About E.M. Effingham
Location: Missouri
Occupation: Author
Bio: E.M. Effingham/Sara Ann Denson authored "Christmas Turtles" which received five stars from the Midwest Book Review last year. Catch her Amazon Author Connect Blog: Confessions of an Author's First Year of Marketing.
Posts: 31
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New Amsterdam once again flaunts creativity and flair as John Amsterdam pulls us through the ages.
I love this show! The writers are having a great time developing the lead character, John Amsterdam, as they throw in all sorts of odd relationship twists and history. Omar, the man thought to be an old war buddy from the pilot is revealed as John Amsterdam’s son. Throw in a young boy, Omar’s grandson, and John ended up babysitting his great-grandson. Just like a man from former generations, he takes the boy on a dangerous clue hunt involved with his work. You have to think that a man from the twenty-first century, obsessed with car seats and padded fireplace mantles, would know not to
take someone into such a high stakes situation. But the 400-year-old doesn’t worry about such nonsense. It put me in mind of my own grandpa who let us climb all over his tractor equipment, including those spiky tractor plows, as soon as we could toddle along behind him.
I’ve also noticed John Amsterdam tells his “secret” freely, referring to his experiences in past centuries. He doesn’t mind flagrantly breaking protocol on cases. He, of course, in not afraid to get shot, beaten, or to take a huge fall. While superheroes do this with flamboyance and pride, actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays it with an acceptance of fate, humor, and boredom: a nonchalance you usually see in Jack Nicholson’s characters. It is the perfect touch that makes him different from any leading man you’ve ever seen.
I also love the subtle humor that pops up this way and that. When asked if his parents knew everything about him as a teenager, he just replies that he really can’t remember. When the great-grandson is asked about what secret he shares with John, he doesn’t hesitate to reveal that the man does not grow up, conveniently making it unbelievable should he happen to mention that they snuck into an apartment and fought a suspect in a murder case.
The actual cases on New Amsterdam haven’t stood out any more than those of the multitude of other detective shows out there, but it is refreshing to see such a unique character handle them. I’m not sure I really like the chemistry, negative or positive, between John Amsterdam and his partner Eva Marquez. It seems almost unnecessary and distracting, but I’m temporarily holding my opinion until we see where the writers go with the relationship.
Once again, great job on the musical score, graphics, and set design. The show may have beautiful lead characters, but it also has a beautiful world behind it that pulls you into the reality the producers are creating, a beauty that transcends the generation represented. It almost makes me like New York – but not quite. I still hate New York.
