Directed by Tom Goris, High Tides is the story of a bunch of youngsters who hail from a place called Knokke in Belgium. Things change after a boy from Breda, Daan, makes an entry into their lives, and somehow, due to the conflicts that arise henceforth, it leaves them exposed and facing their worst fears. So, let’s find out what happened in High Tides season 1 and discuss the events that had an impact on the lives of the characters.
Spoiler Alert
What issues did Alex have with his father?
Alex Vandael, Louise Basteyns, Margaux, Matti, and Victor, youngsters from privileged families living in huge mansions in the neighborhood, used to hang out together on a daily basis. They had nothing much to do with their days apart from consuming drugs and alcohol and enjoying a lavish lifestyle with their parents’ money. Alex had a big dream of opening an exclusive gentlemen’s club that he wanted to name Crazy Lulu, but the problem was that he didn’t know how to convince his father, Patrick, to invest in his project. Patrick didn’t think that his son was capable of doing anything, which is why he looked down on him. Over the years, certain incidents had led to a rift between the son and the father. They had stopped seeing eye to eye, and whenever they talked, Alex’s mother, Eleonore, had to intervene and stop them from literally killing each other. Alex made a presentation and gave it to his father, and the former believed that Patrick would be really impressed this time. But nothing of that sort happened. Patrick not only didn’t like the entire concept of a gentlemen’s club, but he also insulted Alex and hurt his ego by telling him that he was good for nothing and that the idea he pitched was no less than a joke. Things got so heated that Alex, too, lost his temper, and he ended up assaulting his father. Patrick also gave in to his impulses, and he engaged in a physical brawl with his son.
Apart from the constantly deteriorating relationship with his father, there was something else too that was bothering Alex. He used to get these blurry visions where he saw two women sharing an intimate moment and a man barging into the room and assaulting them. It was quite evident that Alex wasn’t able to get over his past. There were some incidents that happened in the past that had changed his life forever. Alex’s relationship with Louise and his friends also wasn’t able to help his cause. There were times when Alex treated everybody with a lot of respect, but sometimes he said really mean things and made them judge the kind of person he was. Louise was in a relationship with him for a really long time, but at times, she questioned what she was getting out of it.
Alex stole his father’s watches, and he gave them to the local beach club owner, Jacques, to sell on the black market so he could secure financing for opening the club. Jacques was a wise man, and he knew what Patrick was capable of, but he, too, couldn’t resist the impulse to take revenge on his old partner. Actually, Jacques had been duped by Patrick back in the day. Patrick and Jacques were supposed to be business partners, but then the former decided that his partner did not have business acumen, so he withdrew from the joint venture and left Jacques in a critical condition. But now Jacques had the chance to partner with Alex and show Patrick what they were capable of. Patrick, on the other hand, had promised himself not to let Alex live in peace. He did everything he could to make Alex’s business venture fail. He used his influence to conduct a raid on Alex’s bar; he bought Jacques’ beach club just to show him that he could destroy his life in the blink of an eye. Patrick might have had good intentions for his son, but whatever he did only distanced Alex from him further.
How did Louise and Daan come close?
There was no doubt about the fact that Louise liked Alex, and vice versa, but they had reached a point in their relationship where Alex had started taking Louise for granted. It was not like Alex didn’t love Louise or didn’t have plans to end up with her, but Louise still craved those times when he used to make an extra effort just to make her feel good. Also, it cannot be denied that at times Alex could be really mean and rude. He said some really hurtful things to Louise, which impacted her adversely as she was already suffering from bipolar disorder. Meanwhile, Daan arrived at the scene because his family was going through a financial crisis, and he decided to work for Jacques at the beach club. But unbeknownst to him his mother had other motives to come to this place. Daan’s first encounter with Alex wasn’t that great, and he ended up hating the guy after that. Alex saw that Louise couldn’t take her eyes off Daan, and in his jealousy, he decided to teach Daan a lesson and put him in his place. As a result of that, Jacques fired Daan on his first day, as the former knew that he had to keep his regular customers, especially someone as rich and powerful as Alex, happy. Louise was not happy with how things transpired, and she felt bad for Daan.
One day, Daan was trying to enter a nightclub to talk to the manager and get a job there, when Alex and his gang arrived at the scene. Alex saw that the guard wasn’t letting Daan enter. Deep down, Alex was not as stone hearted as he pretended to be. He told the guard to let Daan enter, and then later, he even invited Daan to sit with the group. That’s how Daan and Alex became friends, though it was pretty evident from the very beginning that their bond wouldn’t stand the test of time. Daan came from a humble background, and he and his mother worked day and night to make ends meet. But Louise still somehow felt really attracted to him. There were times when she just couldn’t hide her feelings, and things became really awkward between her and Alex. Daan was infatuated with Louise too, and it was pretty evident from the way he looked at her. Louise had just figured out that her father had been in a relationship with a man named Paul for the last 5 years or so, and that her mother knew about it. Louise felt overwhelmed, and she needed somebody by her side. Obviously, she went to her boyfriend Alex first, but he was piled up with work, and he didn’t bother to find out what she was going through. So Louise went to Daan, and he was too smitten to turn down the offer of spending the day with her. Daan took Louise to his family house in Breda, only to realize that his mother had sold everything off to pay off her debt. That house had belonged to Daan’s grandfather, and he had an emotional connection with the place.
