‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ Recap – ‘Part 4: River Lily’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alice Hart in Episode 104 of ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ – ‘Part 4: River Lily’. (Photo Courtesy of Glendyn Ivin/Prime Video.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say that the powerful Prime Video series, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, is deeply exploring concepts that are rarely explored in visual storytelling. After all, we’ve been privy to a grand and sweeping examination of how childhood trauma and abuse persists in this world and how it is generational in nature. One so detailed that at times, this series has been rightfully uncomfortable, but that is the point. For the time has come to showcase this problem and have those conversations and that has indeed made for powerful storytelling that has been so detailed, one important question has yet to be answered by the show. In that, the promo materials and even the series premiere, hinted at a story that was going to ponder upon, what is the lasting impact of childhood trauma and abuse?

Well as it turned out, that was apparently by design, and the next episode of this incredible story was the right time to ponder upon that, and ‘Part 4: River Lily’ made it clear… that it has a profound impact upon our lives… even when we go to great lengths to escape it. Which is what twenty-four-year-old Alice did in this tale. Because at long last, she learned the horrible truth about how June manipulated her life, and her love life and that was more than she could bear. So… she left. She took the truck and drove as far as she could go and settled in. To be free of the abuse, to be free of the trauma and for a time, it seemed as though the call that so many of us would make, and have made, did the trick. Because there was peace, and time to reflect and it really seemed as though Alice’s whole life was on the right track, to the point where even love would be a real possibility for her.

But despite finding peace, making friends, and enjoying outright freedom at last… that impact followed. For Alice struggled with trusting others, isolating her in ways she did not know were possible. Not to mention, she gravitated to unhealthy behaviors and habits. The kind that spoke to how the severe damage that June imparted upon her, would not be escapable and more importantly, it informed the audience… that childhood trauma really does form unique psychological paths for us. The kind that creates unhealthy routines and habits and toxic behaviors that we pay forward because… that’s all we know. And in order to be free of that, we have to confront that truth, resolve it and take the time to heal from it all, and well… whether or not Alice is going to do that is up in the air.

For right now, she doesn’t know herself, or what she’s experienced, and that means she is likely in for some tough days ahead. But while we wait to see what comes from her struggles, we can celebrate a powerful episode, one that also took the time to explore some of the fallout that June rightfully deserved for hiding the truth from so many and for imparting further abuse upon her family. Since we learned in this tale that Alice’s baby brother lived and was adopted by Sally Morgan to give him a fighting chance and of course, June cared not about him. For he didn’t fit into her narrative, and she shunned him, and wounded him. Which is why it was so satisfying to see everyone finally call her to the carpet when they learned about that adoption and how she motivated Alice’s exit. Because that’s what an abuser deserves, plain and simple… having their nonsense confronted and exposed. 

But what matters most, is that the show pivoted and moved us toward an important exploration. Because this is what we need to be looking at, and this needs to be discussed in our world and what better place to do it, than through the next chapter in Alice’s life. One that will soon come crashing down because of the toxicity stuck within her soul that she doesn’t even know is there. For childhood trauma and abuse are nothing short a virus really, and hopefully… Alice can indeed spot the cycle of abuse and understand she’s been a victim of it and did nothing to deserve it. Either way, this series continues to impress and continues to go places no other show will go, and that definitely motivates one to hit play post haste, to see exactly where this incredibly honest story is going to take us next. Until next time.

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