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Episode Summaries: Nashe Maalo
Each episode has a running time of 30 minutes.
Season 1
The Building Comes To Life
We see people living in what appears to be an unassuming apartment building.
Gradually we see that one family is Macedonian, another Albanian, Roma…
When a student moves out of the building,
she asks some kids: Beni (Albanian), Dime and Mali (Macedonian), Atije (Roma) and Jeylan (Turkish)
to help her carrying the things to her car.
These kids don't know each other, even though most of them live in the same building. The student has no more room in the car, so she gives leaves her TV set to the kids to share. After some debate, the kids decide that the appropriate place for the TV is a room in the basement. There they continue to argue over the TV, and before they can even plug it into the wall the TV turns on. On the screen is Karmen, who it turns out is the apartment in which the kids live. She introduces the kids to each other, addressing each in his/her own language. All the children are totally amazed, but remain convinced that there's some logical technical explanation. They agree to return later to look for the real meaning of what's happened. No one keeps the promise and only one to come at the appointed time is Atije. Because the kids haven't kept their word, Karmen doesn't appear when they all finally assemble in the basement. Dime blames Beni and makes pejorative remarks about how Beni, as an Albanian, has no place in the building.
At home Dime is irritable and pouty.
Karmen suddenly "threshes"
(to send someone through Karmen's magic tunnel) Dime to Beni's apartment, where Dime invisibly witnesses that Beni is just a
regular kid who is now as unhappy as he is.
After he's "threshed" back, Dime realizes he needs to apologize to Beni for insulting him earlier.
Despite this reconciliation, the kids still have
a problem: The adults have decided to make the basement room their common laundry.
Dime offers a plan to outsmart the parents.
And together the kids succeed in keeping the basement as their shared room where they visit Karmen.
They also realize that they now form a group with a shared secret.
The Necklace
Jeylan's invited to a birthday party.
She wants to look good, so she borrows her mother's necklace without permission.
That day Atije's mother Nerjus is scheduled to clean at Jeylan's while nobody is home.
Atije, reluctantly, helps out her mother briefly and leaves.
After Jeylan's mother (Leyla), returns and pays Nerjus for her work, she notices the necklace is missing.
Leyla rushes after Nerjuz, angrily accuses her of stealing the necklace, and declares that Nerjuz will never be allowed
into her apartment again.
All the tenants witness this confrontation.
Nerjus, hurt and humiliated, confronts her daughter because she suspects that her Atije might have stolen the necklace.
When Nerjuz realizes that Atije is uninvolved, she decides to replace the necklace by selling the family earrings that had
she'd been keeping for Atije's dowry.
This is a no-win situation: No matter what she does she can't prove her innocence because no one trusts Roma people.
When Beni hears the rumour of the stolen necklace, he calls Jeylan, who leaves the party and goes home intending to tell to
tell her mother what really happened. Leyla's anger dissuades
Jeylan from revealing the truth, at which point Karmen “threshes” Jeylan to Atije's courtyard.
There Jeylan invisibly witnesses Nerjuz preparing to take the earrings to a jeweller to sell.
Before Nerjuz can present Leyla with the newly purchased necklace, Jeylan succeeds in telling Nerjuz what happened.
She accompanies Atije and Nerjuz back to the jeweller and convinces him to re-exchange the necklace for the precious earrings.
Leyla, however, is harder to bring around.
Although she understands Jeylan's part in the misadventure, she is feels humiliated that she was wrong and a Roma cleaning woman was right.
Whereas Atije and Jeylan once again become friends, it remains to be seen what will happen with Leyla and Nerjuz.
Mali has a Little Lamb
The Muslim feast of Kurban Bayram and Orthodox Easter are approaching.
Beni's and Dime and Mali's families each make their own preparations.
Beni and his father have brought a lamb to keep until Kurban Bayram.
Mali wants to dye eggs for Easter.
A confrontation between Dime's and Beni's fathers about keeping a lamb in the building quickly escalates.
Beni, angry with Mali's family for preventing them from keeping the lamb, breaks Mali's Easter eggs.
When Mali tells Dime what happened, Dime and a friend go looking for the lamb, which they intend to
steal in revenge. When Karmen sees how delighted Mali is by this idea, she “threshes” him to Muslim
household where he sees why and how Muslims celebrate Kurban Bayram.
Mali realizes that to Beni the lamb is as important as the eggs are to him.
He decides that Dime shouldn't steal the lamb and informs Beni about Dime's plan.
After a comical lamb chase, Mali catches it.
Beni trades him the lamb for two Easter eggs.
Beni's Choice
Beni is a talented basketball player, and is invited to try out for the best basketball team in town, the Mahers.
But to do so, he has to choose between basketball practice and keeping his promise to Jeylan – to rehearse for a
show she's preparing. Making excuses to Jeylan, he chooses basketball.
Beni soon discovers that getting into the Mahers involves additional choices.
Succumbing to pressure from the others team members, Beni goes along with them as they bully a younger boy and
slash his basketball. Karmen then threshes Beni to a room where the bullied boy is talking with his teacher about
what makes for real friends. Beni decides that his friendship with Jeylan is more important than being a Maher,
and joins her in preparing and performing in the show.
Rabbit
Jeylan loves kayaking and she wants to become a member of the kayak club Zayak.
There's one condition: she has to look after the club's mascot, a rabbit, for a week.
When Jeylan shows the rabbit to her friends, they all like it; especially Biba, who wants one for herself.
