After the resounding success of “Deadloch,” Prime Video collaborates with another Australian production to bring a seven-episode miniseries – “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.” Adapted from Holly Ringland’s novel of the same name, the series stars Sigourney Weaver and Alycia Debnam-Carey and tells the powerful story of a young girl who becomes an orphan after losing her parents in a violent fire accident and moves to her grandmother’s flower farm. Episodes 1, 2 & 3 of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart establish that very well.
The gorgeously shot novel adaptation captures everything perfectly, immersing you into the story while letting you feel all the emotions that the characters are feeling. With folk-themed metaphors and their significance, the series delves into the experiences of a family that has endured grief and trauma. It lays bare its characters, their lies, secrets, and more, taking you on a rollercoaster of intense emotions that may leave you with a lump in your throat. The series deals with sensitive issues, including domestic violence and its terrifying impact on individuals. The characters introduced in the first episode are complex, and with each subsequent episode, we witness them unraveling and becoming more intricate.
In this article, we delve into the events of each episode, providing a thorough breakdown of what unfolds, including the conclusion of Episode 3 of the series.
*Spoiler Alert*
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Episode 1 Recap:
Part 1: Black Fire Orchid, Meaning: Desire to possess
The first episode of the Australian series shows us a family of three spending a good time together in a remote area of a picturesque valley. The family consists of a woodcarver named Clem, his pregnant wife, Agnes, and their young daughter, Alice. Shortly after a glimpse of a happy family, we begin to see bruised arms and back of Agnes while spending moments with Alice. The little girl, too, has a few bruises on her arms and asks her mother to take her to the city for a quick lamington since the father is gone out for a few days. Despite wanting to take her daughter, we can clearly see Agnes fearing the idea of leaving the house.
It seems that Agnes and Alice had planned to run away; however, Agnes’s pregnancy may have changed their plans. We can see that Agnes is unhappy and depressed. When Agnes asks her daughter to let her sleep in, Alice, who is bored in the house, considers visiting the town by herself.
Barefoot and in just a nightie, Alice finds herself in a library where a kind woman named Sally introduces herself as the librarian. Seeing the young girl, she quickly gets her a library card with her name – Alice Hart on it. While the girl is taking a look at the library card, which could potentially be the first identity card that she owns, Sally makes a quick call to someone informing about how the young girl, with bruises on her body, made her way to the library barefoot without her mother.
Alice overhears the conversation and quickly makes a run back to the house, realizing her father is already at home. Upon entering, she sees her father talking to the officials over the phone about her sudden absence. Agnes stands by the door side and tells her to run before Clem can lay hands on her. However, before the poor child can even move, Clem gets a hold of her, and we can hear him beating her while Agnes is pleading him to stop.
The following day, we see John, who is a local police officer, visit the Hart family. Agnes quickly makes Alice wear a full-length shirt and covers herself as well to hide the bruises. When John inquires about the bruise marks that he has been informed about, Clem takes the lead in the conversation and says that Alice is an adventurous girl who often gets bruises from her adventurous stunts. Before leaving, he hands over a few books that Sally had sent for the next few weeks to read. Agnes quickly takes a book, “The Selkie Story,” and holds it in a tight grip. While showing John out of the house, Clem notices Sally sitting in the front seat of the car.
While reading one of the books that really caught Alice’s attention, she reads out the lines about the mythological bird Phoenix, its body consumed in fire, only to rise from the ashes. Lost in her imagination, Alice takes a bottle of kerosene and imagines setting her father on fire. However, Agnes’ voice brings her back to reality, explaining that she’s going for a routine check-up at the hospital. Before leaving, Clem locks the door of his workshop, which is right outside the house. Left alone in the house, Alice becomes curious about Clem’s workshop.
She takes the keys and explores the place, finding a full-size wooden figurine of a woman and a small patch of hair in a storage box, along with many little things that seem to be her father’s findings for inspiration. As she picks up a few wood logs, she discovers a bottle of poison. When she reaches for it, the lamp she was using falls, causing a fire accident. Panicking, she hears her father’s voice and rushes out of the hut, taking the wood logs and poison bottle to her room. The camera pans out, showing a portion of the house burning in the middle of a wide field.
