‘Finding Alice’ Recap: ‘Fall’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of ‘Finding Alice’.
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One particular aspect of life that each and every one of us fear greatly, is losing our loved ones at an early age. Because if that happens, that all-important person is robbed of their opportunity to shine and to live a long and fruitful life, one where they can experience all the wonder this world has to offer and those are not the only reasons why we fear this possibility. Because it also means, someone that is extremely close to us and connects with us is gone from our lives and now it is up to us to carry on without them and honor them as best we can and that’s not an easy task at times. Especially when we function seamlessly with them in our lives, and this is so terrifying and so important to us… that this uncomfortable part of the human experience is put on display often in storytelling.

In large part, to help those going through such an experience process what’s happened and what comes next, since these stories can offer up an honest examination of this moment and how difficult it can be and really, this aspect of life is top of mind today, mainly because it is the setup for the new Acorn TV series, Finding Alice. For ‘Fall’ introduces us to the Walsh family mere hours after they’ve experienced quite the heartbreak. Because the patriarch of the family, Harry… fell to his death the same night that his family moved into their brand-new smart home and Alice, his wife, and Charlotte, his daughter; are simply besides themselves. Because this was one of those freak accidents that no one ever thinks can or will happen to them and that allows for this story to provide us with a powerful examination of how hard it is to go through such an unfortunate twist in life.

For Alice is forced to deal with all the difficult things that family members must go through when a loved one dies. Such as figuring out how one is going to put food on the table and the indignity of death and how it doesn’t matter to others in the slightest outside of our immediate circle, and of course she has to deal with all of that… whilst grieving for her husband and reconciling her emotions and the horror over what’s happened in her home and that leads to some powerful storytelling for certain. The kind that allows for the viewer to experience her pain firsthand and really understand the difficulties that come with losing someone that means the world to us and that alone makes this a unique and visceral story. Since few shows present their audience with this kind of experience in the raw and what’s amazing… is that the series has more to offer us.

Because this opening chapter to Alice’s harrowing ordeal, also serves to remind the viewer… that sometimes the sudden loss of a loved one can shock us in more ways than one. For sometimes their end reveals to us, that our love was not the person we thought them to be and reconciling that will be as difficult as their end and that is explored in this tale, by way of the secrets that are revealed about Harry shortly after his passing. Since Alice comes to learn that her husband was awful with money and might have put the family in a bad position because of it, since he made financial inroads with some very bad people. The kind that are eager to collect what they are owed, to the point where it seems they are the reason that Harry fell down the stairs and to top it all off, judging from the look on Alice’s face in the closing moments of this tale, she hadn’t a clue that Harry had a son. 

Which means that the rest of this fascinating journey, is going to focus heavily on discovery and reconciliation and it will indeed be quite fascinating to follow Alice through all of that, since the viewer is now invested and curious into Harry’s machinations and secrets and those reveals will undoubtedly be powerful and life-changing for Alice. But while we wait to see all of Harry’s past be revealed, we can revel in the wonder of one quality premiere. One that truly put us front and center into a worst-case scenario in a dynamic manner. Since you really feel what Alice is feeling and that’s thanks in large part to Keeley Hawes’ stunning and moving performance, since she truly sells the gravity of Harry’s loss and the horror of discovery and well, this reviewer is utterly hooked by this new series and is ready to continue the journey to see what Alice uncovers about the man she thought she knew. Until next time.

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