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

@TriceratopsRocks Thank you! I am enjoying the moustache immensely, a sentence I never thought I would type in any context

I'm enjoying all of that Taika pic! The beautifully coiffed hair, the cute stubble and 'tache, the slight smile, but most especially for me, those crinkly eyes 😘

As for Rhys/Stede - I'm loving the natural, breathless joy he is radiating here

(and my last post - *scrumptiousness )

And 3/10 for his mental beauty

So harsh - what was he thinking! I absolutely love his enthusiasm and curiosity. There's a lovely cameo video somewhere on twitter where a group that are into robots asked him why he loves robots and he talks for about 20 minutes - I'll try and find it. That level of unashamed geekiness about something he's fascinated by is so endearing.

I don't think we really have much of a divide. I'm pretty sure all of us agree that both these men are absolutely stunning examples of scrumtiousness.

Absolutely!

Not sure why that photo came out so small, sorry. I like it because they're both smiling - and an arm touch too.

It's a lovely photo. If you find a bigger one, please post it :) I'd love to be able to zoom in a bit better. It's so nice to see them both just being happy.

This arm-tap is in one of my new videos. I love that Ed reassures Stede here about his fighting skills, and calls him ‘Babe!’ 🥰

We all agree they’re gorgeous. But what I think, and we all agree on this too surely, is that they are even more gorgeous together. Yes, they look lovely side-by-side as Rhys and Taika, but as Ed and Stede… wow. Whichever fanfic it was that called them north and south poles is spot on. They’re magnets and magnetic when together. Complementary looks, personalities, cat/dog dynamic, mirror and light.

And underneath it all, they’re the same person.

They’re a set. The idea of them being separated is impossible. And I cannot stop looking at them.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jul/24/time-bandits-review-the-gloriously-fun-return-of-a-fantasy-classic

This is much more positive!

First two episodes of Time Bandits watched.

I have no knowledge of the original, but if you’re a fan of that, I presume you won’t like this.

Opening credits very Dr Who. Has a Good Omens feel, but not as well-executed. Kevin is both charming and irritating in equal measure. Lisa Kudrow is painful although I found her a little more watchable in the second episode. Historically anachronistic in a Plebs way. A cockney Ross Noble is building Stonehenge. I liked the modern digital-age update of the parents as neglectful rather than cruel. Magic starts are 6 mins in so not too much exposition. You’re on a pirate ship at 15 minutes. Jermaine makes an appearance at the 30-minute mark. He’s in his element, obviously and I liked his character. Some very Taika-style motifs of not judging indigenous peoples by the invaders’ historical accounts in episode 2.

Taika appears in the final minutes of episode two. But honestly, the screen comes alive. I hope he’s in it more because he and Jermaine are obviously the best things in it. He’s quite Ed-coded in a way I haven’t seen him in in anything prior. He’s a fully-relaxed, loosened up, knows-who-he-is Ed. He’s season 3 Ed after a few drinks, with a plan and some self-esteem. I am yearning here a bit. Despite the dodgy sky robe and shock hair, he’s blimmin’ hot.

Thanks @MrsJellybee!

Would you say it's suitable to watch with my 'charming yet irritating in equal measure' 11 year old?!

Depends. If they can cope with Ghostbuster-style depictions of evil and demons, yes. Think the demon dog who chases down Rick Moranis. My nine-year-old wouldn’t be able to watch this, but she’s scared of her own shadow.

Child is significantly less easily scared than me so that should be fine. She made me watch Creeped Out.

Uuurgh! Sentient headlice!!

@Phineyj I think the Guardian review is a little too kind, but the thing that I am enjoying most is the reader comment blaming Thatcher for the reboot! 🤣

Flowers, yes. But butterflies too! 🦋 What a beautiful link to the candied melon moth.

Oh you can't go wrong blaming Thatcher.

Certainly works for my MIL 😂

Watched episode 1 - good fun! DS (12) enjoying it too.

Noticed Ra Vincent did production design again.

‘We have similar souls’ 🫠

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1SvxQUaC3TY&pp=ygUVV2UgaGF2ZSBzaW1pbGFyIHNvdWxz

Episode 2 watched - agree with the Ed energy at the end!

Loved the skewering of western academic assumptions that everything in “other” cultures is ritualistic.

Jemaine Clement marvellous. Looking forward to the rest.

So if I wait till later in August I can binge the whole thing on the free 7 day trial yes? Woo hoo.

Thank you @MrsJellybee and @BillStickersIsInnocent for the very reassuring feedback - really keen to see it now, even if we have wait until the last few minutes for Taika and his Ed energy to appear. Looking forward to seeing Rachel House too.

season 3 Ed after a few drinks, with a plan and some self-esteem..
If only we'd got to see that🙁

Thank you @Phineyj for that lovely Guardian review - hurrah for Lucy Mangan! I love her taste in 70s/80s children's books and it looks like she might be a Taika fan too (got to love a review that starts 'Taika Waititi!').

Con O’Neill is in it later as the Sheriff of Nottingham!!

I actually think Rhys would have made a fab Penelope character.

Oh that sounds wonderful. Although he will never replace Alan Rickman for me.

I don’t think anyone could. Wonderful actor.

They’re a set. The idea of them being separated is impossible. And I cannot stop looking at them.
But why are they sitting so far apart? If I were them, reunited with my lover after thinking they were dead, I'd be holding them so tight and never wanting to let go! And I know they deliberately had them further apart in S2, but I really, really, really wanted to see lots of hugs and cuddles at this point anyway.

And thank you for that lovely interview, @MrsJellybee . I am now on a YouTube spree watching the loads of interviews with them!

They just snogged twice in the middle of a battlefield 🤣