Our Flag Means Death. It's utterly brilliant and I am obsessed!

[TriceratopsRocks]

I'm sure I found a thread on this series a while ago, but now season 2 is out I've looked back and I can't find anything apart from the renewal petition.

For anyone who hasn't come across it yet, I would thoroughly recommend. It starts off as a sort of workplace comedy set on a pirate ship, sort of in the style of Ghosts, and with a similar fanbase to Good Omens. When the 2nd lead character arrives at the end of episode 3, it starts to change and it only hit me two thirds of the way through season 1 that I was actually watching a very different sort of show to the one I thought I had started watching.

From that point it's phenomenal. The attention to detail is superb. Both leads are clearly neuro diverse, from abusive backgrounds and damaged because of these. They both want what they think the other one has. It's about them discovering themselves, accepting themselves for who they really are, and healing. There is comedy, but also heartbreak and despair. The show handles these so sensitively and accurately, down to minute details, and Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby deserve every award under the sun for their work here.

I don't think I've ever obsessed about a show as much as this one. I've tried to make this not too spoilery in case some of you want to watch it, but really I just want someone to talk to about it! I've already watched it countless times and the more I rewatch the more I appreciate it. I said I was obsessed and I really am!

The show has sadly been cancelled, despite its popularity, and the producers are currently trying to see if it will be picked up by another network. I have read that they are keeping an eye on the iPlayer numbers as part of this, so I also wanted to shamelessly plug it here 😁

If any of you haven't seen it and fancy giving it a try, it grows into itself in the first season and you really need to give it at least 4 episodes (episode 4 is where the main story really starts). Its not a show I would have thought to watch myself (DD wanted me to watch it with her) but I'm so glad I have.

I don't really know what I want from this thread really. I want more people to find it, but I also want to just talk about it and obviously can't do that without more spoilers than I've already given. Help me out people!

@lizziesaurusx And I wish they’d found space for ‘I just got back together with my boyfriend’ too.’

Followed by ‘Okay, Zaddy’ hair swish (I had to look up Zaddy)

The look Ed gives him here when his back is turned 😍

I would love to dig up petrified oranges with Stede. I would ask to borrow his jaunty hat.

I hadn't even spotted the look - an excellent excuse to watch that bit again! This was my favourite episode the first time I watched series 1, because of snake snacks, the ruined map and Stede's general enthusiasm. Knowing what I know now, it's even better - we can really see Ed looking at Stede differently, thanks to Lucius, and he's so kind about the map and 'we're just letting him dig for a bit, letting him get it out of his system'.

Me too - this programme is so educational 😀

I know we have to ignore a lot of stuff such as the fact that somebody in a rowing boat can cross oceans and find his crew who have been abandoned even when he doesn't even know they have been but how on earth were they going to renovate their inn without any money? After all Ed had to suggest finding a feral animal to kill just so they could have a meal.

Such matters keep me awake which is ridiculous given that we have to accept so much on trust.

It does tend to lead on to how on earth the logistics of anything worked all that time ago with no phones/mail etc but it did.

Maybe Ed's going to support them by returning to fishing while Stede does the renovations? Finding your clothes at the bottom of the sea when you threw them overboard in the middle of the ocean is the one that stood out for me - plus then getting fully dressed while still in the sea - why? - and running off in presumably very wet, very cold leather on an overcast day, so no chance of clothes drying naturally.

I really wish we’d got an Ed/Stede post-credit scene for episode 8 though. Ed at the inn reception desk, Stede choosing beautiful colour schemes for the interiors (including the towels). And I wish they’d found space for ‘I just got back together with my boyfriend’ too.

Definitely. I mean, we were lucky with what we had in S2, but although "the show is the relationship", they were apart too often and I needed more of just the two of them just being close and happy together in their own space. That elbow touch in Mermen is one of my favourite intimate moments - just as much as the kisses. I just wanted to see them in their own space being tender.

I know! I mean, the crew could have left them with some of those abundant rations that Pete and Lucius kept counting. And I'm sure Ed could have kept some of his ill gotten gains to set them up. They'll need supplies, money to trade, food... But I try not to think too hard about all that :)

That business with the clothes was ridiculous but it was worth it for the shot of Ed coming out of the sea!!!!!

I did settle on the fact that they probably did take some of the treasure from The Revenge which was what led to my thoughts about the logistics of it all. Who would buy their treasure, how would they find workmen and materials? Still it does send me to sleep which is helpful at night.

We know Ed is a dab hand at fixing stuff. With Stede as his assistant they have it all sorted in no time 😁.

There's this little settlement somewhere on their island, with a DIY store, a shop where they can pick up furnishings, provisions, knick knacks and stuff, and where they're known as Jeff and... not Godfrey, something else that Stede doesn't find so annoying.

In my head anyway.

That elbow touch is lovely. Definitely yes to more of them just being domestic together, partly as reassurance that this time it really was it for them both, and no more separations, because after that beautiful breakfast in bed scene, Ed still left. I wanted to see them properly settled - I wish we knew what would've happened in S3.

I think Stede with his attention to detail in terms of furnishings and fine fabrics, and general love of beauty, would plan and oversee Ed, who I think would be excellent at the fixing up as long as someone else planned it and kept him on task.

