Series / Witse

Witse was a popular Flemish crime drama about the eponymous, headstrong commissioner Witse, that ran from 2004 until 2012 on Eén.

Witse^note only known by his last name to most characters (and the viewer) for most of the show is a (rather) workaholic DCI working for the federal police in Brussels. That is, until he discovers that his wife, with whom he has an unhappy marriage, is having an affair with his boss. He doesn't have much time to process this revelation, as he becomes the victim of a hostage situation mere minutes later. After talking down the hostage taker (and slugging his boss for seducing his wife), Witse deals with the entire situation by doing what he does best: solving the case of the week all on his own. When he is passed over for a promotion to commissioner in Brussels, in favor of his colleague (and nemesis) DCI Pouwels, he is given a choice. Either he continues to work as a DCI under the supervision of Pouwels, or he takes up the position of commissioner in one of the surrounding districts. Witse chooses the latter and moves to Halle at the end of the pilot episode.

In Halle, Witse predominantly solves murders together with his new colleagues: DCI Romain van Deun, a former gendarmerie officer and Witse's polar opposite in almost everything; DI Rudy Dams, a meek and kindhearted detective who forms a team with van Deun and DI Dimitri (Dimi) Tersago, Witse's young and idealistic partner who quickly becomes one of his best friends. The team is supervised by chief commissioner Ilse van de Casteele, who tries to keep Witse's headstrong behaviour in check (without succes, usually). While most of the team remains the same throughout the show's run, chief commissioner van de Casteele is replaced by chief commissioner Peter Wytinckx when she gets promoted to Europol, while Dimi is succeeded by two female inspectors: DI Sam Deconinck and, subsequently, DI Tine Smets. Outside of work, Witse also has to get used to living in a cul-de-sac (instead of an apartment building), which involves (reluctant) friendships with his nextdoor neighbours: Walter and Bieke Adriaensen and Annie Rietsma. Witse also finds a new Love Interest in the form of Annemie Nachtegaele.

The show itself, much like Midsomer Murders, ran on the Beneath Suspicion and Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize tropes so often, that it became the single most straightforward way of recognizing the killer.^note although, unlike Midsomer Murders, it usually kept itself to one murder per episode The series also had a knack for (properly) introducing the victim before his/her death throughout the first few seasons, although it did away with this in later seasons.

The show lasted for nine seasons and was broadcasted in both Belgium and The Netherlands.^note where it was aptly named "commisaris Witse" A feature film, called W., was released in cinemas throughout Belgium in 2014, but it was considered a Box Office Bomb, despite the popularity of the series. Episodes of the series are (still) frequently re-run on Eén and available on Netflix^note If you live in the right region.

The series now also has a Recap page.

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This show contains examples of:

• Abusive Offspring: Camille Declerck from the episode "Moederliefde" physically abused her mother, in a variety of ways ranging from "household accidents" to cutting her and beating her up. Her reason for doing so was that she blamed her mother for her father's (accidental) death. She ends up kiling her mother's new boyfriend, as payback for getting involved in the matter.
• Accidental Murder:
  • The killer of the episode "Lief hondje" accidentally killed his victim by pulling him off a fence, causing him to fall to his death.
  • The killer of the episode "De bejaarde man" pushed the victim down the basement stairs in a fit of rage and didn't realize he was dead until she checked out his whereabouts later. she definitely didn't intend to kill him, as he was her best friend.
  • The killer of the second victim in the episode "Hudo" shoved the victim, which caused him to fall with his head on a rock. He then disposed of the corpse in a kybo toilet.
  • The killer of the first victim of the episode "Huisbezoek" chased his victim into her death, by (accidentally) making her trip and fall off her balcony
  • The killer of the episode "Baby blues" tried to console her neighbour's three month old baby and ended up killing her through "Shaken Baby Syndrome".
  • The killer of the episode "Pest" just wanted to teach the victim a lesson while he was taking a shower. The victim accidentally slipped and hit his head on a faucet, leading to his death.
• A Death in the Limelight: Happens to Dimi in the episode "Kinderspel". A significant part of the episode focuses on his bond with Witse and his upcoming wedding, before he gets shot by the episode's killer and dies in Witse's arms.
  • Even though she died before the events of the episode, "Blufpoker" is this for Annie, as she turns out to be one of the elderly victims of the killer. Witse even discusses how they lost sight of eachother ever since she moved away.
• Affably Evil: André Vestiaux from the two-parter "De informant" is kind and empathic man, who also ordered two assasinations to keep his money laundering scheme a secret. He also shows that he feels remorseful for his crimes.
• Ancient Astronauts: The members of Veritas in "Achter de waarheid" believe that the Earth is a scientific experiment set up by aliens.
• A God Am I: This show is fond of giving high ranking medical professionals (doctors, surgeons) this mindset:
  • The episode "In de fout" had chief surgeon Gerald de Keyser say that he was an instrument of God as he was confessing to the murder of a fellow surgeon and nurse.
    de Keyser: Some say surgeons are people who like to play God.
    de Keyser: This is, obviously, ridiculous...
    de Keyser: Surgeons. are. Gods!
  • While the killer of the episode "Natuurlijke selectie" denied that he was playing God, he definitely had this complex. This was most notably shown by the psuedonym he used for himself: G.O.D..
• Always Murder: This is to be expected, as Witse and his team work in the homocide section of the federal police. Nevertheless, this trope has been averted on occasion:
  • The episode "Veel liefs uit Rusland" is one of the only episodes which doesn't feature a corpse, focussing on a kidnapping case instead.
  • The episode "Zondagskind" revolved around a kidnapping as well.
  • The episode "Maskers" focused on a failed assasination attempt, downgrading this to attempted murder.
  • The (assumed) murder in the episode "Prooi" turns out to be an accidental death, as the victim suffered a heart attack and hit his head on a nearby table as he fell.
• Armed Blag: The robbery of an armoured car transporting diamonds was a vital clue to the motive of the killers in the episode "De vergelding". The diamonds, as it turns out, were stashed in the victim's home and the victim caught the killers breaking in to retrieve them.
• Asshole Victim: This series had quite a few of these:
  • The victim of the episode "De lustige weduwe" was a gold digger, who had a (sexual) relation with nearly all of the suspects. He was killed by one of his lovers.
  • The victim of the episode "De drenkeling" was a heavy drinker and a wife beater, who was feared by his entire family.
  • The victim of "Inch' Allah" was a racist bouncer, who was murdered by an ex-girlfriend of his because he was blackmailing her.
  • The victim of the episode "Kinderspel" was a young teen, who extorted his fellow classmates together with his older brother.
  • The victim of the episode "Dodenrit" dealt doping and stole the girlfriend from one of his team mates.
  • The victim of the episode "De pyromaan" was a wife beater and a tyrant, who was killed in self-defence when he tried to rape his daughter-in-law in a drunken stupor.
  • The three victims of the episode "De regel van drie" were killed because they gang-raped one of their female platoon members. Of these three victim, the first two were an aggressive lout and an (emotionally) abusive husband/father as well.
  • The victim of the episode "De goede moordenaar" was a notorious defence lawyer, who liked to humiliate his fellow lawyers in court and was known for his philandering ways.
