'The House of Flowers' Season 3: Glimpses into the past make the story come full circle for the de la Moras
Spoiler Alert for 'The House of Flowers' Season 3
'The House of Flowers'/'La Casa de las Flores' on Netflix was a sensational show right from its first season. The Mexican drama followed the trials and tribulations of the de la Mora family, more often funny than not, after the family patriarch's mistress commits suicide.
It's a dark event to start with, but it is what unleashes everything that comes later. The first season explores the dysfunctional dynamics between Ernesto and his family — wife Virginia, adult children Paulina, Elena, and Julian. Virginia is the leading face of 'The House of Flowers', the family’s prestigious flower business. Ernesto's mistress Roberta, who also narrates the show, was helping Ernesto run his side business, a drag cabaret also named 'The House of Flowers'.
Season 3 of the show begins much the same way — Elena is in the hospital in a coma, Paulina is in jail, and Julian is finally living out and proud with his boyfriend, Diego — although he stole money from the de la Moras at the end of the first season, things seem to be on the mend now.
Paulina's former husband, the now-transitioned Maria Jose is trying to help her get out of jail, but since she is in Madrid, her sister, Purificación has taken over Paulina's case. Over the season, Purificación's hatred towards Paulina becomes clearer and even Maria Jose understands it and admits Purificación in a hospital after the latter has a psychotic break.
Elena wakes up nearly halfway through the season. Though for a while there was some confusion over who her baby's father is, it is eventually confirmed to be Diego himself. Elena decides to have the baby and she decides to bring up the baby along with her brother and Diego.
It took some time for Diego to accept all of this, however. Season 3 makes it clear that all Diego wants is to start a family — and at one point when it seems like he places the baby over the risk to Elena's life when she was in a coma, Diego and Julian have a bad fight. After the fight, Diego goes to a conversion therapy camp and while those scenes were hard to watch, it brings to the fore a real issue that is rampant in not just Mexico but also elsewhere in the world.
It is Paulina's journey that takes the center stage. After realizing that an older woman in the prison — la Chiva — holds a grudge against her because of her family, she decides to learn more about the past. This is where the flashbacks of Virginia's past come to play.
The past sequences put 'The House of Flowers' in a completely different light and the show would have jumped the shark already without it. We are shown who Paulina's real father is, how he ended up missing in her life, how Virginia ended up marrying her best friend, Ernesto, and more importantly, how Virginia's mother orchestrated everything that came to happen even in the present day way back then.
'The House of Flowers' won't return for a fourth season, but for once this Netflix show gets to script its own end. Manolo Caro's story about this dysfunctional Mexican family manages to complete itself in three seasons, and for that, we are grateful.
All episodes of 'The House of Flowers' / 'La Casa de Las Flores' are now streaming on Netflix.