That Biba means a lot to Dime is clear to his other friends, especially Itse.
When Dime can't find a rabbit for Biba anywhere, he decides to steal Jeylan's rabbit and to impress Biba.
But Biba's happiness means Jeylan's sadness.
Jeylan is concerned about the missing rabbit, but calms down when she finds out from Mali that Dime took it.
She considers Dime as her friend, so he must have simply borrowed the rabbit for some reason.
But when she finds out Dime plans to give it to Biba as a present, she gets angry and tells the guys from the kayak club.
Dime starts feeling guilty and decides to get the
rabbit back from Biba. When Itse teases Dime that he'll lose face in the eyes of Biba and the others, Dime hesitates.
Karmen senses Dime's dilemma and threshes him into a surreal situation where he experiences the negative consequences of
bowing to peer pressure. Dime stands up to
his friends' teasing and he returns the rabbit to Jeylan just before members of the kayak club gang up on him for stealing their mascot.
Ragman
Rejep is a Roma ragman and often visits our gang's neighbourhood to collect discarded clothes and other articles.
Dime and Mali have been afraid of Roma ragmen ever since they were kids.
People always told them to avoid the Roma.
Even Atije, who is herself Roma, is embarrassed by the ragman and insults Rejep as a way of showing that she's better than him.
The kids, however, find themselves in a dilemma when Dime and Mali's mother gives the ragman the old TV set on which Karmen has
always appeared to the kids. Karmen manages to convey to the kids that if she's away from the apartment building for too long,
she will lose all her power and disappear forever. As a final attempt to fix things Karmen manages to thresh Atije to Rejep's
house. There she sees him as an ordinary hardworking person who benefits everyone by collecting and recycling used things.
When the kids discover that Rejep has sold the TV set to repairman who won't give it back, they enlist Rejep's assistance.
Together with him they collect enough used things to earn the money they need to buy Karmen back from the repair shop.
They bring the TV set back to the apartment house just in time.
Dime's Party
Dime is gives a party and invites Beni to come.
Beni's father, Ahmet, won't let him go.
Ahmet is convinced that Dime has invited Beni only provide music for the party, and not because they're friends.
His second concern is that Beni will be the only Albanian at the party attended only by Macedonians.
Ahmet tries to convince Beni by relating his own previous negative experiences with Macedonians who have not kept
their word or acted sincerely with him. Beni is in personal conflict.
He knows his father means him well, but on the other hand, he knows that Dime is not trying to take advantage of him.
Karmen advises Beni to be true to his own emotions and do to what he thinks is right. Still in turmoil, Beni sneaks
through his window and goes to the party. When his parents notice his absence they go looking for him and find him at
the party. The party is in full swing even without Beni's music.
Embarrassed, they try to leave but Dime's parents invite them to stay and join the party. The next day, Beni and his
parents admit that, although Beni was wrong to have snuck out, parents can also make mistakes.
Picnic
Dime, Beni, Jeylan and Atije are going to spend the day in the countryside under the watchful eye of Beni's older sister and her boyfriend.
Mali has to stay behind because he's got a cold. At the last minute Nerjus gives Atije an extra chocolate bar.
At the picnic site the kids decide to catch butterflies. Despite Dime's bravado that he knows exactly where they are the kids get lost.
They've also left behind their backpack with the food and are now getting hungrier and hungrier. When Beni accidentally hurts his ankle
and needs to be carried, the kids are stuck on the mountain with no food and no apparent way to get back.
They quickly start to blame each other for their predicament. Atije
remembers the chocolate her mother gave her but secretly eats it by herself.
She's discovered and the conflict escalates even more.
When Mali overhears a phone call about the lost kids between his parents and Beni's sister, he wants to help.
Karmen threshes him to the mountainside, where he convinces the other kids that they can only solve their problem by working together.
They improvise a splint and figure out a way to make their way down the mountain, where they're greeted by very relieved family members.
Top
Season 2
The New Knight
Beni, Atije, Dime, Jeylan, and Mali are concerned when Karmen suddenly introduces herself to Itse.
They demand that Itse keep Karmen's existence a secret, which he agrees to half-heartedly.
Anxiety grows when Itse and Karmen stage a money-making magic show for the local kids . . . and then plan another!
Worried that Itse may reveal their secret, the kids padlock the basement room where they keep the TV.
Frustrated and angry, Itse breaks in and spray paints the TV screen.
When Dime and the others discover him there, Dime starts a fistfight.
Karmen “threshes” (magically transports) them both to a boxing ring, where their fight escalates comically but unstoppably
till they're exhausted and “threshed” back.
Having experienced that settling their disagreement by fighting doesn't get them anywhere, Dime and Itse start to ask each
other why they'd done what they did.
The gang finds out that Itse was only trying to earn enough money to buy his sister a new prom dress and they decide to help
him organise a puppet show. The puppet show is a success, Itse's sister gets her new dress and Itse is accepted the newest
knight of the Karmen roundtable.
Girls and Boys
When the local tennis club needs a doubles team to represent them at a tournament, Dime and Jeylan decide to play together.
Beni and Itse mock Dime for teaming up with a girl, so Dime drops Jeylan in favour of his friend Andrei.
Jeylan is hurt and decides to quit the tournament.
Leyla, Jeylan's mother, discovers Jeylan's decision and tells her about all the prejudice her faced as a woman when she started their family business:
Everyone thought this could only be done by a man.
