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.

The conspiracy is not the most interesting part of this case, though. The CCTV footage outside of the conference center caught a glimpse of Cobie Stegenga (Lateesha Verwey), a singer presumed dead from alleged suicide two years prior. Eddie swears up and down from the initial photo that it is the singer (he's "a bit of a fan"), but it takes Piet a little longer to come around to the theory. It's not until Piet talks to Cobie's father, Marcus (Dennis Rudge), that he becomes convinced himself. However, Piet gets soft and lets Marcus have the photo from the CCTV footage, and Marcus immediately publishes it so that he can renew fan engagement in trying to find his missing daughter. 

The added media attention is the last thing that Piet and the team need, especially when Cobie is a person of interest in Gerda's murder. The last thing Gerda did was try to spell Cobie's name out in her own blood before she died. Meatball has taken Cobie's place as the prime suspect, but with Meatball out of commission, Cobie may be the only one with the answers the team needs to figure out why Gerda was targeted and what larger conspiracy is going on. 

If the work wasn't crazy enough, Hendrik is still keeping his potential cancer diagnosis a secret, but it's coming through in his work. When the team was first called in to investigate, he was overtly cryptic and existential at the crime scene. He was extra snippy with Piet and Lucienne when he dropped off Gerda's autopsy report, refusing actually to discuss his findings with the team and stomping off. 

We did get a treat of a very somber saxophone performance in the lab, but the team definitely knows that something is up with him. The big question is, will someone please make him go to a doctor? The longer he sits on this, the worse it is going to get, and the team will be devastated when they find out. 

Van Der Valk Season 4 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.