Lili & Marleen

- Season 7

(2003)

It is now 1962. Pierre has left Marleen to start over in the US, with Lili. Mother Lisa is suffering from asthma, and lives in a home. Rikki is now 16, and not doing well at school. Nieke has a new boyfriend and lives in Ostend, occasionally visiting her son and father. Marleen now runs the café, Stavros runs his barber shop, and Rik - is Rik. Jef wants to watch Bonanza on TV, but Rik decides that, since mother Liza never paid him back for the TV, the set belongs to him, and he wants to watch a documentary on the blue crane. When Ida sees an advert for a dance ...

The Cuban missile crisis is at hand, and Rik wants Stavros and Jef to clear out the bomb shelter he stocked back in 1958. When the two want to start, they find that oil has seeped into the cellar. Lou, just released from prison and desperate for money, convinces the two that they have struck oil. They pump out several hundred liters before Rik is back, and have the well registered to their name.

Jef has found a pigeon and christens it Kareltje. Rik doesn't want the animal in the house, but when he finds out the original owner has offered a reward of 5000 francs, he devises a plan to part Jef from his new pet. Ida finds out and together with Jef they counter Riks plans. Rikki has left school and Rik arranges for him to apprentice to a car mechanic, Dirty Louie. To convince Louie, he invites him for dinner. Louis is particularly fond of pigeon, and somehow the pigeon for Louie gets mixed up with Kareltje.

Everyone agrees that it is about time Stavros "got some action". Stavros is already being pursued by a woman he met, but he's terrified of her. Somehow something gets known about it, especially Stavros' embarrassment, and when Ida sees him in the arms of a young girl, she thinks she knows why he's so secretive about it. The girl turns out to be not Stavros' but Rikki's girlfriend Vicky, and Stavros tells them about his unfortunate encounter. When Vicky's mother storms in, incensed about her daughter having a boyfriend, Ida mistakes her for Stavros stalker, and chews ...

Georgette Muys, Vicky's mother, plans her revenge on Stavros and Rik. As head of the building department of the city, she exorbitantly fines Rik for having built a dependence without plan or consent : Stavros' barber shop. He can either tear it down, or submit a request to have it regularized. The request, however, will land with Mrs Muys, and she makes it abundantly clear to Rik she will refuse the request and fine him tens of thousands of Francs. Mrs Muys has also discovered that, despite her forbidding Vicky to see Rikki, the two have still been meeting and ...

A dissatisfied customer of Rik, Pros, rats him out to the social security services. Two inspectors descend on Rik as the wrath of heaven. They also go after Jef and Ida. One of them, Mon, even gropes Ida. When Rik reads an article about John Profumo and Christine Keeler, he hatches a plan to get rid of Mon. The other inspector, a young guy named Mark, is more interested in Marleen.

Rik hosts the annual Santa Claus party for the orphanage, and this time Jef is going to play Santa Claus. As thanks, sister Rosa gives Rik, Jef and Stavros each a large gingerbread. Ida takes Jef's away, claiming it for Florke. Jef is very keen on gingerbread and tries to get his hands on Rik's, without success. Stavros gives him his. STill not satisfied, Jef bites off a part of Rik's gingerbread, and Rik, in a fury, forces him to eat the entire bread. WIth two large gingerbread men inside, the effect on Jef's intestines is brutal. Rik will have to jump in as Santa ...

Rikki is hooked on the Beatles. Rik and Stavros suffer, though not exactly in silence. They don't understand the whole hullabaloo about those four guys from Liverpool. Rikki reproaches Rik for getting "old", and Rik is in a tizz about it. When Georgette Muys barges in, complaining about Rikki's hairdo, Rik (who has been reading up on The Beatles) rips her up one side and down the other, proving he's not an "old gramps". Jef has been duped into selling ointment, but - of course - has been conned. He needs 7000 francs to cover the costs, and loans them from Rik. Rikki ...

Jef ventures into politics. He joins a small party when he hears they want 9 months of paid holidays a year. Unfortunately another viewpoint is that everyone should eat healthy. One week on "rabbit food" is enough to drastically change Jefs ideas.

Nieke visits and finds her son in the arms of his girlfriend. Quite a shock, as she still sees him as a child. That he's apprenticed to the - by far - dirtiest mechanic in town also does not sit well. Jef finds some "medication" for "bloodloss". He's convinced it will help his nosebleeds. Little does he know that what he has stumbled upon is "the pill" - a contraceptive.

Rikki and Vicky are in trouble : Vicky is pregnant and her mother is furious. Rikki's mum is furious too. They decide to run away to Scotland to get married, but Rik steps in. Still on Rikki's side he will pay for a wedding, and he will convince Mrs. Muys. Jef wants to hawk snails, using Rik's transport bike, but Rik only sees another opportunity to make some quick money from renting out the bike.

Organizing the wedding proves to be very enervating to Rik and Stavros. Mrs Muys seizes on the tradition that the reception and the wedding party are paid by the groom, and insists on the most expensive venue, caterer and dress. Rik vehemently opposes but is forced with his back to the wall. They keep arguing back and forth, until Vicky breaks down. Her father asserts himself and decides to split the costs 50/50. Nieke is not present at the wedding : she's in Spain with Sylvain. Jef and Ida are, at first, not invited to the wedding, as Mrs. Muys does not want them ...

Nieke arrives days after the wedding, pretending everything is alright. Rikki throws her out. Again. Stavros blabs to Sylvain about Rikki's real father. For Sylvain this is the last drop, and he leaves Nieke where she stands. She decides to move in with her "husband" again, much to the chagrin of Rik. Rik has finally found a way to get rid of Jef and Ida, by raising their rent, but if they leave, Nieke will have a room for herself, and will stay indefinitely. Wanting to get rid of his daughter even more than of Jef and Ida, he capitulates. They can stay, the rent ...