Anyone who’s been watching Finding Alice in lockdown will perhaps agree that the pace of the series has slowed down quite a bit since the first episode. 

The ITV series, which stars Keeley Hawes in the titular role, follows the story of a woman called Alice who uses black comedy to navigate grief after her husband, Harry, suddenly dies. Harry left a lot of unanswered questions in his wake: was he in financial trouble? Did he leave an estranged son behind? Why did he sign his family’s brand new dream house over to his parents? Was he up to something big and bad?

But now that we’re four episodes down, with just a couple more to go, we want some clear answers. And although the latest episode did give us some, they just weren’t very… exciting or juicy. 

To quickly recap what happened in episode three, the main revelation was that a paternity test confirmed that George – the young man who turned up on Alice’s doorstep – really was Harry’s son. He was also there the night Harry fell down the stairs and died, but an inquest ruled his death as accidental. We saw Harry’s parents continue to try and sell the house that Alice and her daughter Charlotte are living in. And, as the jokes started to dry up, it became clear that Alice really wasn’t dealing with things well. 

The big question we had: was Harry’s death really an accident? Because “accidental death” just seemed too neat an explanation. 

Finding Alice episode four recap

In episode four, there is lots of talk about money and business. Alice learns she owns half of Harry’s building company, which means she could find a way to buy back the house Harry built for her. She juggles an eager estate agent, angry parents-in-law, a worried daughter, a homeless sister-in-law and a suspicious business partner while trying to make this happen. She even sells her shop and her £20,000 kitchen.

Alice also slowly comes to terms with the fact that she needs proper help at this stage in her grieving process. And there is one key scene that nails a reality of grief that we don’t really talk about…

“Can we talk about money?” Alice says in her grief support group. “Someone you love dies and you think it’s going to be about gut-wrenching absence – and it is – but it’s just as much about the bloody bank and bureaucracy and stupid missing passwords. And if you weren’t married, and they die suddenly without a will and with secrets and a messed up business and a family of misfits…”

Everyone in the group agrees with Alice about finances and admin being something they had to deal with. But it’s just not something you’re “meant” to think about after someone dies – because there’s a fear of judgment that you should be too consumed with grief to even think about dealing with that side of things. 

And that’s what this series seems to be about: understanding that grief is totally unique for everyone. Perhaps this isn’t the most gripping drama with a super juicy plot, but it does do a great job of exploring something that needs to be talked about more.

You can watch the next episode of Finding Alice next Sunday at 9pm on ITV.

Images: ITV