  • The first victim of the episode "De brouwerij" was a drug dealer, who was planning to murder hise pregnant wife to get a larger share in the eponymous brewery. An unfortunate pocket dial brought his plan to light and eventually got him killed.
  • The first victim of the episode "The Connection" was a tyrannical boss, who bullied one of his employees into a depression. The killer then sabotaged his car to take revenge for this.
  • The victim of the episode "De bejaarde man" was a grumpy and frustrated old man, who had a conflict with nearly anyone he knew (his family, his neighbour). This eventually caused his death when one of his neighbours lashed out at him and killed him by accident.
  • All of the victims in the episode "Ijskoud" slandered a doctor's name, causing him to lose his job and his reputation. This, eventually, leads to a series of revenge killings 25 years later.
  • The victim of the episode "Pianissimo" was an arrogant pianist, who managed to make a lot of enemies throughout the short time he was in Belgium prior to his murder.
  • The would-be victim of the episode "Maskers" was a carnaval prince, who dumped his girlfriend and stole the love interest of his brother to improve his standing. He also made quite a few enemies among the other carnaval go-ers.
  • The last two victims from the two-parter "Achter de waarheid" ran a human trafficking ring specifically aimed at selling women who ran away from home or went missing.
  • The victim of the episode "Pest" was a frustrated bully who took out all his anger on a (rather hapless) coworker because he was an easy target. This behaviour is the motive for his death.
  • The victim of the episode "Breekpunt" was a blackmailer and a (prescription) drug addict. He was killed when one of his blackmail victims couldn't meet his demands and decided to silence him instead.
  • The victim of the episode "Hondstrouw" was an unpleasant and dominating man and a bigamist on top of that. He also murdered his wife's dog, because she had bought it together with her ex throughout her previous relationship. He was eventually murdered himself in much the same way.
  • The victim of the episode "Prinses Nele" was a spoiled and self-centered teenage girl, who couldn't care less about the people around her. This attitude led to her death in the end.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Joris Selleslags from the episode "Verstikt" was this. He seemed like a decent (and quiet) guy at first, who suffered his domineering wife and condescending family quite well. At the end of the episode, he turns out to be somewhat of a sociopath, who couldn't care less about the death of two of his relatives.
• Badges and Dog Tags: Romain van Deun, who was part of the Gendarmerie (Belgian military police) before he joined the federal police. His personality in the series clearly reflects his military background.
• Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Done by Emiel Paulus, the father of the victim, in the episode "Meubelland Paulus". Not only does award 10000 euro to whoever provides him with the clue that leads him to the murderer of his daughter, but he beats up several "suspects", who later on turn out to be entirely innocent. He also gives the police as little information as possible, because he wants to take care of things himself.
  • The remainder of his family also does this, either because they have something to hide or because they simply don't care.
• Beneath Suspicion: Which applies to the killers of approximately 90% of the episodes. Now has its own page.
• Berserk Button: Do not call Witse "Werenfried".
  • Don't try to act smug around him either, unless you want to be manhandled by him.
  • Witse also has it in for bullies, as he's been bullied frequently throughout his childhood.
• Best Served Cold: The episode "Ijskoud^note "Ice cold" in English" shows a very literal example of this, as the first victim is put on display in the cold storage of his ice cream truck. The episode's title also references this trope.
• Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon: The main reason why chief commissioner Wytinckx was suspected of murdering his wife in the two-parter "Bloedlijn", was because he was holding the murder weapon as Witse arrived at the scene of the crime, after the killer had dropped it. Unsurprisingly, Witse was (pretty much) the only person to believe Wytinckx explanation, despite it being entirely true.
• Bitter Almonds: Used abundantly in the two-parter "Gif", as the victims are all poisoned with potassium cyanide. Even Witse can smell cyanide on corpses and in poisoned cups of yoghurt and describes it as a marzipan-like smell.
• Bribe Backfire: Witse uses this to his advantage in the episode "De therapeut". In this episode, Witse tries to prove that a renowned therapist / psychoanalyst is involved in the suicide of one of his patients. He, however, needs the therapist's fingerprints to prove his involvement and can't get them through official channels (as Wytinckx wants to classify the case). When Witse gets suspended after the therapist files a complaint against him, Witse goes over to the therapist's practice and tries to bribe him into dropping the complaint. The therapist declines the bribe, however, and hands Witse his money back. Witse then sends the money to the lab (through Sam) and uses the fingerprints on the bills to prove the therapist's involvement.
• Broken Pedestal: In the episode "Sister morfine", Witse investigates the murder of a former police academy instructor's wife. The instructor turns out to be a bit of an idol to Witse and van Deun. By the end of the episode, it turns out the instructor had cheated on his wife for decades and that he had an illegitimate son in Italy with his mistress. This secret eventually became the motive for his wife's murder.
• Bully Hunter: Witse shows shades of this, as he has been bullied quite alot in his youth.
  • Geert Mathijs from the episode "Pest" is an extreme case of this trope. He was an aspiring soccer player, who missed his shot at succes because he was bullied, to the point of torment, by his team mates. Years later, one of his best friends becomes the victim of bullying at the hands of Mike de Nayer, the victim of the week. Geert tries to get back at Mike and subsequently murders him by accident. He then further humiliates him by dumping his naked corpse in a river.
• By-the-Book Cop: DCI Romain van Deun, who has a military background and favors order and discipline.
• Cain and Abel: The episode "Verstikt" had a (somewhat) downplayed case of this. The episode centered around two brothers, one with a short fuse, but inherently good, and one who was shy and calm, but bad to the bone. In a funny twist on the trope, it was the good brother who turned out to be the killer (he killed the victim in a fit of rage). He, then, called the bad brother, who helped him cover up the murder in exchange for the entire inheritance (and so he could feel superior over his brother for once).
• The Cameo:
  • Ilse van de Casteele makes a short one at Dimi's funeral in the episode "Tegen de muur".
  • Chris Haagdoorn, the main character of Recht Op Recht, appears in the two-parter "Icarus" as an attorney for one of the defendants in the court case involving Sam's younger brother.
• Casting Gag: The episode "Inch' Allah" has one in retrospect: Nina Larsen and her fiancé Oosterlinck are played by Katrien de Ruysscher and Wim Stevens respectively. The two play eachother's fiancés again in the primetime soap Thuis a decade later, where they play the roles of Judith van Santen and Tom de Decker. Their characters even get married in that series, albeit briefly.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The series as a whole went through quite a bit of this over the course of the seasons. While the show always had examples of gruesome crimes (it's a detective series, after all), it's tone throughout the first few seasons was still rather optimistic. This started to change a bit after Dimi's death near the start of season 3, yet, it wasn't until supporting characters such as Walter, Bieke and Annie started leaving that it truly set in. The show had fully gone through it's Cerebus transition at the start of season 8, after Witse left Annemie and ended up living in a dreary apartment. Then, season 9 raised the bar even further, by adding several (now banned) episodes about particularly gruesome cases (the two-parter "Vijf", "Ademnood" and "Zinloos" being notably good examples). This resulted in the series' downer ending, where Witse decides to hang up his hat, after a particularly nasty mass-shooting case had gotten to him. The entire process is best summed up by Witse's final words of the series:
  Witse [To Tine]: DI Smets... Never become cynical.
  Witse: Never...
