Bird Lovers Become Murder Targets in 'Van der Valk's "Hope in Amsterdam"

Make sure your black turtleneck is rolled incredibly tight this week because Piet Van der Valk is in his feelings as we embark on a new case in Van der Valk Season 4, "Hope in Amsterdam." An activist who specializes in stopping the illegal trade of exotic birds is murdered at a conference center at the top of the episode (after spending some time with Piet staring into a fire instead of sleeping).

At first, it seemed like our bird specialist, Gerda (Zoi Duister), wasn't the actual target, and our assailant was dropping off a bag at her exhibit, but then he thought better of it and stabbed her with the broken end of a glass bottle. Why would anyone want to murder someone looking out for the safety of exotic birds?

It turns out that Gerda helped get her assailant – Meatball (Brian van de Vooren) – arrested for bird trafficking, a shockingly lucrative business. We think he killed her because of that, but the larger mystery is why he was at the conference center dropping off the money in the first place. We know that he's connected to Gerda's co-worker Jay (Sanne den Hartogh) and that Jay is working with Gerda's ex. They owe money to someone, but the larger conspiracy is still a big question mark. We do know that whoever it is didn't want Meatball to talk because they ran him over and killed him just as Piet and Lucienne chased him down, with massive help from Eddie.