Aahana Swrup
Patrick Vandael has undergone a number of precarious storylines in ‘High Tides.’ After his near-death experience in season 1, the businessman significantly suffers through the medical and professional consequences of his recovery. By the time season 3 rolls around, the Vandael Group runs the risk of growing under while Patrick and his mother, Jacqueline, do everything they can to keep a hold over their empire. Nonetheless, once their family’s secrets begin to spill over, their borrowed time seems to have come to an end. For the same reason, eventually, Patrick tries to flee his circumstances by actually fleeing from Knokke. However, in this escape act, the latter and his wife, Eleonore, become victims of a severe car crash. Consequently, the family patriarch’s demise and the reality of the events that led up to the accident become points of major intrigue. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Car Crash Kills Patrick Vandael
At the beginning of season 3, it becomes evident that the Vandael and Paroti families haven’t yet managed to escape each other’s orbits. Any upper hand Melissa has on Patrick and Eleonore after uncovering their involvement in the death of her sister, Claudia, is instantly lost when she ends up murdering Thomas, the Vandael matriarch’s nurse. Therefore, now Melissa and her son, Daan, are back under the Knokke elite family’s thumbs, compelled to their bidding. However, they simultaneously possess the power to unravel the family’s life by revealing their secrets, even if it condemns the mother-son duo in the process as well. In the end, this is exactly what happens.
The weight of the secret becomes too much for Daan to carry, and he ends up spilling his guts to Louise while they’re on holiday with their friends. Around the same time, Patrick’s deal with the development of a gold course in town also ends up falling through as a result of the strategic efforts of his rival, Anton Vermeer. Worse yet, the latter successfully ruins the Vandael Group’s plans by using his daughter, Juliette, to extract sensitive information from Alex. As such, Patrick finds himself backed into a corner that can only spell out his doom. His business is failing, and from the looks of it, his freedom will cease to exist the minute Daan returns to town and confesses. Consequently, he decides to skip town with his wife. However, the night takes an unexpected turn when the couple gets in an accident, from which only Eleonore emerges alive.
Eleonore Had the Motive and the Method, But Her Intentions Remain Ambiguous
At the time of the car accident, Eleonore is the one behind the wheel. She and Patrick are driving out of town when their bickering ends up distracting her from the road, which ultimately results in the car crash. In the aftermath, Patrick dies, and Eleonore manages to walk away from the incident, injured but alive. The patriarch’s death arrives as a complicated affair for the entire family, but especially his widow. She and Patrick had long had a loveless marriage. In fact, Claudia’s death was a result of her affair with the latter. Even though Patrick wasn’t directly responsible for her death, Eleonore has long held a grudge against him for it.
Simply put, there was no love lost between the pair. Additionally, Patrick’s death ends up solving quite a lot of problems facing the Vandael family as a whole. After Patrick’s death, Alex inherits the family business, which has already been sinking for some time now. However, the patriarch’s ego and pride had prevented him from doing the right thing and selling the company away. Once Alex takes over, he goes on to do just that, allowing the family to be rid of the burden of the failing business. On the other hand, they also manage to convincingly use Patrick as a scapegoat for all their crimes, including Claudia and Thomas’ deaths and ensuing cover-ups.
As a result, Eleonore and her kids can finally enjoy the luxury of a new start, free of the complications Patrick placed on the family. As such, it’s clear that the widow also has the motive to want her husband dead. Nonetheless, given the nature of the incident, only speculations can be made about Eleonore’s intention behind the accident. Even if the woman wanted her husband dead, an intentional car accident, while she is in the driver’s seat, seems like too big a risk to take. After all, the accident could have spelled out her own doom as well. Thus, the show plants some hints that suggest the possibility of her involvement in Patrick’s death, but ultimately leaves the instance ambiguous.
Read More: High Tides Season 4: Why Was it Canceled?
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