Our Flag Means Death: Thread 2. Still utterly brilliant and we are still obsessed!

[TriceratopsRocks]

Ahoy there mateys! Hop aboard our ‘safe space ship’ thread 2, where we can continue to wax lyrical about our favourite show.

If you haven’t yet seen Our Flag Means Death, what are you waiting for? Do go watch it (on BBC iPlayer) and then come back here and join us.

You may have heard that this is a comedy about pirates and think that's not for you. But it’s actually about self-discovery, healing and found-family with a love story at its heart. It does begin as a sort of pirate workplace comedy, but in episode 4 the tone changes and that’s where the main story really starts. The joint leads are both damaged by abusive backgrounds and think they want what the other has. The show is about their healing and their respective journeys. It’s tender, romantic, funny, emotionally intelligent and utterly refreshing. It subverts genre expectations. There is comedy, absurdity and a good amount of heartbreak and despair - sometimes in the same scene! The acting is outstanding (Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby especially). But the writing, music, costumes, sets, the sheer attention to detail – for a show with only 18 half-hour episodes it is still keeping us talking, a full thread and many re-watches later. Can you tell how much I love it?

If you think this might appeal, do watch it, then come back and talk to us. It would be lovely if more were to join our crew. But be aware it's a show that needs time. The 2nd lead doesn’t arrive until the end of episode 3 and that’s when the main story starts. You need to give it at least 4 episodes. It then took me several more to fully appreciate what I was watching but then I was hooked - and had to immediately watch it all over again. If you like Good Omens, What We Do in the Shadows, Ghosts or even Bridgerton, this might be the show for you.

(I’ve kept this spoiler free, but if you scroll down you will no doubt find many, so beware!)

Thread 1: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5008593-our-flag-means-death-its-utterly-brilliant-and-i-am-obsessed?reply=135294204

archiveofourown.org/works/51801328

You can read the 'screenshots', but I watched the YouTube video. I'd recommend watching that way.

@TriceratopsRocks Some lovely shots of Rhys at the We Can Be Weirdos live. I'm still wishing I'd started listening to the Cryptid Factor just a week earlier, before all the tickets to this sold out.

https://x.com/Schreiberland/status/1790820459874844916

I don't even remember when they talked about this on the CF podcast! I am definitely up to date. But yes I'd have loved to have gone. I hardly ever go to London, but would definitely have made this trip.

I've just read 'Up, Down, Turn Around' - I wasn't sure about AU but that was before I knew there could be fan fiction set in the British Library, with discussions of rare books, with New Order as Ed's imagined soundtrack - it's all just perfect. That scene with the hair and the glass slipper is beautiful. Thanks for the recommendation @BeBraveLittlePenguin

I can't remember which episode it was - I started with the ones you recommended on the last thread then downloaded a few more so haven't listened in order. When they mentioned it I looked it up and found it was happening in about three days, but all sold out! Almost as annoying as finding that Rhys' standup tour went to two venues I could've got to, five months before I'd even heard of him - the perils of being a later adopter.

I know the feeling! If we spot anything in future, we need to let each other know. I'd love to see him live, but the podcast with Dan would have been amazing - I'm really enjoying the CF more and more as I delve further back and I love all 3 of them.

Definitely! I'm also rueing all the years he and FOTC did the Edinburgh Fringe and I was there and didn't know. The podcast is really growing on me, though sometimes it's a bit rambly or one of Rhys' improvisations goes on a bit. I like that it's the kind of thing I can listen to while cooking as if I miss something it's probably not crucial. Have you listened to the one with the stolen radio mast? I'm also really intrigued to know where Dan lives where the ships change size and there's a druid club - somewhere in the South East, I think.

Have you listened to the one with the stolen radio mast? I'm also really intrigued to know where Dan lives where the ships change size and there's a druid club.

I have indeed :) I'm back as far as ep 82 now. I also know what you mean about Rhys, though the one I listened to today was funny - the rusty brain issue - he was definitely out of practice and kept tailing off, so they made a thing of it 🤣. No idea where Dan lives. If they've mentioned it I've forgotten, but it's bound to be somewhere close-ish to London.

Edited to add - I only listen to it while driving. It's the only time I get where I'm on my own and feel able to indulge in my Rhys fantasy without DH/DD rolling their eyes at me even more than they already do! 😂

Edited again - it's Dusty brain, not rusty. That was the point! Dusty old Brain Stairwell Issue.

