Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 27, 2022 9:29:48 GMT -8
Hidden Assets is a watchable, if unspectacular, Irish/Belgian cop show from 2022. Much of the action takes place in Antwerp. It's streaming on Acorn TV.
But you're going to have to wade through a fair bit of political correctness. In short, if you're looking for something to stream, this is certainly acceptable. It's about a 5-1/2 on a 10 scale.
The Irish contingent of cops in this are all glorified accountants. They are on the special CAB team (criminal assets bureau). They mightily slash their way through spreadsheets and leap tall mountains of documents to return to the Irish government (no doubt to spend and waste) that wealth which has been accumulated in crime. (No mention is made of how 'criminal' many politicians are in their misuse of money.)
The Belgian contingent are real cops with (egad!) guns. The Irish CAB unit is chasing some bad guys. The find some uncut diamonds in their loot and thus Antwerp comes into the scene. The Irish "cops" and the Belgian cops collaborate on a case that somehow ties stolen diamonds with terrorist bombings.
There are some logical plot holes and a few times where the characters do things that make no sense at all. But, overall, the actors are fine. This is not A-list stuff. It's more like B-. But watchable.
To describe the PC aspect is to give away some spoilers. But given what you see early-on, it doubt it will surprise to you learn that no, of course, it was not a Muslim behind the terrorist bombings. Perish the thought. And it gets better. One of the Belgian detectives (blond, masculine, good-looking...think "Hitler Youth") has a bit of a "hands on" approach when interrogating a Muslim suspect. His boss later finds the suspect with a face that is pretty beat up. The boss castigates his underling saying how this has set back relations between police and Muslims in "the community." Anyway, the unstated point is Muslims are victims and do not even dare to complain about the problems they are creating for Belgium because of immigration. Even so, remarkably, this blond underling does make the point in defending himself that yes, boss, it's not just a stereotype. The immigrants really are taking our jobs. I'm surprised that was left in there.
Suitably chastised (several times throughout the series), eventually the Muslim-hating Belgian cop is sent off. I'm not sure if he was fired or not. But we know we'd better not question the sainthood of most Muslims. It's all rather comical the way it's done. It's so heavy-handed. This is virtue-signaling with a capital "V."
But you're going to have to wade through a fair bit of political correctness. In short, if you're looking for something to stream, this is certainly acceptable. It's about a 5-1/2 on a 10 scale.
The Irish contingent of cops in this are all glorified accountants. They are on the special CAB team (criminal assets bureau). They mightily slash their way through spreadsheets and leap tall mountains of documents to return to the Irish government (no doubt to spend and waste) that wealth which has been accumulated in crime. (No mention is made of how 'criminal' many politicians are in their misuse of money.)
The Belgian contingent are real cops with (egad!) guns. The Irish CAB unit is chasing some bad guys. The find some uncut diamonds in their loot and thus Antwerp comes into the scene. The Irish "cops" and the Belgian cops collaborate on a case that somehow ties stolen diamonds with terrorist bombings.
There are some logical plot holes and a few times where the characters do things that make no sense at all. But, overall, the actors are fine. This is not A-list stuff. It's more like B-. But watchable.
To describe the PC aspect is to give away some spoilers. But given what you see early-on, it doubt it will surprise to you learn that no, of course, it was not a Muslim behind the terrorist bombings. Perish the thought. And it gets better. One of the Belgian detectives (blond, masculine, good-looking...think "Hitler Youth") has a bit of a "hands on" approach when interrogating a Muslim suspect. His boss later finds the suspect with a face that is pretty beat up. The boss castigates his underling saying how this has set back relations between police and Muslims in "the community." Anyway, the unstated point is Muslims are victims and do not even dare to complain about the problems they are creating for Belgium because of immigration. Even so, remarkably, this blond underling does make the point in defending himself that yes, boss, it's not just a stereotype. The immigrants really are taking our jobs. I'm surprised that was left in there.
Suitably chastised (several times throughout the series), eventually the Muslim-hating Belgian cop is sent off. I'm not sure if he was fired or not. But we know we'd better not question the sainthood of most Muslims. It's all rather comical the way it's done. It's so heavy-handed. This is virtue-signaling with a capital "V."
The lead actress is a chick in charge of the CAB team. A lot of reviewers didn't like her acting but I thought she was fine. Nothing is "brilliant" about this series. But if' you're digging through the bottom of the pile looking for something to stream, this isn't bad.