The Most Beautiful Flower review: Overcrowded coming-of-age story

The Most Beautiful Flower is a Mexican series about a girl named Mich who wants to become popular in high school but is forced to decide between her dreams and family tradition. The series is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

Mich is a girl in high school who dreams of becoming popular and getting attention from everyone while dating the hottest boy in school. Her best friends, Tania and Yadi end up being the only ones who recognize her as a part of the school with her feeling invisible.

She is in a relationship with Dani, the most popular boy in school but because he doesn’t want to go public, she ends it. She also has a cousin named Brenda who goes to the same school and is part of the popular kids.

Brenda is always focused on her image and goes to great lengths to ensure that Mich doesn’t get any kind of attention because she’s jealous of Mich’s rich personal life which is filled with so much love from her family.

Mich is also involved in several relationship capers as she falls for Mati and Majo, experiencing a big change in her sexuality that makes life more difficult for her.

She has a tough decision between following her dreams and following family tradition and she does her best to balance everything.

Performances

The cast does their best and provides good performances but they are let down by the way these characters are written. Many of them are far too rough around the edges and unlikeable with regard to their decisions.

Esmeralda Soto plays the lead role of Mich and she’s certainly the right amount of bubbly and haphazard in the way most teenagers are. Soto is convincing as the emotional hook of the series.

Isabel Yudice, Alicia Veìlez, Michelle Olvera, Luis Fernando Peña, and Germaìn Bracco are other members of the cast but just like Soto, they are adequate in their roles with the unspectacular characters they have been given.

Positives

There is a good intent with this series as they bring up important messages about self-confidence and sexuality and how being a teenager is a difficult time and they need all the support they can get in their journeys.

Negatives

Far too many things are happening and the narrative feels so regressive and confused often. Mich has an unhealthy obsession to be popular but she also wants to promote individuality which goes against her whole desire.

The indecision with who she is going to end up with and quite frankly the path that these teenagers follow is quite frankly ridiculous. While teenagers are supposed to be slightly immature and allowed to make mistakes, some of their decisions here are dumbfounded.

Brenda’s character is one of the worst to be written because she has real issues at home and yet continues to try and maintain her popularity in school without actively realising how toxic she is behaving. There are glimpses of her redeeming qualities but they are barely explored.

The side plots of Tania and Yadi are average as well and act as a pleasant filler in the passable series.

Verdict

The Most Beautiful Flower is a forgettable teen series with way too much happening and no clear structure in mind. The web of romance and the poorly crafted characters turn this well-meaning series into a considerable disappointment with very few redeeming qualities.

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Also Read: The Most Beautiful Flower ending explained: Does Mich follow her dreams?