Yeah yeah I know this is long overdue, more than a month to be precise but now with the festive season out of the way, its time to get back to business. So here's what's been going in 7de laan....
The last time I brought you the happenings in the Laan, we had just seen Wilmien return to the Laan and cause havoc between super couple George and Karien. As the storyline unfolded many fans were outraged that the writers dare break up the golden couple especially since George and Wilmien were friends for many years and had not a spark between them, why suddenly now?
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What a copout for them to choose to send George out of the Laan by breaking up his relationship with the “love of his life”, they had been through hell to be together, the fans moaned. Well things really turned on its head when Paula decides to throw an engagement party for the two and what a fiasco that turned out to be.
After all the trouble that Paula went to, George and Karien sat on that sofa looking so uncomfortable and when Wilmien dropped by with Marko in tow, George turned into a green-eyed monster. All Marko wanted to do was dance with Wilmien and when she gently turned him down and he persisted, George saw red and punched his lights out. Off course the disastrous function was the talk of the town the next day and Zinzi unwittingly hit the nail on the head when she said that men normally fight over a girl. Off course the rumours started buzzing that George has a thing for Wilmien and poor Karien had to bear the brunt of it all. The look on the poor girl’s face when it happened spoke volumes of the hurt that George inflicted upon her.
Well guys as you know, they did break up and now George and Wilmien have bought a boat in Norway where they will continue their tour business. For those who did’nt watch over the festive season, George and Wilmien left the Laan in a very awkward manner.
Firstly Dezi decided to throw them a farewell party as befits anyone who leaves the Laan (even if they do turn out to be the biggest jerk), everyone was two minded about going because of their friendship with Karien but naturally they all went. It was at first very awkward like a funeral gathering but then George made a touching speech and swore his undying love to Wilmien. Later he went to Karien where the two said a very touching goodbye to each other and my heart went out to Karien as she ran into his arms and hugged him tightly, almost as if she, Christi was saying goodbye to her working relationship with her hubby, Nico.
So that’s the end for George Kyriakis, as far as his business goes, he told Robyn to buy him out since it was her plan from the get go. Off course Robyn is not too thrilled to hear that George is throwing everything away to go gallivanting with the wild girl but he bites back telling her it’s his life and she ought to be happy to finally be rid of him.
Bye bye George, we loved you in the beginning but towards the end, most fans felt like kicking your gorgeous Greek face in.
Carlos has been digging deep to find the truth of what really happened at his wedding to Sandra Stutterheim all those years ago. Lana tells Carlos that Hilda has a guilty look on her face whenever Sandra’s name comes up. Carlos decides to confront Hilda about what she knows and after much begging and pleading from Carlos, Hilda takes pity on him and tells him that Sandra never wanted him to find out that she was still married to Justin Ferreira.
This comes as a complete shock to Carlos when he realizes that Sandra’s marriage to her second husband Stutterheim was in fact illegal. Hilda goes on to explain how Sandra struggled to get a hold of Justin after he walked out on her and when she met and married Stutterheim, she had the divorce documents falsified. Carlos cannot believe he was going to marry a woman he barely knew.
With this information, Carlos confronts Madel knowing that she must’ve had a hand in bringing Justin back into the country. Madel denies it all but the stress of her devious deeds takes its toll on Madel and she tells Jan Hendrik they have to stop Carlos from finding out any more information. Jan Hendrik tells his mother there’s nothing they can do and besides he’s quite keen himself to find out what really happened that day in the church. Madel swears she’s only guilty for bringing back Justin and that the armed robbery in the church foiled all her plans to expose Sandra for the fraud that she is.
Things are strained both at T&T and at the Terreblanche house which makes San Mari and Dezi very suspicious. Even Carlos’ wedding plans have been put on hold as he searches for the truth, Lana can’t handle Carlos’ being haunted by the past and tries to give him space but he tells her to hang on because only once the truth is revealed can he have a life with her. She agrees to support him.
