Line #5 Series/Flikken


1	''Flikken'' was a Flemish police (drama) series, which ran from 1999 until 2009 on Eén. The series focused on a local police team working from the police station at the Belfortstraat in Ghent. The series is a spiritual successor (and an indirect spin-off) of the Flemish police procedural ''Heterdaad''.
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3	The series starts with Britt Michiels, a recent widow, joining the team as a DCI, after her transfer from the federal police in Brussels. She's partnered up with Tony Dierickx, a brass, tomboyish DI, who fell out with so many of her colleagues, that her partnership with Britt is her final chance. The two get off to a rough start, but quickly become best friends, after Britt covers for Tony. The remainder of the team consist of Ben Vanneste, macho motor officer and Tony's arch-rival (and former lover), Selattin "Sel" Atesh, a level-headed motor officer of Turkish descent, who forms a team with Ben, Raymond Jacobs, the most veteran officer on the team (who seems to know (nearly) everyone in Ghent) and Wilfried Pasmans, Raymond's eager and energetic rookie partner, who's often the butt of many jokes in the earlier seasons.
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5	As the series progressed, its cast underwent (serious) changes [[RevolvingDoorCasting on a regular basis]], to the point that Raymond and Pasmans were the only characters who stayed on the show for the full ten seasons. In the early seasons, this was most prominently seen with the team's commissioners (who merely seemed to last one to two seasons at best). However, from season four onwards, more of the cast was rotated out, as Tony, Sel and Ben left the series in short succession. They were replaced Sofie Beeckman [[note]]reckless and somewhat of a daredevil[[/note]], Bruno Soetaert [[note]]kind-hearted and gentle, but also rebellious and a bit of a prankster[[/note]] and Nick Debbaut [[note]]free-spirited and a bit of a cassanova[[/note]] respectively. Around the same time, Merel Vanneste, Ben's (kind and sassy) younger sister, gained a more prominent role in the series and (eventually) became a full-time member of the team after [[spoiler: Sofie]]'s death in season five. This event also lead to the arrival of Commissioner John Nauwelaerts, a {{Transplant}} from ''Heterdaad'' [[note]]and a strict, but fair, superior, who also turns out to be Bruno's father[[/note]]. Seasons six and seven introduced two more members, Lieselot Winter [[note]]the Betty to Merel's Veronica[[/note]] and Tina Demeester [[note]]not a stickler for the rules in the slightest[[/note]], who both stepped in as replacements for Britt. The last major cast change happened at the start of season eight, following the tragic events of [[spoiler: Nick]]'s death at the end of season seven. Besides [[spoiler: Nick]], Tina, Merel and Bruno left the team. They, in turn, were replaced with Emma Boon [[note]]part-time housemom, full-time cop[[/note]], Cat Reyniers [[note]]tomboyish motor officer with a troubled past[[/note]] and Michiel Dewaele [[note]]laid-back smooth-talker, who still lives with his mother[[/note]]. Furthermore, from season nine onwards, the team was regularly assisted by Staf Demotte, a no-nonsense CSI, who eventually gets into a relationship with Cat.
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7	The series was also well-known for adhering to a (rather strict) pre-defined structure, when it came to the composition of the team and the treatment of cases. For the first seven seasons, the team would consist of six police officers and detectives, under supervision of a (deputy) commissioner. Throughout this period, the team would commonly operate in three teams of two, based on the specialization of the officers: one uniformed team, one motor unit and one detective team. Most of the episodes would have two or more storylines, divided over the various teams. Often, the A-plot would be either for the detective team or for the motor unit (or both), while the B-plot would fall to the uniformed officers (Raymond and Pasmans) and would be either humoristic or heart-warming in nature. Even though the series shifted from more of an episodic nature to more of a continuous one as the seasons progressed, this aspect remained. After seven seasons, however, this set-up became (somewhat) stale and dated. After a failed attempt to mix things up with a serial killer in season six, the show tried another (more rigorous) retool in season eight, which included consolidating the teams, longer storylines and [[ReplacedTheThemeTune a change of theme tune]]. While the show could have jumped the shark at this point, it instead became a major [[GrowingTheBeard greying-the-beard moment]] for the series, with season eight becoming the best-watched season of the show. This trend was continued with seasons nine and ten, which were well-watched as well.
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9	The show was immensely popular, both in Flanders and The Netherlands, and characters from the show (such as Britt, Raymond and Pasmans) would make frequent cameos in other series. Due to its popularity, it also became somewhat of an asset for the Flemish police force, who were seen in a more favorable light because of the series (and even celebrated once per year on the series fan day, "Flikkendag"). Despite the enormous popularity, the series was cancelled after ten seasons, due to the (hefty) costs that went into making the series. Nevertheless, ''Flikken'' had two (indirect) spin-offs of it's own, ''Series/FlikkenMaastricht'' and ''Flikken Rotterdam''. It's, furthermore, still occasionally re-run on Eén in Flanders and RTL Crime in The Netherlands
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13	!! This series contains examples of:
14	* AbusiveParents: Lambert Vanneste, Ben and Merel's father, was this to his children, as he would beat them when he was drunk. Ben eventually kicked him to the curb to take care of merel himself. He does try to make things right during season three of the series, only to die shortly after.
15	* AbusiveOffspring: Willy Goeman from the episode "Wapenbezit" turned out to be this, as he locked away his elderly dad in the attic and occasionally beat him up for being forgetful. After he went too far, he tried to make it look like a robbery gone wrong, but he got found out by the team instead.
16	* AccompliceByInaction:
17	** The first episode of season 2, "Gif", shows an excellent case of this. Two rookie cops are killed when they investigate a silent alarm in a warehouse. Further investigation shows that this wasn't the result of a burglary-gone-wrong, but that the killer was trying to set a (deadly) trap for the owner of the warehouse, who, in turn, set off the silent alarm to get the police involved. The owner, subsequently, didn't warn the rookie officers and let them walk into the deathtrap unprepared. The team (and their new commissioner) take this very poorly.
18	---> ''[Tony drags the warehouse owner into the precinct.]''
19	---> '''Tony''': Sit down!
20	---> '''Warehouse owner''': What's the matter with her?
21	---> '''Britt''': That side door Bauwens used to break into your warehouse has an alarm, right?
22	---> '''Warehouse owner''': Naturally.
23	---> '''Britt''': But it's been broken for two weeks.
24	---> '''Warehouse owner''': Could be...
25	---> '''Britt''': No, that's a fact. One of your employees reported it to you personally two weeks ago!
26	---> '''Warehouse owner''': So what? What does this have to do with anything?
27	---> '''Britt''': If Bauwens didn't trip the alarm, who did?
28	---> '''Warehouse owner''': How should I know?
29	---> '''Britt''': Wanna know what we think... We think you did return to your office last night.
30	---> '''Sel''': You were still in your track suit when you arrived.
31	---> '''Britt''': You were there!
32	---> '''Warehouse owner''': Fine... I went back and saw Bauwens' bike near the warehouse.
33	---> '''Warehouse owner''': That time he came to threaten me, he used that bike as well... the old geezer doesn't even have a car.
34	---> '''Tony''': The old geezer's dead! It's his son who's after you...
35	---> '''Warehouse owner''': So the son's the killer?
36	---> '''Britt''': And what did you do when you saw the bike?
37	---> '''Warehouse owner''': I set off the silent alarm and hid myself until your colleagues arrived.
38	---> '''Britt''' ''[as she starts to realize what happened]'': And you let them enter the warehouse without warning them?!