Leyla convinces her daughter to be strong - and to play on.
Karmen, in the meantime, threshes Dime, Itse and Beni into girls to let them feel what girls experience when they're treated as inferior to boys.
The tournament day arrives. Jeylan and her new partner Maria play Dime and Andrei.
The girls win!
Dime and his buddies admit that ability counts, not gender.
The Other Side of the River
Although Beni's grandmother lives in Gazi Baba, Beni's parents feel uncomfortable in this part of town, and convey their attitude to Beni.
So, Beni's suspicions are aroused when he sees a boy in the street acting ‘strangely'.
Beni's band needs a new drummer.
When Zana, an Albanian girl who sings with the band, brings Jait, Beni realizes that Jait is the ‘suspicious' Albanian boy he saw in Gazi Baba.
The band's amplifier stops working during a rehearsal, so Jait offers to take it home to repair it.
Beni believes that Jait intends to steal it, and sneaks into Jait's yard to take it back.
When Jait catches him in
the act, Beni accuses Jait of theft and takes the amp home to fix it himself.
Beni gets frustrated because he can't fix it, so Karmen threshes him to Gazi Baba.
There Beni discovers that Jait earns money by fixing electronic equipment.
Beni goes back to Jait's house to apologize and convinces Jait to be the band's new drummer.
People in Gazi Baba aren't so different from people in Beni's neighbourhood after all.
Granny
An older woman is moving into Mali's neighbourhood.
When she joins Mali in reading a book of fairytales and pretends to be a damsel in distress in one of the stories, Mali is convinced that he's found the perfect granny.
He sends his friends to her whenever they need anything.
Unfortunately ‘granny' gives Filis salt instead of sugar for her baklava, and ruins rather than washes Darko's shirt.
Mali's friends complain that she's the worst granny ever.
When Mali happens to see ‘granny' chanting spells, he's convinced that she's actually a witch!
Karmen threshes Mali to a theatre rehearsal where Mali discovers that his imagined ‘granny' is an actress playing the part of a witch.
Embarrassed,
Mali and his friends put on a performance of Romeo and Juliet for her - and ‘granny' the actress joins in.
Tarabuka
The Pilots are a cool gang - and Itse wants to join them.
To get in, the Pilots demands that he brings a drum (tarabuka) for a party they're planning.
He takes one from the Dance Academy where his Roma friend Atije is studying ballet.
The Academy principal suspects Itse and advises Atije to get the tarabuka back from him.
Itse denies taking it, and the principal suspends Atije from the Academy till she can produce the drum.
Itse begins to have second thoughts and tries to get the drum back, but the Pilots mocks him for being so
concerned about a Roma girl - everyone knows that Roma steal.
Atije will be accused of the theft not Itse. Why does he care?
Atije can't understand why her friend Itse is doing something to hurt her and decides that at heart Itse is a thief.
Karmen threshes Atije for her to observe that Itse has the same need for acceptance as she does.
Atije confronts Itse again, not with accusations of theft but with a question: Does he prefer to stay in the gang or
to remain her friend? Itse says he just “borrowed” the drum to get into the gang, but that the gang won't return it.
When Itse finally demands that the Pilots return the tarabuka, they do but only after smashing the drum head.
Itse takes responsibility for his actions by returning the drum to the Academy and agreeing to sweep it out to pay
for the repair.
Secrets
Beni, Atije, Dime, Jeylan and Mali decide to hold a surprise birthday party for Filis.
When they keep disappearing to organise things, Filis is hurt because she thinks they are avoiding her intentionally.
To spite them, she angrily breaks Mail's model airplane and deflates Atije's bike tires.
Meanwhile Jeylan and Violeta discover they've chosen the same song to sing at the birthday party.
Jeylan claims it's a Turkish song so she has the right to perform it.
Violeta insists it's Macedonian and that she should sing it.
Karmen threshes Jeylan to a party where everything Jeylan wants is off limits because it's not culturally “hers”.
Jeylan understands that no one “owns” a song, and that she and Violeta can each sing her own way.
Filis meantime realizes that her spiteful acts have only
further alienated her friends, and decides to apologize.
She is therefore even more surprised when she discovers that her friends were “avoiding” her to prepare a birthday party.
The Cure
Dime is eager to see the blockbuster Fireworld.
When his father drives Dime, Mali and Filis to the movie theatre, Filis falls sick and they all have to go back home.
Nerjuz, the Roma woman who cleans the building where Dime lives, gives Filis traditional herbal medicine and reassures Dime that Filis will soon feel better.
Irritated and sceptical, Dime insults Nerjus by calling her and her medicine backwards and behind the times.
He insists that modern medicine would be better.
Karmen threshes Dime to a local hospital in the 1940s, when most medicines were still traditional.
By helping a doctor Dime learns that traditional medicines are neither “backwards” nor ineffective.
When he's threshed back, Dime find that Filis is feeling much better - and ready for Fireworld.
Nerds
Beni's band is invited to compete to appear live on radio.
All they need is one good song.
Beni asks for help from his long-standing but unseen internet song-writing partner who calls himself Cobain.
Beni doesn't know that Cobain is actually Mehmet, a shy Turkish boy whose father is very proud of the fact that
Mehmet is learning to play classical Turkish music.
Mehmet's father doesn't know that Mehmet secretly longs also to play rock-and-roll guitar.
When Mehmet shows up at Beni's rehearsal with a song idea, Beni and the band take him for some “nerd” and knock
him around. After a second meeting with Mehmet, Beni realises that the “nerd” is Cobain and apologises.