Eventually Carlos decides to go through all Sandra’s belongings and lo and behold he comes across her diary. In her diary Carlos notices that Sandra had regular appointments with Ben, her friend and confidant. Remember Ben, he was the guy who I still believe was secretly inlove with Sandra and he would’ve done absolutely anything for her, kill if he have to. Nevertheless, Carlos sees that the two had meetings on the day of the wedding as well and he’s quite curious to know why Sandra saw the man so regularly, surely he must know something, Carlos surmises.
Eventually Carlos calls him up but Ben is not keen to open up to him. After using a few clever tactics, Carlos tells him he knows everything and Ben decides to meet up at a bar. Ben is still as stubborn as always and plays hard ball with Carlos. He insinuates that Madel hated Sandra with such a passion only she could’ve brought Justin into the church that day. The truth of this sinks in to a disbelieving Carlos as he stares into space.
Thinking back to the day of the shooting Ben cannot stop as he tells Carlos everything. The hatred that Madel had for Sandra and how she would’ve done anything to stop Carlos marrying her, he confesses he had to take matters into his own hands when he saw Justin in the church. He quickly went out, disguised himself as a burglar, came back into the church aimed his gun at Justin and shot him. Carlos questions the bullet that hit Sandra and Ben explains that he was tackled causing random shots to go off hitting Sandra. Its clear that Ben cared very deeply about Sandra, was possible inlove with her and he tells Carlos that he would’ve done anything to ensure that Sandra was happy.
The reality of Ben’s evil deed sinks in and Carlos is just about to tackle him but Ben is one step ahead as he cleverly diverts Carlos and runs out of the bar.
When Madel is confronted by a very angry Carlos, she is too weak to fight back. She tells him how it came to be that she and Sandra hated each other, she was the product of an affair her husband had with Sandra’s mother. She felt cheated by how Madel’s children grew up in the lap of luxury whilst she grew up poor and that is where the hatred started between the two, Sandra would do anything destroy the Terreblanches and Madel would offer her the same courtesy.
Madel admits she brought Justin back but the robbery was not her fault, she swears she did it to protect him, it was all for him, does’nt he understand that? Carlos is sickened by Madel telling her, he looked up to her as his second mother and this is her way of protecting him, by embarrassing him in a church just because of her sick vengeance against his wife to be. It was all just a game between her and Sandra and he was the innocent victim who came between them. Carlos storms off angrily!
When JH is informed of what happened between Carlos and his mother and that Carlos now knows the whole truth, he cannot help but wonder how this will affect T&T. Madel opens up to a concerned Dezi telling her that everything that she worked for her might soon come to an end, that she might lose everything.
Carlos tells Lana everything that happened and says that he wants nothing more to do with the Terreblanche family. He neglects his duties at T&T but decides to face off with JH. JH tries to make Carlos understand that what his mother did, she did out of love for him because she regarded him as her son. Carlos is not convinced and makes another attempt to meet up with Ben to find out just what hold Sandra had over Madel. He tells Carlos that Sandra found out that Madel had huge sums of money illegally taken out of the country and this was enough to land Madel in hot water so she had to take drastic steps to bring Justin back so that Sandra’s skeletons be exposed.
Madel and JH are frantic that they are not hearing anything from Carlos and are completely in the dark as to what his plans might be now that the truth is out. He makes arrangements to meet with them at the Terreblance house and JH tells Dezi to be there as well. When Carlos arrives with Lana in tow, one cannot help but admire the beautiful cream coloured dress Lana is wearing. Carlos announces that he and Lana had gotten married at the courts and poor Dezi wants to congratulate them but she is cut off by a very serious looking Carlos. He tells them that he and Lana will not be staying in Johannesburg and he reveals all Madel’s dirty secrets telling her he cannot believe the drastic lengths she went to in her sick vendetta against Sandra, he storms out of the house pulling Lana along.
Bye bye Carlos, your character was abit of a bore so I doubt you’ll be that much missed.
With Carlos leaving Jozi there is the question of his partnership which he’s keen to get rid of. With JH’s money tied up in the Boutique and Madel not having nearly enough to buy out Carlos, the Terreblanches are weighing up their options of taking on a new partner or making a bank loan. Too scared to risk losing her shop to an outsider, they opt to take out a bank loan so that the shop will now fully be in Terreblanche hands again. They arrange a press conference to let the whole of Hillside know and everyone is invited. Dezi tries her best to put on a brave face but she fails dismally especially when a beady eyed Robyn is watching her closely.
