The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Review: Part 4: River Lily (Season 1 Episode 4)

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

On The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 4, “Part 4: River Lily,” written by
Sarah Lambert, Holly Ringland, and Kim Wilson, and directed by Glendyn Ivin, we are given yet another time jump to get to know an older version of Alice.

Even though this was done on previous episodes, it leaves us viewers wanting more, and it is not as satisfying or explanatory as the previous time jumps. This new version of Alice is one we don’t know if we like or not.

However, the episode’s main focus is all the lies June has told and how they slowly come to light,, making us wonder if she genuinely had Alice’s well-being in mind or if she has done everything to protect herself.

The beginning of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 4, “Part 4: River Lily,” clearly shows that Alice has left the ranch because of something June has done. This is obvious when June finds the flower symbolizing betrayal on her desk.

The shredded pieces of paper on the floor, June and Twig’s office turned upside down, and Alice running out of the house very early in the morning are all signs that she has discovered something and has decided to leave the ranch for the time being.

When June picks up a piece of a broken envelope we begin to think it has something to do with Alice’s brother and that her grandmother kept him away. This would align with the ending of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 3, “Part 3: Lantern Bush,” when June makes his adoption a secret.

We are made to believe that Alice has discovered this secret and left to find her brother. However, things change as the episode goes on.

But this lie still comes to light when Twig answers a call from Sally. At that moment, we learn that June lied to everyone because she was afraid of what her grandson might do, given that Clem was his father.

This revelation leads to a broken bond between June and Twig, leaving June more alone than she was before, as Twig seems to be the only person who has always stood by her side no matter what. Can this relationship be fixed in the remaining episodes?

For those who were interested in young Alice and Oggi’s friendship, it is nice to find out that they grew up together and fell in love. But that love story sadly didn’t last long, and we don’t get to see much of it.

As Alice escapes the ranch and finds herself in a new town, she thinks back on another time in which she was happy, in love, and ready to get married. However, Oggi was taken away from her, and she never heard from him again.

That is when another one of June’s lies is introduced, and we find out that Alice has decided to leave the ranch because her grandmother was the one to end her relationship. June had Oggi deported, lied to him about Alice’s feelings, and cut any communication between them.

It is then that we discover Alice still doesn’t know about her brother, but her reaction tells us she will definitely be upset when she discovers there are more lies her grandmother has told her.

Even though The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart wants us to feel bad for Alice’s situation and how her relationship was taken away from her, it is hard to connect with a story we haven’t seen on screen.

It was easier to connect with young Alice and Oggi when we witnessed the beginning of their friendship, but this new time jump makes it impossible for us to connect with the characters and their love story.

This episode introduces a 14-year time jump, but the story goes at a very slow pace. One might think this is done so we can get to know this older version of Alice compared to 9-year-old Alice and how much we learned about her.

However, this doesn’t seem to work. The slow pace only pushes viewers to disengage with the story from time to time, wondering when something important will happen.

The most intriguing moments happen when we find out about June’s lies, but besides that there isn’t anything relevant to the story going on. On the contrary, Alice’s journey makes us wonder whether she is a character we will like or not.

We have just met this new Alice and we can already see her bouncing between two different men, lying to one of them to see the other. Even though she is free to do as she pleases, we wonder if this is the right choice for her given the fact that her heart has just been broken by her grandma’s tricks.

Young Alice was one we felt compassion for and we wanted to see her thrive, but for right now we don’t know if those same feelings will go to this older Alice.

One thing that must be highlighted when it comes to The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is that the flowers remain just as important as they were in the first three episodes. Once again this word referring to the flowers themselves and to the women who still live in the ranch.

It particularly resonates with the audience when Alice says she is not a delicate flower. As she leaves the ranch and that life behind, she is beginning to put some distance between herself and those women who watched her grow up.

It will be interesting to see how this continues to develop as the show goes on and whether Alice will become a flower once more or not.

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What did you think of this episode of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart has weekly releases through September 1 on Prime Video.

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