Het Eiland (2004-2005)

I get special warm feelings about this series. Didn't realize nostalgia was possible in the early 00s. Het Eiland is one of the most successful Dutch-language series that can express dryness and empathy in the context of everyday life. Sometimes the series is a bit bland, but that can be digested with such wonderfully conceived characters. Season 1 better captures the atmosphere of the daily boredom in Flemish (and generally Western) office life. But compared to the predecessor, the second season falls far less often and it manages to keep the balance between the absurd and the bland. The dynamics that arise on the island where the infantile Frankie sees the socially handicapped Alain as an intruder on his meaningful office life is central to the first series of episodes. That tension crumbles in production a year later after the two characters finally embraced each other. Fortunately, that is soon resolved with a new storyline.

What makes this Belgian series especially successful is that Jan Eelen understood when to stop. The second season gives exactly the extra humor, atmosphere (and even a bit of suspense) that the first season was missing and at the same time closes the series at its peak.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Hilarious Flemish TV series, with a colorful mishmash of characters with multiple angles. The acting is strong, the dialogues are timely enough to make you cry with laughter. Especially the interaction between Alain Vandam (Tom Van Dyck) and Sammy Tanghe (Bruno Vanden Broucke) is very strong. I think this first series is just a bit better than the second, not least because Sien Eggers plays an important role in it, and Alain is not yet generally accepted by the colleagues, which is mainly due to wonderful struggles with Frankie Loosveld (Wim Opbrouck) yields.

Together with Van Vlees en Bloed, Het Peulengaleis and Quiz Me Quick, this series can compete for the first place of the Flemish TV series in my personal list.

4.5 stars

Translated from Dutch · View original