An eccentric and dysfunctional family struggles to hold themselves together.
Flowers bows out with a one-off special, stepping away from the present and transporting us instead to a place of peace. Simultaneously haunting and full of hope, this standalone finale breaks with traditional narrative form to give the show’s characters the freedom to decide their own fate. Are these images of profound loss, of memories that are now unattainable? Or is it a call to the characters who most need it – that if something was good once, it can be good again.
As the dust settles from events of the last few days, the family find themselves back together at the house for the first time in a while. Deborah and Maurice slip back into their roles as mother and father, for the good of their children, while Donald struggles to come to terms with the fact that his twin sister Amy, like his Dad, might be suffering from a mental illness. Amy is determined to get ready for The Pink Cuttlefish Orchestra’s scheduled concert in Omsk, but she crashes down into a depressive state and finds herself exhausted and at a loss. Amy summons the last dregs of her energy to perform, for no one but Hylda, a piece that she has inadvertently written about her own struggle with mental illness. Shun revisits the forest where he once encountered the ghosts of his dead family.
Amy’s girlfriend Hylda overcomes her aversion to family situations and goes to confront Deborah about Amy’s increasingly strange behaviour. A drunken Maurice turns the Flowers’ home into a party house with the Pink Cuttlefish Orchestra, deaf to the protests of a disapproving Donald, while Amy is about to discover the truth about her grandfather and the origins of the mysterious Baumgaertner book
Consumed by questions of her grandfather’s fate and the intoxicating world of Baumgaertner, Amy exists increasingly in a world of her own. The relationship between Deborah and Maurice deteriorates further, and Shun is caught between the warring couple
Amy continues to rehearse her band the Pink Cuttlefish Orchestra for their performance in Omsk but is increasingly troubled by images from the book Baumgaertner and asks Maurice if he can shed any light on it, though he is unable to. Amy is also hostile to Deborah’s making money by exposing her husband’s illness, refusing to read her work whilst Maurice is perturbed by Shun’s drunken public outbursts and Donald declares his hatred of all women.
Maurice is on medication and seems in a better place, while Deborah is about to become the published author of a book about his depression. Lodger Shun is drinking away the summer days, while Donald has started a plumbing business, and Amy’s band the Pink Cuttlefish Orchestra are coming to stay at the ramshackle Flowers’ house.
The family is severed as Deborah considers her future, and Maurice and the twins struggle to pull themselves together without her. Barry gives Maurice a shock, while Deborah stumbles across something that calls everything into question.
As Maurice makes a final bid to tell the truth, Deborah reconsiders her marriage and Amy makes a devastating discovery. Thankfully Shun has a plan to save the family – he just needs someone to listen.
Maurice has been dropped by the Carols, while Deborah regrets her night out with Barry, so when Barbara invites them to dinner, it could not come at a worse time. Meanwhile, Amy and Abigail get closer, much to Donald’s upset.
Deborah’s sister Viv comes to visit, stirring up the family’s suspicions that Maurice might be gay. Deborah needs to take action, but struggles to find the best course. Meanwhile, Amy has a secret she wants to tell Maurice, but will he be able to return her honesty?
