It’s not uncommon for people to have odd questions and specific perceptions about Florida and its residents. After all, those strange/disturbing “Florida Man” headlines and wild memes have made the rounds throughout the years, cementing an interesting reputation for inhabitants of the Sunshine State.
To be fair: not everyone is shady in this sunny place, although there happens to be a high incidence of questionable behavior from Florida Man characters like Mike (Edgar Ramírez), Sonny (Anthony LaPaglia), Moss (Emory Cohen), Delly (Abbey Lee)… but I digress.
In between the drama in the Florida Man limited series — the arrests, lies, false identities, murder, etc. — there are a few jokes and subtle hints that only people from Florida will truly understand.
So now, when anyone asks the loaded question, “What’s it like being from Florida?” the short and sweet response can be: “Please see Episodes 1 through 7 of Florida Man.”
Kidding. Mostly.
The caveat is that you have to dig a little deeper — but not because there’s anything to bury… promise. When you look a little closer, here are the not-so-obvious details from Florida Man that only people from Florida will really get.
There are a few Florida Man scenes in which Delly is wearing a white T-shirt with three pink flamingos. While it looks like a cute little detail, these birds are actually the former logo of the Florida lottery. Anyone from the state would recognize the symbol a mile away — you see it at delis, in grocery stores, at gas stations, you name it. The three flamingos are synonymous with a big payout or a wager or scholarship money for college, depending on who you ask. This subtle detail could go unnoticed to the naked (er, non-Floridian) eye. But, is it a coincidence that Delly and Mike make their own gamble in Florida, and the scenes in which Delly’s wearing this iconic shirt cuts to flashbacks of Mike betting at a casino? (Maybe. Maybe not.)
When Sonny Valentine is telling Mike and Patsy (Otmara Marrero) about where he got his gift, a police scanner, for his granddaughter, Patsy replies, “Oh my gosh, the flea market! Remember Mama used to take us?” Truth be told, so many Florida flea markets are full of junk — but one man’s junk is another’s gold! Flea markets in Florida have everything: food, clothes, toys, used accessories and some even have fair rides and cars on display (and drive-in movie theaters) so, sure — sometimes you walk away with something unique. There’s an interesting crowd of people bartering for a bargain and a bit of sensory overload in real life, like the series. So, sometimes you go for the people-watching… or to find a missing vehicle full of gold.
Buzz (Mark Jeffrey Miller) declares that’s what he wants to buy with the found gold, but it isn’t the only time alligators slowly circle the plot. Delly meets an EMT in a bar called Gators Tail Lounge that sets off a chain of chaotic events within an already crazy storyline. The bar name alludes to the fact that, again, alligators are a reptile that famously inhabits the state and therefore deeply embedded in Floridian culture — even if you don’t live near the Everglades. Whether you’re grabbing a drink at a bar with the word gator in it, wearing gator boots, cheering on the Gators in college sports or eating fried gator at restaurant — there are gator-related things and attractions everywhere, as proven by Deputy Ketcher’s (Clark Gregg) kids wanting to go to Gatorland. If you don’t hear about — or see — a gator crawling into a neighbor’s swimming pool, you haven’t really lived in Florida.
When Moss shows up in Florida and starts questioning the motel manager’s son about where he found a gold coin, his mom comes running, yelling “Out, out!” And that quick moment of a character in the pool is just about the only time you’ll see a Florida Man Floridian swimming. At Patsy’s house, the family has a pool all to themselves, where they hang out at night and during the day. If you’ve lived in Florida, you know it’s common for single family homes to have their own private swimming pools in the backyard, or shared community pools within the neighborhood. There are aquatic centers, too. Yes, Florida has many beaches, but the abundance of pools is very real. Unlike the beach, which may be a drive depending on where you live, you can go to your pool year-round and on a whim if it’s nice out (read: not raining for 15 minutes on and off, and not 100-degree weather with insufferable humidity). Just like Mike, you’ve probably gathered there more often to hang out instead of taking a dip.
Ok, so, technically Delly’s white convertible BMW was purchased for her by Moss in the Northeast. But Florida has a lot of white vehicles for heat-related reasons. If you’ve ever attempted to enter a car with black leather seats on a summer day in the Sunshine State, I’m sorry for your butt and thighs — it doesn’t matter how quickly or aggressively you turn on the car’s AC. All of that said, buying a white car won’t solve all your problems. Is this why the color is especially popular with the older (retired) crowd that dominates Florida? Probably. In conclusion, you know this if you’ve been a Floridian: the white cars are here to stay.
In short: do not use Deputy Ketcher’s makeshift gas station bath. So… people aren’t usually wiping themselves down with the same liquid used to clean the windshield, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Florida is hot AF, and if you don’t cool yourself down, heatstroke can ensue. A sunburn, too. A brand new lobster-red sunburn — like the one Ketcher has on his face after escaping jail — is gonna hurt. While the rays might feel nice at first, Floridians know that without a base tan and/or reapplied SPF, there’s going to be a lot of pain to follow for a few days.
