Flowers in the Attic: The Origin - Episode Three Review

After a devastating and unimaginable loss, Olivia finds both her son and daughter in forbidden relationships. She opposes their unions, but as she tries to hold on, more destruction finds her and pushes her further to the breaking point.

The third part picks up immediately where the last left off - with Connor Good penning this episode. As the title was called “Murderer”, I instantly began to wonder whether that was literal or metaphorical. Don’t worry, it’s literal.

With the family reeling from their loss, Alana Boden’s Alicia returns to Foxworth Hall. With her former friend now foe requesting her help, Olivia becomes withdrawn and has mentally checked out since her eldest son’s death. Alicia pleads with her to take Christopher in as she’s dying of cancer and as she’s lost most of her inheritance in a stock market crash, she wants her son to be financially supported through medical school. As Olivia feebly answers it’s up to Malcolm, her husband delights in having the power here. He agrees, but insists Christopher will have to work for her education.

Olivia’s depression lasts for a year, agreeing with whatever Malcolm orders and barely communicating. When word reaches them Olivia has died, they agree to take in Christopher. Under their father’s watchful eye, Joel and Corrine seek their own escape from their house of horrors.

We first see Corrine after her brother’s funeral, sobbing and guilt-ridden (Corrine was the sole survivor of the crash and Mal was smoking herbs from the poison garden which caused the accident) and as we saw, she destroys the blonde-haired porcelain dolls in a rage. For fans of the books, this heavily foreshadows future events and what she’ll end up doing to her own children - which she will nickname the Dresden Dolls. In the time jump, Corrine is being home schooled for her senior year - her pleas to Olivia fall on deaf ears, who is still letting Malcolm call the shots - and she seeks escapism through shopping and movie dates.

Meanwhile, Joel and Harry is the healthiest relationship to be featured in the V.C. Andrews universe. From late-night rendezvous, heartfelt conversations and romantic scenes where Harry listens to Joel play the piano. For a romantic pairing, these two tick all the boxes. No incest, no abuse and no gaslighting. They are the MVP of future VCA pairings.

Their bliss is short lived when Malcolm discovers their relationship and in scenes that were truly heartbreaking to watch, we see Harry a victim of racist police brutality where he’s arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and Joel is forced into conversion therapy - which he agrees to as long as his parents drop the false charges against his boyfriend.

The scenes of discrimination and abuse a gay interracial couple would face during the early 1900s was difficult to watch. However, Luke Featherton and Jordan Peters play their roles flawlessly and portray a beautifully poignant relationship between their characters. Olivia has moments where her old self tries to surface, especially when Joel admits he’s in love with Harry. But still she can’t bring herself to interfere with Malcolm’s plans.

The last person you’d expect to come to Joel’s rescue is Corrine, but she is. When she’s not having a flirtation with the only other blonde character in town - spoiler alert, it’s Christopher! Both naturally are uncomfortable they were attracted to their half-uncle/niece and totally unaware they are half siblings - Corrine enlists Christopher’s help when she discovers where Joel really is - not touring Europe with a musical company.

When Olivia is told by Christopher where she sent Joel - oh Christopher is getting through the rest of medical school by gardening the massive grounds of Foxworth Hall - this spurs Olivia to save her son from the grotesque abuse he’s being subjected to. She even confronts a warden and pays him off to keep quiet about her taking her son home. Olivia is back!

Despite this, everyone is still furious at Olivia’s passiveness which allowed such horrendous acts to happen. While Nella and her family care for Joel - the aftermath of the shock treatment causes him to spasm and he fears he’ll never be able to play piano again, but Harry is by his side in these moments.

A year passes with Malcolm none the wiser what happened, but Corrine’s fury at both her parents and almost let’s slip she knows about Joel. Olivia angrily reminds her that she’d put Joel in danger if Malcolm discovered he was checked out without his consent. Corrine argues that she never asked for her protection and runs off on her horse - only to be caught in a storm and flung off her horse.

A search party is sent out and Christopher finds her, where they succumb to their feelings and kiss in an abandoned crypt. Both hastily agree to never speak of it or act on their taboo feelings again, but as readers know that doesn't last long. Even though Corrine is returned safely, Malcolm dumps the blame at Olivia’s feet. A lot has happened so far in this episode, but I haven’t even reached the climax yet. We haven’t even discussed who ends up murdered.