• Clear My Name:
  • Witse has to clear his own name in the two-parter "De val", when he is suspected of killing two people.
  • Witse has to clear chief commissioner Wytinckx' name in the second part of two-parter "Bloedlijn", after Wytinckx is suspected of shooting his wife.
  • Becomes a major plotpoint in the episode "Ongestoord bezoek", when a prisoner asks Witse and his team to re-open the case against him, when the victim of the week is murdered with the same weapon (and the same modus operandi) as his wife (for whose murder he was convicted). It turns out he orchestrated the second murder to get off the hook for the first one.
• Clueless Mystery: This series had several, which was to be expected from a show where the killer is usually the least suspicious person in the room.
  • The episode "Veel liefs uit Rusland" had suspects aplenty. Yet, the culprit eventually turned out to be Alex Stuyck, one of the friendly mechanics that helped Dimi. while he appeared throughout the episode, not a single clue was given towards him until three-quarters of the episode, when his name in a personnel file revealed him as the culprit.
  • The two-parter "Gif" revealed a crime lab technician as the killer. His role, up to the reveal, was to relate information to the team (without sabotage to boot).
  • The episode "Lief hondje" had plenty of Red Herring suspects, but eventually revealed a dogwalking neighbour as the killer. He showed up for 15 seconds at best and the only clue to him was revealed within the last five minutes.
  • The killer of the episode "Eerwraak" was someone who merely appeared in one scene before being revealed as the killer. In that scene, he was asked to confirm someone else's alibi, as he wasn't a suspect at all.
  • The killer of the episode "Het meisje" turned out to be one of the residents of the victim's apartment block. Before the reveal, he showed up shouting in the background in one scene. The fact that he was played by a (rather) recognizable actor made this even more funny.
  • The episode "Ijskoud" revealed the new coroner as the killer. No clues whatsoever were given to him and the team had to find a photograph in an old archive to identify him as the culprit.
• Character Shilling: Most characters (even Wytinckx) describe André Vestiaux from the two-parter "De informant" as a visionary politician and an amazing human being. Witse (and the viewers) just see him as a money hungry Corrupt Corporate Executive, who makes big money through a money laundering scheme and hinders the investigation every step of the way. He's still a (somewhat) friendly man, nevertheless.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: Witse is stamped as a racist by the Kurdish community in the two-parter "Rellen", mainly because of (biased or falsified) photographic evidence against him. Actual evidence of him being racist is, obviously, non-existent. This even comes to a head during the eponymous "riots" mentioned in the episode's title.
• Cool Old Lady: Annie, who not only helped Witse settle into the neighbourhood, but also (occasionally) helped him on a case in the earlier seasons.
• Cowboy Cop: Witse himself is an example of this, as he tends to play fast and loose with the rules when it suits him.
  • DCI Rik Cuppens from the episode "Achter de waarheid" is labeled as this. He is even called "the cowboy" by Witse.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: André Vestiaux and his cronies in the two-parter "De informant".
• Criminal Mind Games: Sven Gabriëls from the episode "De perfecte moord" played these with Witse and his team, by leaving clues for them to follow. He would have gotten away with the murder as well, if he hadn't let his arrogance take the upper hand.
• Cyanide Pill: The killer of the two-parter "Gif" carried a vial of dissolved potassium cyanide on his body. When he's eventually apprehended by Witse, he manages to open the vial (despite being handcuffed) and drinks it in one go in the backseat of Witse's car. He subsequently dies before Witse can stop the car and reach the backseat.
• Damsel in Distress:
  • The episode "Veel liefs uit Rusland" placed a transport company CEO's daughter in this situation. She eventually became friendly with the kidnapper by the end of the episode.
  • The victim of the episode "Radeloos" kidnapped his boss's daughter and placed her in this situation. As the victim got killed himself, the daughter barely made it out alive.
• Day in the Limelight: The episode "Vrije slag" is this for DI Tine Smets and DCI van Deun, as they solve the case while Witse is in the hospital.
• Defective Detective: Witse himself, who is a workaholic with (minor) anger issues, in combination with trust issues (romantically, at least). He also tends to refuse help from his friends/coworkers when things get rough, which caused him to adopt a destructive lifestyle more than once.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Chief commissioner Ilse van de Casteele, who starts out rather cool and uninterested, but becomes friends with Witse throughout the first few seasons.
• Demoted to Extra: Happens to Witse during the episode "Vrije Slag", as he has little influence on the case while he recovers at the hospital. He is healthy and back at work by the start of the next episode.
• Detective Mole: Several of these made an appearance throughout the show's run:
  • The two-parter "Gif" had crime lab technician and Mr. Exposition Robert (Bob) Daniëls as the killer. In the same episode, another inspector, Linda de Maeschalk, was suspected of being this by Witse, but she turned out to be a Red Herring Mole in the end.
  • In the episode "Ijskoud", the victims were murdered by the coroner who examined the bodies.
  • In the two-parter "Achter de waarheid", Witse's team gets help from Rik Cuppens, a DCI from the missing persons squad. When Witse and his team unravel a human trafficking ring, Rik is part of the arrest team responsible for the arrest of the last remaining organizer of this ring. However, a gunfight takes place throughout the arrest and Rik shoots the organizer in self-defence. Or, at least, that's what he wants his colleagues to think. In reality, he was in on the human trafficking ring and even delivered wayward girls to them. When the net started to close, he shot the organizer (and last remaining witness) to conceal his involvement in the crime.
• Determinator: The killer of the episode "Terminaal" doesn't stop at anything to murder his victims, despite being terminally ill and in chronical pain. It takes two bullets to the leg to stop him in his tracks.
• Diplomatic Impunity:
  • The episode "Het meisje" had a shady diplomat, who used is influence (and diplomatic immunity) to extort illegal Moldovan immigrants, set up illegal transports and traffick young girls for the sex trade.
  • The two-parter "De informant" revolved around a money laundering scheme set up by a State Secratary. He used his diplomatic immunity (and skills as a lawyer) to stall the investigation and protect himself (and others) from proscecution.
• Disappeared Dad: Witse's father, who fled to Africa after collaborating with the Germans in the second World War. Because of this, Witse bears a major grudge against him.
• Dirty Cop:
  • Commissioner Pouwels turned out to be this (and a blackmailer) in the two-parter "De val".
  • DCI Rik Cuppens from the two-parter "Achter de waarheid" was this as well, due to his involvement with human trafficking.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When the team enlist the help of a blind witness in the episode "Blind vertrouwen", he literally states this trope, when Sam tries to cheer him up after failing to identify a suspect.
• Doorstopper: Van Deun writes a crime novel throughout the series and the first draft is essentially this trope. He's even forced to re-write it by his publisher for exactly this reason. Lampshaded when Witse and Sam have a discussion about it in one of the episodes.
  Witse: Guess what, van Deun wrote a novel... "De zaak Wolters", the name alone is enough to put one to sleep.
  Sam: Perhaps it won't be that dreadful.
  Witse [sarcastically]: Perhaps your right! Knowing van Deun, it'll be filled to the brim with sex and violence and other juicy bits...
  [Both giggle]
• Downer Ending:
  • The end of the episode "Kinderspel" shows Witse discarding his wedding gift (a family heirloom), as the groom, Dimi, died in his arms just before. The next episode shows how Witse has spiraled into a depression following his death.
