Fabulosas Flores — Crossdressing Comedy From Chile

Where can you turn to find a good, funny television series that makes use of the rise in awareness about trans people in a way the doesn’t demean them but pokes fun at a lot of western culture’s foibles? Not on U.S. television. Fortunately there’s always Chile. That’s where the show Fabulosas Flores (Fabulous Flowers) ran back in 2015. It premiered in July and was gone by October.

The series tells the tale of Manuela, a nice widow woman who must support herself and her family now that her husband is gone. To do so she parters with a young woman who wants to create a business for herself and they form a taxi company. The big plot twist is that the company will be financed with a grant from the government that is only available for companies run and staffed by women.

But at first things do not go well. Manuela hasn’t counted on the fact that she can’t find enough female drivers to get her whole fleet of new cabs onto the streets. While she is worrying about what to do her wayward son, Jimmy, who ran off to join the circus, returns home. He is not the most intelligent person and he has a big preoccupation with sex but he means well and in an effort to help out he begins driving a cab in drag at night. When Manuela learns this she forbids him from continuing the practice since she wants to stay honest and honor the memory of her dead husband who always told her honesty was the best policy.

Nicolás Saavedra as Jimmy

Then her confidence in that motto is shaken when a young woman shows up who turns out to be the illegitimate daughter of the dead man. She was conceived with another woman while Manuela’s husband was in Peru on business.

The taxi business is floundering with only two women who can drive and reluctantly Manuela decides to let her son Jimmy dress up again to drive. Unfortunately he is photographed in drag with the cab doing what looks like a obscene pose. Word gets back to the government and the grant committee calls Manuela in to talk to her about this man who is driving one of her cabs.

Saavedra (L)

While Manuela is trying to think of something to say to them Jimmy, in demure drag, comes in to the meeting and lies to them by saying he is a trans woman. The committee considers this and owing to the rise of information about trans women they decide not to pull their support but now, since an attractive woman from the committee will be checking up on the cab company periodically Jimmy has to dress up every time he leaves the house. This leads to him spending more effort every episode to be a convincing trans woman. Between his efforts to convince the world that he is trans and his sexual interest in women farce ensues.

The plot plays on the rise of awareness in Chile about trans people and uses the eagerness of the press to feature the story of a “trans woman”cabbie as one of the elements that keeps up Jimmy’s masquerade. There are other complications and twists that also contribute to the laughs.

You can watch Fabulosas Flores on Netflix with captioning. If you understand Spanish you can watch the show on its YouTube channel.

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Tags: crossdressing, Fabulosas Flores, featured, Transgender

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment