A Medical Conspiracy Hits Close to Home in 'Van der Valk's "Secrets in Amsterdam"

A potential cure for cancer is at stake in the latest Van der Valk mystery. This case couldn't have come at a more pressing time because Hendrik finally told Piet about his ominous lab results in the previous episode. Piet continues to be the voice of reason in "Secrets in Amsterdam Part 1" and tries to convince Hendrik to see an actual doctor and get the test results confirmed, but he is determined to live the rest of his life on his terms. When all of this ends up being treatable with antibiotics or a simple treatment, I am going to scream. 

As for the case, we've got a medical conspiracy on our hands. A medical researcher named Tycho (Kiefer Swart) is murdered at a nightclub after showing his girlfriend Alis' (Liza Macedo dos Santos) short film. There was some clue in the footage revealing that Tycho had made a breakthrough in his cancer research, but billionaire Freddie Klink (Sam Crane) is desperate to make sure that the cure never gets out. 

Piet and his team are called in when Tycho's body is found outside the nightclub. It doesn't take them long to make it to Alis and then Tycho's mentor, Ray Mesman (Romijn Conen). Before Piet and the team can actually talk to Ray, he's murdered in broad daylight by a professional killer on a motorbike in the middle of a busy Amsterdam street. 

The conspiracy starts to come undone when Lucienne meets with conspiracy theorist Inge Palmberg (Amrita Acharia), who reveals the connection between Ray and Freddie Klink. When Hendrik and Eddie follow the trace of Tycho's phone to his actual research lab and find Ray's son Ruben (David Shields), all the puzzle pieces start to come together. 

Tycho's breakthrough goes against the patent that Freddie Klink owns and doesn't want getting out because he makes the majority of his money from pharmaceutical sales. A cure for cancer is really bad for business. Ray was funding Tycho's research against Klink's wishes, and when Tycho started to talk about the breakthrough, it appeared that Klink had hired a professional hit woman to tie up loose ends. 

That last part still needs to be confirmed; however, unfortunately, Piet and Lucienne went toe-to-toe with the hitwoman and were able to escape with their lives, but are no closer to having actual evidence or anyone to put into custody for three murders and counting. Inge might have the last part of the puzzle they need and may be the key to figuring out what the code in the short film Tycho showed at the club is, but the team will only get that information if they start taking her seriously. 

The stakes are getting very high, and the body count is rising alarmingly quickly. The entire team needs to get on the same page if they want any hope of bringing this conspiracy to light. Someone should also figure out whether Ruben and Alis' affair has anything to do with this string of murders. Maybe Ruben is also working for Freddie and betrayed his dad? There are so many loose ends to tie up, and only one more hour left in the season. 

When the case is solved, we can only hope that Hendrik will have gotten some clarity and realize that going to the doctor and finding out what is actually wrong with him is the best thing for him, the team, and everyone else that he cares about. There's no need to stress everyone out like this! 

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.