Hunting criminals is serious business for 'Hidden Assets’ detective Christian De Jong

In a world of dark money and global crime cartels, Belgian cop Christian De Jong’s scowl – and his drive to hunt down terrorists – remains constant.

A man with curly hair and a beard, in a dark t-shirt and dark coat, holds a phone to his ear.

Wouter Hendrickx as Christian De Jong. Credit: Guillaume Van Laethem / Acorn TV

— Spoiler alert: If you’ve watched season one, this article is a good refresher. If you haven’t and you’d rather not know anything about what happens, head over to

SBS On Demand

and start at the beginning. —

Terrorist bombings, dodgy diamonds, crime cartels and cybercrime: the Europe of Hidden Assets is a treacherous place. The first season began with an elite Irish police unit uncovering local links to a terrorist attack in Belgium, the kind of crime where you pull one thread (or raid one drug dealer’s house) and before you know it everything around you is unravelling. But in the growing chaos, there’s one thing you can rely on: Belgian cop Christian De Jong (Wouter Hendrickx).

A man with curly hair and a beard, in a long-sleeved t-shirt, leans on a table in a dark room. Behind him, an orange light fills the top half of the far wall.

Always chasing answers: Wouter Hendrickx as Christian De Jong. Credit: Sofie Silbermann / AcornTV

We first meet De Jong when he nabs Irish cop DS Emer Berry (Angeline Ball). She’s on his turf, having travelled to Antwerp following up on some diamonds found in the home of a drug dealer. Her job is to track down the assets of criminals purchased with the proceeds of crime, while De Jong is more interested in catching the people behind a recent suicide bombing at a fashion show. The apartment where they meet connects both their cases; looks like it’s the start of a beautiful friendship – or it would be, if De Jong seemed like the kind of man who was friends with anything apart from justice. Hendrickxx (Blackout, De Infiltrant, The Twelve – also streaming

at SBS On Demand

) is well cast as the determined detective.

While Berry and the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau spend much of their time in their Irish home base tracking the flow of money around the globe, in Belgium De Jong and his Counter Terrorism Unit are more hands on. Early on, he jokes that Berry’s unit are “the accountants” of the police world, but when witnesses start being gunned down in the street, it’s clear someone’s got to be paying them. Follow the money, find the bad guys.

Angeline Ball as Emer Berry and Wouter Hendrickx as Christian De Jong. Credit: Guillaume Van Laethem/AcornTV

His investigation soon focuses on Irish businesswoman Bibi (Simone Kirby). While Berry is chasing down the source of the diamonds, he discovers a link between Bibi and a murdered woman who had a connection to the suicide bomber. The plot rapidly thickens, providing plenty of opportunities for banter between Berry and De Jong even as the body count rose. You wouldn’t exactly say De Jong was the muscle while Berry was the brains, but she does get to wear nice suits while he’s rocking various scruffy outfits and some serious facial hair while chasing down the bad guys.

The European (and occasionally global) nature of the conspiracy at the centre of season one showed off plenty of striking locations, while also serving up multiple opportunities to compare and contrast the two police units. Irish cops seem mostly stuck with bland, functional offices; Antwerp looks like a much nicer place to work, once you get past the shady diamond smugglers and terrorists running wild on the streets.

But it’s the way the series focuses on a little-examined side of major crime – terrorists might work for free but buying explosives costs money – that really makes it stand out. The CAB, including Sean (Aaron Monaghan), Norah (Cathy Belton) and Josh (Kwaku Fortune), are the ones connecting the dots behind the crimes we’re more used to seeing on our screens. Meanwhile, De Jong is out on the streets putting what they were digging up into action.

A man in glasses stands side-on. A woman in a bright blue jacket and dark coat stands behind him. They are both looking down and to the side.

Nora-Jane Noone as Claire Wallace and Kwaku Fortune as Josh Ola in season 2. Credit: James Pierce / AcornTV

Presumably he managed to take a break from scowling and get in a bit of a rest in the year between seasons one and two; Berry moved on entirely, with fresh face Claire Wallace (Nora-Jane Noone) stepping into the top job at the CAB and taking charge of the team. But some things never change, and the second season also begins with a witness with information about suicide bombing being killed off before they can talk – only this time it happens on De Jong’s doorstep. As you’d expect, he’s not happy about it; whether he’s ever truly happy about anything remains an open question.

A woman in a red shirt and dark coat and a man in a dark shirt stand in front of a building. They are looking off in different directions, both with serious expressions.

New partners: Claire Wallace (Nora-Jane Noone) and Christian De Jong (Wouter Hendrickx). Credit: Michel Vertongen / AcornTV

Back in Ireland, Wallace and her crew are dealing with a cyber attack that’s targeted the CAB’s top secret files, which happen to include the ones connected to the first season’s big case. And while Bibi is free and clear after striking a deal, not everyone is happy with her current status. It’s one thing to have the police unhappy with how things turned out: it’s another to have your car firebombed at a service station.

Looks like De Jong’s going to be needing his trademark grim expression for a while yet.

Seasons 1 and 2 of Hidden Assets are streaming now at SBS On Demand.