39	---> '''Warehouse owner''': What should I have done? Should I have taken a bullet there instead?!
40	---> ''[Britt slaps the man with a folder]''
41	---> '''Warehouse owner''': I'm entitled to protection, you know!
42	---> ''[Tony nearly strangles the man, but is stopped by commissioner Geysen.]''
43	---> ''[later]''
44	---> '''Sel''' ''[about the warehouse owner]'': What do we do with him?
45	---> '''Warehouse owner''': You have to let me go... I didn't do anything!
46	---> '''Commissioner Geysen''': No, you didn't do anything...
47	---> '''Commissioner Geysen''' ''[as he grabs the man by his hair]'': You didn't even call an ambulance when two of my officers were bleeding to death in there!
48	---> '''Commissioner Geysen''': If it were up to me, I'd put you in the ground!
49	---> '''Commissioner Geysen''' ''[as he drags the man to a whiteboard with photos of the victims]'': Culpable negligence... And I'm gonna try and turn that into manslaughter.
50	---> '''Commissioner Geysen'''': I'd advice you to call a lawyer.
51	** The two-parter "Gratuit geweld" had one of the victims, Philippe D'Hoker, colluding with the robbers to get off with a milder punishment for him and his wife Yolande (compared to the other victims). While he technically didn't do anything illegal, Emma still arrests him based on this trope. She nearly arrests his wife as well, when she slips up in conversation and nearly reveals she knew about everything as well.
52	---> '''Emma''' ''[to Philippe]'': If you're aware of robbery, armed assault and rape and don't come forward with this information, you're an accessory to the facts.
53	---> '''Emma''': Bring him in.
54	---> '''Yolande''': We're not going to let this slide! Our lawyer will make quick work of this!
55	---> '''Emma''': "We"?! So you were informed about the entire sordid affair as well?
56	---> '''Yolande''' ''[backpedaling]'': I wasn't informed about anything.
57	* ActorAllusion: The final episode of season four included a rather blatant reference to ''Windkracht 10'', which starred both Andrea Croonenberghs and Ann Ceurvels (who play Britt and Sofie in this series). In the final minutes of the episode, the team is taking a well-deserved break at the beach in Oostende, when Britt and Johan (who only got together minutes before) decide to find a private place among the dunes. As the rest of the team wonder where they went, Sofie mentions that she'll know soon enough, as she has friends in Koksijde. [[note]]The airbase where Windkracht 10 took place[[/note]] Soon after, as Britt and Johan are passionately kissing, a Seaking helicopter appears overhead. Johan is (logically) quite surprised and nudges at Britt, but she, on the other hand, is not very impressed tells him to ignore them, as she's (apperently) used to the sighting.
58	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: The name of the team's first deputy commissioner, Daniël "DD" Deprez.
59	* AFatherToHisMen: Commissioner John Nauwelaerts quickly became a strict version of this to his team after his introduction near the start of season five. He kept on playing this role throughout the subsequent seasons. Furthermore, one of the members of his team actually turned out to be his (biological) son, cementing this trope even more.
60	* AfraidOfNeedles: Tony turns out to be afraid of needles and even passes out when Sam, who was treating her finger at the time, tries to sedate it with an injection. the incident gets referenced the next time they meet.
61	--> '''Sam''' ''[as he pretends to treat Tony's finger]'': Not a big fan of syringes, if I remember correctly...
62	* AlcoholicParent: Ben and Merel's father was this to the point that it defined most of his character. While he does get better later on, he still spent a night in jail for public drunkenness in season three.
63	* AngerBornOfWorry: Ben gets a case of this with his sister, Merel, after she defends Kris Geysen, who endangered her life during an undercover operation.
64	--> '''Merel''' ''[to Britt]'': Any news about the commissioner?
65	--> '''Britt''': Nope.
66	--> '''Merel''': Then things might work out for him in the end...
67	--> '''Ben''': What?! You don't want him to get punished?
68	--> '''Merel''': No...
69	--> '''Ben''': After everything he put you through!
70	--> '''Merel''': What did he put me through? Come on, Ben, I willingly took the case and proceeded with it of my own accord.
71	--> '''Ben''': That career chaser manipulated you, because your fresh out of police academy and don't know any better!
72	--> '''Merel''': Why don't you call me a stupid child right away!
73	--> '''Ben''': I wouldn't call you stupid, no, but naive, sure!
74	--> ''[Merel proceeds to pick up a ruler, which she intends to throw at Ben, but Sel stops her.]''
75	--> '''Sel''': Let's leave it at this, shall we?
76	--> ''[Both Ben and Merel calm down a bit.]''
77	--> '''Raymond''' ''[after a moment of uncomfortable silence]'': Brother and sister on the same team... Marvelous idea.
78	* AngryCollarGrab: Ben does this to Commissioner Geysen, after he endangers Merel by involving her in an (illicit) undercover operation.
79	* ArmorPiercingQuestion:
80	** In the episode hold-up, Tony manages to stall Frank long enough for the cavalry to arrive by repeatedly asking the same question.
81	---> '''Tony''': Are you gonna shoot me, Frank? Are you gonna shoot me with my own gun?!
82	** In the season 5 episode "Sofie", Nick manages to resolve a hostage situation (and free Pasmans) through one simple question.
83	---> '''Nick''' ''[to his former friend turned hostage taker]'': Are you a murderer?!
84	* AssholeVictim: Ferry Pauwels from the episode "Blinde Hoek" falls in this category, as he got away with drunk-driving a child to death and showed no remorse whatsoever for his crime. His neighbours end up beating him up in revenge, after a road rage incident went wrong for Ferry.
85	* BettyAndVeronica:
86	** Lieselot Winter and Merel Vanneste were (respectively) Betty and Veronica to Tommy Desmit, who cheated on Lieselot (his wife) with Merel. The two end up getting past it, after they both break-up with him.
87	** In the two-parter "Verloren zoon", Emma ends up having a (brief) affair with her former fiancé Mark Devreese, despite being married. In this situation, Mark becomes Emma's Veronica, while Jan is her Betty. The affair comes to an end after Emma discovers that [[spoiler: Mark masterminded the case of the week to kill his parents]].
88	* BigFun: Bruno is the most corpulent and also the funniest member of the team (be it on purpose or inadvertently).
89	* BlameTheParamour:
90	** A clear case of this happens between Lieselot and Merel in season 6, where Lieselot blames Merel for cheating on her with her husband, Tommy. Merel, however, was unaware that Tommy even had a wife and, upon finding out, allowed Tommy to come clean to Lieselot so he could save his marriage (which he didn't do, of course). In the end, Lieselot's anger towards Merel subsides and she starts blaming Tommy instead, but still, this trope was played entirely straight for the duration of at least one episode.
91	** Another, somewhat weaker example, was the romantic fling between Britt and Robert Nieuwman in the same season. While their romance didn't amount to much (some tender moments and a single kiss), Robert was seen as somewhat of a homewrecker for messing with Britt and Johan's marriage, in particular by Nauwelaerts, even though the romance mainly originated from Britt's end (or was mutual in most other cases).
92	* {{Bookends}}: The series as a whole has one of these in the final scene of the last episode. In that scene, Pasmans (who's commissioner at that point) hands his team three cases: one involving a teenager who was knocked of his bike during a hit and run, one involving a stalker who murdered the cat of his ex and one involving a fire at a pitta shawarma joint. These three cases were (not so coincindentally) the three main cases the (old) team handled in the first three episodes of season 1. Handling them all simultaneously, furthermore, shows how much the team has grown since then.
