Belgian (Flemish) Crime Drama – The Day

A brilliant Belgian Crime Drama full of twists and turns. Flemish with English subtitles.

Available on: Topic
Audio Option: Flemish
Subtitles: English
Belgian Crime Drama
Series
Season 1: 2018

No information on a second season. The first season wraps up the story, albeit with a somewhat open ending.

The Day (Original Title: De Dag) is a very good, intense crime drama with an interesting flow.

Two bank robbers and five hostages, one of them a teenager, and her little brother. At first glance, De Dag starts seems to be a simple, straight-forward hostage negotiation story. But there’s a lot more to it.

The bank robbers start out with the usual demands of food, more money and a means of escape. Soon, however, they seem to be in no rush to actually get everything. Their hostages are kept in different rooms, and eventually, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems. The various characters start to reveal themselves as far more complex than they originally seem.

Additionally, De Dag weaves in sub-plots about the issues between police and media, and the personal issues the negotiators and hostage families deal with.

The story unfolds in a particularly interesting way in that every episode is being repeated, but viewing the events from the other side. One episode shows events as they unfold on the side of the police. Then, the story repeats in the next episode, showing what the bank robbers, hostages or families have done in the same time frame. This puts an entirely new spin on the previous episode. Often, plot twist only reveal themselves in full after the viewer has seen both episodes.

It helps to cut back on confusion to remind yourself at the beginning of each episode, that this isn’t a re-hash of the same events, but a new perspective of the same time frame.

Although listed as a Dutch-Language show on Topic, De Dag is actually a Belgian production, and the language Flemish.

Where to Watch

De Dag is one of a handful of European shows on a fairly new streaming service named Topic. You can subscribe to Topic on Apple TV or Roku for $5.99 a month. If you have Amazon Prime, you can add it to your Amazon account for $4.99 a month. Find out more about Topic Here.

If you can make your way through a 12-part series within a month, signing up for Belgian Drama De Dag is definitely worth the money.

View the Official Trailer Here

For more European shows to stream in the U.S., check out our listings Here.