Our Flag Means Death: Thread 3. It's still utterly brilliant. We are still obsessed.

[TriceratopsRocks]

Ahoy again mateys! Set sail aboard thread 3 where we still wax lyrical about our favourite show, its cast, its music, fan edits, fan fiction and more 😁(there may also be just a little obsessing over our fabulous leads - pictures extremely welcome)!

If you haven’t yet seen Our Flag Means Death, what are you waiting for? Go watch it (on BBC iPlayer), then come back here and join us. But be warned, some of you may find yourself as hooked as we are 🎣.

You may have heard that this is a comedy about pirates and think it's not for you. But it’s actually a show about self-discovery, healing and found-family with a love story at its heart. The joint leads are both damaged by abusive backgrounds and 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, two full threads and many re-watches later.

If you think this might appeal, do watch it and come back and talk to us. It would be lovely if more were to join our crew. But it's a show that needs time. The 2nd lead arrives in episode 3, so you need to give it at least 4 episodes as that’s when the tone changes and the main story starts. It still took me several more episodes to fully appreciate what I was watching, but by 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
Thread 2 : https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5076581-our-flag-means-death-thread-2-still-utterly-brilliant-and-we-are-still-obsessed?reply=136060611

I read a really lovely one yesterday that made me cry - Done Deal by Skrifores. Ed is a glass-blower. It’s an old one so I’m guessing lots of people here have already read it, but just in case.

Yeah I enjoyed that one. Dealt sensitively with infidelity I thought.

(How will SW keep the wonderful playful tone and have Stede and Mary split, and also address the Nigel issue? I know she'll do it wonderfully, I just don't know how! I couldn't bear them to split even temporarily!)

I would have gone through Bond titles myself. 'The Spy Who Loved Me' would have covered it. Bet I could get a lab reference in there somewhere.

ponders

Regarding Constellationism, Mary is obviously playing away and has been for some time (all those unanswered phone calls and anyway we know that). There is significant comedy potential with Stede having falling for a YBA (Young British Artist, 'young' being very elastic in the art world) and his wife being, and seeing, an artist. So that should hopefully undercut any tragedy.

Maybe Evie will pull strings.

It's going to take an age to get there at this rate.

Still dreaming of the nice barman/Lynda POV where they discuss who exactly is getting dispatched to the superstore in Herne Hill to get Ed something to wear...

I see we’re having the same worries

Herne Hill is quite a way from deepest darkest Kent 😀

Maybe she's going for a third part to resolve it all. I'll be reading and weeping when I'm 60at this rate 😀

Not sure if it's been mentioned on here before, but I've really enjoyed Liquid Gold - they are bee-keepers!

archiveofourown.org/works/40931679/chapters/102575613

Very light on the Stede/Ed angst (only the briefest cameos from Izzy/Jack/Badmintons), there is some discussion later on around Dementia (re. Stedes mum) and some sadness in the past but generally just the boys being in love and the crew being fun.

That sounds right up my street, @CarpeDiem83 . Minimal angst, and I love a good SMAU. All those lovely pictures of Rhys to look forward to (rubs hands in glee and anticipation) 😁😁😁. Thank you for the rec.

I was working my way through Skrifore's fics, but as ever had got sidetracked by other fics and forgotten. Thank you @BillStickersIsInnocent for the reminder.

Oh, and I am also worried about Ed's clothing situation. At this rate he's going to be riding home in his underpants and leathers!

I can't say I'm worried about this exactly 😁

Haha, Freudian slip.

Herne Bay I meant!

I also feel this is something I will likely cope with should it occur.

Not a rewatch issue, just one of those random thoughts one has at night but it has taken me all this time to wonder about Stede and Lucian's outfits in A Gentleman Pirate.

Stede might be a clothes horse but would he really have two identical outfits?

Yes I reckon @CarlaH he’d probably been planning his pirate debut for years!

Bless his naive, joyous enthusiasm.

@CarlaH definitely. Stede’s a frustrated theatre director. It’s all about the costumes. I mean the man owns a black knitted turtleneck which hasn’t been invented yet.

I loved that theatre scene and the idea that he has planned his 'pirate entrance' for years is brilliant.

Happy Birthday Ed Teach! At least in YellowMustard’s Connecting the Dots fic. Love that one.

For those of you thinking of going to the Heathrow convention, Rhys has confirmed!

That's excellent news! Even more tempting now, though the possibility of a entire weekend obsessing about our show is pretty tempting in any case.

Sad to see the robe Taika has ended up with in Time Bandits after the glories of the break up robe and the breakfast robe😕I'm also not sure of the wisdom of casting yourself as Supreme Being when you already have a reputation for having quite an ego... I'm keen to see it though - I'll sign up for a 7-day Apple+ trial once the whole series is released. Does anyone already have Apple+ and planning to watch? If so, please report back! I've liked everything I've seen that Taika has written/directed so I really hope this is the same - he also seems to get quite a bit of negativity online at the moment so it would be great if this did well.

I’ll probably sign up in real-time and watch. I need some distraction at the moment. I’ll report back.

That is one sad robe. It looks like one of my Nineties tie-dye efforts.

I got myself a teal robe morning-after the other day. 🙂 It’s not an official one, but pretty close to the show one. I keep looking at bird of paradise robes, but they’re so pricey. Might get myself a cushion with the print instead.

If Taika can’t cast himself as Supreme Being, then who can? Man looks as if he’s descended from Mount Olympus even on a bad day.

I did not lose a good part of an hour staring at those eyes yesterday. Nope. Not me.

I’m going to watch it @lizziesaurusx so I’ll let you know! I’ve renewed my Apple TV sub, watching Lady in the Lake at the moment which is gripping.

The thing about Rhys is that he is really lovely looking and he does have lovely eyes. But he's just a bit short for me. Taika is just the right height (taller but not too much taller) and almost embarrassingly close to being my ideal bloke, lookswise. He's pretty much what I would draw if someone asked me to draw the most handsome man I could possibly think of. And if I was any good at drawing. Which I'm not.

@MrsJellybee I got myself a teal robe morning-after the other day.

And this is just casually mentioned, without a photo? Please rectify asap 😁

If Taika can’t cast himself as Supreme Being, then who can? Man looks as if he’s descended from Mount Olympus even on a bad day.

Fair point, but is it kind to point that out so obviously to us lesser mortals? The white wig and dodgy robe are definitely less obvious than the Ed wig and leathers though - perhaps he's trying to move on from being objectified.

As for Rhys' eyes - just the one hour, really? Impressively restrained. Now imagine seeing them in real life...