The Belgian teen drama and thriller series *High Tides* (or *Knokke Off*) has returned with a third season, with Netflix confirming that this will be the final installment of the series. In keeping with this confirmation, the eight-episode season brings closure to the chaotic lives of the central characters—particularly after outsiders Melissa and her son, Daan, were compelled by circumstances to forge ties with the Vandael family, and specifically with its notorious patriarch, Patrick. Broadly speaking, the third season appears to have lost the momentum the series demonstrated in its previous two installments; this time around, it gives the impression of being in a rush to wrap up the narrative at any cost.
The third season of *High Tides* kicks off on the day of the famous Knokke Rally—an annual automotive event and exhibition held in this small Belgian town, serving as a stage for the ultra-rich to flaunt their luxury cars and their driving prowess. Among this year's participants is the unexpected presence of Patrick Vandael, who has yet to fully recover from the injuries he sustained in the first season, when he was shot by his own daughter, Olivia.
Creator: Anthony Van Biervliet
Stars: Pommelien Thijs, Willem De Schryver, Eliyha Altena
While recovering from those lingering injuries, Patrick was assaulted and wounded once again by Thomas—the vengeful young man who, in the previous season, sought to settle scores with the Vandael family. Although Patrick is now in better physical condition than when we last saw him—able to stand on his own two feet—he still requires the constant aid of a cane. Nevertheless, participating in the Knokke Rally is a matter of honor and pride; consequently, he attends the event with his luxury automobile, which will be driven by his son, Alexander.
There is another familiar face returning to Knokke on that very same day: that of Louise Basteyns, who, at the end of the second season, had voluntarily checked herself into a drug rehabilitation facility. Louise has experienced a remarkable improvement and has learned to manage her struggle with bipolar disorder, leading her doctors to determine that she is ready to be discharged. Thus, after six long months, Louise returns home to her family and friends, though she will need time to reintegrate into her environment. Her mother, Angelique, ends up making a very harsh—and casual—remark while at the rehabilitation center, casting doubt on whether her daughter will be capable of leading a normal life for very long. Although Louise manages to weather these insensitive observations, she still needs to learn how to cope with more tangible challenges, as she immediately feels overwhelmed by overstimulation upon attending the rally.
Despite having shared a romantic closeness with both Alex and Daan in the past, Louise does not seem to occupy a very significant place in either of their lives now. Alex, it appears, is dating a young woman named Juliette—someone with whom Louise had a run-in in the past. Daan, for his part, has been working for the Vandael family as a photographer at all the events they organize. This is a direct consequence of the events that unfolded at the end of the second season, when Melissa accidentally killed Thomas while attempting to save Daan; both were then forced to turn to Patrick, who disposed of the body at one of his construction sites and buried the truth. Now, both Daan and Melissa work for the Vandaels—each in their own way—while Patrick and his mother, Jacqueline (or "Bonmamie"), must contend with external pressures.
Justice finally intervenes in the affairs of the Vandaels and the Vissers during the third season—all stemming from a mistake made by Daan. In the very first episode, Louise is beaming with joy when her parents gift her her old car, which she decides to take to the rally. Frustrated to see Alex alongside Juliette—and with a genuine desire to rekindle her friendship with Daan—she decides to take a spin in the car with him. She had previously appeared bewildered upon learning that Daan was now living with the Vandaels—and that, evidently, he was working for them as well; consequently, she decides to confront him right then and there to find out what is truly going on between the two families. Louise finds it strange that Daan no longer lives with his mother, who, in turn, has moved out of the residence they previously occupied in the trailer park.
All these probing questions serve only to heighten Daan’s nervousness and sense of guilt, leading him to suffer a hallucination: he sees Thomas—covered in concrete, as if he had emerged from his secret grave—standing right in the middle of the road. Since Daan was already speeding, he swerves violently to avoid the man he is hallucinating.
However, the police officer—Inspector Germonprez—is suspicious of Louise's story; verifying it proves quite simple for him, as security cameras were positioned along the entire route the car had taken that day. He soon discovers that Daan Vissers was not only a passenger in the vehicle but was, in fact, the one driving—meaning he is the true culprit. Consequently, Germonprez interrogates Daan and Melissa as well, viewing this as a genuine opportunity to investigate another matter. He manages to establish that Daan maintains a very close relationship with the Vandael family and asks him to be forthright regarding them. Inspector Germonprez strongly suspects that members of the family must have been involved in some way in the disappearances of Claudia and Thomas, both of whom were working for the family at the time they vanished. He continues to interrogate Daan and Melissa, and the case takes an unexpected turn when Patrick Vandael dies in a car accident. It is only then that Germonprez finally succeeds in solving the mystery of Claudia's disappearance, though he fails to uncover the whole truth. It is revealed to him that Patrick had murdered Claudia—driven by jealousy and rage—after discovering she was having an affair with his wife. Although it was Alex who inadvertently pushed Claudia off the balcony, his name remains outside the scope of the investigation. Ultimately, Inspector Germonprez manages to confirm that the Vandaels had also murdered Thomas and buried him at a construction site; however, he uncovers nothing regarding Melissa or Daan's involvement in the events of that night.
