There are so many TV-series being made in Flanders, Belgium, but I think I have been watching the absolute BEST and the absolute WORST series in parallel during the past weeks. A few days ago, I submitted a review for "Open Water", and as much as I respect many of its cast and crew members, it's really the most idiotic, overly pretentious and substantially void series ever to appear on television in Belgium. During the same period, but on a different channel, they aired "De Dag", and this series is more than just "good". It is, hands down, the most intelligent, original, suspenseful and exhilarating TV-format ever conceived in this small country. After literally every episode of "Over Water", my wife and I felt furious and frustrated because it was tedious and uneventful, whereas every episode of "De Dag" was 60 minutes of adrenalin-rushing tension, plot twists, cliffhangers, stupendous dialogues and phenomenal performances.
"De Dag" is a brilliant concept thought up by Jonas Geirnaert and Julie Mahieu. The former, I have been following for almost 15 years. He's usually a comical genius and created the terrific animated short "Flatlife" (look it up on YouTube!) and the downright hilarious cartoon-series of a hostile and violent gnome named Wesley. With a few equally gifted friends, like Lieven Scheire and Jelle De Beule, Geirnaert formed a collective named Neveneffecten ("Side Effects"), and they made unique documentary-style protests everyday shenanigans, like corporate call centers and nightly betting games on TV. "De Dag" is Jonas' first venture into fiction, together with his wife Julie Mahieu, and again he's very successful. The story deals with a seemingly old-fashioned bank heist and hostage situation, but really nothing is what it seems. The innovative aspect of "De Dag" lies in the narrative structure. Every episode is told twice, once from the "outside", with a massive police operation being set up to interact with the gangsters and resolve the hostage taking. There are negotiators, special intervention squads, bomb experts and hectic media circuses. The next episode always covers the same time span but seen from the "inside" via the hostage takers, the prisoners and their petrified families. The concept would normally lead to many continuity errors and repetitive sequences, but "De Dag" is so fantastically written that every cliffhanger or plot twists is followed by yet another and even more ingenious twist.
The series benefits from great performances from the all-star ensemble cast (all-star in Flanders, that is) and solid direction, but the truly praiseworthy quality of "De Dag" definitely remains the screenplay. The writing is near-flawless, with sublime tension building and character development. Not all plot twists are equally plausible, but there's nothing that a little bit suspension of disbelief can't solve. Marvelous series, not just mandatory viewing for all Belgians, but also highly recommended to seekers of superiors thriller/actions series from all over the world!
