La Casa de Las Flores (The House of Flowers)
I am so sad that I lost most of my favourites by having less than 10 top fave shows in the game. I guess I don't have the reason to be nice anymore. So, onto the show! This show is a Mexican black-comedy drama telenovela and it is aired in Netflix. The show is about the de la Mora family, a upper-class dysfunctional family, that owns a very prestigious flower shop called, "La Casa de las Flores". The show starts with the birthday of the the father and husband of the pseudo-perfect family de la Mora, Ernesto de la Mora. During the party, his mistress, Roberta, commits suicide by hanging herself in the flower shop. The flower shop is located and connected in their family house which is like a mansion. Roberta is the one narrating the story throughout the whole season for some reason. Her wife Virginia is shocked but not really surprised about Roberto having an affair. They have three children and oh! A surprise half daughter of Roberto from her affair with Roberta whose name is Michaela, a young girl who also doesn't know about her being a child born from infidelity.
Obviously Ernesto is an important character but he's just someone who is needed to be there for the plot to start and end. His story of being jailed and used by Roberta to commit fraud is important but he isn't important in how to solve it, the stories that happen in between it happening and ending, etc. So we will talk about the QUEEN of the show, Virginia.
I can say that she is the matriarch of the family that even Ernesto bows down to her to be honest. She is trying to keep her marriage intact even after the infidelity of her husband and even a prison sentence keeps her away from him. At one point, she even tries to sell homegrown marijuana to stay afloat financially. Virginia is not the perfect mother and she's actually far from it. She is controlling to her children, she is kind of racist to Dominique (because he's African-American), quite homophobic with Julian and a lot to Jose Maria (probably because of her transitioning), and more. The thing about Virginia though is that she tries to be better. She tries for her children and for the sake of the family. She will lower her pride and admit she's wrong when she has no choice but to do it. Virginia represents a real life old, but not super old, lady who comes from a rich family and a religious country. And her redemption is actually nice to see. Unfortunately, the actress decided to leave to show. Virginia is so iconic that they know they cannot replace her with another actress a la Dynasty so they killed her off. She even has her own episode about her funeral before the second season starts!
Now, let's talk about the three children of Ernesto and Virginia.
The oldest is Paulina who is a control freak and likes to make everything perfect. She also has to this habit of trying to take care of her mother and father so much even without them asking for it. Paulina tries to act super strict and it borderline becomes annoying to her siblings because she thinks she knows the best for everyone and how to handle things. Half of the time she is right and half of it she isn't. Although her actions aren't usually mean bad for people, it just happens. She always puts family first no matter what, that's why. She has a husband who is now a transgender named Maria Jose and they have a son, Bruno. Maria Jose plays a big part in the show especially in season two and she shows how a transger woman's life and rights in Mexico comparing it to how it is in Spain because that's where she went when she was banished. Paulina is still in love with Maria Jose and they have a nice development in the series!
The second child is Elena. At the start of the show, she is back in Mexico coming from America and studying architecture. She is with her boyfriend Dominique and they are both taking a visit to her family and announce that she and her boyfriend are engaged. The real tea though is that she is really not ready to start a married life even though Elena thinks she is. Also, even if she keeps saying that she will be back in America, she just can't leave life in Mexico and it pulls her back with all the drama that happens in the season. I don't think any of you are interested in latin shows (especially the telenovela ones) so I'm just going to spoil some of it. She cheats on her boyfriend Dominique with Claudio. Claudio is the son of Roberto but not with Ernesto. I don't think Elena really loves Dominique like how Domonique loves her because she seems like she's just going to marry someone to rebel to her family.
The youngest child is Julian. He is bisexual and is hiding in the closet. Julian is in a secret relationship with Diego, the family's accountant and in a fake relationship with Lucia. Lucia doesn't know though and she thinks she's the only one who is smart enough to use Julian. She loves Julian but she loves the money he is going to inherit more. Unfortunately for her, Julian is running a better scheme. He is the youngest and is immature because he is also a rich kid so he usually acts like a spoiled brat but like in a charming way.He tries to be better and everything but he is just a big baby sometimes. Diego, on the other hand, is a very serious man who is really in love with Julian. He wants to their relationship to be public and is somewhat pressuring Julian to do it. He cares deeply for Julian but he is an older man who wants to settle down and is not into games or hiding. He is considered to be part of the family but not really. He supports Julian in whatever he decides to do but there are limits of course.
The start of the show starts like this: Ernesto gets arrested for because Roberta has been using his name to take out loans and now that she's dead, it is Ernesto who will take the fall. The family's bank accounts get frozen and it makes everyone panic because they have lived their lives as a rich family. No one knows how to be poor. Virginia tries to maintain the image of her perfect family, especially to their super nosy neighbour whose name I can't remember and it's probably not important anyway, by keeping Ernesto's arrest a secret by dealing with a long-time friend in the force. She hopes to cover the bank repayments so Ernesto will be freed with their funds from the successful flower business before the shop's anniversary which they always have a lavish party to celebrate. However, after Julian chooses to come out as bisexual, the loyal customers who saw Virginia as the bastion of moral purity stop coming. Virginia has no more choice but go on a legal route. Paulina pleads her case to call Maria Jose who is banished from the family for coming out as a transgender. Elena tries to help the family and uses that excuse to stay longer in Mexico. Dominique is hesistant but is supportive about it.
They also learn that they own a cabaret which Roberta bought. The cabaret is kind of like a drag queen bar. It has the same name as the flower shop which shocks them all when they find out about it. Paulina has been running the cabaret with Ernesto, Roberto, and her son Claudio. She struggles to hide it from the rest of the family and tey eventually find out about it. Virginia takes this as a betrayal from Paulina knowing about the affair of Ernesto and probably Michaela too. Paulina becomes focused on the cabaret and trying to earn money from it to pay for the bail. There are a lot of things happening here especially one plot when the earnings of the cabaret goes missing and they try to figure out who has done it.
There are many twists and turns in this story just like a normal telenovela but I kind of feel like this one is kind of elevated compared to a normal telenoval? I loved it from start to finish of the season 1. Season 2 kind of dipped because the actress who plays Virginia left the show and she kind of brought and tied everything in the show. The focus of season 2 were the siblings but without Virginia, it's just doesn't beat the first season. There are quite a few recurring characters in the show that helps it to become what it is. The maids, the buyers, the drag queens, strippers, enemies, etc. They make for a good show and a good laugh. I don't really follow this show so much until the trailers come out but I just saw that the third season will be a prologue-ish season! It focuses on the younger years of the matriarch family, Virginia! She really IS the star of the show. I am quite excited even though it's not the same actress because of course, someone younger needs to play the role. Hoping whoever plays a younger Virginia gives justice to her character or else I'll be miffed. Really excited to watch it though!
It's funny, emotional, stupid and meaningful at the same time, and just a good watch in my honest opinion.
Here is the trailer for the first season!