93	** In the season three episode "Thuis", the beginning and end of the episode were marked by Niels, a young boy, being brought into the police station by Raymond and Pasmans. At the start of the episode, he was brought in for a petty theft at a store, while by the end of the episode, he was brought in for te murder of his abusive father.
94	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Inverted by Pasmans, when he list everything the [=CSIs=] found at a particularly filthy crime scene.
95	--> '''Tony''': Have the [=CSIs=] found anything at the crime scene?
96	--> '''Pasmans''': Sludge, gunk, rust, garbage, filth, piss, rats, a litter of kittens and a half roasted pig.
97	--> '''Pasmans''' ''[after everyone gives him a curious look about the pig]'': It belonged to a couple of hobos, I guess...
98	--> '''Tony''': And did they find anything useful?
99	--> ''[Pasmans shakes his head in response.]''
100	* BringMyBrownPants: At the start of the second episode of the two-parter "Gratuit Geweld", Alain Nietveld wets himself after being held at gunpoint in his home by a robber with an Uzi. This response isn't an overreaction, as those same robbers burn Nietveld's hand with a blowtorch less than a minute later.
101	* ByTheBookCop:
102	** Wilfried Pasmans, to the point that he doesn't want his partner, Dominique, to hire undeclared workers, because he, as a cop, has an exemplary function. He also likes to dot all the i's and cross all the t's on the job, much to the chagrin of his colleagues.
103	** Commissioner John Nauwelaerts is also a good example of this, as he always tends to play by the book, especially with cases that affect him personally. This isn't unexpected, as he used to work for the federal police during the time of the Belgian military police (B.O.B.). He, furthermore, also expect a certain degree of this behaviour from the officers under him, getting mad at them for bending the rules on occasion.
104	** Emma Boon enters the series as an extreme example of this, as one of her first accomplishments in the series is to expose Tina for sleeping with an informant. She tones it down a bit later on in the series (and even ends up in bed with a witness herself), but she nevertheless continues to adhere firmly to the rules. She also (often) partners up with John because of this.
105	* CartwrightCurse: Most of the relationships members of the team enter into don't last quite long. Good examples of this are Ben Vanneste's relationship to Karlyn, most of Tony's relationships (in particular with Sam) and even Merel's relationship with Selatin. The only exception seems to be Britt's relationship with Johan, which lasts even past her departure from the team.
106	* CerebusSyndrome: The series as a whole suffered from this over the course of its run, as it started out relatively light and humorous, but became more dark and serious as the seasons progressed. This is particularly visible in the second half of the series (which included the assault of commissioner Vanbruane, the tragic deaths of both Sofie and Nick, the heinous serial killings perpetrated by Luc Feiremans, Britt's near-murder at the hands of Alex Cosani, the scizophrenic stalking of Tommy Desmet, a season-long arc about a ruthless criminal gang (the Barracuda gang) and various other terrifying crimes, including several cases of (sexual) violence and a case where the victims were set on fire alive). Not only the tone of the episodes got darker, however, as the degree of lighting used for the series followed suit as well. All-in-all, the later seasons of the series are best known for their serious (yet narratively strong) episodes, while the early seasons are best known for their balance between comedy and drama (with horrible crimes being contrasted by the comedic content of some of the B-cases).
107	* ClearTheirName:
108	** The team has to clear Ben's name in season three, after he shoots a robber in a self-defense shoot-out, where the robber's weapon goes missing after the facts. Sel eventually manages to succeed in this.
109	** The team also has to clear Michiel's name, after he becomes one of the suspects of the murder of a former Miss Belgium in the two-parter "Een vrouwelijke kant". His name gets cleared rather through forensic evidence rather quickly, though.
110	* ClickHello:
111	** Pasmans does this to a perp, who's hiding in some tall grass, in the episode "Wapenbezit".
112	---> '''Pasmans''' ''[after sneaking up and putting a gun to the perps head]'': I used to be in the boy scouts...
113	---> '''Pasmans''': ... And my totem was resourceful ''Cuckoo''.
114	** Michiel also does this to Joop Schelling from the backseat of a taxi in the episode "Een vrouwelijke kant", when Joop holds the driver of the taxi (who was also his accomplice) at gunpoint.
115	* ClosetGay: Wesley Vreeswijk from the episode "Een vrouwelijke kant" was this in combination with WholesomeCrossdresser, as he pretended to be straight (girlfriend and all), while he, in fact, had no interest in women whatsoever (something his girlfriend told Michiel). This was lampshaded in the scene where Wesley was revealed to be a crossdresser.
116	--> '''Ellen''' ''[to Wesley in drag]'': We don't have to go out at club Kratos [[note]]the gay bar[[/note]]... We can go out anywhere you want.
117	--> '''Ellen''' ''[upon seeing Wesley's response]'': You're not ready to come out yet, are you?
118	--> '''Ellen''': That's okay, let's go to Kratos, shall we.
119	--> '''Wesley''' ''[as he hugs Ellen]'': I'm so glad I shared this with you...
120	* ComingOutStory: While it's only briefly treated, Pasmans goes through one of these in season five, where he reveals to the team that he's gay, after his boyfriend, Dominique, enters the station to pick him up for a romantic weekend. This came as a surprise to many, as everyone assumed that Dominique was a girl.
121	* CowboyCop: The series has had several (predominantly female) cowboy cops.
122	** Tony Dierickx was this in contrast to Britt's ByTheBookCop, as she quite often dodged procedure (if she disliked it) and occasionally broke the rules (when needed).
123	** Sofie Beeckman wasn't one for procedure either and even framed one of her boyfriends for possesion, to save him from a dodgy drugs deal he was heading to (blowing up her own undercover operation in the process). Her disregard for procedure eventually caught up with her, as she took a bullet to the head, storming into a burglary-in-process on her own (back-up was on their way, but she was too impatient to wait any longer).
124	** Tina Demeester also was anything but a stickler for the rules. This nearly got her kicked off the team at the start of season 7, as John (Nauwelaerts) was convinced that she would never fall in line. She eventually has to leave the team at the start of season 8, after getting caught in bed with an informant.
125	* DaChief:
126	** Daniël Deprez was this, as he was an understanding and reasonable commissioner, but also a no-nonsense boss, who wasn't above shouting at his team when they messed up.
127	** John Nauwelaerts also displayed this trope in spades, as he was strict, but fair, and always had his team's back (even when they messed up). he also had a knack for giving motivational speeches, as well as for lecturing his officers when they stepped out of line.
128	* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Mark Devreese's parents, Yvonne and René, of the episode "Verloren zoon" were murdered in this fashion, each of them receiving thirty-or-so shallow cuts all over their torso, in order to make them bleed out slowly (so they could watch eachother die). The fact that their killer turns out to be [[spoiler: their own son]] makes this extra grueling.
129	* DrowningMySorrows: Ben does this after he shot Nico in self-defense, as he's facing serious charges from internal affairs and thinks no one believes his account of the facts. Vanbruane ends up joining him and the two talk about their private issues.
130	* EverybodyDidIt: Ferry Pauwels, the victim of the episode "Blinde Hoek", ended up on the receiving end of a beating from nearly his entire street (and an angry driver he got into a road rage fight with).
131	* FakingTheDead: Raymond (accidentally) did this to a burglar during a stake out. He was supposed to wait for the burglars inside the house (as the team was expecting them to burgle the house, while the family was at a funeral), but he fell asleep and one of the burglars mistook him for the deceased. He did give the burglar one heck of a scare by waking up.
