A Family Affair Comes Crashing Down in 'Van der Valk's "Safe in Amsterdam Part 2"

Piet Van der Valk did not look good at the start of this week's Van der Valk, as we returned for "Safe in Amsterdam, Part 2." Eddie is still missing in action; Bibi Franken (Anastasia Hille) swore her innocence in the double homicide, declaring she'd never murder her own son, and added in a bonus threat to Piet's girlfriend Lena (Loes Haverkort) to ensure that Piet and the team would start looking at other leads.

This is where Kalie (Kim Reidle) stepped up to the plate. Piet made it clear he still doesn't trust his ex, but we discovered all the defensiveness about the security officer comes from the fact that she happened to be with his last dog before she died. Kalie didn't actually have anything to do with the dog's death, but Piet hates the fact that the dog's last memory was with someone she didn't like. (Ed note: How very John Wick of him.) The past aside, Kalie went through the guards present at the bombing and has found the one responsible for planting it.

Wouldn't you know it? The bomber is named "Franz," and he's also the one who kidnapped Eddie. (Convenient, that.) Meanwhile, our guy managed to cut his restraints against a rusty part of the van he was still being kept in. When "Franz" came to check on him, Eddie took him down and then called Piet to report in. Piet instructed Eddie to find out who "Franz" really was because the team had already determined that his ID from the bombing was fake.

It turned out that "Franz" was Sophie Brommel's – the manager of several Franken bars –  half-brother. The team could piece together that Sophie had discovered the Frankens were using the bars to launder money after digging through files in Daan's lawyer's office. Sophie was murdered to keep her quiet about the money laundering, and it appeared Sophie's family teamed up to frame Bibi for a double homicide as revenge. The team needed to find the mastermind – Sophie's father – to lock up the whole case. 

They convinced Bibi to act as bait by telling Piet's main suspect that Bibi was going to be cleared of the double murder. There were gasps all around (for the audience) when Baz (Juda Goslinga), Daan's security officer, walked in to take Bibi out himself. Piet and Lucienne caught their man, but that was just the sprinkles on the sundae. Kalie delivered the cherry when she apprehended Bibi's last living son, Xavi (Andrew Gower), pretending to work for Baz. The threat on Xavi's life had Bibi confessing that she had Sophie killed because the girl wanted to go public about the money laundering. 

So Baz and Bibi were both handcuffed and taken off to prison for the multiple homicides. Eddie was free at last and able to walk – he's had enough of vehicles for the moment – to get a good meal. Piet and Lena are even going to look at puppies for potential adoption. 

We love seeing a case wrapped up, and we wish we could say that everything ended all hunky dory, but there is one dangling storyline that has us concerned. Hendrik had another coughing attack in his lab. He studied his own sputum and came to a devastating result. At the bar, Cliff told him to see a doctor specializing in living people before he catastrophized the results or at least informed Piet what was going on. Naturally, Hendrik decided to do neither, so we still don't know what exactly is causing him to cough up blood or how serious it is. 

A new case will start next week, but we'll be wringing our hands until we know that Hendrik is getting treated for whatever is going on with him. 

Van Der Valk Season 4 2 continues with new episodes on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. PBS Passport members will have access to all episodes of Van der Valk Season 4 to watch as a binge (or as initially intended, i.e., as three two-hour-long episodes). As always, check your local listings and streamers.