Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales is a main character and an inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary. She is portrayed by Jackie Cruz. She is best friends with Maritza Ramos.
Personality
Flaca is one of the youngest inmates and is shown to be misinformed, if not totally dim at times. She sometimes genuinely believes racial stereotypes, myths, and urban legends. For example, she claimed that black people don't float due to "bone density" (a myth related to her by her uncle). This leads to Maritza stating that her head is full of "caca" and Aleida referring to her as "Flacaca". However, she is intelligent and literate, as is shown when she corrects the grammar of another inmate while putting together the prison newsletter. She is outspoken, outgoing, and sarcastic. In flashbacks, Flaca was shown to be a typical goth teenager who wore dark make-up, dark clothes, and listened to Depeche Mode and the Smiths. She tries to retain some of this look in prison. Flaca likes to be the center of attention and can be loud and aggressive, getting into a brawl with Taystee over a King Cone. She is almost inseparable from Maritza Ramos.
Physical Appearance
Flaca has a youthful appearance and is thin (her nickname in Spanish) . She has dark hair and commonly wears thick eyeliner. She often has an unfilled teardrop drawn under both eyes, but it is not a real tattoo and despite appearances, has no prison or gang significance.
Biography
Before Litchfield
For a list of episodes featuring Flaca's flashbacks, see here.
Flaca was born in 1992. She grew up with a single mother, a seamstress, who made dresses similar to expensive brands and sewed fake designer labels into them. Inspired by this, she sold fake LSD (made out of paper and water) to her fellow high school students to make money. One of her clients, Jason was suicidal and reacted to the placebo effect of the "drugs" by jumping off the top of the school building while on his "high." She was then arrested for fraud and endangerment.
Flaca's boyfriend, Ian, owns a Vespa (moped), and is referred to by Flaca as "the king of molly" in New York.
Season One
Flaca is first introduced into the series within the episode “Tit Punch” and is seen briefly in the rec room alongside fellow inmates Poussey and Taystee. Flaca becomes hostile when Taystee left her open ice cream in the freezer and the two begin to fight, the fight is eventually split up and officers enter soon after.
Flaca works in electrical. In “Imaginary Enemies”, Luschek has her give an example to Piper on how the tools are withdrawn and deposited. She remains behind with the electrical crew and is seen listening to Caputo’s warning about the stolen tool, Mendez pats her down to assure she hasn’t attempted to hide it.
Flaca plays dominoes with Aleida, Gloria and Maritza. The topic of conversation soon turns to the chicken which Red is searching for and how it may be used to smuggle drugs into prison, Maritza and Flaca both seem very interested in the potential money that could be made if they find said drugs and both leave the game in order to find the bird themselves.
Flaca is seen briefly playing dominoes with Maritza as Taystee enters bragging about her new found control over the television. The two later share a brief argument about which radio station they should listen to. The argument gets heated and the two get to their feet, as do many other inmates, as Healy enters. Both Flaca and Maritza begin to blame one another, with many inmates blaming each other in the commotion, Healy shouts again and decides to bring back the woman’s advisory council.
Later at lunch the Latinos begin to talk about the council, Maritza plans to step forward and take the council role to represent them, with her main campaign slogan being “Vote for Maritza if you like pizza”. Many of the table's occupants laugh at her as she tries to defend her point, stating that the food is “American and shit”. Flaca corrects her, telling her its Italian and calls her a fucking idiot. Maritza asks if Flaca has anything better and she reveals she to plans to run for the position also. Maritza then mocks her stating her slogan would be “Vote for Flaca, Puta’s full of caca”. Flaca gets angry and goes to hit Maritza before Aleida manages to stop her.
When giving her speech to the Latinos, Flaca proves very confident and popular among her peers; much to Maritza’s dismay. After the speeches are over, when the inmates begin to rap and dance, Flaca can be seen among the crowd enjoying herself as she watches her fellow inmates perform.
Both Flaca and Maritza are very disappointed when it is discovered that Maria Ruiz was picked to represent them.
Flaca alongside Maritza, Cindy, Poussey and Suzanne all volunteer to scare young delinquents to hopefully prevent them from reoffending in later life and ending up in prison.
Cindy and Flaca both intimidate a young offender named Rebecca, it seemingly works as she seems very frightened by the pair; the tour continues and Flaca with the other prisoners continue to scare the delinquents.
After following the task assigned and scaring the children, Flaca can be seen supporting one of them as she leaves, saying that she knows that they are good kids and that she believes in them but is interrupted by screams as a disabled delinquent is attacked in the toilets by Pennsatucky.
Flaca is seen briefly with Gloria and Maritza; they come to bring food to Tricia’s memorial gathering. Flaca mentions that although she didn’t talk to Tricia very much she always seemed nice and that she had a good vibe.
Flaca and Maritza both show-off their dirty-dancing skills to Sophia and Sister Ingalls in hopes of securing a part in the show, both of them seem surprised when they aren't chosen to participate.
Later in the day Flaca can be seen fulfilling her new role in the kitchen, preparing food with Maritza, Maria and Dayanara who states that preparing food together like they are is like Christmas at home. Flaca says that a different is that her uncle Fernando isn’t around to stick his hand down her pants, in Spanish. Daya asks her to speak English and Flaca instead tells her to learn Spanish.
