Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Amsterdam Empire’ On Netflix, Where The Ex-Wife Of A Dutch Cannabis Mogul Looks To Ruin Him As They Get Divorced

Despite a long acting career, we’ve never seen Famke Janssen in a Dutch-speaking role to this point. But there’s a first time for everything, and a new series from the Netherlands gives Janssen a chance to chew scenery in her native language.

AMSTERDAM EMPIRE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: In Amsterdam, a tourist boat runs down a canal. The boat is run by The Jackal, the biggest coffee shop chain in the city; everyone on the boat is lighting up.

The Gist: Jack Van Doorn (Jacob Derwig), who started The Jackal in the ’90s, growing it to a multinational purveyor of cannabis, goes out to a bridge near his flagship coffee shop to greet the tourists on the boat. Right then, he’s shot in the chest and is left fighting for his life.

One month earlier, Jack speeds towards his sprawling mansion, with panicked phone calls from his wife Betty (Famke Janssen), who just found out that he’s been with a journalist named Marjolein Hofman (Elise Schaap). As soon as he pulls into his driveway, Betty attacks the car and Jack with a golf club. That’s when he tells her he wants a divorce, because he’s in love with Marjolein.

Betty is blindsided by the request; they may have grown apart, but she never expected him to cheat on her and ask for a divorce. Jack says he’ll take care of her by giving her the house and half his fortune. But it doesn’t seem that Betty is in the mood to hear that, and by the next morning her revenge plan is in motion.

When Betty goes to confront Marjolein, she finds out that Jack’s new girlfriend is pregnant. Later, she finds out that Jack wants Marjolein to have the baby, which angers Betty even more, given the fact that they never had children themselves (he has adult kids from his first marriage).

Betty’s revenge starts when Jack goes to visit Guido, who runs a greenhouse with a hidden pot-growing operation underground. While selling and possessing cannabis is legal in The Netherlands, massive growing operations are not. When cops roll up on the greenhouse, and find exactly where the growhouse is located, Jack and Guido run for it. Jack then tells his daughter Katja (Jade Olieberg) to grab the supply he has stashed around the city before it’s seized. Katja hides it with her brother Patrick (Jesse Mensah), who runs his own coffee shop and is estranged from Jack.

It doesn’t take long for Jack to realize that Betty ratted him out, and when they meet up to hash out the divorce terms, she tells him she’s going to take him for everything, including The Jackal. She knows all of his secrets, and she’ll use them to her advantage if he decides to fight her.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Amsterdam Empire feels like a pulpy crime drama along the lines of shows like Revenge. Considering the focus on marijuana, we of course have to mention Weeds, too.

Our Take: It’s pretty obvious from the start of Amsterdam Empire, created by Nico Moolenaar, Bart Uytdenhouwen and Piet Matthys, that the story is going to be about how Betty goes about dismantling Jack’s life and cannabis empire bit by bit, and Janssen’s portrayal of the smart, vengeful ex-pop-star in the first episode only scratches the surface of what we’re going to see.

Janssen is an executive producer along with Moolenaar, which may be one of the reasons why this series, her first Dutch-language role, has the potential to be a tour de force for her. She takes a risk by making Betty seem unhinged from the first moments she’s on screen, and not slowing down all that much as the episode goes along. But we see evidence in the first episode that she’s fighting for herself and her dignity in this crumbling relationship; she’s had to put up with a lot during their time together, and she’s not going to let Jack pay her to go away.

At a certain point, Janssen is going to have to perform the trick of making Betty into at least a somewhat sympathetic figure, even as she plays the cards in her deck against Jack. Sure, it’s going to be ridiculous at times, but we’re definitely looking forward to seeing how deeply she sinks her teeth into the role of the wronged ex with a plan.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: After we see Jack take action when Guido, whose wife is getting cancer treatments, is going to flip on him to police, we see Betty walking down an Amsterdam street, staring at a huge sign for The Jackal.

Sleeper Star: Elise Schaap has the thankless task of playing the understanding and tolerant Marjolein, who is going to be putting up with all sorts of crap as Betty tortures Jack.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Jack and Guido look at the monitors that show the security cameras as the police descend on the greenhouse, the monitor on the upper left shows a Windows installation screen. Was that on purpose?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Amsterdam Empire is going to ride on the strength of Janssen’s performance, and we like what we see so far.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.