132	* {{Fingore}}:
133	** In the episode "Stoffelijke Schade", one of Tony's fingers gets caught between the door of an ambulance. The injury remains visible until the end of next episode.
134	** In the episode "Blinde Hoek", one of the victim's attackers used a car door to break the victim's hand.
135	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Season 9 is chock-full of this:
136	** Both the victim and the culprits of the two-parter "Toprendementen" are introduced in the previous two-parter, "Gratuit geweld", as [[spoiler: friends of John]]. Especially John's meeting with the two-parter's victim is of notice, as it lays the foundations for the motive of the case.
137	** Patrick de Graeve, the homeless man Michiel donates his lunch package to, is first introduced in the first part of the two-parter "Toprendementen" and is found dead in the second part. His death sets the events of the next two-parter, "Water en vuur", in motion and even turns out to be the motive for the murders in that two-parter.
138	** Throughout the season, an elderly lady visits the police station on several occasions to file a missing persons report for her son, a journalist who's traveling abroad for a documentary. The team turns her away on several occasions, until the two-parter "Tot op de bodem", where she brings a befriended medium, who claims that she knows the location of his corpse. When a corpse matching her son's description is, in fact, found at the site the medium pointed them to, the team has to admit they were wrong and investigate the case.
139	** The first two-parter of season 10, "Verloren zoon", has a blink-or-you'll-miss-it variant of this trope as well. Within the first two minutes of the episode, a man can be seen in Emma's backyard, who vanishes as quickly as he appears (leaving Emma to think she's imagining it all). Pausing at the right time shows this man to be [[spoiler: Mark Devreese]], the true culprit (and TheChessmaster) of this two-parter.
140	* ForgottenFallenFriend: This happens to Tom and Anne, the new recuits who meet their early demise at the start of season 2. They are remembered by the cast for about an episode or two after their death, only to never be mentioned again. The death of Anne, ironically, at least led to Merel joining the police academy (and later on becoming a member of the team in her own right).
141	* FrameUp: Several of these happened to members of the team throughout the series.
142	** Tony gets framed for a robbery at an auction house in the season two episode "Hold-up", after an old flame of hers steals her service weapon.
143	** Happens to Sofie as well in the episode "K", when she's framed for a ketamine theft by her (then-)lover. His motive for doing so was, ironically, a frame-up Sofie pulled on him, in order to prevent him from attending a (most likely) fatal drug deal.
144	** Something similar happens to Britt at the start of season seven, when her service weapon is stolen by an old foe out for revenge and used to shoot her husband, Johan. When Britt tries to investigate the case on her own, she gets kidnapped and nearly ends up dead herself.
145	* FrontlineGeneral:
146	** Commissioner John Nauwelaerts becomes one of these from season 8 onwards, mainly due to lack of personel. Despite being a commissioner, he often joins his team to police interventions, crime scenes, interrogations and the like. Near the end of the series, he even admits that he prefers doing field work over the steady desk job of a commissioner.
147	** Before this, we had Britt Michiels, who remained a detective, despite holding the rank of commissioner. She did so because she couldn't handle the pressure of leadership over a team.
148	* GargleBlaster: One of these, a drink called "Twilight Zone" (equal parts Sambuca and Strohrum), caused the inadvertent death of a teenage girl in the season three episode "Vermist". The girl's "friends", who egged her on to drink more of it, ended up dumping her in her dad's car, which, through circumstances, ended up in a nearby canal.
149	--> '''Tim''' ''[during the police interview]'': So I gave her a drink, to shut her up about her parents...
150	--> '''Kristel''': He gave her something he mixed himself, something way too strong! She was totally out of it after her first drink...
151	--> '''Tim''': Completely "feeway"!
152	--> '''Tim''': So Koen and I, we started to encourage her a little...
153	--> '''Tim''': "Have one for your mom, your dad, your dad's new flame", etcetera...
154	--> '''Kristel''': And it was all fun and games, so I joined them...
155	--> '''Kristel''': ...But things soon got out of hand, so I told them to stop... I told them!
156	--> '''Tim''': And then she went out like a light...
157	--> '''Kristel''': And I got real angry and shouted at them to take her away.
158	--> '''Tim''': So we brought her to her dad's place with Koen's car, so her dad could find her the next morning...
159	--> '''Tim''': She even threw up all over the car... Koen was peeved, I can tell you that much!
160	--> '''Tim''': But when we got there, I remembered she had given me the keys to her dad's car...
161	--> '''Kristel''': So we put her on the back seat of the car...
162	--> '''Britt''' ''[to Kristel]'': And you didn't think to check whether she was still alive?
163	--> '''Kristel''': How should I've known? I'm no doctor...
164	--> '''Britt''': But you did know, somehow, didn't you...
165	* HisNameIs: Near the end of season three, Britt manages to arrange a meeting with an ex-con, Luther Cosanni, who has information on her husband's murder. When they meet, Luther gets close to telling Britt who the killer of her husband is, but he flees after hearing a noise. Less than a minute later, Britt hears two shots and finds Luther dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
166	* HollywoodHeartAttack:
167	** Raymond has one at the Ghent Floral Exposition in the season two episode "Moordschuld", causing him to collapse in the middle of the crowd. He ends up recovering in the hospital in the subsequent episodes.
168	** John has one in season eight, brought on by the stress and grief of [[spoiler: Bruno]]'s kidnapping. He gets better remarkably quickly.
169	* HormoneAddledTeenager: This is Britt's opinion on the common interests of teenagers, when Tony and her discuss ideas for gifts for Sam's children.
170	--> '''Tony''' ''[to Britt]'': What would a sixteen-year-old girl like?
171	--> '''Britt''': Boys.
172	--> '''Tony''': No, I mean, what are their hobbies?
173	--> '''Britt''': Boys!
174	--> ''[Later on in the conversation.]''
175	--> '''Tony''': And what would interest a fourteen-year-old boy?
176	--> '''Britt''': Girls.
177	* ILetGwenStacyDie: Several characters go through this trope throughout the series:
178	** Britt feels this way about [[spoiler: Sofie]], after she dies in season five. It even becomes her main motivation to give up her new role as commissioner to become a detective again.
179	** Nick felt even more responsible about [[spoiler: Sofie's]] death than Britt, to the point that he went rogue for a brief time to go after her killer. It took an internal affairs investigation and a stint as an undercover agent to help him get over it.
180	** After [[spoiler: Nick's]] death at the hand of Tommy at the end of season seven, Merel is overcome with guilt, as she didn't shoot Tommy in a momentary state of compassion.[[note]] Tommy had an affair with Merel and she still had feelings for him.[[/note]] This causes her to become anxious and spend all of her spare time training at the shooting range, in order to never let it happen again. She eventually resigns after drawing her weapon on a mother and her baby and freezing up as a result.
181	** Bruno is hit even worse by [[spoiler: Nick's]] death, as his injury was the direct cause for [[spoiler: Nick]] getting shot. As of season eight, he becomes depressed and starts to lash out at everyone around him (even blaming Merel for the death). Things only get worse when Bruno, driven to new extremes by the Barracuda case, goes rogue and starts calling himself Bruno Nauwelaerts (instead of Soetaert). He ends up as a hostage of the Barracuda gang and slowly loses his sanity during his imprisonment. After being freed, Bruno loses his will to live and spents the entirety of his days staring at the ceiling from his hospital bed. As of his final appearance, Bruno is getting treatment at a specialized clinic, with no sign of him ever snapping out his apathic mental state.
182	* InformedFlaw: In the earlier seasons, Ben is called [[HollywoodPudgy chubby]] by several people (even his sister), despite being played by Axel Daeseleire, who was anything but chubby at the time.