Mehmet tells Beni the band can use his song on one condition - that he plays with them.
Zana, the singer, refuses this request and walks out in disgust.
Karmen threshes Zana to a TV quiz show where the audience has to guess who she is by her looks;
they can't. Zana goes to Mehmet's house to invite him play with the band but accidentally reveals Mehmet's secret to
his father. Finally, Mehmet joins the band, which adopts the name Beni and the Nerds. Mehmet's father attends their
performance.
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Season 3
Love Story
Itse has fallen for Remziye, a young Roma girl who has come to stay with her Aunt Nerjuz.
He sees her dancing and decides to impress her by learning to dance as well.
Mali and Darko learn of his plan and bring Remziye to see him practising in his dance tights.
She thinks he is making a fool of her - and he is very embarrassed.
He chases Mali and Darko.
Mali persuades Beni to borrow Dime's video camera and enter a local amateur film competition.
At first Beni is reluctant but when he secretly films Itse in his dance tights chasing Mali
and Darko he decides that Itse's passion for Remziye could be a good subject for a film.
Hearing that Remziye is learning to speak German, Itse decides to impress her by speaking to
her in German. But instead of calling her a swan, he inadvertently insults her by calling her a swine.
Remziye consults with her best friend Elvira, who says that all Macedonians are the same:
She's convinced that all Itse wants to
do is to make fun of her. The next time Remziye sees Itse she calls him balo ('pig' in Romany).
Itse decides to try once again, this time by performing a Roma love song and dance that Nerjuz taught him.
Remziye again feels that Itse is mocking her, and becomes even angrier when she discovers Beni and Mali
secretly filming the scene. Itse is very confused, but Karmen “threshes” (magically transports) him to a
situation where he sees that his best choice is simply to be himself - not to try to be someone he imagines
Remziye would like him to be.
Beni and Mali are embarrassed that they've documented Itse's humiliation.
Beni tries to give the tape to Itse, but Itse insists that the tape should go to Remziye.
Although she accepts the tape reluctantly, Remziye realizes after she's watched it that Itse wasn't teasing her;
rather that he's just a guy trying to him impress her.
Next time Itse sees Remziye, he's back to his old self and introduces himself to her.
She's interested . . . and they go off to watch some video Remziye has of a young guy trying to impress this young girl.
Garbage
The kids are cleaning up the neighbourhood in order to enter the "Cleanest Neighbourhood Competition."
As they finishing cleaning they find an ugly puddle of oil on the ground.
Ismail (Jeylan's father) accuses Risto and Ahmed of spilling the oil the kids have found on the ground.
Risto and Ahmed in turn call Ismail a litter lout.
In their anger, the adults start throwing bags of garbage into the yard the kids have been trying to clean.
The kids are horrified. Now they have no chance of winning the competition.
Karmen tries to advise the kids but they ignore her and start taking their own parent's side in the dispute.
The kids decide to stick the bags of garbage inside the garage where the Beni's band rehearses.
But when Zana and Violeta come to practice, they open the garage door and all the rubbish pours out.
Panic struck, the kids stick the rubbish inside a parked car.
Unfortunately it belongs to the competition judges!
The judges tell the kids they've lost the competition.
The kids again go looking for Karmen, but disgusted by the rubbish she's gone away.
Mali spots her sun bathing on top of Mt. Vodno.
When they keep bickering, she threshes them to the future where they see how polluted
the world will be if people only complain but don't take any action.
Returning from Mt. Vodno, the kids decide to clean up the mess together.
Shamed by their children all the adults join in.
The Red Car
Beni and Itse are working at the new “Nashe Maalo Car Wash” owned by Beni's and Mali's families.
Their plan is to earn enough money to buy a second-hand motor scooter.
At the dealer's they realise they still don't have enough money, so the salesman promises to hold
the scooter for them till they've earned it.
Beni explains to Itse that for him working at the car wash isn't just about buying the scooter.
All Albanian boys are expected to get some kind of work at the age of 13 or 14.
It's a sign they're growing up.
Beni and Itse keep working and hide their earnings in the common room.
They don't realize that Mali has seen where they put it.
One day, a red convertible drives into the car wash.
Ice and Beni are so impressed they fail to serve the customer.
Ahmed is furious.
He scolds Beni for not taking his responsibilities seriously.
He's becoming a man, and is no longer a boy.
Beni's girlfriend, Sanya, comes to the car wash to invite Beni and Itse to see a rock group playing in the park.
As Ahmed is not there, Risto gives them permission to go.
When Beni and Itse return from the concert Ahmed is furious with Beni.
He scolds him more severely him for neglecting his job and letting the family down.
That night Beni apologises to his father and asks for a chance to prove himself.
At the car wash Ahmed gives Beni a chance to prove himself by putting him in charge one afternoon without adult supervision.
The same flashy red convertible comes in.
Beni decides to show off by taking an unwilling Itse and Sanya for a quick ride in it.
He crashes the car and injures Sanya's leg.
Although the joy ride was Beni's idea, he and Itse take responsibility for what happened.
They give their ”scooter money” to the red car owner to pay for the repair, but Beni's father remains disappointed in his son's behaviour.
Beni vows to himself never do make such a mistake again.
A True Fairytale
Mali meets a new boy in the neighbourhood, Ivan and nicknames him “Gjubredjiya” (garbage guy).
