework, costuming, setting and decor look and feel quite authentic.
However, as a series on its own it is somewhat lacking. The characters remain vessels for all the different aspects of the war in Flanders that the writers felt must be nice included. It's as if they had made a list of the developments they wanted to include in a series like this and then proceeded to logically assign them to characters. It's not bad writing, as it does tick all the boxes. If you are interested in a general story, you'll be fine. However, if you deeply want to invest in your characters, you will be disappointed; they do not have enough substance for that. While there is some development and tension, this element of the series is underdeveloped.
From a linguistic point if view, this is also an interesting series as it is set in a very multi-ethnic part of Belgium. People in this region (Gent) seem to be used to 3 or 4 different languages and that is reflected in the dialogue and storyline. This element makes for a satisfying extra layer for language nerds such as myself.
All-in-all, an ok sort of thing. I caught this on Netflix. Not binge-worthy, but when fine watched over a couple of days, as a distraction from other activities and combined with an interest in the First World War or Belgium in this era.
