We can’t get enough of coming-of-age high school sitcoms, especially when the protagonist in the story wants to “outkick her coverage,” so to speak. Yes, we’re talking about shows where teenage girls that aren’t in the popular group but think they should be get the popular guy, or get the popular guy then dump him, or do something that matches their status in class with how they feel about themselves. A new Netflix series from Mexico is in that vein, and it’s got a magnetic star at its center.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A spotlight shines onto a stage. A girl comes out and says, “I have three minutes to show you I’m the absolute best. Ready?”
The Gist: In a fun montage, Mich (Esmeralda Soto) shows that she’s popular, sings, dances, and has the most popular guy in class as her boyfriend. Then she wakes up. “Okay, I’m not all that yet,” she tells the camera with a smile. “But I’m almost there.”
Mich is definitely confident, and loves herself. But she’s invisible once she gets to school. She lives in the canal-filled borough of Xochimilco in Mexico City, and once she rows her boat over to the school and locks up her oar, the only people she hangs out with are her buddies Yadi (Isabel Yudice) and Tania (Alicia Vélez), who both feel like they’re “no one” in the school.
But Mich has a plan to up her visibility, and it starts with revealing to the public that she actually is dating the most popular boy in school, Dani (Germán Bracco). They’ve been keeping things on the down-low for a year, but he promised her that they’d go public at the 1-year mark, which is coming up. She plans on marching to the fountain in the courtyard, where all the cool kids sit, and announce that she and Dani are dating. But Yadi and Tania warn her that the last non-cool person who approached the fountain got pushed into the murky water, never to be seen again.
When she goes to the fountain to talk to Dani the next day, everyone there, including Dani and her popular cousin Brenda (Michelle Olvera), pretends not to know who she is. Even the principal guesses her name wrong. Brenda pulls Mich aside and tells her she gave Mich the superpower of invisibility. But after a talk with her stepfather Fer (Luis Fernando Peña), she’s convinced that being different is her actual superpower.
Empowered, Mich announces to the school that she wants all of the invisible people to raid the fountain with her, and even creates flyers to post around the school. When she goes to the print shop to make copies, she runs into the owner’s grandson Mati (Tadeo Tovar), whom she last saw when they were both kids. Now he’s tall and handsome, and is a DJ. She breaks things off with Dani and then goes to sit at the fountain; Brenda tells her buddies to push her in, but Mich gets the recognition she feels she deserves.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Most Beautiful Flower (Original Title: La flor más bella) is a brighter, more colorful Never Have I Ever.
Our Take: The Most Beautiful Flower is produced by comedian Michelle Rodriguez and Fernanda Eguiarte based on Rodriguez’s teenage years, and it’s carried by the winning personality and 1000-watt smile of Esmerelda Soto. The idea is quite the opposite of most high school shows you see, especially ones where the nerdy kid or the shy kid tries to keep his or her head down and just get out of high school in one piece. No, Mich wants everyone to know just how awesome she is, and everything she demonstrates is towards that end.
You wonder how a character that is portrayed so vivaciously by Soto can be invisible in her high school. Yes, she’s not skinny and her friends aren’t cool by any means. But she’s smart, pretty and put together, and seems to have more talent than most of the students in her class. But that’s high school for you; it’s very hard to break out of the social strata that you’re put in when you’re young unless you somehow transform yourself or be someone you’re not. Mich’s amazing ability to love herself in spite of all that comes through in Soto’s performance.
It’ll be fun to watch Mich force her way into people’s attention spans, and it’s especially going to be fun that her “archenemy” in the school is her cousin, someone she actually kind of likes because, hey, they’re family. All of those complicated relationships will only help to make the show more interesting as the season goes along.
Parting Shot: After celebrating that the fountain incident made her known, Brenda says, “You’ll never be like me.” Mich replies. “You’re right. I’ll be better.”
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Luis Fernando Peña as Mich’s stepfather Fer. Unlike her mother, who wants to cram her in heels like the other girls, Fer sees what’s special about Mich and seems like the guy who will encourage her every step of the way. And he’s a good cook.
Most Pilot-y Line: Before Mich gives him help in class, Dani says that Columbus discovered America in “1942.” The question wasn’t even about Columbus. Can someone be that stupid?
Our Call: STREAM IT. Because of Esmerelda Soto’s electric performance and the empowering nature of the story, The Most Beautiful Flower should give viewers a fun season to follow.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.