I have to agree with Boself (one of the other reviewers). When reading the other reviews I simply didn't agree. Those "bad choices" the main characters made (probably Helen en Werner), were made for a reason.
Initially Helen wanted to call the police, but Werner manipulated here into hanging up the phone and keeping quiet about what had happened. Obviously he didn't want to involve the police. Brian worked in one of his restaurants and Werner had given him the blueprints of their house, including handwritten instructions. So while what they did likely wasn't what any of us watching would've done, we didn't know the true story of what was supposed to look like a robbery.
At one point I did start to wonder though: why wouldn't Werner just tell the police the gun was Brian's? It wasn't registered to him. Helen panicked understandably, but she went along with what Werner told her to do and didn't even seem to wonder why het husband kept an illegal gun in their house, which is highly unusual in the Netherlands. No one owns a gun, let alone an illegal one.
Most actors did a decent job. Ralf, Helen and Naomi were clearly outperforming the rest of the cast though. Some dialogues felt unnatural and so did the whole story between Ralf and Martin. Why would some random guy Martin meets have to pay a debt some other dude owes him, just because that guy happens to work for him? That part seemed a bit far fetched.
The only major problem I had with the show, was the ending. They should have added one more episode: How, why and where did they kill Werner? They were quite obviously suggesting Werner was dead -> Helen taking those bags with her to work again, the staged house in France, Helen's phone call saying "he'll probably show up...".
The only possibility they had to kill Werner, would've been in England as there is no way they could have taken him on the ferry, alive, at gun point. Which would have been the only way to force him to come with them as he knew going home would mean going to prison. So they must have killed him at Seven Sisters, thrown him in the boot of the car and smuggled him back to the Netherlands, which seems very unlikely.
Funny, while writing this I am forcing myself to try and fill in the blanks. The reason they killed him must have been the involvement of Helen. After all, she did kill Brian. Going to the police, while not killing Werner, would mean he'd go to prison for sure, so end of story I thought. But he could've blown the whistle on Helen telling the police she had killer Brian and about all those bags of human remains she disposed of through the hospital she works at. Her colleagues al ready seemed suspicious and her boss knew something big was bothering her.
They should've added one more episode. The ending felt too rushed, but I seem to have filled in most blanks (at least for myself). So a 7 seems fair, an extra episode would have bumped my score up to an 8.
But all in all, keeping in mind most Dutch productions are low budget, "Lieve Mama" was very much watchable.
Initially Helen wanted to call the police, but Werner manipulated here into hanging up the phone and keeping quiet about what had happened. Obviously he didn't want to involve the police. Brian worked in one of his restaurants and Werner had given him the blueprints of their house, including handwritten instructions. So while what they did likely wasn't what any of us watching would've done, we didn't know the true story of what was supposed to look like a robbery.
At one point I did start to wonder though: why wouldn't Werner just tell the police the gun was Brian's? It wasn't registered to him. Helen panicked understandably, but she went along with what Werner told her to do and didn't even seem to wonder why het husband kept an illegal gun in their house, which is highly unusual in the Netherlands. No one owns a gun, let alone an illegal one.
Most actors did a decent job. Ralf, Helen and Naomi were clearly outperforming the rest of the cast though. Some dialogues felt unnatural and so did the whole story between Ralf and Martin. Why would some random guy Martin meets have to pay a debt some other dude owes him, just because that guy happens to work for him? That part seemed a bit far fetched.
The only major problem I had with the show, was the ending. They should have added one more episode: How, why and where did they kill Werner? They were quite obviously suggesting Werner was dead -> Helen taking those bags with her to work again, the staged house in France, Helen's phone call saying "he'll probably show up...".
The only possibility they had to kill Werner, would've been in England as there is no way they could have taken him on the ferry, alive, at gun point. Which would have been the only way to force him to come with them as he knew going home would mean going to prison. So they must have killed him at Seven Sisters, thrown him in the boot of the car and smuggled him back to the Netherlands, which seems very unlikely.
Funny, while writing this I am forcing myself to try and fill in the blanks. The reason they killed him must have been the involvement of Helen. After all, she did kill Brian. Going to the police, while not killing Werner, would mean he'd go to prison for sure, so end of story I thought. But he could've blown the whistle on Helen telling the police she had killer Brian and about all those bags of human remains she disposed of through the hospital she works at. Her colleagues al ready seemed suspicious and her boss knew something big was bothering her.
They should've added one more episode. The ending felt too rushed, but I seem to have filled in most blanks (at least for myself). So a 7 seems fair, an extra episode would have bumped my score up to an 8.
But all in all, keeping in mind most Dutch productions are low budget, "Lieve Mama" was very much watchable.
