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The Saturday edition of Flowers in the Attic: The Origin contains many twists, screams and a dramatic death scene that is pure art.
Let’s start with Olivia’s deal with Alicia, which is really just a dry run for what she does to her grandchildren years later. Alicia – who is carrying Malcolm’s child – agrees to be isolated in the East Wing for the duration of her pregnancy. Meanwhile, Olivia pretends to be pregnant and plans to raise Alicia’s child as her own after birth. But after a while, Alicia isn’t content with watching Olivia bond with her son Christopher while she’s locked away.
To make matters worse, Malcolm still sneaks into Alicia’s room late at night. To combat his unwanted attention, Olivia convinces Alicia to cut off her hair. Remember he loves beautiful things, so an ugly haircut Malcolm is basically dismissive. But Olivia goes one step further and leaves the freshly cut curls on Malcolm’s desk. He is not happy about the “gift” and threatens to commit Olivia to a psychiatric hospital. She hits back, threatening to tell everyone what he did to his father and stepmother, and his response is to stab her in the stomach with scissors. She’s fine though, as he only hit the padding of her fake stomach.
One day Alicia confronts Olivia about her imprisonment and they get into an argument. She falls down the stairs while fleeing Olivia and Malcolm and tries to tell the doctor what happened to her while she was being examined. But despite her weird hair and hysterical state, Olivia is able to convince the doctor that she is mentally unhealthy and has her sedated. Disgusted by this, Nella urges Alicia to play the Foxworths’ game until she finds a way out. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Malcolm is the father of Nella’s daughter Celia.
Alicia goes into labor and it’s a whole production. During the delivery, Olivia also pretends to be in labor and screams at the top of her lungs to drown out Alicia’s screams. Alicia gives birth to a girl whom Malcolm names Corrine after his mother. The Foxworths are having a new child and Alicia has to leave with her son Christopher.
First things first: It’s Corrine’s 16th birthday and Malcolm is an overly thoughtful father who gives her another doll because he wants her to be his little girl forever. He doesn’t give a damn about his sons Mal and Joel, who also hate him because, among other things, he prefers Corrine. Mal is engaged and wants early access to his trust fund so he can give his fiancee the life she deserves. But Malcolm quickly shuts that down because he’s terrible.
Malcolm becomes obsessed with Corrine and forbids her from attending a dance after catching her on a boy’s motorcycle. Olivia privately berates him for being too harsh, and Malcolm accuses his wife of being jealous of their daughter’s beauty. But as Olivia points out, she wants Corrine to have experience with boys, so she doesn’t say yes to the first man who proposes to her like she did to Malcolm. sick burn.
Olivia helps Corrine sneak off to the dance, but that backfires when she later reveals that she is pregnant. Olivia helps the terrified teenager get an abortion, unaware that Malcolm has followed them. He confronts Olivia at breakfast – careful not to call her a whore – and forbids Corrine to leave the house.
Joel has been hanging out with Celia’s stepson Harry, who hints that Celia is related to Malcolm. When Joel tells Corrine and Mal, they aren’t surprised given the widespread rumors and the strong family resemblance. Mal then tries to use it to blackmail Malcolm into accessing his inheritance, threatening to tell Olivia that he is Celia’s father. But Malcolm is unfazed and even breaks the news to Olivia himself. If Mal wants the money, he’ll have to crawl over Malcolm’s dead body.
Now that Olivia knows, she tries to reconcile with both Nella and Celia. When she apologizes, Celia warns her that men are like Malcolm never Break. Malcolm proves this by lingering outside of Corrine’s bedroom and watching her change. Olivia catches him in the act and decides to put a stop to it.
Malcolm then gets poisoned at dinner (and somehow survives, ugh) and all signs point to Olivia as the culprit. But it was actually Corrine who only wanted to make him sick enough that she snuck out of the house and went to a party.
Olivia’s plan is much more discreet. Too discreet, some would say, as she hid the poisonous plant in her husband’s cigarettes, which Mal stole after he caught his father kissing his fiancee on their wedding day. (To be fair, she only did this to ensure Mal received his inheritance.) Annoyed, he jumps in his car and drives off with Corrine. Mal soon realizes the cigarettes are poisoned, but it’s too late. He passes out and crashes into a tree – dead at the scene while Corrine is unharmed.
Think of the dramatic scene that deserves its own section in the Louvre: Olivia howls while clutching Mal’s lifeless body, Mal’s fiancé races to the scene and then sobs (while wearing her wedding dress) into Joel’s arms after realizing that their love is dead and Malcolm clutches his distraught daughter Corrine like he’s not a total monster. Mal’s funeral follows, with added effect with Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and mourners standing in the rain under huge black umbrellas. That is movie theater.
After Mal’s tragic accident, Joel falls into Harry’s arms, Corrine destroys her doll collection, and Malcolm berates Olivia for essentially killing her son with her poisoned cigarettes. A distraught Olivia relinquishes control of the household and agrees to do anything Malcolm says – even destroy the poisonous garden with fire. And just when things couldn’t get any worse, Alicia shows up unannounced at her doorstep. Maybe she needs to borrow some sugar?
So what do we think of this week’s episode of Flowers in the Attic: The Origin? Write a comment below.