183	* InstantlyProvenWrong: One of the season three episodes had this exchange between Britt and Tony.
184	--> '''Britt''': I don't get it. We're not ugly, nor stupid, so where are all those eligible bachelors that are supposed to be swarming around us?
185	--> '''Tony''': I don't know, but according to a magazine article I read, mister right is bound to come by the moment we stop looking for him.
186	--> ''[Right at that moment, Ben walks by and winks at Tony.]''
187	--> '''Tony''': I'm cancelling that magazine subscription right away.
188	* InternalAffairs:
189	** The team has various run-ins with the officers of internal affairs throughout season one (much to their displeasure). Furthermore, one of the affairs officers is Kris Geysen, who becomes the team's commissioner in season two (as well as Britt's boyfriend).
190	** The team is also investigated by internal affairs in season three (when Ben shoots a criminal in self-defense) and season four (when Raymond is suspected of drunk driving, after (accidentally) ramming a car during a car chase.
191	** Both Merel Vanneste and John Nauwelaert were, at one point, part of internal affairs, before (re-)joining the team. They both, on occasion, used their connections and influence to help out a member of the team, who was down on his luck.
192	* IWishedYouWereDead:
193	** Ben has wished this about his father for most of his life. Nevertheless, he still was devastated when his father actually ended up dying.
194	---> '''Ben''' ''[to Sel]'': I don't have a father!
195	---> '''Ben''': The only thing I had was an abusive, alcoholic housemate, whom I kicked out after he started beating up my twelve-year-old sister!
196	---> '''Ben''': He wouldn't hit me, cause I hit back, but he would hit a child... A child, Sel! A child!
197	---> '''Ben''': So, as far as I'm concerned, he could have walked under a bus... or fell into a ditch and died... And I wouldn't have been any worse off because of it!
198	** Then there's Sam's daughter, Sarah, who wished that Tony would get shot, simply because she was dating her father. She almost ended up getting what she wished for.
199	* JumpScare: The viewers (and Emma) experience this trope at the start of the episode "Water en Vuur", when a severely-burned victim seems to move all of a sudden, due to the (also severely-burned) constraint on one of his wrist breaking under tension. Emma's response sums up the shock most viewers at home experienced.
200	* KickedUpstairs: This happens to Kris Geysen, the team's second commissioner, after he puts Merel (a rookie cop at that moment) at risk during an undercover operation at the start of season three. He gets transfered to the "Supplies and Equipment" division and, later on, returns as the chief HR officer in Ghent.
201	* KillItWithFire:
202	** While he wasn't killed, one of the victim's from the two-parter "Gratuit geweld" had his hand severely burned by a blowtorch.
203	** This was the prefered method of the killer of the two-parter "Water en vuur", who tied his victims to a chair, doused them in Strohrum and set them on fire in retaliation to them [[spoiler: doing the same thing to his father.]]
204	* KnightTemplar:
205	** Ben briefly becomes a cop version of this, after some (under-age) thugs beat up Nadine. Even his former team feel like he's out of line (and a general jerkass) due to his violent ways.
206	** Merel becomes a mild variant of this at the start of season 8. While she's in no way villainous, she does lose most (if not all) of her empathy towards other (criminals in particular). She also becomes TriggerHappy to the point that Tina questions her ability to solve situation without holding someone at gunpoint. She ends up leaving the team not much later.
207	* LongRunners: The series barely makes the 10 year mark required for this trope.
208	* LongRunnerCastTurnover: In full swing with this series, which replaced most of its cast on a regular basis after season 3. The only two characters to remain on the show for the entirety of the series are Raymond Jacobs and Wilfried Pasmans.
209	* MamaBear: One way to get Britt really angry is to put her daughter, Dorien, in harm's way.
210	* ManOnFire:
211	** The third episode of the first season, "Lopend vuur", revolved around a pita restaurant burning down. One of the victims, the owner of the restaurant, was caught on fire and ran into the street ablaze, before collapsing on the ground. Further investigation reveals that the man was (unintentionally) set on fire by his [[spoiler: children]] during a heated argument.
212	** This also happened to Patrick, a homeless professor and friend of Michiel, who ended up jumping into the Leie and drowned as a result. The entire thing was ruled an accident initially, but the two-parter "Water en vuur" reveals that Patrick was set on fire by a bunch of adolescent rich kids. They even recorded a video of it, which shows Patrick running around ablaze (and in a panic), before jumping into the river.
213	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: The entire plot of season 8 drove on this trope. At the start of the season, the team investigates a series of carjackings. They eventually find the culprits, but they end up dead before the team can arrest them. As the team continues their search for the murderer of the carjackers, they come across a criminal orginization called the "Barracuda gang", who's involved in a plethora of criminal activities, ranging from sex trafficking, prostitution of minors and child pornography to extortion, money laundering and construction fraud. The team spends the remainder of the season trying to bring the gang to justice and manages to do so in the end, but only after a lot of hardships and difficulties (and half of the team leaving for various reasons). Commissioner Nauwelaerts even lampshades this by stating rather early on that this case will not be a sprint, but a marathon.
214	* MistakenIdentity: In the episode "Zonder domicilie", Britt and Tony arrest their new commissioner, Vanbruane, mistaking her for for a drug dealer. Their faces (and Ben and Sel's laughter) when they hear who they put in holding is priceless.
215	--> '''Britt''': Talking about our new commissioner, he's even late for his own meetings...
216	--> '''Carla''': Talking about that, comissioner Vanbruane...
217	--> '''Britt''': Vanbruane, eh? Never heard of him! Must be an outsider.
218	--> ''[Meanwhile, Tony opens the wallet of the "drugs dealer" they just arrested and goes pale.]''
219	--> '''Carla''': Captain Vanbruane is a "Her", who transfered over from the military police...
220	--> '''Britt''': Military police? ''[scoffs]'' They can't even find someone within our own ranks anymore!
221	--> '''Carla''': ...And she's waiting in our cells as we speak.
222	--> ''[Britt gives Carla a quizical look.]''
223	--> '''Carla''': She's the drugs dealer you just arrested.
224	--> ''[Ben and Sel, who were listening in on the conversation, immediately start laughing.]''
225	* NeverMyFault:
226	** Jozef Hofmans, the warehouse owner from the episode "Gif", fits this trope perfectly. Upon finding out that an armed man with a grudge against him has broken into his warehouse at night (to ambush him), he decides to set off the silent alarm and let the cops deal with it, without warning them whatsoever. When the patrol, that was sent to investigate, ends up dead as a result of said ambush, he denies any involvement and minimizes his role in the case. As the team investigates the case further and discovers the motive for the ambush (and Hofmans' presence at the scene), Hofmans still denies that he did anything wrong, because he did absolutely nothing. While the latter is technically true, he was, nevertheless, indirectly responsible for the death of two officers and is charged with culpable negligence.
227	** Patrick Doornaers from the two-parter "Ondergravers" fits this trope excellently as well. He's introduced as Raymond's informant within Meuters' gang, but turns out to be the gang's assassin, responsible for the death of at least two people (one of them an undercover agent for the feds). As the team discovers Doornaers true role in the gang, he, begrudgingly, admits to murdering both victims, as well as to blowing the undercover agent's cover, all the while protesting that he merely did it out of fear for Meuters and stating that he's actually on their side. He even claims that he only got rid of the undercover agent in order to rise through the ranks within the gang, so he could give Raymond better information. Raymond, in turn, is completely perplexed and just tells his colleagues to take Doornaers away.