  • The final episode of the series ended with Witse's early retirement, after a case involving multiple homocides and sexual abuse turned out to be straw that broke the camel's back.
  • The end of the movie W. had one as well. Not only did Witse lose the respect of his family and latest love interest, due to his behaviour during the case, but on the train ride home, Witse had a stroke and (presumably) died.
• Driven to Suicide: Jonas Hoste, the killer from the episode "Klare lijn", ends up throwing himself off the roof of the art academy after Witse reveals him as the killer. Some of Jonas' drawing, later shown to Witse (and the audience), reveal that he was planning on going this way all along.
  Jonas [to Witse, right before he jumps]: I wonder if Lars^note Jonas' deceased brother felt the same calm, before he injected himself with that overdose...
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Gilbert Smekens, one of the main bad guys in two-parter "De val", initially appears in "Inch' Allah" as an up-and-coming small time crook, who is questioned as a witness.
  • Jacques Neirynck, the killer in the episode "Ijskoud", is introduced as the new coroner in the prior episode "Vrije val".
• Embarrassing First Name: Witse's first name is Werenfried, although you don't want to call him that.
  • While his name isn't neccasarily embarrassing, the gruff biker from "De vergelding" changed his name from Robert Gils to Bobby McGee, as the second is far more appropriate for a biker.
• Enfant Terrible: Several teenage killers fit the bill:
  • Katrijn Vanuffelen from the episode "Burengerucht", who accused her father of incest, because her parents sent her to a rehabilitation center. This eventually led to her younger brother shooting both their parents.
  • Veerle Leyts from the episode "Onder vuur" has a consensual sexual relationship with her father, beats up her younger sister when he starts to give her more attention and eventually stabs him with a knife and sets the house on fire when he "breaks it off" with her.
  • Camille Declerck from the episode "Moederliefde" was physically abusive against her mother (and, occasionally, against her sister) and murdered her mother's new boyfriend, when he tried to do something about it. Then, she burned the boyfriend's corpse to erase any trace leading to her.
  • Maxime Danneels from the episode "Blauwe Droom" is a fourteen year old who strangled several of his class mates (including his best friend) for kicks and giggles.
  • Nele Michiels, victim of the week in "Prinses Nele", is described as a self-centered girl who always gets what she wants by most people around her. This attitude is what eventually gets her killed.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Rutger de Witte from the episode "Tattoo Tim" would count as a (somewhat strange) example of this. He lies about his alibi twice to conceal that he had broken into his parent's home to steal their valuables, in order to support a luxurious lifestyle. When he, eventually, admits this to Witse, he adds the following statement to his testimony:
  Rutger [to Witse]: You're not going to tell my mom about this, are you?
  [Witse is taken aback by the statement and starts laughing.]
• Exotic Extended Marriage: The victim of "Hondstrouw" had this with three different women. two of them found out and killed him as a result.
• External Combustion: A hitman from an Italian maffia clan uses this trope as a means of intimidation in the two-parter "Bloedlijn".
• Facial Composite Failure: While it's not played for comedy, this happens in the episode "Terminaal". Several eye witnesses give a description of the killer, who's pale and skinny with glassy eyes. The sketch eventually looks more like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial than the actor portraying the killer
• Family Theme Naming: The women of the Oosterlynckx family in the episode "Zondagskind" were called Iris, Roos (Rose) and Lily respectively. This was made funnier by the fact that the family owned a flower trading bussiness.
• Fang Thpeak: The killer of the episode "Eén voor allen" had some trouble with this. This was because James Cooke, the actor that played him, had recently undergone dental surgery and was wearing a retainer as part of his revalidation, causing him to lisp a little. This was further amplified during an interrogation scene, where his character had to say a lot of "S"-words.
  James Cooke [about the infamous interrogation scene in the show "Van algemeen nut"]: I don't know how this got televised, with all those lisped "S"-words.
• Fighting Back Is Wrong: When Witse is labeled as a racist in the two-parter "Rellen", he has to face several acts of both physical and verbal aggression against him from the Kurdish community. When he stands up against a (rather egrigious) act of violence, he is, misguidedly, judged by the public as the aggressor and treated as such, even by some people at work. Things do get cleared out by the end of the two-parter.
• Fille Fatale:
  • Fourteen-year-old Veerle Leyts was a minor example of this, as she became the victim of parental incest after her mother died three years prior, which, eventually, evolved into a full-blown sexual relationship with her father. She even lied (willingly and of her own vocation) to the police to protect her "loved one" from being arrested. This only changed when she found out that her father was "cheating" on her with her sister, after which she stabbed her father with a knife and set the house on fire.
  • Nele Michiels from the episode "Prinses Nele" showed this type of behaviour, as she prostituted herself at 16 years of age to adult men, predominantly for the money. She, furthermore, used the fact that she was underage to lure a particular type of clientele.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Witse and Annemie's reaction to Sam's cooking in the episode "Blind vertrouwen". It later turns out that Sam made a mistake in the recipe.
  Sam: Alright, I admit that I misread two teaspoons of tabasco for two tablespoons.
• Foregone Conclusion: Witse's answer to chief commissioner Keysers' ultimatum (stay in Brussels as a DCI or become a commissioner elsewhere) in the pilot episode was this, as the pilot started out with Witse leaving his old life in Brussles behind.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The episode "Inch' Allah" introduced Gilbert Smekens and mentioned that he was a small fry in the underworld, who only recently started expanding is criminal empire. The two-parter "De val" not only shows that he's a much bigger player now, but also that he managed to get there by blackmailing high-ranking officials.
  • During the episode "Jelle", a skull is found, along with the body of the victim of the week, when a city pond is drained. The skull is brought to a laboratory for reconstruction and several episodes later ("De hoofdzaak"), a (living) match is found for the skull in the form of his twin brother. This investigation, subsequently, becomes the case of the week.
  • The two-parter "Bloedlijn" introduces Wytinckx' wife and daughter to both the team and the viewer at the start of the first episode. Not much later, it turns out that the pharmaceutical company of Wytinckx' father-in-law (where his wife is chief R&D researcher) is involved in the case of the week, making their introduction essentially a foreshadowing that they would be involved in the case. Wytinckx wife becomes one of the victims by the end of part I and Witse has to clear Wytinckx' name when he's suspected of her murder in part II.
• Frameup: Happened to Witse in the two-parter "De val"^note "The trap" in english. The goal of the killer, in this two-parter, was to frame Witse for (at least) one murder, so he would lose his job, his reputation and get sent off to jail. When commissioner Pouwels, his partner in crime, found out about the extent of Witse's frame-up, he was silenced and his murder was framed on Witse as well. The episode's title is a reference to this trope as well.
• Friends with Benefits: The victim of the episode "Tattoo Tim" and his girlfriend had a very extensive case of this going on, as they were in an open relationship with an apprentice of the eponymous shop and the victim's cousin. It should be noted here that everyone was in a relationship with everyone in this case (except for the victim and his cousin, which would have been weird). Most of these relationships, however, were only driven by sex, firmly placing it in the "friends with benefits" category.
• Gold Digger: The victim from the episode "De lustige weduwe" fits this trope perfectly, as it became clear that he only played the lover of the eponymous widow because of her money.
