World On Fire Season 1 premiered on MASTERPIECE at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Season 2’s premiere, with wars and rising fascism, make the series more relevant than ever before. One of the most impressive things about the premiere is the way almost every major plot line is seamlessly woven together. There are new recurring faces in the fight for and against Nazi Germany. Let’s pull apart each plot thread and take a closer look.

When we left Amsterdam last week, Euro Cash and Eddie had discovered the hidden door that gave the non-demon murderer access to the conjuring space, Citra and Drunkie Howser were posted up in a club surveilling Magic Man and crew, and Grandad Conjurer had just attacked an orderly at the hospital before making his escape. Luckily for that orderly, Hassell was on her way to the hospital, so she finds him soon after the attack, administers a bit of haphazard first aid, and confirms that Grandad Conjurer is in the wind.

Reader, I’m honestly not sure how we are somehow already at the LAST episode of this season. There’s still so much left to untangle, and that’s just talking about the interpersonal nonsense everyone’s dealing with! Anyway, we’ve only got one television hour left, so let’s jump right in: that sniffer dog from last week was right on the money, and New Cassie, Sunny, and Pathologist gather under a forensics tent to discuss the newest remains this season. The body is that of a young man, and there are two bullet holes in the head. Other than that, there isn’t a lot to say now, but New Cassie asks for rush DNA so they can try and confirm that this is, as we all assume, Precious’ older son.

I’ll be real with you, reader: I was pretty excited when this episode, for the first time this season, turned out to be about the weird and esoteric, and kicked off with a magic ritual featuring two men covered in hand-drawn sigils conjuring something in a candle-lit room.

Last week, things FINALLY seemed to be looking up for our squad, at least when it comes to their interpersonal skills. Personal lives? The living embodiment of that "this is fine" cartoon dog.

It’s never great when someone who thinks they have important information to share with a detective gets murdered. But it’s definitely worse when that person has romantic history with said detective’s boss, and that’s the situation we’re faced with here at the start of episode 4.

After last week, it really seems like the case is starting to come together: the tech team found the bullet, they’re interviewing some very solid suspects, and two different people made phone calls that imply deep knowledge of the case (one from inside a prison, so we can only hope that information makes its way over to our friends). On the other hand, everyone’s personal life is in shambles. You win some, you lose some.

This week’s episode begins with a party scene right out of an 80s movie, complete with a dude wearing a white suit. A wild choice, and one that really shows the blood when he gets stabbed with a full on sword (a sword he was clearly intending to acquire from someone in a creepy basement hallway). What’s up with the sword? And why was everyone congratulating the victim at the party? We’ll get some answers, but not all, when our detective squad arrives on the scene.

So far this season, we’ve identified the victim (Precious Falade), connected with her next of kin, (Manager) and determined cause of death (gunshot wound). Unfortunately, interpersonal matters haven’t progressed nearly as well: Sunny and Sal are processing an unplanned pregnancy, New Cassie still hasn’t updated her phone contact for Dirtbag Husband, and the entire squad have gone from wary to openly hostile. Not great!

Last week on Van Der Valk, we started investigating the death of a young freerunning champion who got himself involved in some shady, as yet unidentified business to save his girlfriend, who herself got kidnapped from the hospital at the end of the hour. We also met our two new team members, Citra and Eddie, and watched our hero completely lose it when confronted with his doctor ex Lena. What’s on tap this week?