‘Flowers in the Attic: The Origin’ Finale Recap and Ending Explained: A Monster Is Born
The transformation of Olivia Foxworth is complete. Gone is the competent single woman we met in the first episode of Lifetime’s Flowers in the Attic: The Origin. That person became Malcolm Foxworth’s blushing bride and later his abused wife and a conflicted co-conspirator in his crimes. By the end of the Flowers in the Attic prequel’s finale, she’s reached her final form: the stern, cold-hearted woman who locks her grandchildren in the attic of the Foxworth mansion.
Unsurprisingly, the final episode in this chapter of the Foxworth family’s gothic melodrama sets the stage for the horrors to come in Flowers in the Attic, the V.C. Andrews novel previously adapted by Lifetime in 2014. It sheds more light on Olivia’s character and explains why she made the choices she did when her widowed daughter Corrine returned home with her children in tow.
[Warning: Spoilers ahead for Flowers in the Attic: The Origin Episode 4.]
Corrine flees Foxworth Hall in the ‘Flowers in the Attic: The Origin’ finale
The first part of the Flowers in the Attic: The Origin finale deals with the immediate fallout of Corrine’s (Hannah Dodd) affair with her uncle Christopher (Callum Kerr), who is also her half-brother.
Olivia (Jemima Rooper) reveals the truth about the young couple’s blood ties and the ugly circumstances surrounding Corrine’s conception. She hopes to convince them to give up their romance. But Corrine and Christopher remain undeterred and plan to run away together. Of course, Malcolm (Max Irons) won’t let his precious daughter go so easily. He first attacks Christopher, then Olivia and Corrine. Finally, he tells his child she’ll be cast out of the Foxworth family forever if she leaves.
As Olivia urges her daughter to stay, Malcolm attempts to buy off Christopher by revealing that Corinne had an illegal abortion. Neither gambit works, and Corrine and Christopher flee. They set up house in Pennsylvania and start a family. It seems they may have managed to break free of the cursed Foxworth family, at least at first.
Olivia gets her final revenge on Malcolm
With all her children now gone, Olivia devotes her energy to getting revenge on her husband. Her housekeeper and friend Nella (T’Shan Williams) has her reasons for hating Malcolm. (He raped her, and she gave birth to his child, whom he never acknowledged.) But when Nella realizes Olivia plans to sabotage his car, she asks her to reconsider. If there’s an accident, the innocent driver will be blamed and likely lynched. She also urges Olivia not to let her demons get the best of her.
Despite Nella’s advice, Olivia continues to plot against Malcolm. One morning, as Olivia sits downstairs reading a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories, her husband falls from the second-floor landing. Olivia’s emotionless reaction to Malcolm’s plunge makes it clear that she engineered the accident, though we don’t see her sabotaging the railing.
Surprisingly, Malcolm survives his fall. But he’s left paralyzed and unable to speak. Olivia takes full advantage of her husband’s incapacity. She assumes control of his company, cooly putting the company’s stodgy board of directors in their place when they question her decision to step in as president. For Olivia, it’s a rare moment of triumph. As a young woman, she dreamed of a career. Now she finally has one, though it took an act of attempted murder to get there.
After Malcolm’s accident, Nella leaves Foxworth Hall to pursue a career as a jazz singer. (At least someone in this story gets a happy ending.) Olivia is left alone again with an angry Malcolm. He’s not one to let paralysis stand in the way of abusing his wife, and he manages to attack her in a vulnerable moment. A brutal and bloody fight ensues. Again, Olivia emerges victorious. But in the aftermath, she realizes she can no longer tell the difference between right and wrong.
A guilty Olivia turns to John Amos for support
In desperation, Olivia turns to her cousin John Amos (Paul Wesley). He arrives at Foxworth Hall and swiftly insinuates himself into her life. She adopts his strict religious beliefs and eventually comes to see her surviving children as wayward sinners. She even burns many of her home’s luxurious furnishings in an attempt “to remove the stain of sin from Foxworth Hall.”
Though Olivia disapproves of Corrine’s choices, she continues to keep tabs on her daughter, Christopher, and their four “perfect children.” Eventually, she learns that Christopher has died in an accident, and Corrine is now destitute. Olivia wants to reach out, and Nella, who has returned for a visit, urges her to extend the olive branch. But Amos (a racist who treats Nella with contempt) convinces her to wait until Corrine asks for help, as that will prove she’s repented of her wicked ways. That leads to a permanent break with Nella. (Frankly, Nella should have cut ties much earlier, as Olivia has never been a good friend to her.)
Meanwhile, Olivia’s relationship with Amos deepens. One night in the chapel, he attempts to kiss his cousin. She angrily rejects him, accusing him of wanting to commit the same sin he has so loudly condemned in others. She demands he leave Foxworth Hall. But Amos feels he’s earned both a place in Olivia’s home and the right to her body. He sneaks into her bedroom and attacks her. She stabs him in the neck, then buries his corpse in the yard. After helping Malcolm cover up two murders and attempting to kill her husband, Olivia finally becomes a murderer herself.
Corrine seeks shelter in the ‘Flowers in the Attic: The Origin’ finale
With John Amos dead and buried, Olivia prepares for her daughter’s return. She knows Foxworth Hall breeds evil. Yet she still invites new blood into the house, believing she can purge it of sin.
“Little did I know then that my efforts would give rise to the greatest evils Foxworth Hall had yet to see,” she says in a voiceover.
The episode’s final moments echo the beginning of Flowers in the Attic. Corrine and her children return to her childhood home in the middle of the night. Olivia leads the children into the attic, setting down some strict ground rules (no physical contact between boys and girls, absolute quiet, and regular Bible study). Corrine promises the children that they’ll only need to stay in the attic until she reconciles with her father. She says goodbye and leaves. Olivia locks the door, leaving the four Dollanganger children trapped in the attic that will be their home for the next three years.
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