गोल्डन ऑवर

As Episode 1 of "The Golden Hour" (2022 release from the Netherlands; 6 episodes ranging from 47 to 50 min each) opens, we are in "Amsterdam", where we get to know Mardik, a detective who grew up in Afghanistan but now a longtime resident in the Netherlands and married to a Dutch lady. In a parallel story line, we are introduced to Faysal, a childhood friend of Mardik, who now has become a hardline extremist and terrorist... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: almost from the get-go, this mini-series is tense, and it stays tense. Beware: there are several terrorist attacks that are brought with a shocking level of realism, and this is most definitely not for the feint of heart. That aside, the mini-series reminded me of the Jason Bourne franchise, with its relentless pace and handheld camera work. Bottom line: I quite enjoyed it (I grew up in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, so it was fun to follow along in the original Dutch version).

"Het Gouden Uur" premiered in Fall of 2022 on Dutch TV. I had never heard of it, but Netflix recently recommended it to me based on my viewing habits. Glad I took up Netflix on it. If you are in the mood for a hard-hitting, fact-paced terrorists' action mini-series, I'd readily suggest you check it out and draw your own conclusion.

One of the best Dutch series I have seen. I will also honestly say that I am not a big fan of a lot of meaningless action, that is, without a plot, but here there is an interesting and also strong story. Most of the series is filmed in Ede, not Amsterdam. It's great to have chosen another city, because Holland is muuuch more than the tourist massacre of Amsterdam.

It even seemed a little short to me due to the great variety of action that barely let you move and keep you on the edge of the chair, a lot of tension and very exciting. Time goes by very quickly watching this one.

The actors are all quite good and the the action scenes and editing do not disappoint.

Of course, as in every series, there are always stupid and unrealistic moments, like the racism present, and the torture of a minor and her mother are taken out of context. On the other hand some of the passive decisions of the Dutch police are quite realistic.

Don't miss it if you like action combined with a good story. And.. I'm waiting for the second season. Please don't take too long.

I'll get over the anomaly that was very difficult to take in at first. I just don't get why Mardik decided to go it alone. Wouldn't his tips and investigations have been enhanced with the resources of the police force behind him? And it would have kept the internal affairs/Dutch CIA off his back.

That apart, the fast-paced plot and its developments left not a moment to wonder about any other inconsistencies. In addition there were some moments of human interest stories, one of which was particularly touching.

A second season is definitely on its way as is obvious from the final few scenes. I'll be watching it.

Intriguing stoey, but the acting is bad, sometimes even very bad. The extra's do a better job than most of the main actors. Some scenes which were ment to be shocking just make me laugh. Ok, therre are definatly good parts, which show the makers did do some research. How do people respond on violence, what kimd of emotions do terrorist go through, stuff like that. Which made me almost forgive the total absence of bystanders after one of the events. Unfortunatly the researchbudget ran out on the psychology. There obvious was no money left for historical research. When taking the age of the main afghan characters in mind, it was impossible for them to have encounter western troops in afghanistan. In the most optimistical way the russians just left, but it took about 15 year before the UN intervened in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. The actor were way too old to make it believeble they were only living 20 years in the Netherlands. Further more the absurbt way the aivd was depicted (dutch nsi). The writers were peobably smoking some bad stuff or did sau too many american movies. Ow and seeing a stuntperson jump over a fene before falling down was really funny, too bad it ment to be sad and horrible instead. I was able to watch the complete series, so it must somehow be watchable. That is why I give it a 6, even though it was bad and it deserves less points than 6 our of 10.

The most notable part of this series was the general ineptness and response time of Dutch police.

After a terrorist attack occurs in the center of Amsterdam at a market or mall, the Dutch security forces, which appears to consist of roughly 10 men, is called up out at their house in Groningen or Maastricht. After taking their morning cappuccinos they decided to bike to the scene of the crime. On children's bikes. This all left ample time for the terrorists and victims to get to know eachother.

Besides this, the 4 low-IQ'd employees at the Dutch FBI (aivd) are only focussed on interrogating the main character's wife, all while one of them is dating the boss of the main character(?).

The acting varies and the story is flat out predictable. The action scenes are actually pretty ok except for the realisticness of it all.

This leads to a rating of 3 or 4 stars. But in the NL we call that a masterpiece! I recommend.