• Hanging Judge: Judge Luytens from the episode "Game Over" showed shades of this, as his sentences are extraordinarily harsh. He, eventually, takes the law into his own hands when he murders a drug dealer for his own benefit.
  Witse [about a harsh sentence the judge had proclaimed]: A 5000 euro fine for a minor accident, isn't that a bit harsh.
  Judge Luytens: The man deserved it.
• Happily Married: DI Rudy Dams stays happily married to his wife Martje throughout the series.
  • The same applies to chief commissioner Wytinckx, until his wife is shot dead.
• He Knows Too Much: Quite often a motive for murder in this series:
  • The victim in "Meubelland Paulus" was murdered because she discovered a Penny Shaving fraud within her father's company.
  • In the episode "De groene jongen", the murderer turns out to be the victim's boss, as the victim had uncovered a building permit fraud scheme set up by him. When his boss found out that the victim was onto him, he first tried to bribe the victim. When that didn't work, he murdered him.
  • In the episode "Inch' Allah", a bouncer is murdered by his ex-girlfriend and former escort Nina, in order to hide her past life from her new fiancé, an ambitious politician with a strong focus on family values.
  • The first two victims from the episode "Diabolo" were murdered to silence a child abuse schandal within "The children of God" church.
  • In the two-parter "De val", both victims were murdered becuase they knew the identity of The Man Behind the Man. The killer purposefully chose Witse as the fall guy for the murder due to a long standing grudge agains him.
  • Walter, the mentally-handicapped boy who witnessed the murder of the episode "De dorpsgek", nearly became the victim of this at the hands of the murderer and his accomplice. Fortunately for him, the murderer spend enough time second-guessing the murder for the police to arrive.
  • The final victim of the two-parter "Gif" was murdered so he wouldn't be able to share the killer's identity with the police, who were closing in.
  • The victim of the episode "Scherven" was killed because he knew that the director of a local youth shelter was a pedophile. In a strange twist, he was killed by the director's wife instead of the director himself.
  • All of the recent victims in the two-parter "Soirée privé" were killed to conceal the assassin's role in a murder that took place 23 years earlier.
  • The blind witness in the episode "Blind vertrouwen" was nearly murdered because he could identify the killer through what he heard.
  • The final victim of the two-parter "Achter de waarheid" was killed during his arrest to conceal the role DCI Rik Cuppens had played in the entire case.
  • Both victims of the episode "De informant"^note "The informer" in English were assasinated because they had evidence of a large scale money laundering scheme. One of the victims was the eponymous informer.
  • All of the victims in the two-parter "Natuurlijke selectie" were killed because they had discovered a scandal in a specialized fertility center in Halle. The first victim even tried to blackmail the killer before her death.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Happened to Patrick Gijselbrechts in the episode "Lieve oudjes". His string of inheritance murders wouldn't have been uncovered, if he hadn't tried to frame an old foe, who was related to one of the victims, for a carjacking.
• Hollywood Heart Attack: Witse has one of these at the start of the episode "Vrije slag", as a result of his unhealthy lifestyle, after his break up with Annemie. He ends up spending the entire episode at the hospital, while his team solves the case of the week.
• Hostage Situation:
  • The pilot episode "De ommekeer" had Witse become a victim of this. He manages to talk the hostage taker out of it.
  • The episode "Tegen de muur" centers around one of these. Witse, being the Cowboy Cop that he is (and still depressed by The death of Dimi), inserts himself into the hostage situation by impersonating a doctor.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: The killer of the episode "Samaritaan" is instructed by her employer to prepare an overdosis of his medication for him, as he wanted to commit suicide, but was too paralyzed and bedridden to do it himself.
• Ice Queen: How Witse sees chief commissioner Ilse van de Casteele. He even calls her "het ijskonijn"^note The flemish word for ice queen behind her back.
• If I Can't Have You…: Said word for word by Eddy de Wulf, after he confesses to killing his wife and her lover.
  Witse [in response to Eddy's confession]: Babs... didn't deserve this.
  Eddy: Yes... Yes, she did!
  Eddy: If I couldn't have her, then nobody else could!
• I Have Your Wife: Happens to Simon Dewachter, the robber from the episode "Prooi", when tiger-kidnappers hold his wife and baby hostage and force Simon to steal 500000 €. The situation becomes even more perilous when the tiger-kidnappers equip Simon with a microphone and a transmitter, allowing them to hear everything that's being said (and preventing him from going to the police). Due to an ingenious on Simon's part, Witse and his team find out about the kidnapping, but arrive too late to free the hostages. It subsequently takes some creative measures, both on Simon and Witse's part, to mislead the tiger-kidnappers and set Simon's family free.
• Inheritance Murder:
  • The episode "Lieve Oudjes" featured a string of these in a retirement home. All of the murders were disguised as heart failure by Patrick Gijselbrechts, a caregiver and animator at the home. The murders were discover when Patrick tried to frame someone related to one of the victims for a violent carjacking.
  • The murder of Mario Sarasin in the episode "Bijklussen" turns out to be an elaborate (but rash) case of this. The murder was commited by the lover of Sarasin's girlfriend, who thought that she loved him and was with Sarasin for the money. It turns out she only used him for sex, truly loved Sarasin and never planned on getting into an actual relationship with him (let alone share the inheritance with him). Hence, the killer murdered Sarasin with nothing to show for it.
  • The episode "Duivelskoppel" featured the murder of a wealthy baroness. Her murder quickly starts to revolve around her inheritance or, more specifically, around her plan to drastically change her will.
  • The episode "Blufpoker" has a particularly nasty variation on this. The episode's killer, an evil statistician moonlighting as a caretaker, convinces his (elderly) victims to take up the charity of one of his friends (which helps gambling addicts) in their will. He subsequently kills them off through household accidents and shares the inherited money with his friend. When his friend found out how all of these inheritances came to be and treatened to go to the police, he became the victim of the week.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: In the episode "In Godsnaam", the team is joined by a detective from Rotterdam, who acts as a replacement for Sam. When van Deun asks Dams what the replacement looks like, Witse interjects and states that he's probably a tall, blonde guy with buck teeth. He's immediately proven wrong when a dark-skinned woman enters the office and introduces herself as the new recruit.
• Insult Backfire: A rather humorous one was made by a mother to her son in the episode "Samaritaan":
  Mia Verdonckt: How much money did you mooch of your dad this time?
  Sander Verdonckt: Not enough to afford a call-girl of your stature, mother...
  Mia Verdonckt: Oh sonny... If I'm a whore, then what would that make you?
  [Sander is dumbfounded as his mother walks away.]
• Internal Affairs: The episode "Maskers" revolves around an internal affairs investigation about a case that took place three weeks prior. The entire episode is told in a series of flashbacks to the events of the case.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: A technique often employed by Witse to get information from some of the more smug suspects. He is often stopped by his partner before he takes it too far.
  • He even uses it on a (former) informant of his in the two-parter "De tipgever", when said informant arranges a meeting with a possible suspect without informing him.
