Our Flag Means Death - Thread 4: Roll up, roll up! Come join us for more pirate obsession!

[TriceratopsRocks]

Ahoy again mateys! Can you believe we are now aboard thread 4? Stick around for chat about this brilliant show, its cast, its music, fan edits, fan fiction and more than 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 and join us 😀

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, three 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 be aware that it's a show that needs time. It’s structured like a theatre production, with a prologue and 3 acts. The 2nd lead arrives (briefly) in episode 3. Episode 4 is the start of Act 1, where the tone changes and the main story begins. You need to give it at least 4 episodes, and from there it just gets better and better. 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. And again. And again! If you like Good Omens, What We Do in the Shadows, Ghosts or even Bridgerton, this might well 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
Thread 3: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5101662-our-flag-means-death-thread-3-its-still-utterly-brilliant-we-are-still-obsessed?reply=137315706

@CarterBeatsTheDevil that I get very overwhelmed and stressed with crowds and they indicate gold ticket holders should be able to queue first (whether they do remains to be seen). That I’m going for Rhys and I want his autograph. If I buy it separately when I get there, it looks to be around £60 (Basingstoke was). For the sake of another £70 I might as well get the gold ticket just to be sure.

@CarterBeatsTheDevil Who knew that my happy place would be transport-themed AUs?

Have you read the airport one - Mile High Club? I loved it - absolutely minimal angst, some lovely texting, gorgeous final paragraph. I can't remember who recommended it, but thank you to whoever it was (and if I'm recommending your own suggestion back to you, Carter, apologies).

Mile High Club - veeagainst - Our Flag Means Death (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

@MrsJellybee The same shoes and trousers is likely neurodiversity. God love him.

I think definitely - and I love that he's confident enough in who he is to do what he needs to do to make him feel comfortable, even in public.

That photo of Rhys above is gorgeous. How kindly he is looking at that lady. If he even glances my way like that, I’m going to buckle.

Prepare to buckle - we'll catch you! He really was like that with everyone - so generous with his time. And came across as very genuine when @TriceratopsRocks and I were trying to explain, in a slightly garbled way, how much the show and his character means to us, even though he must've heard it a million times before.

I think most of us on this thread crossed over into groupiedom some time ago 😳

@lizziesaurusx oh, god, Lizzie. I think I’m going to have to get some beta blockers 🤣😍

Many, many years ago, as a 16 year old, I literally buckled at the knees when I met Richard E Grant, and my best friend caught me. WE WILL BE THERE FOR YOU.

Max strength! I've always been a 'Stede is lovely, but my crush is definitely Ed' person but now it's Ed and Rhys - Rhys in person is incredibly charismatic. I'm not even sure why, but he just had the whole audience charmed (his fellow cryptids are lovely too).

Luckily I had a giant pinboard to lean on (long story) and @TriceratopsRocks had some fetching yellow crutches.

We are APPRECIATORS of ART in a VARIETY of MEDIA and THEMES

Memo to self: instruct solicitor clear all Chrome bookmarks upon news of my demise

Personally, I'm just collecting material for my magnum opus 'Messy bun to beachy waves: Hair as a signifier of Edward Teach's emotional wellbeing'. It will be generously illustrated. Sadly funding is yet to be secured.

I wrote a close textual analysis of the opening pages of 'Beverley Hills 90210: Beginnings' for a uni magazine once so I haven't really moved on much in the intervening years except in the quality of my sources.

I still don't have an AO3 profile/login thing - plausible deniability

At the moment though it looks as if I’ll be at the Meet and Greet alone 🤣 I mean without fellow Mumsnetters. Not just Rhys and me. Obviously… 🥵

Oh I get that about Richard E Grant. I’d have buckled if I’d ever met Alan Rickman too.

I don't know, I am tempted by the Golden Ticket of Glory

It's a lot of extra money, but maybe if I'm going for full on mid life crisis, I may as well go for literally broke... pondering

I’d have buckled if I’d ever met Alan Rickman too.

If it were Taika, I fear I wouldn't just buckle, I'd be on the floor in a faint - especially if he was in his wig

One way or the other, I would disgrace myself

@lizziesaurusx Blackbeard Dance

Oh I love that! And doesn't he dance so well with that dodgy knee 😆

x.com/Lesdoggg/status/1723476402899394605?t=OVPK6JUMN5GJipTH4Wwx7A&s=19

Oh I need my log in. I don't know how you manage without one. I'm past 100 bookmarks now of fics I enjoyed enough to want to read again. And I like my AO3 history too. Sometimes I even comment on fics and have had some lovely replies back from the author.

Oh that is wonderful!! My favourite bit are Rhys (obviously 🤣) and Taika with Ruibo and Anapela 😁. Vico can really move too!

@TriceratopsRocks The train one I did recommend was where Ed was a guard, but I think I've linked that before. I've just remembered that one was by Nomadsland.

This one is GORGEOUS - thank you! I must find another word to describe works by Nomadsland, but this one really is - I wish it had been longer. Nomadsland is clearly not a fan of water parks.

Hah! I've just re-read that one myself. I like it 😁. I love all Stede's water slide names 🤣

This is the best thing I have ever seen in my entire life apart from the actual series.

It's the comments underneath from the lesbian community that gets me. So confused! 🤣