Gjubredjiya and Mali notice a new girl, Marina, who's just moved into one of the flats with her father, Petar.
Gjubredjiya is smitten and thinks she is a princess.
In the playground Gjubredjiya, Mali and Beni try to introduce themselves to Petar and Marina but abruptly Petar takes Marina indoors.
Mali says that since Marina is a princess Petar is a dragon.
When the kids find out that Petar is a school principal, they're convinced that this is the reason for his strict behaviour.
Gjubredjiya goes to Marina's flat to ask her out, but her father refuses.
Later Marina comes out into the playground.
The kids invite her to play basketball.
She tells them that she used to play - but can't anymore.
Petar suddenly appears and takes her indoors.
Gjubredjiya agrees with Mali that Petar is a dragon.
When Mali says to Karmen that he wants to “slay the dragon” Petar, Karmen threshes him to a scene between Marina and her father.
There he learns that he's much too quick to judge Petar's behaviour.
When Petar is away, Marina hesitantly goes out with Gjubredjiya.
Banging her nose she bleeds profusely.
She tells him that she has a rare bleeding disorder and she has left the drugs that control it at home.
When Petar comes home he realises that Marina is out without her medicine.
In order to find her he has to turn for help to the kids who still see him as severe and “dragon-like”.
They eventually find Marina and Gjubredjiya at the hospital, where she's being tended to.
Petar recognises his attempts to protect Marina by hiding her condition have actually made her life more difficult.
He has to trust her and her ability to cope.
Petar gives Marina permission to go out with Gjubredjiya.
My Dog
Itse's has new puppies and gives one to Mali.
When Mali's attempts to find a place to keep the puppy fail, he schemes up a plan.
Without asking her, he gives it to Jeylan thinking that she'll look after the puppy.
That way Mali will be free to play with it whenever he wants.
Although Jeylan doesn't want the puppy, Remziye persuades her that the dog needs to be taken for a walk.
They go to the city park.
In the park the puppy runs away.
Jeylan looks for it a little but decides this is a good way of ridding herself of the unwanted animal and goes home.
Mali keeps asking to see the puppy and Jeylan keeps find reasons to put him off.
Mali eventually discovers that she's been lying to him about where the dog is.
When Mali forces the truth about the dog from Jeylan, she says that he should never have given it to her in the first place.
Karmen “threshes” Jeylan to the park as a puppy.
Falling into a hole, “puppy Jeylan” waits in fear till she's rescued.
From this experience, Jeylan realises that she's been cruel to the dog and goes looking for him once again.
On its own, the missing puppy returns to Itse's house.
At Mali's house, Itse and Jeylan tell Mali that he was wrong accept the dog without his parent's permission and then to give
it to Jeylan without checking with her first.
Jeylan admits that she also mishandled the puppy.
Mali promises to find a good owner for the dog.
He gives the dog to a little girl whose parents promise that they will look after it.
She promises Mali that he can come and visit anytime he likes.
Elvis and I
Filis sees Elvis, a young Roma boy, fall off his bicycle cart and twist his ankle.
She takes him back to Shutka (the Roma quarter of Skopje).
Elvis invites Filis to visit him again and she gladly accepts.
Filis returns to Shutka where she meets Elvis and his horse, Levis.
When she arrives home late and tells her aunt and uncle where she's been, they're mortified that she's been spending time with the Roma.
They forbid her from going to Shutka again.
In the car with Ismail and Leyla, Filis encounters Elvis who's earning money by cleaning car windows.
Not knowing that this is Filis' new friend, Ismail and Leyla tell her to ignore him, which she does.
Filis expresses her regret about her behaviour towards Elvis to Karmen.
Karmen advises her to find Elvis and apologise.
When she does, Elvis says that Filis' attitude about the Roma is just like everyone else's.
He's not interested in her apology or her friendship any more.
When Filis complains to Karmen that Elvis has rejected her apology, Karmen “threshes” Filis into a Roma street girl trying to clean the window
of a car in which Elvis is riding.
Filis sees Elvis in the car and she waves at him, but he ignores her.
Filis now realises how hurt he must be.
She asks Remziye, her Roma girlfriend, to convey her regrets to Elvis on her behalf.
Remziye does.
Elvis has to choose between his hurt pride and his new friendship with Filis.
He changes his mind and asks if they can be friends again.
The following day Elvis comes to Filis' neighbourhood with Levis and is a big hit with all the children.
As they leave Levis falls lame, so Filis offers to accompany Elvis as he takes the horse to someone who can help.
She tries to phone her family to tell them where she's gone but the line is busy.
When Filis doesn't come home on time, her aunt and uncle get increasingly worried about her.
Her uncle finally drives to Elvis's home looking for her, and finds that Elvis's parents are as worried about him as Ismail is about Filis.
When Filis and Elvis eventually arrive everyone is relieved to see them.
Seeing that Elvis and his parents are a family like
any other, Ismail promises personally to bring Filis back to visit Elvis.
Darko and the Aliens
Darko has a vivid imagination.
As he sits in the playground he imagines that he is Captain Darko at the controls of a space ship.
At school he reads out a story he wrote about "Captain Darko".
Although his classmates laugh at him, his teacher is impressed.
She says that imagination is important.
Darko spots a strange “alien” on the rooftops and points him out to Mali.
To Darko's disappointment Mali is very dismissive.
Darko is dismayed.
He is therefore even more shocked when Karmen suddenly introduces herself to him on his computer.
