NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart episode 1, "Black Fire Orchard."
Black fire orchids are tied to the "desire to possess" and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart episode 1 that desire is at the forefront as young Alice (Alyla Browne) experiences monumental tragedy.
Appearances are deceiving
From the very early moments, things are not what they seem in the Hart home. Alice's mother, Agnes (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), happily recounts the tale of Alice's birth on the road after a cyclone prevented them from reaching a hospital. After he delivered Alice, Clem (Charlie Vickers) discovered his wife wasn't breathing. Only after he got her breathing again did baby Alice cry out.
Alice asks why they don't have any other family? Clem hints about a baby coming soon, while Agnes looks on with a sad smile.
Agnes hides bruises on her arm and focuses Alice's on other things. She's equally evasive when Alice asks to go to town, as if that's not allowed either. She relents, but only because her husband is gone. That night, Alice asks about the baby and if they're still going to run away.
The following morning, Agnes doesn't want to get out of bed. Alice goes walking by herself. She makes it all the way to town, barefoot, and goes to the library her mother wanted to take her to. The librarian, Sally (Asher Keddie), notes the bruises on Alice's arms. She says she's going to make tea but Alice realizes she's calling the police, so she leaves.
When she gets back her father is home early, talking to the police on the phone. Agnes mouths for Alice to run but the warning comes too late and her father catches her, beating her severely until she's on the ground, unable to move.
The town has suspicions
We don't know Clem's reputation in the town, but when the policeman (Alexander England) shows up the next day to check up on Alice, the officer is suspicious when her parents blame her bruising on the dog. Clem walks the officer outside and spots Sally in the squad car.
The officer gives Alice the books she'd planned on checking out, telling her they're due in four weeks and they’ll look forward to seeing her again. One of the books is about a phoenix erupting in flame and rising in rebirth. "Made new again," she whispers.
Alice takes a gas can and covers her father in gas, then she tosses a lighter on him.
Clem rouses Alice from her daydream. He's taking Agnes to the doctor so Alice will be on her own. She reads about the phoenix over and over again, then what materials are required to make a fire. She goes to the barn and looks at some of the carvings her father made. She drops a lamp and it ignites a fire in the shed. Her parents are just getting back so Alice runs past them and into the house, still carrying the wood she'd taken.
The officer calls his wife, Sally, and tells her there's a fire at the Hart house. Sally discovers the books Agness dropped off. The word "escape" is underlined.
Sally arrives at the hospital, she learns Alice and Agnes are in surgery, while Clem is dead. Agnes also dies in surgery. Sally wonders if this was their fault.
At home, Sally goes into her late daughter's room, still not over the loss at all. She thinks of Alice, in a coma in the same room where her daughter, Gemma, died.
The next day, police pour over the house and examine possible causes of the fire. June (Sigourney Weaver), Clem's mother, arrives and sees the devastation. She sees the charred remains of Clem's carvings. She wants to see her family.
At the hospital, the nurse tells June though Alice isn't conscious, she can talk to her. June puts a butterfly bush flower in Alice's hand and whispers it’s for "second chances." Outside, the doctor tells June Alice is showing signs of being choked. He also reveals Agnes' baby was born, a boy, but is likely too young to survive without his mother.
The officer asks why June had no contact with Clem. She reveals she didn't know Agnes or Alice at all, only getting a message nine years prior and guessing there was a child.
Second chances
June breaks down in tears when she gets home. When Twig (Leah Purcell) comes in, June says Agnes is dead, Alice is barely hanging on and she thinks Clem did it. The baby probably won't make it, either.
The next day, June tells Twig Alice's best chance is to get as far from their family as possible. On the dresser is a photo of a younger June with an even younger Agnes and Clem.
Sally reads The Selkie Story to Alice, knowing it was Agnes' favorite story. While she reads, Alice dreams of being home playing with Toby the dog and listening to her parents fighting. Then she has a dream about her mother reading to her while her father worked. When he brings in a desk he carved for her, she hugs him.
Alice wakes up. She cries when Sally says her parents didn't make it, but she says nothing. Sally vows to care for her.
Two months later, Alice looks at the butterfly bush flower when Sally arrives with a gift left at the nurse's station, a set of Harry Potter books. Sally says they can only read if Alice agrees to eat. If she eats, they can go home. She offers Alice some food, but Alice doesn't eat.
June brings flowers to Alice while she’s sleeping, but doesn't stay more than a few minutes. At the funeral, Sally offers to walk into the funeral together but June refuses.
In a dream, Alice watches as her mother goes into the ocean and is swept away by the waves. She wakes up outside the hospital, crying. June finds her and Alice connects her with the statue her father was carving.
June decides to take Alice, even though she'd previously agreed to send Alice to live with Sally. As Sally mourns anew, Alice and June make their way to Thornfield. She sees the house from the photo in her father's workshop. She's greeted by Twig, who takes Alice to her room.
Sally gets a call from the lawyer. Agnes changed her will four months’ prior, leaving Sally as the kids' guardian if June was unfit or unwilling to care for them. Her husband wonders why she'd do that.
June tucks Alice in, telling her she'll never let anyone hurt her the way Clem did. Later, June kisses Twig after telling her she's promised to keep Alice safe. She goes out with her shotgun to patrol the property.
Sally goes up to the attic while her husband is sleeping and finds the wooden statue there. It's one of Clem's. She hugs it to her.
New episodes of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart are released Fridays. Here's how to watch The Lost Flowers on Alice Hart on Prime Video.