While in the kitchen Flaca and Maritza teach Daya a dance, she struggles and they offer to show her again before Bennett orders them to stop. Flaca tells him to lighten up as it is the holidays, but Bennett continues to remain cold. The pair walk away and Flaca mutters in Spanish that “Daya needs to tell her boyfriend to lighten up”. Daya becomes defensive stating that she knows some Spanish and that he is not her boyfriend, which annoys Bennett further, both Flaca and Maritza giggle as they watch the argument they had caused.
When the tampered-with oven spurts out flames and lights Gina on fire, both Flaca and Maritza scream. Maritza quickly grabs the fire extinguisher and puts Gina out while Flaca shuts the oven door.
Although Flaca and Maritza are not in the Christmas Pageant, they can be seen in the crowd watching. When Rosa/Joseph tells Lorna/Mary to lay down in the straw, Flaca calls out a sexual joke causing everyone in the audience to erupt into laughter. Bell shuts the girls up and scowls at Flaca and Maritza. After this Maritza states that they should’ve been up there and Flaca agrees.
Season Two
In Season Two, she gets voted "Best Outfit" at the mock job fair "Looks Blue, Tastes Red".
Later, she starts to work with Piper, Daya and Morello on the Prison Newsletter.
Season Three
After a work aptitude test, Flaca gets reassigned to work at the Whispers Lingerie factory in Litchfield. She believes this to be due to how well she performed on the test, when in reality the inmates were randomly selected. This drives a wedge between her friendships with the other Latina women, who are all continuing to work in the kitchen ("Fake It Till You Fake It Some More").
Flaca is one of the inmates that agrees to wear panties for Piper to smuggle out of prison and sell. After finding a protest flyer by the discontent prison staff, Flaca decides to demand more incentive from Piper beyond Ramen noodle flavor packets. Piper obliges, offering to pay cash through a card on the outside to each of the inmates. After explaining the new payment system, Piper fires Flaca from her panty-smuggling operation.
Flaca apologizes to Piper and begs for her job back, stating that she wants to help her mother who is sick with lymphoma. Piper reluctantly rehires Flaca but for a lower wage ("Trust No Bitch").
Season Four
Flaca reveals that her mother is now palliative, saying sadly to Maritza, "If I'm looking for a positive, I guess I don't gotta get her anything for Christmas". Flaca and Maritza later quit Piper's panty selling business in favor of Maria's instead, and is later involved in Maria's heroin-smuggling business. Flaca comforts Maritza after she is held at gunpoint and made to eat a live baby mouse by a new CO. She participates in the peaceful protest and the prison riot at the end of the season.
Season Five
Flaca was upset that Ramos was part of the riot without her, claiming they were 'Flaritza' and do everything together.
Flaca and Maritza start a prison-based beauty guru YouTube channel and gain many views. In "Storm-y Weather", when they are escorted out of prison many fans are there awaiting them with posters and cheer and scream for them.
When lining up for the transport buses to their next unknown location they are split up, being put on separate buses. Flaca is left crying and Maritza calls out that she loves her.
Relationships
Romantic
- Maritza Ramos (kissed)
- Ian (boyfriend, seen in flashback)
Friends
- Maritza Ramos (best friend)
- Gloria Mendoza
- Dayanara Diaz
- Aleida Diaz
- Maria Ruiz
- Blanca Flores
- Piper Chapman
- Lorna Morello Muccio
- Ouija
- Ramona Pidge
- Zirconia
- Cat (High school, before incarceration)
- .
Enemies
Family
- Theresa Gonzalez (mother)
- Marco (brother)
- Pedro (brother)
- Fernando (uncle)
Memorable Quotes
- "Okay, it's like getting into a bath, but the water is warm chocolate pudding. And The Smiths are playing "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." Oh. There's warm lighting all over and there're, like, five dudes massaging you."
- — Marisol Gonzales, "You Also Have a Pizza"
- "The white girl, the reader. Cold like a Bomb Pop from way back of the freezer. She may look all la, la, la but she the one."
- — to Ouija in "Work That Body For Me"
- "...And I want a magazine with just guys in it... what?! It's hot. And plus I don't wanna be exploiting women and shit."
- — to Bennett and Maria Ruiz in "Comic Sans"
- "A person only gets married once or twice in her life, so go big or really big."
- — to Dayanara Diaz in "Empathy is a boner killer"
Gallery
Trivia
- Flaca means skinny in Spanish.
- Though the exact fate of the boy who took her fake LSD and then jumped off the school roof was not stated, he presumably survived. Had he died, then Flaca would have been convicted of first-degree murder under the "felony murder" doctrine, which states that any death that results (directly or indirectly) from committing a felony shall be charged as such.
- Flaca appears to have suffered from an STD called Crabs in the past as she explains to the nurse while being under examination due to a bed bugs infestation, "I got them when I was 15, and then, like, 19, and then other times, but I never got in on my arms." She also reveals that she's never been "near nobody's cha-cha."