Het eiland

- Season 1

(2004)

Speech-impeded neurotic Alain Vandam expected his job solicitation at medical supply corporation Sidalco to be another failure. However, the petty boss Lydia Protut's superstition gets him hired, despite accidentally mispronouncing her name rather obscenely. His administrative colleagues on the 'isle', a somewhat secluded part of the office hall, are rather hostile, even to the ICT man. A previous college, Jean, just got fired, in fact for using porn sites, a fact not revealed to the other members of the team.

Guido has a hard time trying to acquire authority despite his former isle colleagues' familiarity and (im)practical jokes, while they keep cruelly excluding newcomer Alain. Lydia's instructions don't help, nor her excessive sensitivity and furniture substitution. When Guido asks another isle of three for a lunch, only Linda accepts, her turns out to be a lush involved in a divorce. Guido's wife Marianne and stock boy Ben are angry at him because of misunderstandings Michel and Frankie create.

Mean Michel invents a yellows cards system 'to shield Guido': colleagues can make each-other report their own peccadilloes. Only Franky applauds and adopts such childish nonsense, despite Guido's objections. Michel's wife demands he joins her urgently to use the best time in her reproductive cycle. Michel's car is broken, so he wants to borrow Guido's brand new company car. As the insurance forbids that, Guiod rather drives him. This starts a chain of lies and deceit turning on the cheaters, colleagues and relatives. Alain finds friendly Sammy is rather ...

Colleague Freek's warm welcome convinces Alain's equally cheerful pa to visit the office, which isn't unusual. He sympathizes with Guido's precarious social position, suggests sun-blinds to shield the subordinate ex-colleagues and sort of pushes it trough by telling chief Protput. This time Franky gets jealous of 'favored' Alain, insanely when his screw story appears on the website: he moves to another isle. As if that weren't bad enough, Guido discovers the blind has a huge Vandam marking and its remote soon goes wild.

As spring arrives, Frankie brings tulips, to which Alain is allergic. Guido is summoned to the annual secret event with him and Michel, but ordered by Lydia to attend a time management lecture. Frankie's incessant taunting finally drives Alain to an intimidating outburst. Guido tries to mediate, hears the root is exclusion and decides to do better. Alain is introduced to the roof picnic. Michel agrees it's time to give Alain a break. Alas Sami, who feels Alain is trying to avoid her, sneaks in after him, but the door locks behind her. Everyone expects Guido to give ...

Because Protut didn't inform him in time, Guido is booked both as coach of Dutch author Nolleke Lodiers' absurd lecture and workshop on group dynamics and a meeting with the firm's US owner, Robert 'Rob' Hasselbanks. With or without him, big baby Franky, perfectionist Michel and incompatible attitudes make every task a torturous demonstration of disharmony, none of which Nolleke acknowledges. Alain gets through being dumped. Freek is too honest about being all but a morning person.

After the Nolleke group spirit debacle, Lydia weighs on Guido because of Michel's uncooperative attitude, he for not defending his ex-colleague. So Michel supports Franky's crazy plan to turn productivity into an intricately complex challenges game. Lydia's absurd superstition makes her assume Sammy is Satan. An electric power problem doesn't help. Guido looses his patience and insists to see CEO Rik Nallaerts. Sir draws his own conclusions about the bumbling bunch.