You see Dezi cannot come to terms with the fact that the family she married into could be so devious and have so many skeletons in their closet yet they put on a smiling false face when dealing with the press and outsiders.
After hurting his back in a Kata box demonstation, Oubaas is milking the situation for all its worth. He uses his injury as a sympathy ploy to get Hilda and Maria to wait on him hand and foot. Not able to handle her demanding husband anymore, Hilda is at her wits end as she complains to Vince how tired Oubaas is making her with all his demands (no not those demands, you wicked people).
Vince comes up wit the idea that Hilda uses a special herb he got from a friend, apparently it cures all aches and pains.Desparate to try anything Hilda takes it upon herself to give Oubaas the miracle herb called Willempie Wortel without his knowledge.
Before Hilda can say dadelvingers, her Oubaas is back to his old self, fit as a fiddle and raring to go. The only problem with this new, fitter Oom Oubaas is that he seems very strange. He becomes almost obsessive about figures and times, he calls everyone on their proper names and even poor Hilda gets no fuzzy wuzzy nicknames, Oom Oubaas is strictly polite and have no time to mess around. Alas Hilda seems unhappy about this terribly boring hubby of hers who seems more like a stranger to her than anything else.
Eventually it would appear that Willempie Wortel is the main culprit behind Oom Oubaas’ eccentric behaviour and once Hilda stops giving it to him, Oom Oubaas goes back to being his usual self and all’s well in the Van Zyl house again.
Emma is being stalked by a very psychotic person who is hell bent on destroying her in a fairytale gone completely wrong. It all started with her receiving gifts all related to some or other fairytale and at first she thought it was her ex boyfriend Tonie but later found out that it could not possibly be him. As time goes on the cat and mouse game that the stalker is playing on Emma turns deadly and in a race against time Ryno tries to figure out who the culprit may be.
After some investigation it turns out that the stalker is somebody who attended one of Ryno’s workshops and this person wasn’t particularly impressed with Ryno trashing his work. His work off course was about a guy who kills a woman using the fairytale theme and at the time Ryno told the guy the story was too far fetched, well Ryno this guy is out to prove you wrong. When Ryno eventually finds the original manuscript, it seems the stalker is one step ahead of him since he signed his name using a pseudonym, Rumpestiltskin.
The Friday before the New Year, the young folk of Hillside all have the afternoon off and Anton suggest they make use of the beautiful afternoon by having a picnic at Zoo Lake. Everyone’s excited about the picnic and decide to meet at Oppiekoffie at twelve. Emma is not sure she wants to join them but Ryno and Zinzi convince her to join the others and she relents. A basket of juicy looking apples is delivered to all the shops in the laan compliments of the new vegetable shop and Tessa convinces Emma it is safe to eat since she herself had one and is still in one piece.
When Emma is ready to join the others, Anton stops her and tells her it would be better for her to stay since there is a stalker hellbent on getting to her. A terrified Emma decides to stay behind and we see her sitting alone at her computer staring at the apples, she decides to have one.
Ryno is getting ready for an interview at the Hillside offices when he receives a message from the cheeky stalker hinting at Emma being in trouble at the park. When Ryno tries to call Emma, we see a hand switching her phone off and an unconscious Emma lying on the floor.
Ryno is sent on a wildgoose chase to the park and when Mandla and Marko see the terrified expression on his face, they know that something is drastically wrong and they follow him. Ryno can’t seem to find Emma and going over the message in his head, he realises the stalker took Emma home.
At the Lategan home, a very weird scene awaits us. Emma is in a glass coffin surrounded from head to toe by rose petals, there’s garden gnomes all around her and lots of candles and roses. A figure is standing at the coffin and a knife is taken out, the camera pans in close to the mysterious figure and it is revealed to be …..Anton, the waiter from Oppiekoffie, well I’ll be damned, so he’s
Rumpelstitskin all the time (but we kinda figured that out anyway so no surprises there).