Daan was in a vulnerable state, and so was Louise, and both gave in to their impulses. Daan and Louise spent the night together, and the latter decided that it would be best if they didn’t talk about it to anybody. Daan and Louise kept meeting after that day, but the former didn’t like the fact that he had to lie to Alex about it. Daan tried asking Louise a couple of times about what she really wanted, but the latter didn’t have an answer. Louise was confused; she wanted the best of both worlds, but by giving into her impulses, she was becoming the villain. Alex knew deep down what was happening between Daan and Louise, but he refrained from clearing things up and asking Louise any sort of questions. But then, one day, Alex walked in on the two lovebirds making out, and that’s when he completely lost his temper. The next time Alex spent time with Louise, he couldn’t keep quiet and ended up hurting her. There was a time during that extremely violent confrontation when it felt like Alex would kill Louise by drowning her in the pool, but then, eventually, he came back to his senses and walked away. Alex even assaulted Daan, and the latter sustained severe injuries. I believe Daan always knew that things would never work out between him and Louise, and the latter would conveniently keep coming back to him whenever she was ditched by Alex, or needed any kind of support. Louise might have had feelings for Daan, but it couldn’t be denied that she used him. Yes, the boy didn’t object to being used, but that didn’t mean that Louise was innocent here.
What happened between Daan and Anouk?
Daan and his new neighbor Anouk’s story graph was quite intriguing, and it would be interesting to see in which direction the makers take it in High Tides season 2. Anouk had a charm about herself. Maybe her independent life, her way of dealing with things, and her unabashed attitude were things that made her stand apart from the pretentious crowd. Anouk knew what the world was like, how lecherous those rich boys could get, what was on their minds, and what they wanted to do with her, which is why she always had her guard up. She worked at the same nightclub where Alex and his gang used to go. There were times Alex and other strangers made passes at her, but the way she stood up for herself and replied said a lot about the kind of woman she was. One time, Louise and Daan were spending time together when Alex came to Daan’s house, suspecting that his girlfriend was cheating on him. Anouk came to Daan and Louise’s rescue, and she pretended she and Daan were dating. Alex bought their lies, and all four of them had a great time that night. That was the first time Anouk and Daan became intimate with each other. Somehow, after that day, Anouk started feeling a lot of things for Daan. She never told him about her feelings, but the look of jealousy in her eyes when she saw Daan and Louise together said everything. Anouk always came to Daan’s rescue even when she knew that she wasn’t going to get anything in return.
Did Patrick kill Claudia?
We got to know at the beginning of High Tides season 1, that there was a reason why Melissa, Daan’s mother, started working at Patrick’s house. Melissa’s sister, Claudia, had disappeared all of a sudden, and nobody really knew what happened to her. Melissa just knew one thing: the last time she talked to her, she was working at the Vandaels as a nanny. Melissa was able to figure out that Eleonore, Alex’s mother, was quite fond of Claudia. Back in the day, Claudia and Eleonore had had an affair, and Patrick had found out about it. The general presumption that anybody would make in that situation was that Patrick walked in on them and then lost his temper and killed Claudia. Alex also said something similar to Louise, but surprisingly, it was not the truth. Alex’s relationship with his father had deteriorated due to something that happened in the past. Yes, Patrick did cheat on Eleonore with her best friend, Christine, Margaux’s mother, and he treated Alex very badly, but it was a repercussion of what had happened on that fateful night after Claudia went missing. So basically, Claudia had been killed, not by Patrick, but by Alex when the father-son had a violent confrontation after Patrick found out about his wife’s secret affair. Patrick became really violent, and Alex tried to stop the man from hurting the ladies. Claudia was standing on the balcony when Alex unintentionally pushed her over. Alex was actually trying to retaliate against his father, but by mistake, he pushed Claudia down. The family told the world that Claudia stole their jewelry and ran away from the house. However, when Melissa found out that Claudia hadn’t withdrawn even a single penny from her bank account in years after she left, the former felt a bit suspicious.
During the marriage anniversary of Patrick and Eleonore, the Vandael family secret finally came out in the open. Alex after losing his business and getting blamed for Jacques’ sudden demise shared the clip that he once secretly took of an intimate moment with Patrick and Christine in the invitee chat group. This again created a scuffle between the father and son. Alex’s sister, Olivia, who had been scarred and traumatized over the years by her father and brother’s animosity, took a gun and shot at her father. Patrick took his last breaths, and the entire family was in a state of shock. I believe Olivia will have to live with the trauma that she killed her own father. As for Louise, she got a feeling that Alex didn’t deserve her and that he was not the best person for her. But I believe that she will once again go back to him in season 2. Daan will have to find a way to deal with the heartbreak, and maybe Louise’s indecisiveness will make him understand that she didn’t really want him. She felt good in his company, she was attracted to the way he looked, but Louise knew that she couldn’t live her life with him. Even if Louise didn’t really love Alex, I believe that she will choose him in the future despite being physically abused multiple times. Alex started to turn out like his father, despite the fact that he was the only person whom he hated the most. It would be interesting to see where the lives of these rich spoiled brats lead them if Daan stays a part of the group, and what conflicts they all encounter in their lives.