228	** Rudy Watseels from the two-parter "Tot op de bodem" is an expert in this as well. As the net begins to close around him, he proclaims his innocence at every opportunity he gets, denying any involvement in the case, despite the (overwhelming) evidence against him. When confronted with several witness statements made against him (by a variety of people), he blames them instead and claims that they're all colluding against him in an attempt to frame him. He even claims that Michiel is a DirtyCop, who tried to blackmail him into paying 150000 €, when it was entirely the other way around (with Watseels trying to bribe Michiel, which was caught on tape entirely). When asked anything regarding the case, his standard response consisted of underlining how he had nothing to do with anything, even when there was clear evidence of his involvement. To boot, he even accused the cops of trying to scapegoat him, considering the entire investigation a part of the "week-long screw Watseels" campaign against him.
229	* OperationJealousy:
230	** A non-romantic one takes place in season three, when Carla (who had to put up with Pasmans' "Help" behind the front desk, after the latter broke his arm during a raid) tried to make Pasmans jealous of the new partnership between Raymond and Merel, in order to get rid of him. It kind of worked, although Pasmans would have left the front desk regardless after he got cleared.
231	** Carla also uses this on Raymond at the start of season 8, to convince Raymond to tell his (soon to be ex-) wife about their relationship, using her police partner as an accomplice. It works out in the end, to the amazement of Carla herself.
232	---> '''Carla''' ''[to Ismael, her police partner]'': it actually worked! I can't believe it...
233	---> '''Ismael''': See, I told you so... jealousy always works.
234	* OutOfFocus:
235	** Raymond's family, who received regular mentions and even some screen time near the start of the series, largely disappear from view from season five onwards. While some of the family members (most prominently Raymond's son, Rik) make an occasional appearance in the later seasons, most of them (including Raymond's (ex-)wife, Lidy) remain out of view entirely. Their disappearance coincides with Raymond having an affair with Carla, who he later marries.
236	** Merel also shifts in and out of focus throughout seasons 3 and 4, as she usually joins the team when they're a man down, only to be the first one to leave when the team gains a new member.
237	---> '''Merel''' ''[in response to getting thanked for her help]'': You know you can always count on me for a helping hand, even though I got benched.
238	* PapaWolf: Ben Vanneste is this with regard to his sister, Merel, who he raised as a daughter from the age of twelve. He's highly protective of her (even to the point of shadowing her) and hates even the notion of anyone dating her (let alone breaking her heart or physically harming her). This is best seen when Sel starts to date Merel (causing a rift between Ben and him) and when Merel decides to become a cop as well (which he all but forbids her to do).
239	* PayEvilUntoEvil:
240	** This is also the motive of the perp of the episode "Happy end", where he takes revenge for the assault on his [[spoiler: brother]] by severely injuring the teenagers involved in the assault.
241	** This also happened in the episode "Blinde hoek", where the entire neighbourhood came together to beat up one of their neighbours, who was responsible for killing a child due to reckless driving, but got away with a far-too-light penalty. The fact that the victim was truly a horrible person made the entire thing somewhat cathartic.
242	** This is the killer's main motive in the two-parter "Water en vuur", as he takes revenge for his [[spoiler: father]] by setting his victims alive in the same they did with their victim.
243	* {{Ponzi}}: Anton Smeekens, John's banker friend, did this to all his clients (including John) for the largest part of a year, before getting caught. Ironically, he never intended to run a Ponzi-scheme with his clients, but he did because he'd lost a large sum during the stockmarket crash and had to stall his clients to have a chance to get their money back.
244	* PostStressOvereating: Tony tends to do this, as shown in the episode "Pickpocket", where she buys (and eats) a waffle with whipped cream out of frustration over having to wear her uniform skirt. She even states that (besides resorting to violence) it's the only way she knows how to deal with her frustration.
245	* PrecisionFStrike: Michiel delivers one in the first episode of the two-parter "Water en Vuur", after he finds out that Patrick, his homeless professor-friend, was burned alive by a bunch of rich kids for the thrill of it (and to make a "funny" video out of it).
246	--> '''Michiel''' ''[as he storms out of frame]'': Godverdomme![[note]]Goddamnit![[/note]]
247	* PutOnABusToHell: Kris Geysen, who was transfered to the "Supplies and Equipment" department after endangering a rookie officer (Merel) during an undercover operation (which he kept out of the books). This is even discussed in the series, when Britt mentions to Tony that he's miserable at his new function several episodes later. furthermore, the events at the start of season eight show that life hasn't been good for commissioner Geysen after his "mistake" in season three.
248	* RankUp: Most of the team went through this after the season eight retool (in order to make all of them detectives). Most notably, Raymond finally became a plain-clothes cop, while Pasmans became DCI.
249	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: While the series had seen its share of rape cases by then, the season 9 two-parters "Ondergravers" and "Gratuit geweld" drive this point home in particular. The former does so because one of the main characters (Cat) gets raped to illustrate the darker tone the season sets, while the latter shows a waitress being forced into oral sex by a machine-gun toting robber in front of a crowd. In both cases, the rape was treated as one of the most horrible aspects of the crimes that took place, despite several other horrible things taking place as well (murder, assault and battery, cold-blooded torture). Both cases also showed the rapists as unapologetic and cruel, further strengthening this point.
250	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Both Tony's and Sofie's departure from the team were due to their respective actresses getting pregnant and putting their career on hiatus to take care of the baby.
251	* ReallyGetsAround:
252	** Tony, if word of her sexual exploits is to be believed. Her love life (or occasional lack of it) is often one of the running gags in the first two seasons.
253	** Nick, as well. This is best shown in his introductory episode, where his then-girlfriend kicks him to the curb (by leaving a duffel bag with his stuff at the station) for sleeping with another girl on the side. He even has a collection of photographs of his former girlfriends which runs into the dozens.
254	---> '''Catherine''' ''[ranting about Nick to the team]'': Tell that cheating, hypocritical bastard that I'd take his word about nursing his sick grandmother back to health during the evenings, but not that her name's Zoë and that she's waiting for him in sexy lingerie.
255	---> '''Bruno''': Anything else I should convey to him?
256	---> '''Catherine''': Sure, tell him this!
257	---> ''[She proceeds to flip the bird to Bruno.]''
258	* ReplacedTheThemeTune: Season eight did away with the iconic ''Flikken'' theme tune, in favor of a somewhat darker, yet equally catchy, brand-new theme tune.
259	* RevengeRomance: Bruno became the victim of one of these, when Steffi, a handsome journalist who spent some time with the team, asks him on a date to take revenge on her boyfriend. Bruno and Steffi's boyfriend end up in a fight, which he loses when he gets overpowered by the boyfriend's mates, only for Steffi to take her boyfriend's side, because Bruno had hurt him (in self-defense, no less).
260	* RevolvingDoorCasting: The series has gone through a lot of (main) cast members over the course of its ten seasons, with only Raymond and Pasmans being present for the entirety of the series. This was, in particular, true for the commissioner of the team, who got replaced thrice in the first five seasons.
261	* {{Retool}}: The series underwent a major one at the start of season eight, which led to the departure of more than half of the team, a change in narrative set-up (all of the storylines from that point were either season-spanning or two-parters) and a change in theme tune. The series also became notably darker (although this shift had started before the retool).
262	* RodentCellmates: Bruno has one of these, after he is kidnapped and locked away in the cargo hold of a ship by the Barracuda gang in season 8. He quickly befriends the rat locked in the cargo hold with him, as it could eat its way through his restraints (made out of rope), but starts seeing him more and more as a friend as the madness starts to set in. After Bruno is saved, he often talks about his rodent friend, during his [=PTSD=] invoked delusions.