As for the other stuff, isn't the republic of pirates being rebuilt just along the beach? Plenty of building supplies and labour there, I'd think, plus maybe some unfussy labourers looking for a place to stay - cheap rates while still being renovated.

I so agree with this. I wanted more interactions between them. It didn’t need to be physical either. I love the breakfast scene. Just two men in love, chatting. There must be more unreleased scenes of them. I need them released or a director’s cut.

I love how protective Ed is of Stede too. During Act of Grace, when Chauncy says to put the blindfold back on, Ed turns his body inwards to shield Stede again and raises his hand to place on Stede’s shoulder as reassurance. I love Ed’s reaction during Ned Lowe’s attack at the party. He pushes Stede behind him and makes himself as big as possible. His first instinct when under attack is to protect Stede. And the elbow touch at the end is just bliss. As much as I love the kissing scenes, it’s these micro-affirmations I look for and live for in this show. It speaks of real care and love, not just passion and lust. It’s one of the many things that makes this show different, and I want to see more!

Absolutely all of this. Yes to those micro-affirmations, and Ed protecting Stede is another of my favourite things.

I think what makes the elbow touch so special for me is that I think it's the first time we have seen real intimacy between them in front of the crew. I mean, yes, the crew know they are hopelessly in love, but all their tender moments have been in private. The first one I can think of is on the beach after the Zheng fight, where Ed touches Stede's shoulder calls him "Babe". The elbow touch is them showing each other such tenderness in front of everyone, and that's what we haven't seen before. We almost got it in Calypso as they were about to dance, before Ned Low so rudely interrupted. And it's also why I wish they'd been able to include the 'boyfriends' line. We are missing that public affirmation of their love for each other. God we needed S3 for their wedding, so badly.

I feel almost a physical pain at the loss of season three. Obviously we now know there is no hope but, even if a miracle happened in the future, the longer the gap the more chance that cast members wouldn't be wanting to/able to return anyway.

And now I'm thinking about it, I'm devastated all over again 😭But I totally get it. I mean, my favourite fan fiction reduces me to tears every time I read it! (The Tolling Bells one that I linked up thread somewhere).

I really need to watch a happy, goofy clip of them now! Time for the Barbie Girl or I'm Just Ken you tube edits I think😁That and the school run will sort me out nicely.

God we needed S3 for their wedding, so badly.

I need to see Bridal Ed so badly. Plus Wee John as Maid of Honour 😭

Re the intimate, tender moments, there’s something very intimate I think when Blackbeard and Stede arrive on deck together, I think it happens a few times but the one at the beginning of the Calypso episode is very sexy! I don’t know what it is about it, maybe the idea they’ve been chatting or drinking together before hand, and then rock up together.

A scene that’s been making me laugh today when I think of it is when they are signing the Act of Grace, and they play it like they’re buying a sofa in DFS. It’s just beautifully observed, I love it.

It is definitely written by someone with a very good eye for how couples and people falling for each other interact.

There is a great example of this in Act of Grace when the English seize the ship and Ed and Stede hit the deck face down, as the camera pans out you see Ed inching his leg towards Stede and their feet just touching. A very subtly observed way an intimate couple would seek to reassure each other in a frighting situation.

SaveOFMD prompts for MerMay in case anyone is feeling creative 🧜www.mermay.com

DFS sofa??? 😂 All that chat about big and little fonts is great fun (10 human years?), until Wellington says "Or we can just shoot you?" (I love his delivery of that line!). But after Stede signs, it's such a profound moment. Ed could choose to leave with Izzy but instead signs away 10 years of his life to save Stede. And Stede makes sure that Ed knows he really doesn't have to. Stede's sincerity here - he genuinely will choose to be killed rather than ask Ed to give up those 10 years. And Ed knows Stede means it. Noone respects Ed's choices and boundaries like Stede does. That's Ed's wedding vow right there - when he chooses Stede in that moment.

On a related note - something that gets me in that scene is Izzy saying to Ed "Do you really want to lick the King's boots?" But who was it that cosied up to the English, Izzy? Who brought them here to do a deal? Who chose to sell Stede and use him to buy Blackbeard? It's Izzy that's been licking the kings boots here to get what he wants - Stede out of the way and Ed back under his control. That went well, didn't it, Izzy? What a shame! <sarcasm alert>

Yes, the foot touch had me transfixed the first time I watched it. And other times too...

@BillStickersIsInnocent I will look out for that entrance when I get back to that episode :)

That's Ed's wedding vow right there - when he chooses Stede in that moment

The imagery in this whole scene… Ed lifting the large, white blindfold (damn the cutaway to Chauncy), the signing of the document and the pretty-much lifelong commitment, 10 years being a lifetime then, is all wedding symbolism. The domestic life in the dormitory with Ed folding the socks, the consummation kiss and the planning of a new-life together / honeymoon…

Then Stede runs away. Ed feels jilted in every way. As you said @TriceratopsRocks he absolutely understands the gravity of the commitment they have undertaken. When he later learns Stede left him for Mary, he feels every ounce the jilted spouse. I’m not throwing any shade at Stede as ultimately I understand his trauma and actions. For Ed though, this wasn’t a ‘whim’, it was a marriage in every way but in name.