Article first published as FLOWERS Review on Seat42F.
Premiering stateside on May 5th
is the British sitcom FLOWERS. A very dark, very off-beat comedy show
about a messed up, three-generation family, it will make you both
uncomfortable and amused, though the balance between the two may vary
moment to moment. It’s an original work that is hard to compare to any
existing show, despite the familiar family format, and while I don’t yet
know if I should recommend it or not, two episodes into the six episode
run, it is certainly something worth taking note of.
The patriarch is Maurice Flowers
(Julian Barratt, The Might Boosh), a children’s author who tries to
kill himself in the opening moments of the show. This in of itself is a
startling beginning, with the strange verses of his literature serving
as voiceover to the events. And while we’re told Maurice is a successful
writer, the content of the stories we hear seems questionable and
certainly speaking to much deeper levels than most works geared towards
kids.
Maurice’s wife, Deborah (Olivia Colman,
Broadchurch, The Night Manager), is completely oblivious to what her
husband is up to, but she willfully goes that way through life. It looks
like she’d rather be happy than knowledgeable, and in dealing with her
family and friends, looks at the bright side rather than the honest one.
Her attitude is obviously a façade, clearly failing to convince even
herself of her rosy perspective, and there is always the sense she is
barely a few seconds away from losing it.
Around this couple, who are celebrating
an anniversary, revolve their grown-but-still-living-at-home twin
children, egotistical inventor Donald (Daniel Rigby, Flyboys) and
musical lesbian Amy (Sophia Di Martino, Casualty). Donald and Amy both
happen to be interested in the same girl, Abigail (Georgina Campbell,
After Hours), whose plastic surgeon father, George (Angus Wright,
Maleficent), will not stop his inappropriate flirting. Plus, there’s
Maurice’s senile mother, Hattie (Leila Hoffman, How Not to Live Your
Life), Maurice’s almost-servant-like assistant, Shun (creator Will
Sharpe), and a handful of other bizarre personalities that flit in and
out of the story.
If this sounds like a lot, trust me, it
is. Watching FLOWERS makes it feel like even more, the constant fast
pace and dense plotlines making your forget each installment is a mere
twenty-three minutes in length. It’s like walking into a crowded room
where everyone is talking loudly and trying to sort out exactly what is
going on and who everyone is.
And yet, the more I watched, the more I
liked it. Behind all the weirdness is a group of complex human beings
with rich emotional layers, and they are all hurting in their own ways.
Each is doing their best to get along in life, or end it, with little
idea of how to do so. They (mostly) keep chugging along anyway, despite
constant setbacks. The FLOWERS family, while not exactly likeable,
become very sympathetic in a short amount of time.
Mixed with this is zany, madcap comedy,
often of misunderstandings and errors, which makes their existence seem
like hyper-reality despite the grounding. This is what happens when
various mental illnesses collide, often more disturbing than funny, even
though the situations themselves are humorous. This structure makes it
hard to process or binge watch FLOWERS, and yet, also makes it so unique
that I am drawn to continue viewing, if only to reward the huge risk
making a show like this is.
Well, that and I would watch the
excellent Colman in anything. This is off-type for her, and it’s
rewarding to see her rise to the occasion.
FLOWERS will be available on Seeso (NBC’s new streaming comedy channel, available through Roku and Amazon) in the United States beginning Thursday, May 5th.
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