The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Review: Part 7: Sturt’s Desert Pea (Season 1 Episode 7)

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.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 7, “Part 7: Sturt’s Desert Pea,” written by Sarah Lambert, Kirsten Fisher, and Kim Wilson and directed by Glendyn Ivin, marks the end of the season revealing the final truths that were left hidden.

Not only do we have to say goodbye to the series, but inevitably to June Hart as well. Even though this is a death the audience has been expecting for a few episodes, it is still very sad. However, the show does its best to give her a proper goodbye.

As much as the series was about Alice Hart, much of it focused on June and her journey. Luckily, the finale gives us enough to feel closure for both characters.

One of the questions viewers had watching previous episodes was whether Alice would come home to June before she died or not. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 7, “Part 7: Sturt’s Desert Pea,” confirms that Alice does see June before her death, but she doesn’t come home until later.

The entire episode is about revealing the final truths that were kept hidden. In Alice’s case, she calls home and tells them it’s time for her to come back, “I need you to come get me.”

On The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 6, “Part 6: Wheel of Fire,” Alice lied to Twig about being happy and safe with Dylan. When her grandmother comes to get her, the young woman speaks the truth about what happened to her.

Before that, she tries to tell her boss what happened, but Dylan gives his version and he ends up being the one that people believe in. This ties perfectly with June’s speech in the end, saying that in situations of abuse or assault, most women are silenced by men.

Alice doesn’t gain her voice back until the end when, during her grandmother’s funeral, she learns more about the lost flowers and their personal stories. She realizes how important it is to speak up.

However, Alice isn’t the only one who tells the truth on this episode. It is June’s turn to tell her about Charlie before it’s too late. And as expected, Alice doesn’t want to see her grandmother again.

But it is June’s truth that allows Alice to finally understand what happened to her parents and feel the weight of her guilt lifted off her shoulders. Alice is exactly where she started by choosing to meet Charlie on this final episode.

She finds herself running from abuse to the safety of her grandma, in the same town where she lived with her parents, and at the library with Sally finding her once more. But this time, we feel that Alice will finally start healing.

One scene that stands out on The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Season 1 Episode 7, “Part 7: Sturt’s Desert Pea,” is when Alice reads the report of what happened the day her parents died.

By watching her cry as she reads the report while simultaneously having flashes of that day, how her father attacked her, and how her mother saved her, we feel, just like Alice, like we can finally breathe because we understand the truth.

Alice has truly grown throughout the series, and now she is a young woman who has the missing pieces to her puzzle and will be able to keep growing, keep healing.

As much as she lied throughout the entire series, June Hart is probably the most interesting character on The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. She is a well-rounded character who always leaves the audience trying to learn more about her until the end.

But as such an important character, she receives the farewell she deserves. Her only goal in life had been to keep the flowers safe, and those same flowers stay by her side until the very end — including her beloved Twig.

The death of a character can be tricky as fans can get extremely upset, but The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart handles it beautifully. June’s death is special.

She is surrounded by her flowers and music and knows she has done everything in her power for all these women. When her time comes, we see her go to her flowers, surrounded by the nature that gave so much meaning to her life.

When everyone shows up for her funeral, it becomes even more obvious that June went to her flowers. There are pieces of her in every single woman she has helped, in the families they were able to build after the abuse, and in her own family.

In the end, the flowers continue to be just as important. Both the women who are there to show their love and the bouquet her family puts together to burn in the last scene and say their final goodbye.

June’s final speech to Alice in her letter defines what The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart has tried to do throughout the season: give a voice to women who had been silent.

When discussing sexual assault and domestic abuse, one has to be extremely careful to respect the voices of the victims and survivors, and the show does exactly that. Every flower is special, and their story deserves to be told.

That is what June has always tried to do in Thornfield and what she has tried to teach Alice. It isn’t until the end, until June is dead and all her lies have been revealed, that Alice understands her journey.

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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 is available for streaming on Prime Video.

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