After learning that Clem and Agnes are dead, and Alice is in a coma with severe burns and broken bones, Sally, who had previously lost her daughter to cancer, develops a deep fondness for Alice. Sally’s motherly instinct leads her to become protective of the young girl, considering all that she has gone through.
Meanwhile, June Hart, Clem’s mother, visits Alice in the hospital and gives her a handmade butterfly bush flower, symbolizing second chances. After knowing that Agnes died of choking and due to a coronial inquest on Clem’s body, June is unable to bury her son immediately. Distraught, June drives back to her home, which is no less than a sanctuary. While June appears to be a strong woman, she however is overwhelmed with emotion after witnessing everything at the hospital, and finally cries in pain. Twig, June’s partner, tries to comfort her and suggests sharing everything with Candy. Twig collects one flower from each of the flowers decorating the house, binding them together as a symbol of mourning. Seeing Twig with the flowers, Candy learns about the deaths of Clem and Agnes.
Meanwhile, Sally regularly visits Alice at the hospital, bringing her food and reading her favorite book. When Alice finally opens her eyes, Sally gently breaks the news of her parents’ passing away. It appears that Sally is ready to take Alice with her to her house. However, they discover that according to the will, June is the next of kin. Despite her displeasure, Sally assists June in packing Alice’s belongings and prepares her to leave the hospital.
June drives Alice to her home, with wooden flowers carved all over the house. When June tries to hold Alice’s hand as she tucks her in for sleep, Alice withdraws her hand, seeing June as nothing more than a stranger. Back at Sally and John’s place, they receive a call from a solicitor informing them that Agnes had changed the will four months ago and named Sally as the next of kin for Alice – concluding the episode on that note.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Episode 2 Recap:
Part II: Wattle, Meaning: Always with you
The second episode begins with Alice dreaming about her time with her parents at the beach. However, she abruptly wakes up to the sound of June’s voice calling her. June kindly helps her get up, and Twig comes in, carrying Candy’s old boots and clothes, which she thinks might fit Alice well.
In the hallway, with Candy eavesdropping, Twig suggests converting Agnes’ old room back to its original state, complete with her books and clothes – making it Alice’s new room. She suggests to June that it would be great to have a young child back at the farm again. However, June hesitates, as she realizes that Alice doesn’t have any idea about Agnes being here in the first place.
Later, June introduces Alice to everyone, whom she fondly calls ‘flowers’. June takes Alice to the fields and gives her the history that has been handed down through three generations of Thornfield women, and one day Alice might continue the legacy.
Back at Sally’s, the couple speaks to the solicitor, where they learn that Agnes had feared for her life and wanted to include her unborn child, a boy, in the will. Sally gets to know that any drug or substance use or a criminal record under June’s name could disqualify her from being the guardian of her granddaughter.
While showing Alice around, June excuses herself for a moment to talk to other women working in the field. It becomes apparent that June provides shelter to people who have run away from difficult households where they might be experiencing domestic abuse. Meanwhile, Alice wanders around the field and finds herself inside the yard of a broken, tattered old house. However, before she can venture inside, June appears and takes her away, advising her that she can never go near that house. As June closes the main door, she notices a young boy looking back at her.
In the house, Candy introduces herself as Alice’s aunt and shares the touching story of how June and Twig found Alice in a casket just a few hours old, covered in a blue cloth near the river. Since Alice cannot speak since the accident, she writes the word “river” on the pie they were preparing, suggesting Candy take her there. At the riverside, while Alice is wandering around, she notices a big tree with carvings of June and Clem’s names, but Agnes’ name has been cut out. As Alice explores the area, she hears someone call to her from inside the river.
This triggers a flashback to a time when Clem took Alice on a boat trip to the sea. During their playful time together, Clem wanted to take a picture of Alice doing the hula dance. However, when Alice couldn’t perform the hula as her father wished, Clem threw her into the sea, bringing us back to the present moment. In the present, Alice is drawn toward the voice she thinks she hears from the river. However, being unable to swim, she begins to drown. Suddenly, a young boy named Oggi appears and saves her from the water.
