Season 1 |
Season 2 |
Episode Guide
Camping Zonnedauw – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Highly Sensitive – | Review Score – 3/5
Italian Designer Drugs – | Review Score – 3/5
Legio Patria Nostra – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Across The Border – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Sirenes – | Review Score – 3.5/5
That Cop’s Face – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Nouveau Monde – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Rock Bottom – | Review Score – 3/5
Showtime – | Review Score – 3/5
When it comes to over-saturated genres in the TV medium, no other really comes close to crime dramas. Whether it be a police procedural, gang warfare or cat-and-mouse police investigations, there continues to be a flurry of crime-related content released every year. With this in mind, Netflix Original Undercover is a Belgium crime drama that ticks all the boxes you’d expect from this sort of show. While it does well to layer its story with some good twists along the way, Undercover ultimately fails to sidestep the trope-filled pot holes so prevalent in this genre.
The story predominantly revolves around Ferry, a prolific drug boss running a smooth operation in Belgium. Looking to tackle this behemoth and take him down are undercover police duo, Kim and Bob. Together, they work with the police to try and take him down, intent on building his trust to get closer to the operation and work toward an eventual bust. Of course, things aren’t quite that simple and between crooked cops, double crosses and the danger of Bob and Kim being found out, Undercover injects a fair amount of tension throughout its episodes, leading up to the exciting finale.
For the most part, Undercover’s story sticks close to the tried-and-tested formula seen in other shows depicting undercover agents. A lot of the ensuing tension comes from Ferry and his crew’s suspicions around Bob and it’s here where the story works quite well, even if it is a little formulaic and by-the-book at times. With each episode clocking in at a little over 45 minutes, there’s a fair amount of content to chew through here and despite a relatively decent pace to begin with, things do soon slow down.
Given the story and its predictable plot tropes, some of the camera work is surprisingly quite stylish. There’s a decent amount of long shots used early on, with multiple tracking shots used in each scene throughout the series. There’s a fair amount of silence peppered in between the dialogue too and although this does work to heighten the tension, the lack of a musical score outside of a few well-chosen vocal tracks for montages only further exacerbates the pacing problems this show has, especially during the second and third episodes.
As always, it’s advisable to watch this one in its native tongue. The dub is predictably poor and does little to really highlight the delivery of dialogue with the native tongue. This is especially evident with the English dub too which, much like other foreign dramas like this, offers much to be desired.
Despite a few decent stylish ticks and some pretty good acting all round, Undercover fails to inspire much in the way of originality to stand out in this over-saturated genre. In many ways, Undercover feels like one of the more above-average BBC crime dramas with just enough in the way of twists and turns to avoid this feeling stagnant along the way. If you’re a fan of this genre, Undercover offers little you haven’t seen before elsewhere. It’s good enough to make for an enjoyable series though but fails to really leave a lasting impact once the credits have rolled on the last episode.
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10
The premise is good and story line moves along well but this guy is the worst undercover cop ever, we would have picked him out in 45 secs in my old neighborhood.
We’ll keep watching it though as it’s summer and not much on.
I really enjoyed this series although the plot became a little frayed towards the end; there seemed to be an over reliance on Bob’s “let me try one last thing” approach! I thought the acting was excellent and Ferry provided some nice comic relief at times. I didn’t find the Serkan character at all convincing. But, overall, really enjoyable and on a par with the very popular Irish crime series ‘Love/Hate’. The Aiden Gillen character is not at all believable in that either by the way! Also, I’m at a loss as to why anyone would want to watch an English dubbed version of a foreign language series – stick to the subtitles.
Woeful! Don’t waste your time.
If Kim Is Not There I Will Not See The Nest Episodes
total shit. The stupidest thing was when they showed Poland. You can see immediately that no one who has done this so called tv series has ever been there. The actor who plays Arek does not even speak Polish, just some gibberish. Total nonsense.
I stopped watching this s…t after episode 6.
This is a series that is refreshing in a sense that police undercover and typical flemish landscape have not been combined with each other very often to my knowledge. It starts quite good, unexpected, almost credible. It builds up reasonably over the episodes, but the last ones loose all possibility. It feels as if the makers wanted to increase suspense so much that they had no other choice than to leave realism gradually. The last minutes are a huge cliffhanger, much too predictable.
But, all in all, it remains an enjoyable series, worth watching.
Just finished watching this and liked it a lot. Acting much better than you might expect. Gritty storyline. Belgian setting and countryside quite refreshing. Pacing perhaps a little off in places but you can’t always expect Hollywood choreography with these things. Yes – definitely keep the original soundtrack and use subtitles, or you miss the feeling in the actors’ voices.
Peter doesn’t tell Kim that him and John had a fight and John died? Why not? That’s so unrealistic.
Ferry doesn’t listen to John’s suspicions about Kim and Peter even though he’s been working with him for 30 years? Rubbish.
And what did that Ferry character do? He was complete idiot and displayed no leadership or business sense at all. He was good at shooting a few criminals. Very unconvincing characters and weak plot.
Saw it and enjoyed.
Linda K Taylor
That was her dreaming of kissing Kim. She awoke seconds later in her bed.
I’m in the 3rd episode and I’m enjoying this series so far. That little bit of comedy makes the show worth watching. I agree with Velovibes, get used to subs, I watch film from all over the world. To really enjoy a series or movie and don’t speak the language get used to subs. Totally worth it.
I actually really enjoyed this series. I may be biased because I am originally from that area, but I actually believe the script is excellent and the acting is convincing. If you don’t speak the language a lot of subtleties do get lost. The “Brabantse” dialect adds to the quality of the show and the twists and turns in the story are quite believable. Quality of Dutch/Belgian series and movies is historically poor and Undercover certainly rises well above that.
The script of this horrible tv series is a combination of elements to be found in series like ‘Miami Vice’ , ‘Magnum P.I.’ and some other stuff … for example the last episode ending (arrests of all suspects at staged wedding of undercover agents) is completely taken from the movie ‘The Infiltrator’ (2016) … it’s clear to see.
Who ever wants to listen to a dubbed version if they don’t understand the language? Get used to using subtitles and you will enjoy it a lot more
Just spoke graveside with Lee Strasburg. I explained the aggresive over acting and the piece of shit writing. As I was walking back to my car it started to rain.
The dubbing is soooo bad!!!!!! They all sound like they are from the mid-west USA
This show has a BIG blooper. In S1 Ep 3 @ 36:57 it shows the girls Kim and Danielle in the steam room, Danielle had finally gotten her cast off. In S1 Ep4 @ 11:42 in the show it has Danielle sitting on the couch and she still has her cast. Just for laughs….
This show is pretty horrible.
So far the background music is driving me nuts. Just started watching about 7 minutes ago.
It’s actually produced by both Dutch and a Flemmish production companies and the story is divided over both The Netherlands and Belgium.