263	* RunawayBride: A runaway groom in the case of Mark Devreese. He was engaged to be married to Emma, but called of the wedding the night before it was supposed to happen, only to leave on a trip with his friends on the day of the wedding. Emma hasn't exactly forgiven him the next time she meets him.
264	* SacrificialLamb: The show had a few of these throughout its first few seasons:
265	** Prosecutor Erik Francken, who played a minor, yet prominent, part up till then, became this in season one, after dying in a fatal car crash. while his death had some impact on the entire team, it was mostly used as a way to give Tony (who used to have a relationship/affair with him) some character development.
266	** A far more straightforward example are Tom and Anne, two rookie officers introduced at the start of season two, who died within the first 5 minutes of the episode simply to show that anyone can die, which was even discussed by the other characters. Anne gets bonus points in this case, as she was also one of Merel's best friends, but both of them were introduced as an integral part of the team before their death.
267	* SacrificialLion: The show featured two of these:
268	** The first one was [[spoiler: Sofie]] in season five, who took a bullet to the brain after investigating a break-in on her own. Not only did her death come as a shock and cause quite a bit of distress to the team, but it also caused Britt to nearly quit her job (and eventually resign as commissioner in favor of her old role on the team) and derailed her boyfriend, Nick, for quite some time (which nearly got him fired). Furthermore, her death could have been easily avoided (back-up was on the way), but became necessary, as the actress who portrayed her was leaving the show due to her pregnancy.
269	** The second one was [[spoiler: Nick]] near the end of season seven, after getting shot in the head by Tommy, while he was trying to help an injured Bruno. Not only was his death unnecessary, but it mirrored [[spoiler: Sofie's]] death in many ways and had an even bigger impact on the team, to the point that both Merel and Bruno felt responsible for it. The shockwaves of his death were felt even throughout season eight and were the main reason for Merel resigning from the team and Bruno going rogue (which eventually cost him his sanity).
270	* ShowerOfAngst: Britt does this after she finds out that Danny (who had been a major emotional support to her) is her husband's killer. For some reason, she also does this with half of her clothes still on.
271	* SlapSlapKiss: Happened between Emma and Mark Devreese in the episode "Verloren zoon". The first time Mark tries to kiss Emma, she slaps him out of fright (at the time, she thought him to be dead). The second time he tries to sneak a kiss, Emma slaps him again (hard), only to give in to his advances a few seconds later, causing them to end up in bed together.
272	* SpotlightStealingSquad: While the show revolves around a team of police officers, some of them have claimed more of the limelight than others:
273	** The best example is easily Britt Michiels, who became the show's main character in all but name for the first seven seasons. Not only did most of the A-plots throughout those seasons go to her and her partner, but her character also got most of the personal storylines (as well as character development), to the point that Britt's personal life became a prominent part of the series. It was only in the later seasons (when the spotlight moved away from her slightly), that other characters became fleshed out a bit more.
274	** A minor example of this would be Robert Nieuwman, a Dutch profiler (played by famous singer-songwriter Boudewijn de Groot) who joined the team in season six. Not only did he become a prominent member of the team overnight, he also became Britt's partner for the first half of the season (at the expense of Merel, who got partnered up with Lieselot Winter instead). Boudewijn de Groot furthermore received second billing (after Andrea Croonenberghs) to cement how important his character was. While Robert Nieuwman received a lot of attention in season six (and even had a fling with Britt), he left the show by the end of the season and hasn't returned since.
275	* StraightGay: Pasmans was this to such a degree that most of the team (and most of Flanders with them) never even suspected that he was gay, until he came out in season five.
276	* StrictlyFormula:
277	** The series often had the same build-up throughout the first seven seasons. The team would usually have to deal with two cases simultaneously: one main case and another (often light-hearted and humorous) side case. Ocassionally there would be overlap between the cases or a third (separate) case. This changed after the retool in season 8.
278	** The same could be said about the build-up of the team. For the first seven seasons, the team would, without fail, be composed of a detective duo, a motor unit duo and a uniformed duo. Whenever someone left (or got killed), a replacement would show up the very next episode to even things out. this set-up was (also) abandoned from season 8 onwards.
279	* SuicideByCop:
280	** Danny tries to provoke Britt into doing this to him at the end of season three, after Britt found out that he murdered her husband. He ends up getting shot by commissioner Vanbruane instead, hence getting his wish nevertheless.
281	** Tommy Desmit also succesfully manages to get killed this way at the end of season 7, after begging Merel to shoot him on several occasions. He takes matters in his own hands, however, by pulling Merel's gun towards him, discharging it in the process. Merel, nevertheless, feels extremely guilty about it.
282	* SuspiciousSpending: This (and a chance encounter) is what gave away Davina Lansknecht as a lynchpin of the Barracuda gang. Davina's a novice lawyer, who mostly does pro-bono cases, but nevertheless has her own firm, owns an expensive car, lives in a mansion and, overall, spends far more than what her paygrade would allow for. Near the end of season 8, the team discovers that she's the girlfriend of the leader of the Barracuda gang and that she's using laundered money to pay for her luxurious lifestyle. In contrast, her boyfriend, [[spoiler: David Caron]], pretends to be a regular Economics student, who occasionally goes to Cyprus on holiday under the guise of being a money mule.
283	* TenMinuteRetirement: The team is forced into one of these halfway through the Barracuda case, when the magistrate decides to hand the case to the feds, as it's becoming too expansive for the local police (according to said magistrate). The team's (forced) resignation lasts only a day or two, though, as a new influx of leads allows them to be (begrudgingly) involved in the Barracuda case once more. This, nevertheless, leads to some conflict with the federal police, who (technically) are still the main investigators, but in the end the team manages to re-take the case entirely.
284	* TheBeard: Ellen Mortier was this to Wesley Vreeswijk in the two-parter "Een vrouwelijke kant". The two were "dating" to hide the fact that Wesley was a WholesomeCrossdresser, who spent his time at gay bars and had little to no (romantic) interest in women whatsoever (including his "girlfriend", a former Miss Belgium). Ellen didn't mind, however, as the two were good friends and she was free to (romantically) pursue other men (including Michiel).
285	* TheBusCameBack: Happens several times throughout the series.
286	** Tony briefly returns for one episode in season four to say her final goodbyes
287	** Ben returns for one episode in season five, after his girlfriend, commissioner Vanbruane, gets beaten into the hospital by a group of teens.
288	** Commissioner Geysen returns several times throughout the show: once to promote Merel to DCI in season six and several times more throughout season eight, where he swears revenge on John, after he busts him for a (near-fatal) hit-and-run.
289	** Commissioner Nadine Vanbruane returns once more in the two-parter "Ondergravers", as the handler of a federal undercover agent.
290	** Britt returns in the series finale for the retirement party of John.
291	* TheChessmaster:
292	** Tony's friend (and short-term lover) Frank turned out to be this, as he was only getting close to Tony to steal her weapon, which he used in a robbery.
293	** Luc Feiremans also falls into this category, as he's a cunning serial killer, who manages to elude the team for quite some time, despite acting right under their noses. After he gets arrested, he not only manages to get most of the evidence against him thrown out of court, but also plans and executes further serial killings from his cell, with the help of an accomplice, in order to get exonerated from all of his charges, using the serial killings of Robert Nieuwman's wife as inspiration. The team manages to catch him in the end, but it takes five murders and one attempted murder for his reign of terror to end.
