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

Actually I am sure we already had the Point Break discussion here. Sorry! I blame the perimenopause

I blame that for a lot too, @CarterBeatsTheDevil . It's definitely allowed.

I'm re-reading the Clerkenwell fic, seeing as I mentioned it just above. I hadn't remembered it quite right. Ed might be a successful billionaire, but blimey he's a wreck and definitely needs saving. I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it though. I'm finding it odd but quite compelling.

Thank you! It is indeed a good 'un - I liked reading about a Stede who was relatively confident about his potential as a catch, and that both of them were so upfront (in their own minds) about where things were going. Great writing too - isn't foxtails the fire lookout writer?

Unfortunately that was Sunday night, and then I found I had to read Throat goat again last night, so still no progress on an actual book. I think I'm going to start a no fanfic during the week rule after my holiday, but luckily I still have another week to read fanfic into the wee small hours.

Just noticed this interview is scheduled for 10pm this evening

… ‘ Louis spends time with Rita on the set of her latest music video in LA, where they bump into her partner, actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi’ .

@MrsBruin ooh, thank you for that… ‘’bump into her partner’. Sure.

Rita was hospitalised recently whilst on tour. I hope she’s made a good recovery whatever ails her.

Hi. Sorry I haven't RTFT but on the basis of this thread I have started watching Our Flag Means Death with my DS and loving it. However from episode 2 on IPlayer all episodes have someone doing sign language which kind of wastes it a bit. Anyone know how I can watch it without sign? Thanks!

Hello @sunshinechaser and welcome to the thread! I'm glad you are loving it, but I'm afraid I have no idea why you are getting sign language. I've just checked a couple of episodes and all is normal for me - no sign language. I've also just searched on iPlayer and am only getting one version of the show come up, just in case there was also a signed version. Might it be a TV setting? I hope you are able to not let it put you off, because it really is a brilliant show to watch.

Thanks @TriceratopsRocks. The first episode didn't have a guy doing sign language but annoyingly episode 2 onwards does.

I hope you can sort it out then, as I bet that must be rather annoying! We have discovered so much detail in the backround sets, it's a shame to have any of it covered up. Maybe someone else on the thread can help? Several of us are re-watching episodes.. errr... can I say 'quite often' 😆 But noone has mentioned sign language.

On a totally different topic, I know this is a bit early but we are on 960 posts and I am away for the next 2 days. I have just put thread 4 up in case we fill this one. It will save me trying to start a new thread on the android app, which doesn't have a preview function.

So here you go, have at it, mateys :) @MrsJellybee I think you promised some more photos 😁

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5136377-our-flag-means-death-thread-4-roll-up-roll-up-come-join-us-for-more-pirate-obsession

@sunshinechaser

I just googled and it's an iplayer thing you should be able to toggle off:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/accessibility/remove-sign-language

I found the button on the main episode screen, at the bottom right of the all the episode writing. The bottom line is + watchlist, audio described and sign language. Clicking sign language brought up a toggle button at the top to turn it on and off. Hope this sorts you out!

😆

I wonder if this would be better suited to something like Suess's 1 Fish 2 Fish, or even something like The Hungry Caterpillar. On Monday Izzy had 10 toes...on Tuesday...

Thanks so much @TriceratopsRocks!

I’m reading Throat Goat again and again it’s making me sob. The analogy of the pair of them as abused neglected dogs always expecting to be abandoned again. 😭😭

Well I can report that the Maritime Museum in Falmouth was a couple of hours well spent! Photos aren’t much different to what’s already been posted ( my selfie with Ed involved me standing under the cut out!) All the flags of the renowned pirates were a nice touch, but they weren’t labelled whose was whose and I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t remember which was Stede’s ( though I don’t believe it’s shown in the show). The interactive timeline of the life and notoriety of each pirate was interesting - could have done without the artist impression of Stede being hung! Blackbeard was stabbed 20 times, shot 5 times and beheaded…. Thank goodness DJenks wasn’t going for their real life story conclusion….. cos I live in hope for the S3 story to be told some day! My fave AO3 S3 story covers the siege of Charlestown and links to RL events much more closely than I realised 🥰🏴‍☠️