• Jack the Ripoff: This trope was used to make a convicted killer look innocent in the episode "Ongestoord bezoek". During the episode, a woman is murdered with the gun used to kill the wife of Antoine Gijsels, who was convicted for her murder. Antoine, who has been in jail ever since, claims that he got framed for his wife's murder and that one of his former colleagues killed her (and Liesbeth, with whom he had an affair) to spite him. Witse takes Antoine's theory with a grain of salt, but when the gun turns up in the locker of a former colleague with a crush on Antoine, he starts to doubt Antoine's guilt. It eventually turns out that Antoine manipulated said colleague to kill Liesbeth for him, so he could frame her for both murders (and get out of jail scot-free).
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Judge Luytens from the episode "Game Over" took on this role when he shot a drug dealer, who escaped proscecution due to judicial errors, to implicate an innocent man in an accidental murder his son committed.
  Judge Luytens [about the victim]: Michon was a drug dealer who dealt to high schoolers...
  Judge Luytens: He deserved to die!
  Witse: And that was up to you, and you alone, to decide!
• Kavorka Man: The victim of the episode "Hondstrouw" was an overweight and rather unpleasant middle-aged man, who treated his wife poorly. He also managed to marry three women (including his wife) in three different countries.
• Love Dodecahedron: Both victims of the episode "Hudo" were involved in one. The second victim was in love with the first victim, who rejected him and had a boyfriend to boot. The first victim, furthermore, cheated on her boyfriend with someone else. The second victim was loved (in secret) by one of the scouts leaders, but he rejected her when she confessed her feelings. And then there was the first victim's mother, who went after any man she saw, including her daughter's boyfriend.
• Made Out to Be a Jerkass: Happens to Witse in the two-parter "Rellen", when his (somewhat brash) action are misconstrued as racism by a (rather extremist) part of the Kurdish community. They even try to frame him for alleged racism in order to destroy his credibility.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: The killer in "Blufpoker" used this method to kill his elderly victims in order to claim the inheritance money.
• Mandatory Twist Ending: As it's a detective series, where the killer is the person you would least suspect most of the time, this trope tends to pop up often. Usually, the true culprit is revealed 5-10 minutes before the episode ends, either though the team getting a last minute clue or by something being said to Witse which lead to a new (sudden) insight. This true culprit (nearly) always turns out to be someone the team (and the viewer) never fully suspected (or someone they eliminated as a suspect long before).
• Manslaughter Provocation: The killer of the episode "De bejaarde man" was taunted and made jealous by the victim. When she lashed out at him in response, he fell down the basement stairs and died.
• Meaningful Echo: This happens at the end of the episode "Ijskoud". Jacques Neirynck, the coroner of Witse's team, would often tell Witse that he was too busy "pulling all-nighters" to join him at the pub. When they discover that he's the episode's killer, he states it once more, in a far more sinister, while threatening to kill his final victim.
  Neirynck [While holding a blade to someone's throat]: Looks like it's gonna be another all-nighter, sorry Witse...
• Medication Tampering:
  • The killer of the episode "Natuurlijke selectie" killed his unborn son by prescribing the mother a substance that induces labour (ensuring pre-mature birth) instead of a medicine to counter her pregnancy poisoning.
  • The killer of "Sister morfine" by-passed the victim's automatic morfine pump by draining it with a syringe and subsequently injecting a month's dose of morphine into the victim.
• Mercy Kill:
  • The killer of the episode "Jelle" drowned her grandson because she had a terminal illness and couldn't take care of him in future (he had Down syndrome and she was his only family).
• Meta Twist: The episode "Huisbezoek" lacked the series' notion to reveal the kindest, most helpful person as the killer right before the end and instead opted to go with two of the most obvious killers up to that point in the series:
  • The killer of the first victim was introduced, without context, through a series of scenes where he was doing seemingly mundane activities: working from home, having dinner with his family, going to bed ill. The only conclusion that could be drawn from this is that this person had something to do with the case, as it would be a horrible case of bad writing if these random scenes had no connection to the episode. When this person turns out to be one of the victim's clients (she was a prositute) around the halfway mark of the episode, one would expect him either to be a Red Herring or the murderer (with lack of proof stalling his arrest to the end of the episode). He is revealed as the murderer no more than five minutes later (after a single, interrupted interrogation) and the rest of the episode centers around the second murder (which he didn't commit).
  • The killer of the second victim is even more egregious. He was introduced by someone calling the police station, who (falsely) accused him of being the killer of the first victim. When he is subsequently questioned, he acts smug and asks the police who snitched on him in a pissed-off manner. Shortly after, the second victim is found and the team quickly discovers that the killer was on bad terms with the victim (although they can't proof it) and that she threatened to call the cops on him before. It didn't come as much of a shock, therefore, that this person turned out to be the killer and that he killed the victim, because he suspected she snitched on him. The fact that he turned out to be the series' least sympathetic killer (up to that point) only drove this point home.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: The episode "Het horloge" starts with Witse and his team arresting a youngster for a fatal hit-and-run. When Witse finds an old pocket watch among his possessions, he initially assumes that it's a family heirloom and hands it back to his father. When his father, subsequently, denies that the watch is his (in a rather suspicious way), Witse starts to investigate who the owner of the watch is and ends up at a dead junkie, who (presumably) died of an overdose. As he further investigates the junkie's death, he stumbles upon a botched construction project, which ended in a double homocide (with the junkie being the second victim) at the hands of no less than three people (one of which was the youngster's father).
• Mistaken for Gay: Dams and van Deun are mistaken for gay lovers, when they stake out a parking lot which serves as a meeting place for homosexuals. It becomes even funnier when one of the homosexuals enters their car and takes place in the backseat.
  Random guy: Are you guys ready?
  Van Deun: Ready for what?
  Random guy: The light's on, so I thought...
  Van Deun: Would you get the hell out of my car!
  Random guy [confused]: Excuse my intrusion...
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: One of the reasons the company accountant from the episode "Meubelland Paulus", Thomas Flieger, kept quiet about a fraud in his father-in-law's company, was because of the way his in-laws treated and belittled him.
• Münchausen Syndrome: This turns out to be the motive for the murder of the episode "Kortjakje". Throughout the episode, Witse discovers that the killer kept her son ill through Münchausen by Proxy (induced by infections and medication) and murdered her husband after he found out (and wanted to inter her because of it). The trope is even called by name by dr. Maes, who recognized the behaviour as one of the symptoms for Münchausen.
• Murder by Mistake:
  • The victim of the episode "Tweespoor" was mistaken for her girlfriend and subsequently killed. The killer only realized her mistake when the police came by the house to question her husband.
  • The episode "Huisbezoek" contained two of these. The first victim was wrongfully accused of infecting her killer with HIV and fell of her balcony in the ensuing fight. The second victim was killed in a (misguided) retaliation attempt for calling the cops on a pimp, which she never did.
• Neck Lift: The killer of the episode "Verstikt" killed the episode's victim with a two-handed version of this in a fit of rage. He and his brother then made it look like suicide.
• Never My Fault: When Witse and his team catch the culprit of a hit-and-run in the episode "Het horloge", his father blames the compulsory education system for his son's misdeeds (as compulsory attendance at school would be the reason why he takes drugs on a regular basis). Witse's deadpan response is spot on.
  Witse: Sure... It's the school's fault he killed a kid and fled.
