NOTE: this post contains spoilers for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart episode 5, "Desert Oak."
Alice (Alycia Debnam-Carey) rattles off plant names while she's doing a job interview for a park ranger job in the desert. She tells the ranger she doesn't have her paperwork because she was travelling, but the ranger says Lulu (Vivenne Awosoga) and Dylan (Sebastian Zurita) vouched for her. She gets the job easily.
Candy (Frankie Adams) helps Twig (Leah Purcell) pack the car. Twig needs to get to Alice to tell her that Charlie (Jeremy Blewitt) is alive after years of blaming herself for his death. They're going to meet him first, though.
June (Sigourney Weaver) learns her cancer has spread, but she’s not interested in experimental treatments. The doctor wants to call someone to help her with her care, but she refuses. Once she's alone again, she breaks down.
On her first day at work, Alice learns the story of the crater and the countryside. Her specific job is to prevent people from getting into the garden to steal the flowers. Alice knows they're suffering from root rot after their roots were disturbed. The ranger is impressed. She admits she learned it from her grandmother.
June returns to Thornfield and sees work being done. Candy sees her and says she should have called, but June didn't think she'd be there. Candy says the farm won't run itself as her phone rings. She leaves June in her room, and that's when June realizes that Twig is gone.
New beginnings
Alice tells Lulu about her first day. Lulu says Alice must have impressed everyone. Alice now has a little house all her own like the other rangers and she's proud of it. When Lulu mentions Dylan, Alice smiles. She says she ended things with Moss and is definitely interested in Dylan.
Back at Thornfield, June tells the others the doctors are confident they got all of the cancer and everyone celebrates. Candy tells everyone Twig should be finding Alice soon, with Charlie. The flowers have no idea who Charlie is and June isn't happy that she's discussing him, but Candy doesn't care.
Twig arrives at Sally (Asher Keddie) and John's (Alexander England) house. They're very happy to see her. When she sees Charlie, she starts crying and hugs him.
Alice takes a walk on the grounds with the little dog she rescued, stopping to offer Pip some water. Dylan arrives. He's going in her direction so they go together.
Twig tells Charlie Alice never wrote any of the letters, they were all written by June to protect Alice. Charlie can't believe his sister doesn't know about him at all.
Alice learns people will visit the gardens and steal things, and then send "sorry letters" soon after to apologize for what they've taken. She tells someone to get off the flowers and he quickly steps back on the path.
Later, when the rangers are off work, Alice floats in the water when Dylan arrives and jumps in with Alice and Lulu. He sees a scar on her, which she blames on a car accident she was in with her grandmother.
No more secrets, or lies
Candy finds June sleeping in her office. She spots pictures of Charlie all over the place. June gets upset with her, but Candy says she talked to June's doctors and knows she's dying.
"This is not your business," June says, but Candy doesn't see it that way. Candy reminds her she's all June has left. But June says she can't look at Candy because of how she dresses and all of the sneaking around and sex with strangers. "Who are you?" June demands. Candy storms out.
While she's taking her makeup off, Candy has a memory of being with Clem (Charlie Vickers) when they were younger. They ended up on the farm, and all we see are her boots.
Candy goes down to dinner without her makeup and looks at June. "Can you look at me now?" she asks. All of the flowers all run away. Candy says she was the child June never wanted, so she replaced her with Agnes. But she loved Clem and when June found out they'd been together she sent her away. Even when she came back, all of the silence made it worse. June gets up and walks away.
June looks out at the garden. She has a memory of going to the greenhouse and finding Clem on top of Candy. She told him to get off of her. Later, Clem went to June's room and said he loves Candy, but June points out he's her brother, she's 13 and he raped her.
Lulu brings Alice a housewarming present for a little gathering she's put together, which includes Dylan. Dylan bumps Alice's leg under the table and they start talking about their history. He's been travelling for years and she has barely ever traveled. That night they make love.
Twig tells Sally she's done a great job with Charlie, admitting it was probably better he wasn't at Thornfield. Sally says June paid for everything for Charlie. They let him read the coroner report. But Twig never read them, and neither has June. Sally is shocked.
June goes out to the greenhouse and finds a wooden bouquet of flowers. In a memory, she walks outside the house and greets Agnes, who just lost her mother. Clem helps with her baggage. When Agnes praises all of the ornate woodworking in the house, Clem looks at his mother curiously.
Inside the house, June hears Candy crying. She's packing her bag. June insists Agnes never replaced her, but she brought Agnes in to keep Clem away from Candy. She encouraged Clem's relationship with Agnes to keep Candy safe. That was always her goal. But she sees Candy. She always has.
The whole truth
Alice and Dylan go to a party. Alice finds Lulu outside and asks if she's avoiding them. Lulu says she's never seen Dylan with a woman in public before. She warns Alice that he can be "a lot."
John thinks Alice is in Agnes Bluff, which is the last place she used her credit card. Charlie finds Twig as she's packing and asks if he can come with her so he can meet his sister. She promises she'll bring Alice to meet him.
Dylan takes Alice on a road trip to a gorgeous canyon. She explores while he cooks dinner. They share an amazing night under the fireflies, but when Alice asks about Lulu, he storms away and doesn't return, leaving her alone well into the night. When he returns, she apologizes over and over again but he just asks about whether there's food left.
At the farm, June prepares a plant, thinking back to when Agnes and Clem were young. Candy comes in and tells her Twig found Alice in Agnes Bluff. June tells Candy to dye her hair again because she misses her "Candy Blue."
The next morning, Dylan admits he brought Lulu there but they were never a thing the way he and Alice are. He's distant and sorry he ruined their moment. He's never felt the way he does about Alice with anyone else. He sees her as his "golden girl" and wants to know about her past. She summons up the strength to tell the tale of dreaming about setting her father on fire, and then she did. She tells him everything. He's so sorry her father hurt her, and he promises they are the same and will be together.
New episodes of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart are available Fridays on Prime Video.
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