Amazon's Picnic at Hanging Rock, episode 4

So, let's open this epsisode with some odd photography about Sara. Ar least it does establish a relationship between Albert (Bertie) and Sara. Lumley tells the French teacher that she's not fit to teach but it's Lumley who tied Sara to the bars, thus establishing another act of cruelty. Appleyard confronts Sara while Sara's still in bed and accuses her of being a spy and having lots of secrets.

Parnoid much?

She slaps Sara after Sara talks back to her. Then she sends all the girls to church except with the exception of Sara who she puts in Lumley's not-so-gentle care.

The missing poster. It's also obvious that Appleyard's former mate is near by. Then it focuses on Marion, Irma and Miranda still in the forest and not on the rock itself. Edith, however, is not with them when, though, it was established earlier that she was definitely with them as they moved through the forest towards the rock itself.

Sara goes to Appleyard's room and knows (how??) just where the hidden gun is. She takes it after seeing a guy go into a room and points it at him which he's using a chamber-pot (again, why? He could have done the same thing outside in the forest or the bush.) This is the guy that tried to come on to Miranda in the first episode.

The main policeman points out that the gun Appleyard has is a 'highway man's gun,' in other words, the type of gun used by crooks. He wants to know why she has that type of gun (she had just told him it belonged to her ex-husband.)

She adds she dislikes the Australian landscape (if she does then why the heck did she move there?) and notes that it is 'insubordinate,' reminding me how Seven of Nine talks during Star Trek Voyager.

Then the episode adds more material, going back to the Christmas holidays the year before. Most of the girls are going home for the holidays.

Marion and one other girl seem to be the only girls that stayed at the college. Apparently, to take some time, Marion reads from The Turn of the Screw to the other girl. Appleyard tells Marion that she's like to offer her a chance to teach history there after she finishes her senior year. According to Wikipedia Marion is the illegitimate daughter of a judge and she's part indigenous meaning she is part aborigine. Mrs. Appleyard is making references to this as she talks to Marion, basically tell her no really good guy will have anything to do with her and she won't need to talk to the parents if she teaches there.

It seems that Marion is strongly attracted to the other girl. Irma returns early and catches the two lying on the same bed. They don't know she saw them. The other girls return and Marion notes that Irma seems to be angry with her.

Michael tells Albert he plans to go north and wants Albert to come with him.

Appleyard tells some of the staff that some girls will not be returning after the Easter holidays and she plans to rename the college. (Why?) She also tells them the girls are not allowed to say anything about the missing girls.

Drawings of the missing gils on on easels on the staircase. Blanche's parents show up to take her away. Michael gets a 1000 pound check from Irma's father for his role in finding Irma. Sara is no longer allowed to take art since Appleyard is sure Sara is the one who put the drawings on the stairs.

The art teacher tells off Appleyard saying that the only thing girls learn there is how to be afraid. The art teacher then quits. Appleyard basically tells Sara to shape up or she'll be shipped back to the orphanage. Albert is trying to trace down where Sara is, apparently not knowing she's at the school.

Appleyard gets a letter saying someone's arranged for a detective from Scotland Yard to investigate the situation with the missing girls and this bit of news really majorly upsets her.

The guy from her past shows up. The head policeman is now thinking along the lines that the missing girls went missing on purpose. (Which, when you think about it, is a rather stupid assumption. First, none of the girls had any provisions on them; no food, no water. They would be running away into the Australian bush area without any protection from the elements or the animals. If they didn't want to be at the college they could simply have had their parents remove them. )

Sara asks the French teacher if Mrs. Appleyard can really send her back to the orphanage. She's also carrying a frame photo of Miranda in her pocket.

Sara has become a cutter. She then sees Albert (who has come to the school to have a letter written) and realize he's her brother. Sara tries to run away to get to Albert/Bertie.