The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart – Part 7: Sturt’s Desert Pea

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

After the events of the night before, Alice (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is alerted to a knock at her door. Thinking it is Dylan (Sebastian Zurita), she is relieved to find that it is Lulu (Vivienne Awosoga). However, Lulu sees Alice and is ready to go to the police…even though Alice tries to defend Dylan by brushing off their fight. But when Lulu shows Alice what she looks like, Alice decides to meet with Sarah (Catherine Clements) as soon as possible. Lulu also tells Alice about her experience with Dylan, how he was abusive towards her even though he was not in love with her. Alice then has Lulu take off the bracelet that Dylan gave her.

Back at Thornfield, June (Sigourney Weaver) is tending to the flowers when Twig (Leah Purcell) finally arrives. The two women embrace, June grateful that Twig has returned to her. Inside, June rests in bed while Candy (Frankie Adams) tends to her aid. With news of Alice, Twig tells June about her journey to Agnes Bluff and assures June and Candy that Alice has asked for some time…but that she is fine and is in love.

But for Alice, her nightmare has only begun to start. When she goes to report the incident with Dylan to Sarah, Sarah tells her that Dylan has already come to see her with allegations of his own. Spinning the story to make it look like Alice is the abuser and that she lied about her qualifications, Alice is placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. And since Dylan has established himself as a good employee who rarely gets up, this puts Alice in a bad light. Sarah also produces one of the flyers that Twig had posted around town.

When Alice goes to tell Lulu what Sarah has told her, Lulu insists that they go to the police and report Dylan. Alice is reluctant and does not want to cause more problems for anyone. Ruby (Shareena Clanton) interrupts the girls and they decide to bring Alice along for the tour to help keep her mind off of things. Unfortunately on the tour, Alice notices that a tourist begins to pick flowers that they are explicitly not supposed to and loses it. Attacking the tourist, she is filmed and rather than cause further embarrassment….she runs off. But when she gets to the main office area where the other rangers convene, she finds Dylan being “consoled” by his buddies that have taken his side as they show Alice attacking the tourist. Realizing she is alone, Alice calls Twig and June….she is ready to come home and needs them to come get her.

June arrives and consoles Alice, who believes she is just as messed up as the women that June took care of. While Alice rests, June makes a call to Sally Morgan (Asher Keddie). Instead of heading home to Thornfield, Alice is taken to the Morgans where she learns that her brother Charlie (Jeremy Blewitt) did not die in the fire. As expected, Alice does not take the news well and storms off in anger from her grandmother. Heading into town, Alice finds herself back at the library like many years before. Looking through the books for the “Selkie Story”, Sally finds Alice and tells her that Charlie has waited a long time to meet his sister. Alice is reluctant but Sally convinces her to stay for tea. At the Morgan residence, June watches her grandson Charlie from a distance. Twig and June head back to Thornfield.

At the library, Alice learns that Sally and Agnes (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) secretly communicated through books to help Agnes and Alice escape from Clem (Charlie Vickers). Sally shows her the secret note that Agnes left Sally, showing that she wanted her and Alice to end up at Thornfield. Thinking that she screwed up the plan, Sally takes Alice to John (Alexander England) where she is able to read the actual report from the night of the fire. Instead of Alice’s fire in the shed causing the issue, Alice learns that while her father was disciplining her for the fire, Agnes hit Clem over the head with an object and lit his body on fire. It was not Alice who killed her father, but Agnes who only wanted to protect her daughter. During this time, Agnes went into early labor due to the stress.

With the knowledge of her past, Alice is finally ready to meet her brother. At the Morgan residence, Sally leads Alice out to where Charlie is. The two siblings cry and embrace each other, providing each other the missing piece of their past. Sally later updates Twig about Alice and Charlie reconnecting, even though Alice is still not ready to talk to June. Twig insists that Alice possibly speak to June, as she is now in a more comatose state and towards the end of her life.

Alice and Charlie spend time talking about their parents. Charlie wonders if he looks like Clem, which Alice says he does a little. Alice also says that Clem was good at times, but his abuse would occasionally overpower the good. Charlie tries to advise Alice to report Dylan. However, Alice still struggles with that as she receives a text from Dylan that says he misses her. She ends up replying back that she misses him too. Sally later tries to reason with Alice that she should not be sucked back into Dylan’s orbit and needs to break free.

In her final moments, June begins to see Clem and remembers the night where Clem and Agnes spoke about getting married and moving into a house not too far away. Clem also suggests updating Thornfield. June pulls Clem aside and tells him that Thornfield is not his and will be going to Twig and Candy. After June talks about Clem taking advantage of Candy, he snaps and tries to strangle June. Twig is able to get him off and tells him to leave. Clem and Agnes leave that night. As June comes to from her memory, she pens a letter to Alice and each family member.

Finally ready to speak to her grandmother, Alice tries to call June. But June is too busy celebrating the rise of a new queen in the hive. Asking for a cocktail with chips, Twig and Candy are happy to provide her with her request. But in the celebration, June passes. In a memory, a younger June is seen walking through the flowers in the greenhouse. To mourn the loss of June, Alice finally heads home to Thornfield with Charlie and The Morgans. While Candy gets acquainted with The Morgans, Alice notices several women arrive….they are the “flowers” that June helped in her lifetime. Twig introduces Alice and Charlie to the “flowers”, then a tree is planted in honor of June.

After the memorial, Alice, Twig, and Candy read their letters. Candy is left a final job and Twig is shown how much June loved her. For Alice, June tells her not to be silent and provides the location of a book about the “lost flowers”. Upon finding the book, Alice begins to read it….learning about the women who had come through Thornfield and shared their story with June. In reading the stories, June shares how she found her voice in helping others find theirs. Finding Twig and Candy, Alice, Charlie, and The Morgans help to destroy the greenhouse and burn the past once and for all. In the purging, Alice stares into the fire with Candy and Twig while we hear June’s final words: for Alice to take June’s story and use her voice.