Remember Mrs Steiner? The former housekeeper who was fired in episode two? Yeah, she is still feeling pretty bitter about that eighteen years later. She initially set out to blackmail Olivia over Joe being gay, but that plan quickly falls through.

When it’s clear that Joe is better enough to leave, he initially plans to leave on his own. However, Corrine showing surprising emotional maturity implore him to speak to Harry before making any hasty decisions.

And in one of the most romantic scenes of VC Andrews cinema history, Joel and Harry affirm their love and plan to move far from Virginia together as a couple. As Joel collect the last of his belongings, he cannot resist playing the piano one more time. His hands have healed enough that he can actually carry a tune, but this happy moment is soon shattered when Malcolm finds him.

Which commences one of the most dramatic and emotional confrontations of the series so far - and one of Jemima Rooper and Max Irons’ strongest scenes. As Olivia comes to her son’s aid, Malcolm decides to rewrite history and blame the entirety of the family’s misfortunes and tragedies on her.

Olivia robustness by reminding him that Mal was only in the car because Malcolm assaulted his fiancée, Malcolm refused to love and accept Joel for who he was and Corrine only ran into Rockford’s arms because she was running from his. Malcolm’s response is to punch his wife in the face.

This doesn’t deter Olivia from bidding her son a tearful farewell, giving her blessing for his relationship with Harry and even hands over her wedding ring for him to pawn. Joel pleads with his mother for her to leave too - before someone ends up dead.

Never were truer words spoken. Because later that night at Corrine’s coming out ball - there’s been a whole supplier where Malcolm dresses her up to look like her great grandmother and then proceeds to stare at the portrait of his mother in the attic. Yeah, that was very creepy - Malcolm scares off one of his daughter's potential suitors and Corrine finally starts to see her father for who he is. Hannah Dodd played that realisation moment exceptionally well.

Meanwhile Mrs Steiner is a bit salty that her blackmail plan failed, but she’s got another trick up her drunken sleeve - she’s downing Champagne like those waiters were offering water. As a secretary to the local doctor, she was able to piece together that Alicia was Corrine‘s biological mother.

She raises her demands from $3000 to $5000. I realise this was the 1920s, but I really was expecting her to ask for more from the richest family in Virginia. Olivia locks her in the library for the best part of an hour, then proceeds to return to the ball.

Olivia assures her daughter when she finds true love, she will support her. Which ultimately and unintentionally pushes Corrine and Christopher admit their feelings to each other. Given they only had one episode to delve into this storyline, both Hannah Dodd and Callum Kerr had good chemistry. A part of me wishes they had more episodes to flesh out their storyline a bit more.

So, who ends up murdered? Mrs Steiner - I was just relieved it wasn’t Nella, because T’Shan Williams is superb in all of her scenes. But alas, a drunken Steiner stumbles into the desk after a struggle with Olivia and Malcolm bashes his former housekeeper’s head in with the phone. I think there was a missed opportunity here for a call back to Petals on the Wind - in the 2014 film, Cathy contemplates attacking her bedridden grandmother with a silver crucifix. It’s a minor details, but that would’ve been my weapon of choice if I was writing that scene.

In a rare moment of solidarity, the twisted married couple bury a body together. What’s more, Malcolm shows Olivia genuine affection and something resembling respect – he even kisses her on the mouth, which Olivia doesn’t even close her eyes to because she is so shocked.

For a fleeting moment, Olivia reflects that there may be some hope for their family. If her son can leave Foxworth Hall and find happiness and love, why couldn’t her daughter?

Yeah… That plan is shattered before our very eyes when she discovered Corrine and Christopher in the infamous and notorious swan bed. With an eerily stoic expression, this episode promises an explosive conclusion in the finale.

As this episode had to cover a lot of ground, I think Connor Good’s screenplay kept the highly dramatic sequences grounded which was strengthened by the performances of the cast. I am looking forward to how next week’s episode brings the story full circle and into the attic.

My rating for Flowers in the Attic: The Origin - Episode Three “Murderer” is ★★★★★.