Mon, Mar 6, 2006
A day in the life of Evelien van Brakem, a young, innocent and somewhat naive housewife. She is married to Harko and has two daughters of primary school age. Evelien has suddenly grasped the idea of having a nice job for self-fulfillment, "something interesting, with colleagues and meetings". Harko supports her off-hand and suggests an au-pair to help them out with the kids. He knows of one.
Evelien takes the kids to school and brushes off one of the mothers, who is looking for a compassionate ear to listen to the story of her husband wishing a divorce. She visits a job centre but does not like the jobs on offer. It does not withhold her from telling around that she has had a job interview or, alternatively, a job. She tells the latter to her lover Theo, whom she hurriedly and secretly makes love with in a hotel room - apparently a routine meeting, but she announces it to be the last one, as her new job won't leave her any spare time.
In the evening the au pair turns up: she is a Russian girl called Nikita, and Harko notices that she is beautiful. Harko is told that Evelien does not have a job yet and announces that he will pull a few strings at his office.
Mon, Mar 13, 2006
Evelien has sprained her ankle and stays at home. She spends her time knitting and reading a book by Dr. Phil. Harko is in control of everything, or so he thinks. Nikita takes the kids from school; on their way home the children buy a hamster. Theo is going out of his way to reach Evelien by any means of communication, but she denies him. He even drives to her house in a forklift, carrying a large notice with the words "I want to marry you!". In the evening Theo calls her again. Harko cleverly guesses what it is about; Evelien makes a confession, albeit not a full one ("Did you sleep with him?" "Only once."); Harko is in rage and leaves the house.
The children pick up the word "slippertje" form their parents' argument and decide that that will be a good name for their new hamster.
Mon, Mar 20, 2006
The atmosphere between Evelien and Harko is icy. At nights, Harko is sleeping on the couch. Regina, the elder daughter, is in love with a new boy at school, Max, but he is teasing her. Evelien talks to Max's father, a gay guy called Sjors, about Max's behaviour, and mentions her marriage problems as well. Sjors takes control of everything. Evelien is to make a reconciliatory meal for Harko, and Max is invited. While Sjors is helping out with Evelien's dress and the meal ("men want lots of meat"), Max and Regina are becoming the best of friends, whilst listening to MP3s and eating large quantities of cold frankfurters (or rather the Dutch variety, knakworst). When Harko arrives home early, Sjors, still present, is hugging Evelien for comfort. Harko, thinking that this is Theo, hits him in the eye.
Mon, Mar 27, 2006
Evelien and Harko are now being nasty to each other. Evelien has forgotten an appointment with her family visiting her father's grave, who died ten years ago during a tennis match with Sylvia, Evelien's sister; Harko receives a phone-call from Evelien's mother reminding them about the appointment, but takes some time passing the message on. Meanwhile he arranges taking the girls to the beach, using the car, so when Evelien finally hears about the family meeting, she is to travel by a clumsy combination of trains and busses. By way of revenge she makes sure he does not have his swimming trousers with him.
Evelien borrows Sjors's car. On her way home she has a flat tyre and no spare wheel. She calls Harko on her cell-phone, but he does not want to help her. After a troublesome voyage, using trains and busses and walking long stretches through the rain, she finally arrives home. That is the end of their tribulation: Evelien and Harko finally have their reconciliation.
Mon, Apr 3, 2006
Evelien finds the dead body of Slippertje, the hamster, in its cage. When the postman brings a package, she still has the dead hamster in her hand, triggering the postman to tell the story of his wife's sudden death. He reminds her always to say goodbye whenever you leave a loved-one: there is always a possibility it is the last time you see each other. Evelien takes the advice by heart: she calls her former lover Theo in order to finish their affair in a proper way. During the call Theo takes a flirt with a young girl; Evelien notices, concluding that no one is irreplaceable. She buys a new hamster that is to impersonate Slippertje. When the children are out of school it takes them a quarter of a second to establish that this is not Slippertje. Evelien then tells the truth. Slippertje is buried in a box.