Anton is ready to kill Emma when he hears a commotion outside and hides away. Ryno storms in and is shocked by the scene before him, he runs to his wife, tries to revive her but nothing, he lifts her into his arms and tells Marko he’s taking her to the clinic. Meanwhile, Mandla in typical journalist fashion, takes loads of snaps of Emma lying in her glass coffin. Marko decides to stay behind to look for clues when he stumbles upon Anton hiding behind the sofa, he expresses his shock at seeing him and before he realises what’s happening, Anton begins wielding the knife in Marko’s face.
Not one to be beaten by a pipsqueak like Anton, the boxer in “Merciless” Marko Greyling took over and after just a couple of punches, Anton was down, all the while Mandla was there to take photos of the whole fight. The next day the laan is abuzz with the news of what nearly happened to Emma and that Anton was the man behind it all. Karien and Dezi go visit Emma at the clinic and it would appear that she’s over the worst and glad that her nightmare ordeal has ended. Emma also thanks Marko for saving her life.
As time goes on, we see Emma behaving rather bizarre, she imagines seeing all sorts of weird things related to the fairytale trauma and it’s clear that she’s losing it, the drama with Anton is far from over for her as she becomes a raving lunatic attacking Ryno and blaming him for not protecting her.
Okay we all know that Bertha Le Roux, the actress playing Emma is pregnant in real life and we were keen to see what her temporary exit from the show would be. Melanie du Bois aka Felicity also went on maternity leave earlier when her character escaped to Italy and now it seems Emma will be leaving as a nutcase to sort herself out at some kind of mental institution.
Lindsay, the drug addict who’s been sponging off Vanessa to feed her drug habit cannot seem to escape the vicious circle she finds herself in. She continues to manipulate Vanessa into giving her money and Vanessa is only too happy to oblige since it means that Lindsay is too unfit to look after her baby and Vanessa has no choice but to play mother to Baby Thysie, a role she simply thrives on.
Vanessa is growing more attached to the baby and when Charmaine returns from looking after a sick relative, she’s shocked to find the baby in her house. She scolds Vanessa and tells her to give the baby back to its mother but Vanessa doesn’t have any contact details for Lindsay. Then late one night Lindsay rocks up at the Beukes house looking the worse for wear. Before any questions are asked, she collapses in front of Vanessa and Charmaine. It seems Lindsay has suffered from a drug overdose and she is rushed to the clinic.
Meanwhile, Charmaine tries to get Xander to help find out information about Lindsay’s family but they keep on coming up against a brick wall. Then Neville decides to print an article about Lindsay in the paper together with a photo of an elderly couple they find in her handbag.
The elderly couple turns out to be he parents (but we knew that already) and her mother contacts Charmaine to say that she’s coming to Johannesburg to see her daughter. When Vanessa hears that Thysie’s granny is coming, she makes a duck with the baby and runs away, real grown up behaviour, Vanessa.
Charmaine eventually meets Henna, Lindsay’s mom and she panics when she realises Vanessa has run off with the baby so she lies to say that Vanessa is visiting some relatives. Henna is surprised but pleased to hear that Lindsay named her baby after her dad, Thys.
Henna goes to visit Lindsay at the clinic and she’s shocked to find her daughter in the state she’s in. Since Lindsay is going thru the detox phase, things are not going well for her, she’s irritable, miserable and she’s craving her drugs but she has no choice since the clinic staff has tied her up so she cannot escape. Lindsay is not happy to see her mother at all and tells her to go back home.
Later we find out that Lindsay is estranged from her parents since she got
involved with a married man and refused to listen to her parents so she ran away from home. They didn’t even know she was pregnant but Henna is determined to make things right with her daughter and with Charmaine’s motherly advice, she starts making progress. Lindsay’s father on the other hand refuses to hear anything about Lindsay, he tells Henna to come home and not to be used by their daughter but Henna refuses to listen to him.
