S01.E05: Part 5: Desert Oak

[AnimeMania]

As Twig searches for Alice, Candy confronts June about the past. In Agnes Bluff, Alice believes she has found in Dylan someone who finally understands her, and who she can trust with everything.

Premiere Date: August 18, 2023      Prime Video       

[Maurina]

I'm loving the extraordinary cinematography and enjoying the storytelling, but I am *WINCING* at all the Dylan/Alice relationship stuff.
The last ten minutes alone contained red flags galore:
- Dylan stomping off and leaving Alice alone in the middle of nowhere because she asked if he ever brought Lulu there
- Alice feeling the need to apologize over and over WHEN DYLAN SHOULD BE THE ONE APOLOGIZING - instead he just asks if there's any food left.
- Dylan:  "I never felt this way about anyone before" as explanation for his shitty behavior?
- Dylan: "It's just us now because we found each other... we're the same..."

RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE.  The only thing he said that was actually appropriate was that she was just a kid when the fire happened and that it's not her fault (and also am I wrong or she misremembering it anyway - didn't the fire actually start by accident when she knocked over the lamp?)

In any case it's heartbreakingly accurate that her reactions to his crap behavior are to apologize and try to please him and get his forgiveness, instead of calling him out on it and dumping his manipulative ass.  Children who come from abusive homes often have that kind of maladaptive instinct kick in when they encounter an abusive partner as adults.

[Snazzy Daisy]

Desert Oak   
Meaning: Resurrection

Frankie Adams is the MVP in this episode. Candy hasn’t been feeling seen by June. We see her taking off her mask - she removes her heavy makeup, dyes her hair back and changes her outfit. It feels like we are seeing her for the first time. She needs to find a healthy way to deal with her trauma, moving forward.

The flashbacks for June’s character are nicely done to let us understand how those moments have affected her and why she is the way she is, beyond all the lies. June only knows one way to show her love - by ‘protecting’ all the people she cares about.

June is not comfortable around men, she doesn’t trust them. She has rejected Charlie because she’s afraid of what he might become. She isn’t comfortable seeing those repairmen on her compound. Is she afraid of men? We need to know the real story of her history with Robber Baron, Clem’s dad.

Quote

Dylan: “I’ve never felt like this about someone before. And it’s freaking me out.”

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

Of course Alice is drawn to a man with her father’s traits. She has become Agnes in her new relationship with Dylan. Too many red flags and she doesn’t even have a déjà vu about all this. Is she that ignorant? Her storyline moves at a slow pace, nothing compelling as the first 3 episodes.

Happy to see Twig meeting Charlie for the first time and setting the record straight about June’s lies. One thing, why the coroner’s reports are being mentioned here? Is there anything else that we aren’t aware of? We know Alice has accidentally started the fire in the barn but we have no idea how it started in the main house. I guess we’re about to find out the truth…

2 episodes left‼️

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy
Wrote the name of the actress!

[greekmom]

So the acting of older Alice still needs a ton of work.

June continues to be a controlling asshole. I can't believe her solution to Candy/Clem was to forbid him from Candy and steer him to Agnes.  June is a gaslighter and control freak. No wonder Clem turned out the way he did.

Red flags all around with Dylan. Alice is going to find herself in a similar situation her mother did.

Nice that Twig not only sought out the truth but met Charlie.  John and Sally should have gotten Alice as well.  Thornfield is just broken.