S01.E04: Part 4: River Lily

[AnimeMania]

After uncovering evidence of the shocking extent of her grandmother’s lies and manipulations, Alice, now 24, flees Thornfield and begins building a new life in a desert town called Agnes Bluff.

Premiere Date: August 11, 2023      Prime Video       

[greekmom]

Well, IMHO Clem gets his controlling nature from his mother. June is a terrible person.  Treats the people around her like pieces on a chessboard.

She told Twig about Oggi but not Candy Blue.  She didn't tell either of them about Charlie.  She says to protect Alice but to keep her on the farm.

I liked what little we saw of adult Oggi and hate what happened to him. June had no right.

Poor Charlie thinking that his sister doesnt want to know him and that June rejected him.

I think Alice is in for trouble.

[PatsyB]

This episode was such a disappointment to me. I really liked the first three episodes and thought the whole cast, especially young Alice, did a great job. But older Alice? I'm almost in disbelief at how bad the actress is. I have no interest in her as a character, hard to tell if that's due to her now completely cliche story line (the drunk dancing in the room was especially egregious) or the horrible acting. I also don't understand how June was able to prevent emails from going out to Oggi. I mean, she could block him so no emails came in, but she couldn't stop Alice from emailing him. And in all these years Sally never once reached out to Alice on behalf of Charlie? I get she was hurt that a TRAUMATIZED 9 year old turned her back on her, but to never try to connect the two kids in all these years? It's obvious Sally and her husband did not keep Charlie's family a secret from him, so he never once tried to call and speak to his sister? 

And then there's the Vet who is also... not good. The whole karaoke scene was so bad, singing and acting on a sub par level all around.

I'll continue watching, but this show went off a cliff really quickly with poor casting.

[greekmom]

8 minutes ago, PatsyB said:

This episode was such a disappointment to me. I really liked the first three episodes and thought the whole cast, especially young Alice, did a great job. But older Alice? I'm almost in disbelief at how bad the actress is. I have no interest in her as a character, hard to tell if that's due to her now completely cliche story line (the drunk dancing in the room was especially egregious) or the horrible acting. I also don't understand how June was able to prevent emails from going out to Oggi. I mean, she could block him so no emails came in, but she couldn't stop Alice from emailing him. And in all these years Sally never once reached out to Alice on behalf of Charlie? I get she was hurt that a TRAUMATIZED 9 year old turned her back on her, but to never try to connect the two kids in all these years? It's obvious Sally and her husband did not keep Charlie's family a secret from him, so he never once tried to call and speak to his sister? 

And then there's the Vet who is also... not good. The whole karaoke scene was so bad, singing and acting on a sub par level all around.

I'll continue watching, but this show went off a cliff really quickly with poor casting.

Thank you. I couldn't put my finger as to why I was having a hard time with this episode and did ff a bit instead of the first 3. 

I'm wondering if the fact that Oggi didn't meet her at the river was the reason that Alice felt rejected and didn't reach out to Oggi. Or maybe she did and never got a response back to her emails since his was blocked? 

From the letters that June hid, it looked like Sally and Charlie together reached out to Alice with photos along with Charlie's letters. 

So out of the two siblings. It looks like Charlie grew up in a better home than Alice.  I knew both kids should have gone to Sally and her husband.

[bilgistic]

June is officially The Worst. I was astounded at what a trash human she is. She's also a complete buffoon for walking around immediately after having a hysterectomy and then again after she collapsed from pain after she didn't rest after her surgery. She can rot.

[Valny]

8 hours ago, bilgistic said:

June is officially The Worst. 

She really is a piece of work.  I hope Twig dumps her ass. I was really hoping she would.(did she?I may have missed it) Speaking of Twig, I remember the actress from her few seasons on the great Aussie prison show Wentworth. Any Wentworth fans out there? 

The really did a good job casting the older Oggi. 

I am guessing June won't make it by the end of the series, she is not looking good at all.  And I like Sigourney but man, that Aussie accent is here for a few words then gone the rest of the time. Either go for it all the way or just keep the American accent. Get Meryl Streep to help you! :) 

[Snazzy Daisy]

River Lily    
Meaning: Love concealed

This is a dreadfully paced episode with an abrupt 14-years time jump. There’s nothing much going on - plot wise, except for the uncovering of more lies.

Geez June, there are better and subtle ways to tell your 17yo granddaughter not to elope. Instead, you get Oggi deported and pull “The Notebook” on Alice.

It isn’t quite believable that June manages to keep all the secrets and her BTS machinations from Twig (and Candy too) for more than a decade. They’re partners and have been together for so long. They share everything, including a computer. Even the supposedly secret box is labeled “Charlie”. Very secretive huh. And June cannot be picking up letters from the post office ALL the time. It’s easy for Twig/Candy/Alice to sense something is off based on June’s amateur tracks.

That ranger guy - Dylan, he reminds me of Clem, too charming. He’s a bad news, Alice!

Am in no rush to watch this episode, not excited to see Alicia Debnam-Carey playing grown-up Alice. She lacks the emotional range and haunting attributes displayed by Alyla Browne as young Alice. ADC can do angry/rebellious by throwing tantrums/things but her other emotions are conveyed through her big doe-eyes, and that’s it. The actor who plays Charlie has managed to garner more sympathy than ADC despite having less lines and less screen time than her.

I already miss Alyla Browne and really want to see her again. More flashbacks of young Alice, please.

[mojito]

2 hours ago, Valny said:

The really did a good job casting the older Oggi. 

And I thought a horrible job casting the older Alice. First, she doesn't even look a little like the fairer, blonder Alice. And second, when I first saw her, I thought she was depicting a younger Sally Morgan. Had I seen this actress in another show, I would've thought, "She reminds me of the actress who played Sally Morgan in that dreary Aussie drama about flowers."

I'm thinking that there will be some dramatic revelation about June that completely explains why she is the way she is, and will therefore sway the audience back to having some respect for her. Something that Twig doesn't even know about. 

[Milburn Stone]

Contrarian opinion: Given Alice's choice of two romantic partners, one of whom seems tailor-made for her and whom she is clearly drawn to, maybe June really did know Alice's best interests.

Whether or not June was the reason Oggi got deported, she knew he'd be deported eventually.

Of course we don't know yet how things will work out with the the Park Ranger. Part of me wonders whether he'll turn out to be abusive like Clem. But it doesn't seem likely the Australian National Park Service would keep a known or suspected abuser in their employ.

[pasdetrois]

On 8/11/2023 at 7:36 AM, PatsyB said:

I'm almost in disbelief at how bad the actress is. I have no interest in her as a character, hard to tell if that's due to her now completely cliche story line (the drunk dancing in the room was especially egregious) or the horrible acting.

Yeah, this episode was a drag.