I've just watched S1E2 and enjoyed that this is actually Stede's first 'fuckery', before he even knows what one is. He comes up with a plan and appears deranged enough that he somehow manages to bluff Izzy into letting him have a hostage back. It reminded me of S2 "I think being out in the field is my thing. It's like I black out, and my body just takes over". Whatever it is, it works :) My favourite bits on this rewatch:

"I am adequate" {swoon}

"Believe him, he's quite insane"

And a bonus for our first image of “Blackbeard”. Not our Blackbeard, but Pete’s Blackbeard. The costume! It’s nuts. Special mention goes to the codpiece. And how far removed from the man we will meet in the next episode? Sadly we don’t get a full body shot in all its ridiculous glory so this will have to do.

And because it's me, and I have to show that S1 Rhys is just as gorgeous as S2 Rhys, here's some more evidence from ep2...

It just works so beautifully doesn't it.
There are two canon fics I recommended that she wrote on her own or with another writer which are both fantastic, but there's just something magical about the British Library universe.

One thing that puzzles me is why Temptation Verse is split into two parts like this. I mean, it's all one story. I can't imagine it was ever going to actually end where Up Down Turn Around did, so the obvious answer of writing a short story that she then decided to extend doesn't seem to work. It certainly is wonderful, though. I just badly need her to finish the rest of it now!

Watched the video. Quietly howling. Going for a swim. It’s the chlorine, honestly… 😭💚💚💚

Oh goodness. I don't think I'm going to be able to bring myself to watch that.

Maybe when I feel super cheerful for some reason!

In other news, my lovely Blackbeard's bar and grill t-shirt arrived and I'm wearing it right now :)

I'm sending comforting hugs across the ether... Enjoy your swim!

Exciting! I have 2 on the way (sadly not the Rhys one), but this arrived on Monday, and is now adorning my keys...

😂 the opposite to Hotel California then...

@MrsJellybee If you or anyone else needs to recover from Ship of Theseus (or any other work that inspires 😭) I'd recommend https://archiveofourown.org/works/45271565

It's by Elapsed Spiral and Shearwater (the writer of the British Library 'Up, Down, Turn Around' fic and 'Constellationism'). It's a lovely fic; barely any angst, happy ending, based on what might have happened if Ed had gone to meet Stede when the Revenge ran aground in E2. Just the tonic if you need to recover after reading one of the more... emotional fics.

It's possible this is already in the list by @BeBraveLittlePenguin , but without clicking through them all again, I'm not sure.

Oh yes it's definitely in my list, I adore it 4th one down in my canon list.

It was when I rewound the radio mast one to listen to that bit again that I twigged that it isn’t really about the weird news (as sometimes there’s barely any), it’s about how they geek out and waffle and tease each other. Buttons is so good natured about very often being on the receiving end, eg about his cameo, or the siren when he starts a potentially dull anecdote. I’m just a wee bit behind you, so 83 is my next one, and I’ll be listening to see how they keep Rhys in check.

It was when I rewound the radio mast one to listen to that bit again that I twigged that it isn’t really about the weird news (as sometimes there’s barely any), it’s about how they geek out and waffle and tease each other.

@lizziesaurusx That's it! The 'news' stories are often just a hook to hang their geeky banter on. But sometimes they do have really good, genuinely interesting news/interviews/guest slots about weird and wonderful stuff. It's a brilliant mix, and it doesn't hurt that as a child I was very much into the Loch Ness Monster, UfOs, von Daniken and all sorts of stuff like that. I did a big school project on Nessie and even owned copies of some of the old (now debunked) 'photographic proof' that they have discussed on the show (sadly I lent said photographs to a cousin, who promptly lost them). I even had a Nessie stuffed toy! I'm definitely sufficiently geeky for the subject matter to suit 😁

I'm listening in chunks. So having listened to 83, I'm now on 77, will go up to 82, and then drop further back for another chunk. It's so I can listen to a section in the correct order.

It's exquisite - so tender and so funny - all the lovely things in one story, with them the loveliest of course. Constellationism next.

@TriceratopsRocks sadly not the Rhys one

Not this time... another few months of this level of obsession and you won't care who knows about it

Agree totally, but remember Constellationism isn't finished, if that matters to you. I had a bit of a shock, like "Wait! What?? It can't end there!!!" Till I saw the 15/22 chapters. But it's ok, I'll just read it all again when the next one comes out. And then again...

😂Actually, I would have bought one this time had I not just spent nearly £60 on 2 Our Flag t-shirts that were coming from the US (postage costs, bah!). Plus the keyring and pin (which I intend to get more of). It was starting to add up!