• Never Trust a Title: The title of the episode "Inch' Allah" would suggest that the episode would mainly center around the Morrocan characters introduced at the start of the episode. Instead, the focus of the episode shifts to another lead early on in the episode and the killer can be found in an entirely different direction. Furthermore, the Morrocan characters disappear Out of Focus (almost) entirely by the halfway point of the episode.
• New Media Are Evil: The episode "Game Over" plays this trope (mostly) straight. Throughout the episode, it's revealed that the killer was a teenage video game designer, who accidentally killed a woman while testing one of his father's guns (in order to use the experience to program realistic gun physics into his video game). This message was accompanied by clips of violent, ultra-realistic shooters like Crysis. Ironically, the killer wanted to turn himself in, but was stopped (at all costs) by his father, who turned out to be the episode's true villain.
• Once per Episode: Earlier seasons occasionally showed Witse driving to a large tree amidst the fields, to reflect on the case (or his life in general). Later seasons did away with this.
• One-Letter Title: The feature film made about Witse was called W.
• Only One Name: The main character is only known by his last name, Witse (or commissioner Witse), by everyone on the show (and the viewer). This includes colleagues, old friends, his (ex-)wife and his girlfriend. Averted throughout the final season (for the viewer, at least), when we find out his full name: Werenfried Witse.
• Out of Focus: This happened to Witse's neighbours, who appeared in two third of the season one episodes and gradually less and less over the following seasons. From season five onwards, they were removed from the show entirely.
• Parental Incest: Becomes the motive for murder in the episode "Onder vuur". In this episode, the victim of the week is murdered by his brother after he finds out that he is having a sexual relationship with his daughter (the victim's niece). The worst part of it is, that the relationship is fully consensual (as the daughter has all but taken over the role of her dead mother).
• Pater Familicide:
  • This was initially seen as the motive in the episode "Burengerucht". It was, however, quickly dismissed after it turned out the father died first
  • The victim in the episode "Radeloos" initially planned this for himself and his family, but came up with a different plan that eventually got him killed. His wife attempts to do this with her children as well, but is talked out of it by Witse.
• Patricide: The killer in the episode "Vertstikt" did this to his father in a fit of rage. He then tried to make it look like suicide together with his brother.
• Penny Shaving: The discovery of a fraud of this kind turned out to be the killer's motive in the episode "Meubelland Paulus".
• Phone-In Detective: Witse does this during the episode "De bejaarde man", as he's in hospital recovering from a car crash. He gets all of his clues either through Sam (who visits him at the hospital) or through the telephone, which has been strategically placed on his bedside.
• Plot-Inciting Infidelity: The series starts off with Witse discovering that his wife had an affair with his boss. This leads to his decision to leave Brussels and move to Halle, where the remainder of the show takes place.
• Ponzi: The victim of the episode "Mr. Cash" ran a Ponzi scheme, which eventually got him killed.
• Purple Prose: The book van Deun writes during his recuperation, "De zaak Wolters", quickly devolves into this, when van Deun makes it far too detailed and technical for the common reader. Humorously lampshaded when Witse reads part of the manuscript aloud:
  Witse [reciting an excerpt of van Deun's book]: An off-gray Fort Focus DCI drove at a speed of 21 mph through the Van Perenboomstraat. When it passed the videostore, "Videoland", at number 18, the driver took out his cellphone, a Motorola, and dialed a number. He illegally starts calling behind the wheel, while continuing his ride.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: When Mark Stroobants had to start wearing a hearing aid for medical reasons, his character, Dams, got involved in an accident at the shooting range, where he suffered permanent hearing damage, to explain his sudden use of a hearing aid.
• Really Gets Around:
  • The victim of the episode "De lustige weduwe" had a relationship with three of the suspects at the same time: The eponymous widow, her granddaughter and her grandson.
  • The mother of the first victim in the episode "Hudo" was man crazy to the point that she even tried it on with her daughter's boyfriend. She also flirted with Witse and (judging from his reaction) the chief commissioner.
  • The eponymous Barbara (Babs) De Wulf, from the episode "Babs", was a sex addict who slept with (nearly) everyone at the golf club, despite being married. It got her killed, by her husband, in the end.
• Red Herring Mole: Inspector Linda de Maeschalk from the two-parter "Gif", who acted nervous and suspicious because she was getting breast cancer treatment, instead of being the mole.
• Retirony: Played with, but eventually averted, in the episode "Kinderspel" when it came to Dimi's death. Throughout the episode, Dimi told Witse that he was planning on leaving the team to become an instructor at the police academy. However, this turned out to be a joke he played on Witse. he died nevertheless
• Reverse Whodunnit: The episode "Innige band" shows shades of this. While we don't see the actual murder, there's one obvious suspect, who has the best motive to commit the murder. This suspect, however, has the perfect alibi, as he's wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. It's up to the team (after some red herrings) to find out how the suspect could have fooled the electronic surveillance system to commit the murder.
• Rule of Three: The episode "De regel van drie" is named after this trope and follows the core principal of the trope as well: the first two murders were a fitting retribution and entirely unavoidable, while the third murder could not only have been avoided, but was morally a bit more grey, as the victim had shown remorse of his act.
• Scam Religion:
  • Dimi states that he thinks "The children of God" is this in the episode "Diabolo", as one of his best friends has joined the group and changed entirely as a result.
  • the local section of Veritas turns out to be this in "Achter de waarheid". Not only does the leader midlead his followers with a fake crop circle, but two of his high ranking followers use the cult as a front for human trafficking.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Witse reaction, when Wytinckx gives him an earful for liberating an abducted girl from a shady diplomat in the episode "Het meisje".
• Self-Poisoning Gambit: The killer of the episode "Mr. Cash" drank several glasses of gin spiked with sedatives to deflect suspicion away from him.
• Serial Rapist: The episode "De therapeut" revolved around a therapist, who persuaded his female patients into sexual acts through hypnotic suggestion. While they technically consented, he nevertheless used his status (and skills) as therapist to drive them to acts they would normally never agree to.
• Sick Episode:
  • The episode "De bejaarde man" has Witse lying in hospital after nearly being blown up at the end of the previous episode. He still manages to solve the case from his hospital bed.
  • The episode "Vrije slag" starts with Witse having a heartattack, due to a (recent) destructive lifestyle change after his split-up with Annemie. Contrary to "De bejaarde man", his partner DI Tine Smets and DCI van Deun solve the case instead of him.
• Second Episode Introduction: All of the main cast (except for Witse) were introduced this way, as the first episode focussed on Witse's departure from Brussels (and subsequent move to Halle).
• Self-Made Orphan: The killer of the episode "Burengerucht" did this by shooting both his parents.
• Sexophone: Used repeatedly for Julie Deboeck in the episode "De dorpsgek" to indicate that she's a Femme Fatale. The most prominent example happens near the beginning of the episode, when this trope is used as Walter, a mentally-handicapped boy with a crush on her, peeps on Julie while she's skinny dipping in her indoor pool.
• Sex Slave:
  • The eponymous girl of the episode "het meisje" was taken by a shady diplomat and nearly sold into the sex trade.
  • The women who were sold by the human trafficking ring in "Achter de waarheid" most likely ended up in the sex trade as well.
• Spoiler Title: Several episodes give away details about the murderer in the title:
  • The episode title "Lief hondje" is, essentially, the only clue to the identity of the murderer in the entire episode.
