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

It's ok. I just read that he and Rita Ora were friends for five years before they got together, which reminds me that I have no business making assignments about people I don't know 😂

I hadn't seen that - just watched it and yes, all those things. I wouldn't feel bad though - he very much does come over as a knob sometimes - smug, posing, definitely knows how good he looks etc. The fact he has so many sides to him makes him so fascinating and hopefully the earnest, emotional, more grounded Taika will reappear once he's got his mid life crisis out of his system 😀The projects he chose pre-Thor and pre-Jojo Rabbit were always thoughtful and interesting.

I remember that Oscar speech because he dedicated it to indigenous kids and it was in the news as he was the first Māori to win an Oscar. But I hadn’t noticed the nerves before! So sweet and genuine as someone said - @MrsJellybee maybe? Sorry am on app so can’t check.

@MrsJellybeeHe strikes me as a Peter Pan character who needs anchoring in some way. You have to wonder if she was in fact part of the success behind his earlier work at least in some capacity.

Perhaps she just made the balance between wacky and serious a bit more carefully judged than he does on his own. Her lack of involvement does seem to be the thing that's missing from his more recent, less successful work.

Anchoring - I think part of what makes him fascinating is that his brain seems to jump around so fast - it feels like its full of ideas, like he's buzzing with energy. He's often very open about what he's thinking which is also appealing, but the downside of that is that sometimes I think he doesn't have a filter about how he comes across and how pleased with himself he can appear. Also part of what makes him interesting though as you do feel like you're seeing more of a real person than a PR version. Although maybe that's all a carefully constructed act too!

Assumptions not assignments 🙄

He seems to take working to promote/support indigenous film very seriously - getting involved in or putting his name to things that might not get funded or as widely promoted otherwise - eg Rachel House's new film, or Frybread Face and Me which is on Netflix. And Reservation Dogs which was great.

I don't really know much about Rita Ora at all, though I found her dressing up as Fiona from Shrek (with a terrible accent) and staying in the Shrek cottage very endearing - she's just so enthusiastic. She does seem to be quite focused on her brand and her appearance though and does a lot of pouting.

@TriceratopsRocks my response may well be to post lots of sexy Stede screenshots

As if you're not going to do that anyway... 😆

Right? What’s the opposite of an idle threat? 🤣

What the actual…is happening here? Is this a promtional still? Or a cut scene? Ed kissed Stede again before he left the beach!!?

❤️

Stede looks completely shocked, bless him.

Ah yes, the deleted second kiss 🤣 I remember the fandom going feral - instead of “ where’s the *ing loot” the memes were “where’s the *ing second kiss” 😏

{cue maniacal laughter aka Ed in Red Flags}

I was! 😂😜😉

So here you go. Some different ones for a change this time...

I see I have missed a load of Taika goodness this evening. I've also wondered about mid life crisis. But I keep remembering the interviews I've seen when he talks about his work, where he's both serious and funny and it clearly means so much to him. He gets an awful lot of stick online. Even his valentine's day post about Rita attracted loads of unpleasant comments and it's bound to affect how you act in public. But yes to stretching himself too thin. He seems to be trying to involve himself in so much, so it's not really a surprise if the quality of his work has suffered.

But this is a good excuse for a favourite pic of Taika looking yummy...

So, on to my re-watch. Next was This is Happening. Only twice this time though😉 Favourites and observations this time around:

• Roache's little gasp and wonderful hurt/cross expressions when Stede blames him for the orange situation and insults his cooking skills (“It barely tasted of orange”). I love Samba!
• How quickly Stede pulls himself back together when the map is burned. He's so despondent wanting to go back to the ship after his little plot to take Ed on an adventure hasn't worked out. But it only takes a few sentences from Ed to have him all excited and raring to go again. His capacity for optimism and enthusiasm is wonderful and we see it time and again
• Stede’s lack of fire safety awareness. They walk away leaving an open flame surrounded by dry leaves and twigs in the middle of a jungle. Now there’s a disaster just waiting to happen! It’s the library on the boat all over again.
• Lucius' rant and Ed's reaction is always a real favourite.

Stede is in his land colours this episode. He starts off in silky brown. It's beautiful but he just looks too bland (yes, symbolism, I know!). Then he's in his little explorer outfit. It’s so cute and really suits him but I really feel the lack of colour this episode. And the focus on Olu and Jim adds to the blandness of the palette (Jim loves teal but we only ever see them in neutrals). On the plus side, we get Ed in his lovely purple t-shirt and Stede's glorious morning cuppa outfit.

I’m pretty sure the “dollop of milk and 7 sugars” bit was improv, because of the way Rhys stares intently at Taika after he says it. Can’t remember if I’ve seen this confirmed though (and that look is one of the very few places in the show where I do actually see Rhys and Taika rather than Stede and Ed)

www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/113204244/taika-waititi-my-father-was-a-gang-member

This is an interesting short interview from 5 years ago. I wonder how his mother feels about the way things panned out.

By the way, can anyone point me towards which episodes of WWDITS Taika appears in? There's soo many of them and sadly I don't have time to binge the whole thing...

@DJ47 @BillStickersIsInnocent I've never seen that kiss before. I need a director's cut of season one as well. Stede's face isn't a red flag at all...

@TriceratopsRocks I think it's widely assumed the tea skit is improv. Rhys is about to corpse 🤣

I think we glimpse Taika and Rhys in the BB Bar and Grill improv too. That noise 'Ed' makes at the end is one of my favourite moments in the show. It's Taika realising they've just nailed the improv and it'll make the final edit. ☺️

Thanks for the lovely pic of Taika, @TriceratopsRocks.

@Phineyj insightful interview thanks for sharing - he sounds extremely driven, and really self aware.

@Phineyj oof! That's a painful interview. I know Taika and Rhys have both been candid about their father issues and how that fed into OFMD. Taika said they were real tears in the bathtub scene.

That’s a bit sad. He said, with a laugh, somewhere that he made himself cry by remembering his horrible childhood. Thought he meant Ed’s childhood and hope that is the case but now it’s ambiguous.

@MrsBruin I thought it was slightly flippant or deflected with humour but I feel he was talking about his own childhood.

I thought the comment that their dream was to have a microwave was pretty affecting.

Although to be fair, being of a similar age, microwaves were rather aspirational back in the day.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0umRGRjPbDk&pp=ygUXUmh5cyBkYXJieSBvZm1kIGZhdGhlcnM%3D

Love this interview. 4.12 onwards, Rhys touches briefly on art imitating life for both he and Taika re: fathers.