A Small Light – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Legacy

Does Miep’s plan work?

To negotiate the freeing of her captured loved ones from the annex, Miep visits the Nazi authorities at the beginning of A Small Light episode 8. She meets the Vienna Gestapo and gives him a backpack full of money as a bribe. He ultimately decides against taking the payment and dismisses Miep’s request to free the Jews.

Miep approaches a different senior Gestapo official with the cash instead. Although he takes the cash and refuses to assist her, he gives the order for Miep to be tossed away from the area by force. They remove her, but Jan saves the day and takes his wife home.

Why does Miep fire the salesperson?

The Nazis stopped supplying food to Amsterdam. Due to this, it had been almost impossible to get the food that was required. Miep tries to sell pectin, however, her salesperson is reluctant to knock on doors. She recommends that Miep go ahead and sell the whole company and divide the proceeds among the staff. Thereafter, Miep fires her.

How does Mr. Kleiman return?

Mr. Kleiman visits the workspace. After being identified as having an ulcer, he was discharged from the hospital. Moreover, Kleiman was unable to stay in touch with his imprisoned loved ones because Kugler is being held in custody and the Franks as well as other families had been relocated to different camps.

What happens after the Nazi’s defeat?

Miep and Jan make every effort to collect food. Miep simply succeeds in finding tulip bulbs, though. She turns them into soup, but it is terrible. Thereafter, loud planes soar above their house. On going out, they learn that the Allies are using their aircraft to drop food items. A huge sense of relief overtakes Miep and Jan as they take a bite of the delicious chocolate from the supplies.

Do the Franks, Pels, and Pfeffers return safely?

Liberation Day has finally come. Miep and Jan are anticipating the arrival of the Franks, Pels, and Pfeffer. Kugler shows up and tells them how he hid in a cornfield and escaped from jail. We learn that Liddy, Mrs. Stopplebam’s granddaughter, died given that a Nazi medical professional refused to treat her since she was Jewish.

When the freed Jews arrive back in Amsterdam, Jan heads to the train station. To his disappointment, he is unable to locate any of the Franks, Pels, as well as other people he was expecting to see. However, Jan spots Max, who is healthy and alive. Max goes on to tell Jan that Otto is returning, and Jan quickly heads home to give the good news to Miep. Shortly after, Otto Frank comes back alone.

We learn that the Frank siblings were separated and taken to Bergen-Belsen, whereas Otto, his spouse, as well as the Van Pels, were in Auschwitz. Tragically, neither Edith nor anyone else from the Van Pels family made it out alive. Since Bergen-Belsen wasn’t a concentration camp, Miep and everybody else are still optimistic that Margot and Anne will come back.

In a list of deceased prisoners, Otto finds Peter Van Pels’ name. Questions about his daughters’ well-being arise as a consequence. A former Bergen-Belsen Jewish prisoner pays a visit to Opekta a few days later. She tells Otto that both of his daughters have passed away. Otto is devastated by this terrible news. Additionally, it also has a major impact on the entire office.

How do Miep and Jan make things better for Mr. Otto?

Miep pulls herself together and gives Otto Anne’s journal. When Otto reads the journal, he learns something about his child that she hadn’t shared with him before. Otto then receives an invitation from Miep and Jan to move in with them, and he is unable to turn them down.

How does A Small Light end?

The episode comes to a close with us learning about what happened following that. We learn that Miep and Jan enjoyed a blissful union. Miep lived to be 100 years old. Miep’s husband Jan passed away from kidney failure. Otto Frank published his teenage daughter’s diary, which went on to win international acclaim as a representation of hope and resilience in the face of catastrophe.

The Episode Review

This episode explores profound themes like kindness, resilience, and hope, with the final scene of the episode encapsulating all of this. In fact, the entire season is a testament to the strength of human beings in the face of unthinkable adversity.

Otto Frank’s strength in the midst of terrible loss, Miep and Jan’s unwavering dedication to assist the Jews, and the universal impact of the journal kept by Anne Frank all serve as indications of the bravery and resilience that can arise even in the most dire of times.

The episode neatly ties up all the loose ends of the show, and even though you are aware of the fate the Franks endured, there’s enough here to make for a really solid and well written series.