Convinced this is further proof of aliens he rushes out to tell everyone, but they all laugh at him.
An old neighbour woman sympathizes with him by inviting him to tea and cake, but Darko is too depressed for tea.
Darko spots the “alien” again, but quickly discovers that he's simply a chimney sweep.
When the children mock Darko yet again, he decides to abandon his space stories.
In the common room, Itse and Beni laugh at Darko's predicament until Mali finds Darko's notebook and starts to read them one of Darko's stories.
They realise that his writing is rather good.... Karmen again appears again in Darko's room.
This time Darko tells Karmen of his problems - nobody takes him seriously.
Karmen “threshes” Darko, along with Mali, Beni and Itse to an alien planet created in Darko's imagination.
They are deeply impressed and congratulate Darko.
His imagination reignited, Darko writes more stories and gives a copy to Spase and Luli who, inspired, decide to write their own memoirs.
Encouraged, Darko visits the old neighbour woman.
He reads her some of his stories and they discuss what Darko would like to do in the future - go back in time perhaps to see the dinosaurs, or
travel beyond the galaxy....
Fat Boy
A hulking, unknown kid rides into “our neighbourhood.”
He's looking for someone he calls Tarabuka.
Mali, Goki, Jeylan and Beni have never heard of this person.
Suddenly Itse appears. He's Tarabuka.
And he calls the unknown kid Fatso.
Fatso challenges Itse to a fight.
Itse accepts - anytime, anywhere!
The other kids are amazed by these developments.
Itse tells them how Fatso was a member of the Pilots gang, and how Itse made him look a fool.
Fatso runs into Darko and makes him empty his pockets.
Surprisingly, Darko asks him if he would like some ice cream.
Fatso thinks Darko's going to steal it.
Jeylan, Beni and Mali work on plans to trick Fatso but Itse is adamant that his honour demands facing Fatso “man to man”.
At the shop, Darko simply takes two ice creams.
Fatso is impressed. Darko tells Fatso that stealing is for wimps.
He has an arrangement and will pay for the ice cream later.
Mali observes them together and decides that Darko has betrayed his other friends Each of Itse's friends tries to implement
a plan to trick Fatso: Beni tries to impress him by filming him and telling him that he has film star potential.
Fatso knows more about cameras than Beni does and takes it away from him.
Mali sets booby traps for Fatso but Fatso spots them all.
Exasperated Mali falls into his own trap.
Filis and Jeylan try to impress Fatso by complimenting him on his muscles.
Their plan to lock him in the garage ends up with Fatso locking them up instead.
Fatso's not as dumb as he appears, as the kids take him to be.
Fatso and Darko are becoming friends.
Fatso shows him a neat trick with ropes to use in his Captain Darko stories.
Darko tries to persuade Fatso that there is nothing to be gained in fighting Itse.
Itse remains convinced the only solution is to fight.
As he exercises in the common room Karmen encourages him to talk to Fatso instead, but he refuses.
Karmen “threshes” Itse to a Wild West saloon where Itse and Fatso get into a wild cowboy brawl – which nobody wins.
Karmen then re-runs the scene, but this time Fatso and Ice get into a conversation.
Itse understands Karmen's point, but it's too late.
The fight has already been arranged.
Surrounded by a bunch of kids who egg them on, Itse and Fatso face up.
Suddenly there is a crash.
Darko is trapped underneath a collapsed billboard.
As they work together to release Darko, Ice and Fatso realise the folly of fighting.
They finally learn each other's real names: Martin and Itse.
Martin says that he'll be back- but this time he'll pay for the ice creams.
Ghosts
As Filis prepares to go back to her home village Risto (Mali's father) is using the common room to store his precious Galichnik cheese.
The problem is Leyla (Jeylan's mother) is also using the room to store her precious preserves (rechel).
They argue about who has the right to use the common room.
Although they agree that the original caretaker of the building had said they could all use it, still they argue.
Each tries to bar the other by putting a lock on the common room door.
Karmen begins to tell Filis the story of the original caretaker; how his wife and son died in the 1963 earthquake; how he was made homeless;
how he made the common room his new home.
Each year he would host a zadushnitsa banquet on All Souls Day to remember those who had died.
That tradition had continued to the present.
Mira (Mali's mother) and Teuta (Beni's mother) are preparing food for the banquet.
Mysterious things start happening around the building.
Lights go on and off, strange messages and signs appear on the wall.
Things disappear then suddenly re-appear. Everyone is very nervous.
Mali is convinced that the ghost of the caretaker has returned, angry that Risto and Leyla are arguing over his old room.
He devises his own spell to drive away ghosts.
Jeylan catches ghost fever and makes traditional protective amulets.
The rest of the kids think that Risto and Leyla are playing tricks, trying to frighten each other from using the room.
They break into the common room and discover the cheese and rechel.
Is this why Risto and Leyla have locked the door?
They decide that it is time that Risto and Leyla were taught a lesson.
While Karmen diverts Risto and Leyla by appearing as a ghost the kids prepare their plan.
They invite Risto and Leyla, who are now very frightened, to zadushnitsa.
There they are met by a mysterious ghostly figure.
Could it be the ghost of the caretaker angry with Risto and Leyla?
Suddenly the ghost reveals itself as Filis.
As dawn breaks we see the ghost of the caretaker sitting at the empty table.
He raises his glass to the souls of the dead, "za dusha!" and then disappears into the sleeping building.
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Season 4
What If...