  • The episode title "Sister morfine" spoils that the killer is a woman with a medical background, which narrows the suspect list down to two.
• Start to Corpse: Earlier seasons did this often, with corpses appearing 5-10 minutes into the episode. This might seem short, until you realize an episode only lasted for 45 minutes. Later seasons did away with this, in favor of a corpse being revealed within the first few minutes of the episode.
• Stockholm Syndrome: The victim of the episode "Veel liefs uit Rusland" ended up with a minor case of this. The fact that the kidnapper had a good motive (and was quite symphathetic) also helped with this.
• Suspect Existence Failure: An example of this happens in the episode "Blind vertrouwen". At one point, the team suspects Patrick, an alcoholic colleague of the victim, who had a feud with her. When they visit him at home to ask about a gap in his alibi, they find him dead at the bottom of the stairs. As it turns out, he fell down the stairs after drinking to much and broke his neck. Soon after, the team finds witnesses who can confirm that he was passed out on a park bench at the time of the murder
• Sympathetic Murderer: With the amount of asshole victims shown throughout the series, this trope couldn't stay far behind.
  • Bobby McGee becomes one at the end of the episode "De vergelding" when he kills his nephew's killer. Witse even feels bad about having to bring him in.
  • The killer of the episode "De samaritaan" only did what her employer asked of her and felt guilty all the way. she was also the only one in his entire family who genuinly cared about the victim.
  • The killer of the second victim of the two-parter "Achter de waarheid" was one of the women who was being sold in a human trafficking ring. Her motive for the murder was pure self-preservation.
  • The killer of the episode "Overdosis" killed his son because he thought that he was using drugs again. As the victim's previous drug use all but tore his family apart, the killer did it to protect the rest of the family.
  • The killer of the episode "Paso dramatico" killed the victim because he called his wife ugly and old. He lost most of his sympathy by the end of the episode, when he tried to kill a potential witness to cover up his crime.
  • The killer of the episode "Breekpunt" only killed the victim to protect his wife (who had been stealing recipe slips from the places she worked at). When the victim of the week found out, he blackmailed the killer to give him slips for free. When the killer couldn't keep up with his demand (because his wife was getting treatment in hospital), he killed the victim to silence him once and for all.
• Taking You with Me: A non-lethal version of this trope occurs in the episode "Het meisje". In the episode, a young girl is abducted and sold to a human trafficker with Diplomatic Impunity. As they can't arrest him or get a warrant to enter his house, Witse and Sam invade the house with a camcorder and rescue the girl. When the human trafficker tries to call the police, Witse tells him the following:
  Witse: You tell the police and I will send that (points to camcorder) to television. You think your boss will like it, when he sees that on the news. If I go down, you go down with me!
• Tampering with Food and Drink: The victim of the episode "Hondstrouw" was killed by eating a hamburger spiked with strychnine.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between Witse and van Deun throughout the first couple of seasons. The best example of this is in the two-parter "De tipgever", when Witse has to team up with van Deun (instead of Dimi) as a condition to officially re-open the case of the week.
• The Bus Came Back: DI Sam Deconinck makes a (brief) return in the episode "Maskers", as the internal affairs officer investigating the teams actions during an (attempted) assasination at the yearly carnaval festivities.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: As the show actively sought out the limits of Beneath Suspicion, examples of this trope were to be expected:
  • The killer of the episode "Lief hondje"^note "Nice doggy" in English was a man walking his dog in one (rather forgetable) scene. He had about 15 seconds of screen time before the reveal.
  • The killer in the two-parter "Gif" was Robert Daniëls, AKA Bob from the crime lab. The fact that he functioned as a Mr. Exposition only made him less of a suspect throughout the episode.
  • The killer of the episode "Eerwraak" was the best friend of one of the suspects. He only showed up in one scene to provide an alibi for his friend. His role, before the final five minutes of the episode, enveloped approximately 3-4 lines of text, none of which were memorable.
  • The killer of the episode "Het meisje" was Frank Dhondt, an illegal immigrant who only appears as a (somewhat loud) background character in a single scene. He had (approximately) 15 seconds of screen time before the reveal as well.
  • The killer of the episode "Ijskoud" turned out to be The new coroner and Witse's new best friend Jacques
• The Nicknamer: Witse has shades of this, as he tends to give nicknames to his superiors. For example, he calls, chief commisioner Van de Casteele "het ijskonijn"^note Ice queen, chief commissioner Wytinckx "de flipper"^note as in, the dolphin and his friend and former colleague Rik Cuppens "de cowboy"^note for being a cowboy cop
• The Perfect Crime: The episode "De perfecte moord" is (most likely) named after this trope and contains an excellent example. The killer assassinates someone at random with a sniper rifle and subsequently ditches the weapon. He then starts taunting the team and leaves clues to himself. When the team eventually tracks him down, he denies everything, as they have no hard evidence towards him. It takes a bit of a ruse during interrogation to outwit the culprit into confessing.
• The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Happens to Walter, a mentally-handicapped boy, in the episode "De dorpsgek". He is seduced by his boss Julie in order to keep quiet about a murder he witnessed at her house. When Walter starts to become a liability, Julie plots to murder him together with her lover.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Veerle Leyts from the episode "Onder vuur" shows quite a bit of this. Initially, she merely seems like a fourteen-year-old girl who's rather mature for her age, as she has taken over the role of her dead mother in her household (which is already quite unchildlike). Then, it's discovered that she's pregnant and that she (most likely) became the victim of incest. As the case proceeds, the team find out that Veerle has a full-blown sexual relationship with her father, to which she, furthermore, consents. This turns out to be the motive for the murder of the week, as the victim found out about this relationship. Subsequently, when her father breaks things of with her to start a "relationship" with her sister, she takes it rather poorly, stabs him with a knife and sets the house on fire.
• Twin Switch: The episode "Hoofdzaak" revolves around this trope. The victim of the week turns out to be the twin brother of a local butcher. Said butcher claims to not have seen his brother in 15 years, yet, Witse suspects (quite early on) that he's lying and that the butcher is, in fact, impersonating his dead twin brother (the actual butcher). Finding proof for this theory turns out to be much more difficult than expected and it eventually turns out that not he, but the butcher's daughter, was the murderer and that he was merely impersonating his brother for financial reasons.
• Wham Episode:
  • The episode "Kinderspel", which ended with the death of Dimi.
  • The two-parter "Bloedlijn", which not only included the death of Wytinckx's wife, but also the near death (and departure) of Sam.
• Whole Episode Flashback:
  • The pilot episode of the series, "De ommekeer", is this. The entire episode is told from Witse's perspective and shows his departure from Brussels.
  • The episode "Maskers" is told as a series of flashbacks, given by different members of the team during their interview with internal affairs.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • While the killer of the episode "Terminaal" murdered most of his victims because of physical torture which left him terminally ill, he killed his first victim, a private investigator, after he finished his investigation, to make sure that he wouldn't warn the police.
  • Throughout the episode "Prooi", Simon Dewachter is forced to rob establishments he helped to secure (through his job at a security company), in order to raise 500000 € in ransom money. When he goes to deliver the ransom money, the kidnappers take the money and promptly plan to murder him, as he's now a witness who knows too much. Fortunately for Simon, he allowed to Witse to drive along with him and, together, they overpower the kidnappers.

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