Upon her return, Alice overhears June and Twig questioning Candy about her whereabouts. This triggers a traumatic memory where Clem tries to hit or possibly choke her for disobeying him. As she sees June and Twig coming towards her, Alice begins to cry and hyperventilate. However, it becomes evident that this is a child’s trauma response, as we witness June offering comfort and support to the young child.
While searching for June’s records, John discovers a couple of assault-related incidents listed under her name in the computer system. Meanwhile, he receives the original and amended will papers from the solicitor via fax. Upon close examination and after discussing with his wife Sally, and realize that she knew Agnes when she used to visit the library. However, Sally had no idea that Agnes had named her as the guardian, and she had only picked up on a few hints about Clem abusing her but never thought about reporting it to her husband.
Twig informs June that the doctor at the hospital revealed Alice had panic attacks before, too, and must take prescribed pills to cope along with therapy for her PTSD and anxiety. Left alone, June gazes at the corner of the room, and the same boy from earlier appears, who we learn from a flashback is young Clem, who was very fond of June.
In the next few sequences, we see a man following Candy to the main gates of Thornfield, with whom she strikes up a casual conversation while delivering pies. Meanwhile, Alice continues to learn more about how things work at Thornfield, including the names of the flowers and their significance. On the other hand, Sally calls June to inform her that she is seeing a lawyer to pursue custody of Alice, even though her husband is not in favor of the idea.
Later in the night, June gives Alice a book titled “The Language of Thornfield Flowers,” which was started by Alice’s great-great-grandmother. Since then, each generation has added its own elements to the book. June then asks Alice to pick a flower that holds special meaning, and she selects Wattle, reminding her of her mother, which symbolizes “always with you.” When Alice, who communicates using paper and pen, asks June if her mother was ever here, June lies. Meanwhile, when one of the women receives a warning gift from her abusive husband – Paddy, Twig and June become concerned, however, Candy recognizes the man from the photo, telling them she saw this him in the diner.
Sally learns from her husband’s colleague at the station that June has a strained relationship with the police due to assault-related cases. At this point, we understand why June is secretive about Thornfield’s whereabouts. Despite her reservations about June’s actions, Sal is unaware of June’s work inside the field. She allows the local police to intimidate her. However, June is one step ahead and calls John to inform him about Sal’s mistaken actions.
Meanwhile, Alice is admitted to a local school where she becomes friends with Oggi, who also takes her stand against the bullies who made fun of her background of Thornfield, which people think of as a cult for lesbians, Back at home, June explains to Alice in the simplest terms that some people don’t want women to run the farm (or anything for that matter!) or keep it to themselves because they are afraid of them and, well, because they are idiots.
Back at Sally’s, John confronts her about being unreasonable towards June and not knowing anything about her background. He explains that, in all the assault cases where June is mentioned, she is actually the victim. Meanwhile, June takes it upon herself to confront Paddy and provokes him at the bar to reveal his true self. In a dark alley, he brutally hits her face multiple times because she challenged his male ego by speaking the truth about how he abuses women.
Bruised and bleeding, June returns to Thornfield and goes straight to the broken house, where a big tree stands. There, she carves another line, establishing a personal ritual to mark every time she faces an abusive man. This broken house yard may have been the first place where the assault occurred, explaining the prohibition for everyone else to enter the house.
Meanwhile, Sally finally confesses to her husband that Gemma was actually Clem’s daughter, and it is possible that Agnes knew about it. Perhaps Agnes wanted Sally to be Alice’s guardian because both women’s children shared the same father. On the other hand, Alice discovers (from a note in the book – Alice in Wonderland) that Clem knew Agnes from the time she started living in Thornfield, and June practically considered Agnes as her own daughter. The question remains: Was Agnes already pregnant with Alice before she came to Thornfield, or did Agnes and Clem have Alice after they met? Let us find the answers in the following episode.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Episode 3 Recap:
Part III: Lantern Bush, Meaning: Hope may blind
Episode 3 picks up as Alice confronts her grandmother about the lies surrounding her mother. Simultaneously, Sally confesses to her husband about her affair with Clem, which began before she knew he was already married to Agnes. She met John shortly after and discovered she was pregnant with Gemma. However, the truth becomes clearer when both Agnes and John were not the right match for her daughter, as Gemma was diagnosed with cancer. Realizing Gemma is actually Clem’s daughter, Sally attempted to connect with him, but he never responded. When she saw Alice while trying to meet Clem, Agnes overheard their conversation and realized Sally’s true intentions.
