Sync Spotlight aims to showcase examples of songs and music licensed in web shows, ads and films across the globe.
Flowers – S02E06 – The Finale
The show is available on Netflix in India.
Music: My Only Worry, Oh Tomorrow and Heathen’s Wood by Arthur Sharpe
I’m limiting this article to three pieces of music from this show with great difficulty.
Flowers is truly a masterful work of art. All aspects right from writing and screenplay to acting, production, and music work in beautiful cohesiveness to put you into a bizarre, whacky and beautifully sad and dark world. It takes on themes of family, empathy, and mental illness.
My Only Worry is the closing track on all episodes of the two seasons except the series finale. It was originally released by Arthur Sharpe as part of his 2012 album “… and then I lost my voice”.
The folk/country style of this song initially feels like the comic close to a dark occurrence. The lyrics then reveal the song to be written in the form of a morose poem, perfectly matching the premise of this tragicomedy.
Of course, context matters when it comes to feeling an emotional connect with such flawed characters. What’s incredible is Flowers manages to create this connection within so few episodes, without ever trying too hard or you even realising it.
The last episode of season 2 takes us back to a simpler time in the Flowers family, when Shun is about to enter their lives. Heathen’s Wood picks up just as he gets off the cab. The camera tilts up to reveal their pretty little house, and begins following Shun and all that he witnesses. The score is steady, gives enough space for the Flowers family banter, while evoking this patient and heartwarming feeling as we wait for how and when Shun is going to be welcomed into their lives.
You are left broken by Shun’s words in the last scene of this episode. Even more so by Maurice’s nod. They form their first bond together, sharing and accepting each other’s depression – while supporting the will to live on. Oh Tomorrow fits so well as the closing song for this series. Poetic lyrics sung by a mournful voice, a hopeful melody, charming pizzicatos on strings, a church organ, and open, folkish drums. This song is even more powerful over Shun’s manga-style drawings of the Flowers family as samurais fighting away demons.
The series is written and directed by Will Sharpe (Shun himself) with Arthur Sharpe on music duties. There’s this fascinating interview where Will Sharpe compares having multidisciplinary roles to similar circumstances in music making. This really highlights his holistic understanding of art and creativity – which is probably what contributed to stellar performances by everyone who was a part of his show.
To know more great songs and music licensed in web shows, read other editions of Sync Spotlight here.