When Mali's, Filis' and Darko's wishes are hindered by their parents, the kids wish that for one weekend they could be the boss at home and have their way.
Karmen overhears them and says they should be careful what they wish for, because they might get it.
When kids persist, Karmen “threshes” (magically transports) them into the place of their own parents.
At first, the new kids-as-adults enjoy themselves and boss around their parents-as-kids.
Just when everything is perfect day, the kids-as-adults start to face various problems they'd never had to consider before.
Finally the kids are threshed back to their normal selves. They realize no one is free to do just anything s/he wants, including parents. The kids are no longer in a rush.
They have time to mature until they have to face adult responsibilities.
Ivan
Ivan is just one of the gang, till the day his father, Tome, comes home from work early His factory's been shut down and he's been laid off.
Depressed, Tome is unmotivated to look for new work, and his mood quickly infects the entire household.
Ivan's friends are aware that something's wrong, but only belatedly discover the cause.
When they offer Ivan a loan, he refuses it outright.
He does accept the offer to start earning money, both by working at the neighbourhood car wash and by joining his friend Itse in a clown act
in the park. When Tome finds money in Ivan's pocket, he feels dishonoured and humiliated, especially because he's convinced that somehow the
neighbours are giving Ivan money out of pity.
Only when Ivan angrily shows Tome that he's trying to help the family by working does Tome realize that improvements in one's life don't come
by themselves but have to be sought actively and deliberately.
Music Magic
Beni must decide in which high school to enrol.
His heart's desire is music, but Beni's father Ahmet is determined that Beni should pursue something with financial perspective.
Beni's mother feels that Ahmet is being too rigid.
Not wanting to disappoint his father, but at the same time wishing to fulfil his own dream, Beni discovers a web site called Music Magic.
The site promises musical as well as financial success.
Carried away with the possibilities of Music Magic, Beni neglects to prepare for his entrance exam.
He lies to his father saying that he's studying at the library.
Beni intends to reveal the truth once he's succeeded with Music Magic, and hopes his father will understand.
Music Magic suddenly goes bankrupts and all of Beni's plans fall apart.
Beni realizes he can't satisfy his own and his father's expectations but it's too late.
The entrance exam one week away.
He tells Karmen there's no hope of success.
Karmen “threshes” to a music café where he meets Vlatko Stefanovski (a famous guitar player).
Vlatko advises Beni not to give up on something if he desires it from the bottom of his heart.
Beni's determination is renewed.
With great love and intensive work, Beni manages to pass the exam and is admitted to music high school.
Although his father still doesn't agree with his choice, he learns to respect his son's desire.
New Girl
Darko, the lonely space voyager finds himself in a new situation.
He has a new stepfather, Marko, and stepsister, Matea, and he doesn't like it.
Darko sees Matea as competition.
He senses that almost instantly she's won over his mother, his best friend Mali, and even Karmen.
Matea also feels at a loss in her new environment, without friends and without her mother.
She has little patience for Darko, who seems unwilling to give up anything; especially not space in
his room and the regular visits with his mother to the planetarium.
When Darko's mother suggests skipping their planetarium visit, Darko runs away from home and hides in a tree house.
He's convinced his mother no longer loves him and is unaware how his disappearance will make her feel.
The parents mobilize Matea and Mali (who's fallen head over heels for Matea) to search for Darko.
Even once they find him and ask him to go home, but he doesn't understand why they've come for him.
When Matea completely losses patience for Darko's feelings, Karmen “threshes” the two of them.
They have to choose between finding a way to acknowledge each other by sharing or to live in hostile isolation.
Darko and Matea realize that although it may be odd at first, they now belong to the same family that loves them both.
The Bride
When Zana sees a traditional wedding taking place in the neighbour's yard, she is taken by the image of the bride as a special person.
Quickly, however, Zana learns of the difficulties and discrimination that women around her have to face day to day.
At home, for example, Zana's mother is expected to prepare a large family dinner, despite chronic
pain, which her mother loathes to admit because she has to maintain her position as the "bride of the house".
As Zana's comprehension of injustice towards women grows, so does her anger and desire to "fix" things.
Zana's opportunity arises when her schoolteacher, also head of a women's organization, agrees to let Zana publish an article in the school magazine.
Zana, however, is too consumed by her simmering anger to understand that change to a positive approach; expressing anger alone is not enough.
From her neighbour and from her mother she gradually realizes that each situation has its own explanation, and that only by understanding and addressing
the cause is it possible to offer a meaningful solution.
As Zana comes to terms with this realization, her mother suggests a solution that requires Zana's father to admit that women's work is difficult and that
it is not beneath a man's dignity to help.
Home
During one not very pleasant event, Elvis meets David in front of a supermarket.
The argument that follows the meeting puts them into big trouble but at the same time is a beginning of long-lasting friendship.
Hard working Elvis and the orphan David are forced to find money to pay for the broken window of the supermarket.
Elvis decides that they have no other choice but to earn the money honestly.
That's a beginning of one friendship that will confuse Elvis.
Without asking David what he really needs, he wants to help him although David doesn't need what Elvis offers.
David enjoys the time spent at Elvis' home and that leads to an argument on the account of Elvis' desire that his parents should adopt David.
His parents are much more aware about the consequences of the adoption and try to explain that to Elvis.
Elvis doesn't want to comprehend their reasons and decides to find David a home alone.
He takes his friend David to a room that he has never been to before and can't understand why David is not happy and why he leaves the room.