294	** Emma's ex-fiancé, Mark Devreese, plays this role (almost) perfectly in the episode "Verloren zoon", setting up the events of the episode to frame the people he's in debt to for the murder of his parents, which he commited out of spite (and for the money). If it weren't for Pasmans tying together some lose ends, he would have gotten away with it as well.
295	* TheSvengali: Joop Schelling of the two-parter "Een vrouwelijke kant" was this to Wesley Vreeswijk, to the point that he tried to sabotage Wesley's soccer career to stay in the picture. Joop was Wesley's manager (with Wesley being his only client), who tied Wesley to him by getting him out of "pickles" he (often) created himself. When Wesley got an offer to transfer to Liverpool, Joop had to talk him out of it, as he was convicted for tax evasion in England (and, hence, was banned from the country). Therefore, he faked a HIV-test (with blood from a HIV-positive junkie) to make it seem like Wesley had HIV. He then killed Wesley's "girlfriend", when she adviced Wesley to get a second opinion, and let Wesley believe that he killed her. When confronted with this during interrogation, his role as Svengali is further lampshaded:
296	--> '''Raymond''': It doesn't seem to bother you all that much, this entire affair.
297	--> '''Joop''': No, you're wrong about that! The entire thing has been utterly terrible...
298	--> '''Joop''': Do you know how much '''time''' and '''effort''' I put into Wesley's career!
299	* TheTeaser: Every single episode of the series has one of these (of approximately 1-2 minutes) before the series' title sequence, usually to set up the episode's A-plot. Occasionally, this teaser is preceded by a "Previously on" sequence (in particular, when the episode is a two-parter), which recaps the events of previous episodes. This sequence never replaces an actual teaser, however.
300	* {{Tomboy}}:
301	** Tony Dierickx is this to such a degree that she doesn't own a single dress and doesn't want to be seen outside in a standard police skirt. Furthermore, she's physically strong and (relatively) masculine in her demeanor.
302	** Sofie Beeckman was this as well, as she was athletic, reckless and an excellent marksman. She, furthermore, could stand her own against most of the guys at the precinct and isn't afraid to engage anyone in hand-to-hand combat.
303	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: While Britt is definitely not a standard GirlyGirl, she fulfilled this role in both her partnership with Tony as in her partnership with Sofie, where she was the kind and understanding girly girl to Tony and Sofie's tomboy.
304	* TomboyishName: Tony Dierickx has one, which is (most likely) short for Anthonia.
305	* {{Transplant}}: Commissioner John Nauwelaerts was the deputy chief of the police team in ''Heterdaad'', before joining the ''Flikken'' team in Ghent.
306	* TriggerHappy: Merel has become a trigger happy KnightTemplar version of her former self by the start of season 8 (due to the events of season 7), much to Tina's concern. She also tends to spend most of her spare time at the gun range, perfecting her "gun control". As a result, she draws her gun at even the slightest provocation, much to Tina's chagrin, as she wants to handle things more diplomatically. She doesn't last long as a trigger happy cop, nevertheless, as she quits her job entirely, after nearly shooting a mother and her newborn during a raid of an apartment building, just a few episodes into season 8.
307	--> '''Merel''' ''[to Tina, after drawing a gun on her]'': I have everthing under control...
308	--> '''Tina''': Right now, you're the most dangerous kind of cop there is!
309	* TwoLinesNoWaiting:
310	** This was the standard structure of most episodes throughout the first seven seasons. The team would usually take on a "main case", which commonly went to the detectives (and occasionally to the motor unit). Meanwhile, the uniformed officers (Raymond and Pasmans) would work on the "B-case" of the week, which (often) was a more minor (yet humorous) crime.
311	** Most of season six became this by default, due to the serial killer case. Britt would be working on the serial killer case with Robert Nieuwman, while Merel and Lieselot (or occasionally Raymond and Pasmans) would work on the week's "main case". There would often be a third (minor) case as well, either involving the uniformed officers or the motor unit.
312	** Averted from season eight onwards, where only a single case would be treated every episode (or in the case of season eight, throughout the entirety of the season). Occasionally, the personal lives of a character would introduce a B-plot, but these were mostly avoided in favor of a single A-plot.
313	* UpThroughTheRanks
314	** The first example of this was Merel Vanneste, who was best known as Ben's little sister throughout the first two seasons. She started as a rookie officer at the start of season three, only to end up getting promoted several times, eventually becoming a DCI by the start of season six.
315	** Wilfried Pasmans as well, who went from rookie cop in season one to the team's commissioner by the end of season ten.
316	* WeHardlyKnewYe: Happens to Tom and Anne, two new recruits of the team, at the start of season 2. They get introduced properly at the start of the episode (Anne even as a high school friend of Merel), only to be killed within the first ten minutes of the episode. The remainder of the episode revolves around dealing with the fall out of their death (as well as introducing Kris Geysen as the new commissioner).
317	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Raymond has this stance towards Fernand, a mall cop who used to be on the force, until his partner got horribly maimed due to Fernand's neglect. After the incident, Raymond (and the rest of the team) made it (abundantly) clear that Fernand wasn't one of them anymore and he's shunned Fernand ever since. They eventually do grow together a bit, when Fernand helps the team with a case, which makes it even harder for Raymond to arrest Fernand for shooting the episode's perp (in defense of his kid).
318	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Wesley Vreeswijk from the two-parter "Een vrouwelijke kant" turned out to be this. While he still was very closeted about this side of him, the reveal of his crossdressing actually painted him in a positive light, as his everyday persona was that of an arrogant soccer player.
319	* WorkingTheSameCase: In the episode "Wapenbezit", an elderly man gets robbed and beaten up. Not long after, a robbery takes place at a restaurant, where one of the robbers ends up getting shot by Ben. Throughout the investigation, the team finds out that the perp who robbed the elderly man was also one of the robbers at the restaurant. In a slight twist of the trope, it eventually turns out that the robber only stole the elderly man's wallet (after he dropped it somewhere) and that the elderly man was beaten up by his son for losing the wallet.
320	* WhamLine:
321	** The second episode of the two-parter "Toprendementen" has one delivered by Staf, which cracks the case wide open, as it implicates a friend of John's (who's a baker) in the kidnapping of one of his other friends.
322	---> ''[Staf enters the precinct as the team is in full preparation for the second money exchange]''
323	---> '''Staf''': The lab techs had a laugh with that wig you guys handed me...
324	---> ''[Staf immediately gets shushed away by Pasmans, who's in the middle of making the final arrangements for the transfer]''
325	---> '''Staf''' ''[as he continues to Raymond]'': We found white residue on the wig...
326	---> '''Raymond''': Cocaine?
327	---> '''Staf''': I wish, Glutamine and Glyidine with traces of Amylopectine-compounds...
328	---> '''Raymond''': Some kind of designer drug, then?
329	---> '''Staf''' ''[after getting interrupted for the second time]'': Pastry flour!
330	---> '''John''': Pastry flour?!
331	---> ''[John storms off to the cells, where a former bussiness associate of the hostage resides.]''
332	---> '''John''' ''[to the associate]'': That client you were negotiating for, is he a baker?
333	---> ''[The associate nods in agreement.]''
334	** The first two minutes of the two-parter "Tot op de bodem" has one of the best wham lines of the series delivered seconds before the intro theme.
335	---> ''[The team and the victim's mother quarrel over whether or not the victim is actually missing. The argument gets pretty heated.]''
336	---> '''The befriended medium''' ''[at the top of her lungs]'': I know where his corpse is!

Context Series / Flikken