Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Marc Warren, Maimie McCoy, Darrell D’Silva, Emma Fielding, Azen Ahmed, Django Chan-Reeves, James Atherton, Eleanor Fanyinka, Olivia D’Lima, Clara Onyemere, Steven Pacey, Esra Abdioglu, Annelies Appelhof, Shaima Boone, Poal Cairo, Robert Mitchell, Joris Smit, Loes Haverkort, Mike Libanon.

Dark, ritual, black, old…whichever variation of magic you think of when you are confronted by symbols and representations of the unknown, there is a fair chance that it has been installed into you that the practise is evil, that there is always an illusion to raising Hell on Earth, that the images you see are of violence and destruction, and never of signs that there is a deeper understanding that humanity has lost its way with. Like our relationship with nature, we have lost the ability to maintain a balance as we become ever more consumed with the wrong type of power, one that always leads to murder.

Magic practised by the wrong hands is a tool of mayhem and misdirection, and one that heavily and rightfully observed in the last of Van der Valk’s latest series episode, Magic In Amsterdam, as the limits of the team’s resolve are tested in the face of a gruesome murder and a trail of jealously guarded secrets involving two sects, each wanting their own followers to be on top.

Magic is dangerous, but so is the human heart, and as the tale becomes entrenched, as revenge is the clear demonstrator of the human condition exposed, so the fear of magic is exposed as a relentless beast, just as incapable of seeing the truth as those who seek to use it for nefarious means.

Whilst the tale will not appeal to all, mainly for its references to the art, it is one that is handled well. The connection between Lucienne Hassell’s past and her life in the present is given space to be reflected upon, and as ever Maimie McCoy truly gets underneath the skin of her character, a showing of artistry she produced as Milady de Winter in The Musketeers, and which she unashamedly and with ease replicates once again as Van der Valk’s trusted aide.

With Darrell D’Silva as Hendrik Davie having perhaps his meatiest bite of the story so far, and with the inclusion of Steven Pacey as Isaak Englehart, Magic In Amsterdam is one that dares to go further whilst retaining its presence in the most damaging of all human affairs, that of revenge and murder.

Ian D Hall