The intensity of the events escalates in the third season of *High Tides*, when Daan and Alex go on vacation alongside Louise and their other friends; there, Daan finds himself unable to continue living with the guilt and trauma stemming from the night Thomas died. He suffers from recurring nightmares about the events of that night and, furthermore, experiences panic attacks. On one such occasion—during their vacation—Louise comes to his aid and encourages him to release all the feelings he has been repressing. As a result, Daan tells her exactly what happened to Thomas; subsequently, Alex also confesses to her that he was involved in Claudia's death and the subsequent cover-up. This means the secret is out in the open, and when Patrick and Eleanor learn of this development, they panic. Patrick is convinced that Louise will reveal everything to the police; apparently, he also fears that all the other murders and cover-ups he may have committed throughout his life will come to light as well. In fact, Alex himself angrily tells his father that he intends to speak with Inspector Germonprez as soon as they return to Belgium.
Consequently, Patrick and Eleanor rush to the airport to be the first to meet the young people upon their landing, with the firm intention of silencing them. It is Eleanor who drives the car, as Patrick is not yet physically fit enough to do so himself. During the drive, Eleanor urges her husband to calm down, assuring him that she has a plan in mind to save the family; immediately thereafter, the car crashes, resulting in Patrick's death. At first glance, the incident appears to be a genuine accident, given that Eleanor was driving at a very high speed and, seemingly, failed to notice the turnoff ahead on the road. However, it is highly probable that Eleanor caused the crash deliberately, as the plan she mentions to save the family appears to entail the deaths of both herself and her husband. As any mother would, Eleanor is desperate to protect her children at all costs; if she and her husband were to die suddenly in a car accident, the blame for the murders could be laid upon them, thereby sparing Alex and Olivia from any legal repercussions. In that event, her mother-in-law, Jacqueline, will undoubtedly take charge of looking after them—both financially and personally. It remains unclear whether Eleanor anticipated that she would survive—which could well be the case, given that complications stemming from Patrick’s previous injuries might have rendered him more vulnerable; nevertheless, there is scarcely any doubt that Eleanor caused the accident on purpose, particularly when observing the speed with which she turns against her husband and his family to bring the entire matter to a close following Patrick’s death.
The third season of *High Tides* introduces a new character named Anton Vermeer, who heads a firm called Dutch Property—a construction company owned by his family. Dutch Property is nearly identical to the Vandael Group—Patrick’s family business; the only difference between the two is that the former is headquartered in the Netherlands, while the latter is based in Belgium. Furthermore, an old feud exists between Anton and Patrick, as Jacqueline Vandael apparently played an indirect role in subjecting Anton’s father to excessive stress (and, it seems, causing him deep grief as well), which ultimately led to his death. For this reason, Anton is firmly determined to acquire the Vandael Group and oust Patrick and his family from their own family business—especially now that they are facing financial difficulties. Patrick Vandael’s accidental death brings Anton even closer to achieving his goal, given that Alexander Vandael has now assumed the role of CEO, and the young man is completely inexperienced in the business world.
Some time earlier, Anton had enlisted the services of Angelique, a professional lawyer who, coincidentally, maintained a close friendship with the Vandael family. However, given that Angelique had recently felt slighted by Eleanor—and also because she had previously worked as Anton’s lawyer in the past—she agreed without hesitation to collaborate with him once again. Patrick Vandael had only one avenue for restoring profitability to his family business: transforming a plot of land into a golf course. However, to carry out this project, he first needed to acquire official ownership of the entire tract of land—a transaction that was still pending signature. Anton learned of this detail thanks to his daughter, Juliette, whom he had deliberately introduced into Alex’s life in order to obtain information about his family. Although Juliette genuinely fell in love with Alex, her only significant role in the plot is that of an informant for his father, as Alex breaks up with her and the group of friends refuses to welcome her back into their circle.
Leveraging this information, Anton acquired a portion of the land in the names of Angelique and her husband, Jan; this meant that the Vandael family could no longer proceed with the construction of their golf course. When Alex takes the reins of the business following his father's death, Anton is convinced that he has achieved his objective of wresting the Vandaels' own family business away from them; however, he does not anticipate that the young man is about to execute an extremely shrewd maneuver. Alex establishes a new company called Belgian Property, utilizing the funds he was about to receive from the sale of the Vandael Group. With the assistance of both Juliette and Louise—who, in turn, brings her father, Jan, into the fold—Alex resorts to shady tactics to ensure he acquires a portion of the land comprising the golf course site. The majority of this site had previously belonged to Patrick, while the remaining portion had been purchased by the Basteyns. With Anton's recent acquisition of the Vandael Group, he becomes the owner of the entire tract of land—where he could finally develop the lucrative golf course... or so he believed.
Just before officially becoming the owner of the Vandael Group, Alex had founded Belgian Property and purchased the portion of the land belonging to the Basteyns; this means that Anton is now unable to take any action regarding the site without Alex's participation. Thus, Anton Vermeer fails to execute his plan to destroy the Vandaels—despite having purchased their very own business—all thanks to the cunning of Alex, who, evidently, had the assistance of Jacqueline. Throughout Seasons 2 and 3, Jacqueline Vandael—whom most affectionately call "Bonmamie"—emerges as a shrewd, scheming, and capitalist matriarch whose sole concerns are her family's honor and the business they run.
True to her character, she makes difficult decisions—such as backing Alexander to take over as CEO of the Vandael Group—even while Patrick is still alive. By the end of Season 3, Jacqueline remains just as determined to protect her family's reputation at all costs, going so far as to sacrifice her own life to achieve this. Given that she had been ill for some time and had been diagnosed with cancer, Jacqueline decides that the best course of action is to shoulder the blame for all the misdeeds of which her family has been accused, thereby ensuring that the rest of her family members are absolved of any liability. By making herself the target of the accusations, she also succeeds in clearing her son's name—since, up until that point, Pat had been held responsible.
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