Mon, Apr 10, 2006
It is Evelien's birthday - much to her distress, as she wrongly believes she is getting old, fat and ugly. Harko has arranged a stay in a romantic hotel; the children will stay with their grandparents. The hotel's proprietor is not quite the enterprising type: he knows nothing about the reservation made by his brother on the internet, he cannot tell a champagne from a champenoise (nor can I, for that matter) and does not serve either espresso or cappuccino. Evelien and Harko take the hotel's old-fashioned style with a lot of humor. When their youngest daughter, Julia, calls her mother for feeling homesick, Evelien is becoming restless. Finally, her parents pay them a visit with the children and they celebrate a proper birthday after all. At last, when the time is 12 PM, the family congratulate Evelien with no longer having her birthday.
Mon, Apr 17, 2006
Evelien's sister Sylvia is sleeping on the couch: she has been thrown out of the house by her boy-friend-to-be, or rather by his present girlfriend. Evelien and Harko find out they never have any sex, as she is tired in the mornings, while he is exhausted at nights. They agree to have a lot of sex that very evening. During breakfast Sylvia explains she always has a wrong connection with her boy-friends: after a few weeks she will suddenly lose interest and can't even stomach him.
Evelien is preparing for the evening, selecting interesting magazine articles, when she receives a message from Harko: he won't be at home until 11. Evelien happens to meet Theo, her former lover, and he seduces her. Consequently, she is late collecting the kids from school. At home, she is called by the hospital: Harko has had a heart infarct. She rushes to the hospital, accompanied by Sylvia. They are told Harko has not had a cardiac arrest; he is being treated with an angioplasty in order to remove a blood clot form one of his blood vessels. The procedure is successful; he needs to stay for one night only. Evelien is feeling guilty for having betrayed Harko while he was in danger.
Back home Evelien finds Sylvia in her bed with a man who is some twenty odd years her senior. She is furious: the couple are to clean the bedclothes and vacuum-clean the floor. At night, Evelien, Sylvia and the kids fall asleep together in Evelien's and Harko's bed.
After his heart troubles, Harko is recovering at home; he does not need any special medical attention. Still, he believes he is about to die. He is lying in bed, afraid of doing anything that might burden his heart. He is even scared of rising from the toilet seat unassisted. Evelien, feeling anxious about his condition, takes good care of him. Sjors, who lost his father when his health seemed allright, shares Harko's hypochondria and increases Evelien's fears. Meanwhile the washing-machine breaks down; it turns out Regina has lice, so it is necessary to urgently wash her clothes and bed-clothes. When Harko is the only one at home, he does not let the repair-man in, because his condition will not allow it. When Evelien finds out, she tells Harko he is not dying at all and should stop behaving af if he is. The family are back to normality.
After his near death experience Harko is looking for spirituality and enlightenment. In order to detox his body he is following a juice diet. He frequents a group of like-minded people that are practising the art of positive thinking. Evelien is trying to join him, but the kids are furious when they are not allowed to eat white bread, salami and peanut butter. Evelien's stepfather enables them to take over an allotment garden. Harko rather enjoys the gardening, fitting in with his new life.
Evelien and Harko are called by the police: the children have been caught shoplifting in a supermarket, stealing all sorts of sweets and candy. Their parents are furious, but the children insist they were stealing what they are not given at home.
Back home Evelien finds Harko unconscious; the paramedics explain he is too low on sugar. This is the end of his diet: in the next scene the whole family is eating large quantities of french fries (the Dutch equivalent of a Big Mac).
Evelien and Harko find a mouse in their bedroom. When Harko is trying to kill it, it turns out to be one of the children's hamsters: they have set it loose, as they do not like their hamsters living in a cage.
Evelien finds out that Theo, her former lover, has fallen from the scaffolding and has died. She is called by Theo's wife (whom Theo used to call his ex-wife), telling her that she is not to visit Theo's burial. However, Evelien has a conversation with the postman from episode #5: he tells her that it is important to say goodbye in the right way. When Harko finds out about Theo's death, he forbids her to visit the burial as well. After due consideration she decides to go, watching the ceremony at some distance. After the burial she walks to the grave, where she meets the woman who lives next door: she seems to have been Theo's lover as well. When Evelien is alone again, she curses at Theo. Harko turns up at the cemetery and wishes to reconcile with Evelien.
The children have thought of a plan for their hamsters: the allotment garden should be fenced off to provide them with a living space. The family work together to put the idea into practice.
In the evening Harko falls asleep at the couch. Evelien joins him and, leaning against him, falls asleep as well.