Charmaine is at her wits end after phoning several family members in the hope of finding Vanessa and not succeeding. She’s worried sick because not only has Vanessa kidnapped a baby but she’s not thinking rationally. Neville offers to hire a private investigator to find her and we hear that she was seen getting off a bus in Kimberley, a place where she knows nobody.
While Lindsay is sleeping, her mother pours out her heart telling her how much she loves and misses her and regrets everything that happened in the past. A nurse comes in and tells her to leave and we see tears rolling down Lindsay’s cheeks indicating she heard every word her mom just spoke. When it seems that Lindsay is getting better and things are going well between her and her mother, the subject goes to her dad and it’s clear that he’s not happy that her mother is here with her. This upsets Lindsay and she tells her mother to leave.
Henna confides in Charmaine about being stuck between her daughter and her husband and she feels guilty about not seeing her grandchild yet. It’s then that Charmaine tells Henna that Vanessa has run off with the baby because she cannot bear to part with him after losing her own child a few months back. She begs her not to report Vanessa to the police and Henna nods in understanding.
Later Vanessa phones Marko and tells him to come fetch her in Kimberley. She looks all battered and bruised and Marko takes her to be cleaned up before bringing her home. Later Vanessa tells her mother the desparate situation she found herself in when she had to resort to begging for money to buy her ticket back to Jozi. A scaly looking character took advantage of her situation and she was nearly raped before she made her escape. Charmaine consoles her daughter, happy to have her back safely at home.
Charmaine is relieved when Vanessa tells her that she knows she made a huge mistake running away with the baby and he will never take the place of Aubrey in her heart. Later she goes to see Lindsay and encourages her to be strong and to fight back for the sake of her baby.
Eventually Lindsay and her mother make amends and Henna is besotted with her grandchild but her husband is still a problem. He’s been phoning her, demanding that she returns to Richmond and to forget about Lindsay. Unable to handle his wife’s stubbornness, Thys rocks up in Hillside and he’s more determined than ever not to let Lindsay and her problems get to him. Henna pleads with him to give Lindsay a second chance but the old man refuses. When Lindsay hears that her dad is in town but does not want to see her, she’s clearly upset and gets into an argument with her mother.
When Thys goes to see Vanessa to give her money for looking after the baby, she’s not there but Hilda tells him that she will be back any second. He’s just about to leave when Vanessa comes in, baby in hand and the old man is overwhelmed when he sees his grandchild for the first time, Vanessa lets him hold the baby and he’s overcome with emotion. Yeah babies tend to do that, softens the hardest of hearts.
Thys makes his way to the clinic where he sees his daughter and the two finally reconcile, he tells her that she and the baby are coming home with them and the two embrace. Finally!
Thys tells Charmaine and Vanessa that he and Lindsay have forgiven each other and that he and Henna will be returning home with the baby whilst Lindsay will be admitted to a rehabilitation centre. The Spies family comes to greet the Beukes family and as difficult as it is, a brave Vanessa finally says farewell to Baby Thysie and returns him to his family. All’s well that ends well.
There’s a new girl in Vince’s life and she goes by the name of Celeste no wait, its Cecile oh what the heck lets leave it at Celeste. Vince met this lovely lady at the Club surprise surprise and he’s completely smitten with her. Later Vince sees a picture of his girl draped in expensive clothing and jewellery standing next to an old geezer and Paula who wrote the article tells him that the lady is Cecile Whitaker and she’s married to the rich old man. This hits Vince for a six and he confronts Celeste who denies it saying it’s her twin sister. Unable to live with her lie, she tells Vince the truth and he’s very upset and breaks it off with her. Unfortunately this girl has gotten under his skin, you know the forbidden fruit and all and Vince can’t seem to stay away. The two sneak around meeting each other and steal passionate kisses although Celeste is a nervous wreck, scared that her husband might suspect something.
Then one night at O’malleys while Vince is getting their drinks, Cecile sees two guys arguing and storming out of the bar. Just then her phone rings and she goes outside to answer not wanting her husband to suspect she’s in a bar when she’s supposed to be visiting a friend. When she returns, she’s a complete wreck and more nervous than ever before. What has scared her so?