Understanding the mistake he made in not supporting Sally when he discovered Gemma was his daughter, Clem carved a wooden figurine inspired by a picture of Gemma reading a book that Sally gave him as a memento. Although Sally found it difficult to accept the gift due to the flood of memories about her beloved daughter, she never cheated on John. Despite this truth, John struggles to cope and decides to live separately from Sally.
On the other hand, June admits to Alice that she is justified in being angry with her for keeping the truth hidden. However, she explains that she will only share things with Alice when she is ready to talk again. On Alice’s 10th birthday, she discovers that the new residents have decided to leave Thornfield because they miss their home more than anything. This news hurts and angers Alice, as she feels like she’s lost another chance to have a mother figure and a baby sibling once more. This situation triggers painful memories for Alice because she lost her mother and baby brother due to her abusive father.
To add more depth to the building atmosphere, June receives a call from the doctor, revealing that Alice’s baby brother, who was born prematurely and believed to have died shortly after birth, is now almost out of danger after multiple surgeries in a nano care unit in Sydney. The doctor advises June to make immediate arrangements for the baby to be surrounded by family. However, Alice is still unaware of this news.
When Alice runs away to the riverside to vent her pent-up emotions, she finally lets out a loud scream, bringing her voice back. During her birthday celebration, as everyone brings out the cake, she surprises everyone by saying “Thank you.” The moment for truth has arrived, and June decides to answer any questions Alice may have. Alice demands to know more, and June shares that Agnes came to Thornfield after her parents passed away and that she reminds June of Agnes when she was her age.
Agnes and June shared a close relationship, and when she met Clem, they fell in love. June suggested they could only start a family in Thornfield, as the estate passes to a female child, continuing the legacy from woman to woman. However, this idea was unacceptable to Clem, and he left with Agnes immediately. He severed all ties with June but reached out again when Alice was born, sending June a wooden figurine of Alice.
At this point, Candy enters the picture and takes Alice away, steering the conversation. We learn Candy’s side of the story and understand that while June considered Candy and Clem her own children, the young kids may have developed emotions beyond just sibling affection. We discover that Clem had made a bonding mark on Candy’s hand, and we see the old scar. Was Clem using Candy for his benefit even while being with Agnes? Did June already know disturbing facts about her only son? My guess is equal to your guess!
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Episode 3 Ending, Explained:
Sally decides to file for custody, despite her husband not supporting her intentions. Unable to reach Alice, she decides to visit Thornfield farm, but Oggi’s mother at the café warns her about visiting without June’s knowledge. When June learns of Sally’s presence, she goes to confront her, explaining her work on the farm and how Sally’s actions could jeopardize Alice’s safety and everything June is doing for the women there.
Sally understands the gravity of the situation but suggests that Alice should have a say in whether she wants to stay on the farm with other broken and traumatized women. June takes Sally to Alice’s school, but when Alice dismisses her, Sally finally realizes her mistake. Hurt, she calls John and apologizes for chasing the wrong path thinking Alice would replace the big hole that Gemma’s demise left in her heart.
After patching things up, John suggests to Sally that it’s not too late for them to build a family again, as he misses being a dad. Meanwhile, news of Clem’s other child, a son, coming home doesn’t sit right with June. She fears that Clem’s abusive behavior may have stemmed from his father, who was a Robin Hood-like figure stealing from the rich for the poor. June worries that having a male figure in Thornfield could disrupt the very essence of the safe world they’ve built. Consequently, she makes a call to Sergeant John, and it can be assumed that the sudden change of heart in John is a result of June’s idea to take in Alice’s brother and raise him as their own.
The ending of Episode 3 of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart concludes with a powerful montage of three characters making pivotal decisions: June making the phone call (to avoid any more consequences that could potentially break the foundation pillars of Thornfield farm), Alice instructing Oggi to carve her name under her mother’s name on the big tree (symbolizing that she is here to stay despite her father controlling her fate), and John telling Sally that they should start their life from scratch (without any more lies.)
