Lili & Marleen

- Season 5

(1998)

10 Years later. Rikki is now 12, and Jefke, Jefs dog has died. Rikki comes home from school, flunked over the whole line. His mother, Nieke, is furious, and has Stavros - still acting as his father - forbid him to play basketball. Rik is not amused, as he's responsible for getting Rikki to play in the first team.

Pierre and Marleen have bought some land, and are building a house, much to the chagrin of Nieke. Jealous of the two, she pesters Frans for a house too. Frans doesn't want to. Building is trouble, he says. Jef is in uproar, as it's Ida's birthday, and he has no money for a present. He accepts a job from uncle Frans, working night shifts in the fish mine. Rikki makes Jef believe he's got a girlfriend, and even shows him a nude picture. By accident, Jef pockets the picture, and of course, Ida finds it in his trousers. She's convinced he's not working at the fish mine, ...

Lili is back, and that fires up Marleen's jealousy. Lili's second marriage has also failed, and she's come back to Antwerp. She's looking for a job, selling kitchen appliances. Pierre helps her by asking mother Liza to let Lili give a sales evening in the café. The fact that you can also make beauty products with the blender, gives Stavros an idea. He needs Riks money however to buy a blender. Together they are going to market "Banana masks". Ida helps, but Jef is excluded, as he would give things away. Jef finds the finished product, but mistakenly believes they are ...

Uncle Frans has bought a super 8 movie camera, and Rikki is thrilled. He's going to make a movie, and has two friends and Jef helping him. Nieke's jealousy concerning Pierre and Marleen's new house reaches a pinnacle, and when Jef ruins Frans' camera, Rikki is the victim of his mothers wrath.

Liza has troubles. SInce a competing café has installed a TV, and a popular TV series is running on Friday evenings, no one is coming to her café anymore. She doesn't have the money to buy a TV set, and asks Rik to help out. Rik has his own sources and buys a self assembled TV from a cousin of Fat Louis. Of course the set doesn't work. Jef and Ida win 20.000 Francs in a lottery and give two TV's to mother Liza, rescuing the café. Marleen finds out that Pierre's English lessons, necessary for his job, are being given by Lili.

Crosseyed Tuur, the father of Crazy Raymond, has died suddenly. Rik had an agreement with Tuur that he would take over Tuurs business, but Tuur never officialized the deal. So Rik now has to deal with Raymond who isn't as stupid as he pretends to be. Furthermore, the Black Widow is after Raymond's inheritance too, so Rik goes all out in pleasing Raymond, paying for the funeral, and taking Raymond in. Then he finds out Tuur was hugely in debt.

Rik is in love, but his love interest is much younger, and he finds it extremely hard to keep up.

Stavros gets a visit from a cousin from Greece, much to the chagrin of Rik. Things between Pierre and Marleen are deteriorating further as Pierre's boss, Robert, has embezzled money from his own company, which has now gone bankrupt, and put Pierre out of a job.

Rik and Frans have bought a bus. They are starting a travel club. When Ida finds out that the board members travel at half price, she decides that Jef has to become a member of the board. Jef unfortunately gets the measles, and can't go on the trip. Rik is happy as a pig in mud about that - until, at the morning of the trip - he wakes up - with the measles.

Rikki and his friends have started a band "The Rikki Stars" and want to compete in a local competition. The organizer deems them to young, so Rik is going to organize his own competition.

Rikki has a girlfriend. Edgard knows the girl and urges Rik to talk to his grandson about "the birds and the bees". Rik drops the problem in Stavros' lap.

Uncle Frans asks Stavros and Jef to clean his car after his trip to Paris. Inside, they find some pretty hot underwear, definitely not Niekes. Ida sees them with the knickers, so they claim it's a prop for Jef's new act : a striptease.

An old friend of Ida's, Alexander Bradciewski, rents a room from Rik. Rik, who's read about the cold war, and all sorts of Russian spies, doesn't trust the Russian, who continuously walks in and out with a suitcase. WHen someone comes asking about the Russian, Rik takes the law into his own hands, and goes to check the room. What he finds is not a Russian spy, but a moonlighting installation. Pierre has to choose between Lili and Marleen.