When Elvis finds David in his house sitting and talking with his parents, he listens to David's explanation for the first time and understands
that David doesn't lack a home – but family atmosphere and friends.
Seeds of Love
Filis is the favourite grandchild of her grandfather Güner.
When Güner falls seriously ill, Filis' family doesn't want to tell her because they think that not knowing is better.
Once Filis discovers her grandfather's ill, she rushes to see him.
Güner reveals to Filis that his first love was a Maria, whom he couldn't marry because he was Turkish and she was Macedonian.
Despite this, he's secretly loved continued to love her all his life.
He gives Filis a broche with Maria's picture.
When Güner dies, Filis resolves to find Maria and to return the broach as a token of her grandfather's love.
With Karmen's help, Filis eventfully finds and meets Maria, who admits to Filis that she too always had kept Güner close to her heart.
Maria gives Filis seeds from the sunflowers that she and Güner had had as a symbol of their love in their youth.
Filis plants these seeds as a way of making sure that the love between Güner and Maria, though secret, won't disappear.
Remziye's Dilemma
Remziye, as the top math student in her class, is invited to represent her school at the city math competition.
She hesitates on the pretext that she's too busy with her dance group.
Actually Remziye is worried she may not do well at the competition.
Should that happen, everyone will laugh of her and say that no Roma girl should have been chosen in the first place.
Despite her friends' and family's encouragement, Remziye refuses to enter the competition.
For this reason, Jeylan and Itse decide that it's time for Remziye to meet Karmen.
Remziye is convinced that Karmen is some kind of a trick, till Karmen “threshes” her.
From Karmen, Remziye realizes that avoiding a challenge is admitting failure from the very beginning.
Although she doesn't know how well she will do, Remziye is determined to participate in the competition.
Top
Season 5
Itse's Exhibit
Itse mounts an exhibit of a traditional Turkish shadow puppet theatre in Skopje's old bazaar.
Although his effort is supported by an old Turkish friend of his grandfather's, Itse encounters fairly stiff and at times hostile resistance from younger Turkish kids.
They are mostly upset by the fact their Turkish culture is being represented by someone who's not Turkish.
Almost ready to give up, Itse accepts Jeylan's advice and holds the exhibit anyway.
Although only a few Turkish kids come, Itse manages to show that different ethnicities in Macedonia share many common cultural values that bear similar importance for all of them.
Say Stop
Dibek is a neighbourhood bully.
Every day he threatens and takes money from Elvis' friend David.
David is too frightened to stand up to Dibek or even to tell his friends or any adult.
When Elvis finds out, he tries to protect David and responds to Dibek with the kind of violence that Dibek uses against his “victims”.
David realizes that Elvis beating up Dibek is not going to solve the problem, and he musters the courage to tell the head of his orphanage
what's going on.
The kids realize not only that violence begets more violence, but that you have to speak up in the face of injustice.
Little and Big
Beni wants to become a DJ at a local radio station, but the owner thinks he's too immature for the job.
At the same time, Beni has to take care of his niece Arta, and tries to get Mali to help out by playing with her.
Mali finds Arta too little, and is much more interested in Beni's radio job than in “babysitting”.
All three try to get what they want by pretending to be, and trying act, older than they really are – but all their tactics backfire.
When Arta gets into trouble at school, Beni finally gets a chance to demonstrate his true level of responsibility, which then opens an
opportunity for him to try for the DJ job after all.
Beni, Arta, and Mali see that it's not always age, but maturity that matters.
Ivan's Quest
On his birthday, Ivan finds out accidentally he's been adopted.
He has a terrible internal conflict between his feelings for the only parents he's ever known and his desire to find out as much as possible about his past.
In his emotional confusion, he decides he was abandoned and that he needs to leave “home” to discover his true identity.
Ivan solicits Itse's help.
Itse tries to explain to Ivan that parents sometimes don't know the best way to
share difficult information with their children and that he needs to understand that his mother and father are the two people who raised him.
Ivan eventually traces the story of his birth parents to a village, and understands how difficult it had been for them to secure his best future.
Ivan feels bittersweet satisfaction about this discovery.
He does, however, realize that parents are those people who love and take care of you.
The Lie
Erol, a 13-year-old Turkish boy, moves to “our neighbourhood”.
His misses his old friends and is worried that the kids in his new neighbourhood won't accept him because he's Turkish.
So he lies, saying he's Macedonian and that his name is Igor.
Mali and other kids invite him to join them and Erol/Igor thinks he's managed to fool them.
When Filis comes to Erol's apartment to welcome the new Turkish family, things get more complicated.
“Erol” goes missing, and the kids (including “Igor”) are sent out to find him.
Erol finally reveals to everyone that he's not Igor and explains why he lied to them.
He discovers that the kids are just as willing to accept him as Erol than as Igor.
Karmen is Leaving, Pts 1 & 2
Karmen wants to make sure that her protégées have learned how to deal with everyday problems.
She probes their ability to apply their knowledge to issues raised by some younger kids in the neighbourhood.
As each of the older Nashe Maalo kids is confronted by a problem, s/he recounts to the younger child an earlier occasion when something similar happened.
Through flashbacks, Karmen's different pieces of advice and the lessons learned from previous adventures are recalled.
In this way, Karmen's kids demonstrate that they are now able to mentor and help the younger Nashe Maalo generation.
The Best of Nashe Maalo
This season finale is comprised of scenes of various episodes from all previous seasons.
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