The next day we find out that Neville has put Mandla onto a hot story about a murder that happened at O’malleys the previous night. Meanwhile Cecile goes to see Vince and she tells him what has scared her so. When she went to answer her phone in the alley the previous night, she saw the two men outside with the one getting into his vehicle, the other man called out to him and shot him right there in cold blood and Celeste is the only witness to this horrible murder.
Everyone seems to be talking about the murder and its all happening in front of Vince. He tries to persuade Celeste to come forward and tell the police everything but she’s too afraid since it means the truth of her affair will be exposed and she will lose everything as a result. Things are further complicated when Xander’s firm handles the case for the defense and it appears to be one of their biggest clients but it seems that the murderer will be getting off scot free since there are no witnesses. This freaks Vince out that a guilty man will be walking the streets freely and he feels that justice needs to be served. He and Celeste come upon this “brilliant” idea that Vince will appear to be the witness and make a statement to the police telling them everything that he “saw”.
Neville and Xander are freaked out that Vince didn’t come to them first and they question what took him so long in the first place. Neville pleads with his son to speak to him but Vince brushes it all aside preferring to carry this huge burden alone, with Celeste off course.
Will the truth be revealed? Tune in to find out.
Other minor storylines happening in the Laan:
-Dezi and JH are the new owners of the Boutique;
-Alyce resigns from the Boutique after being hired as the Club’s new Manager;
-Paula and Altie break up after he suspects that she cheated on him with Manie from Witbank, she really didn’t. She was gonna cheat on him with Ryk Neetling because she thought she was meeting him in Oppiekoffie but it turned out to be Manie who’s girlfriend rocked up at that précise moment and punched Paula down to the ground in the arcade in front of Altus and all her buddies; Its obvious there are still very strong feelings between the two but if they will admit it is another question;
-After failing to get somebody to manage the Boutique and taking a lot of flak from Robyn, Dezi decides to resign from KDL and to manage the Boutique herself;
-With Ryno at Emma’s bedside, Karien decides to help out at the Boekwinkel and Altus encourages her to go ahead with the Book Launch for the Nutsman, Riaan Venter; Ryno rocks up in the nick of time to give a speech at the launch and it turns out to be a successful event. Off course it was funny with Riaan and Mandla hinting that they each look familiar to the other but not knowing from where; Strictly Come Dancing ring a bell guys?
-Marko’s cousin Diederik arrives from Prieska and crashes at Marko’s place until he finds a job and his own accomodation,
-Marko dumps the mysterious Tamsin after catching her redhanded with another guy,
-San Mari confides in Danny that her father lost his job again due to his drinking problem and Robyn overhears, Later San Marie tells Danny that her father developed this problem when he had his own business many years ago and his crooked bookkeeper cleaned him out completely, he sought solace in the bottle thereafter; Mmm could the bookkeeper possibly be Robyn De Swardt?
-Robyn seems to be playing games with George. Altus overhears her speaking to her lawyer about stalling and coming up with all sorts of excuses not to pay George his share of KDL. Altus goes to Dezi and tells her what he knows and Dezi overhears Robyn lying to George on the phone about the money she owes him, Dezi and Altus start questioning Robyn’s work ethics;
-Alyce decides to relaunch the Club with a dance competition for all ages. The grand prize is a trip to Victoria Falls. The whole Laan is excited as Vanessa and Xander hook up, San Mari and Marko (Marko’s broke again and needs to win so that he can cash in the money), Tessa and Kabelo, Karien and Altus, Neville and Charmaine, Oubaas and Hilda, Dezi and Jan Hendrik, Paula and Mandla (at Nellie’s insistence) and Zinzi with her mystery partner. The judges are Matrone, the Nutsman Riaan Vernter, resident champ of SCD 2 and Ms van der Bijl who happens to be just as bad as Matrone. It’s finally the night of the first round of judging and everyone gives it their best shot but its Hilda and Oom Oubaas who scores the highest points with their sakkie-sakkie. Zinzi’s mystery partner is none other than Danny who’s disguised as Vusi but nobody picks up on this;
7de Laan
Mondays – Fridays
SABC 2
18:30