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

Staying en trend with the news today, just drawing attention to how much Liam Gallagher loves the show. I mean, who’d have thunk it! In 2022, he tweeted David, calling the show ‘biblical’. He’s also a massive Rhys Darby fan. Liam needs to harness the 2025 tour for positive ofmd propaganda.

Holy sh1t!!!!! That is awesome. And thank you for the Twitter nuggets… not being on there I’d missed that - maybe if I ever get this ticketmaster queue to agree to me getting tickets I’ll make an OFMD flag to wave at Wembley 🤣

That has somewhat changed my view of Liam Gallagher!

Also reminded me of a favourite detail in the narrowboat fic - the open mic flyer that said "Playing of Wonderwall strongly discouraged" 😂

And the reason Stede realises something is going on, on the night is because he stops hearing Wonderwall being played badly by middle aged weekend warriors through the door and hears professional jazz piano...

Are you in the queue? 😮 I hear Dublin’s crashed.

DS logged on over an hour ago so is actually in the queue. DH and I only tried to get on the website 8:40 ish- so still in the queue to actually get onto ticketmaster

@Phineyj Ha, ha. Well remembered. I hate Wonderwall. Always have. It’s so whiny. I was peak age for Oasis though and was very into them c.94-96. My favourite is still ‘Whatever’. I will not be queuing for tickets today though.

I've just been going through the replies to DJs tweets about the numbers and the permanent ink. So many wonderful show tattoos. I've never considered one before but I've been mulling it over it's definitely got me thinking some more. I'd love to know what happened in those discussions. We know the numbers and the fan support were there, and they were already advertising for S3 crew. In absence of anything that makes sense I can only put it down to homophobia.

@DJ47 oof. Well, good luck with that. I hope you get tickets. I presume Wembley.

I’m thinking of doing a fan-edit to Wonderwall ‘Whatever’.

@TriceratopsRocks WBD have certainly cut a number of LGBTQ+ shows. I also think a lot of the characters don’t have the right ‘look’ for today’s market. Except they do. Because we love how natural they are. We relate to them. And the numbers were there. People are watching. And watching repeatedly.

I’ve seen it mentioned twice now and I don’t know what it refers to. People saying WBD released ‘show icons’ only a month before cancellation. Something to do with social media. That this indicated renewal and long-term viewership. What are these icons? I’m asking rhetorically. I feel the cancellation was very last minute. Just sell the show! Let it go!

Tri, I don’t have any tats either. Largely because I’m a bit of a dilettante and changeable. But I am very tempted by some of the imagery, especially the lighthouse /kraken.

🤷🏻‍♀️

Do they mean the twin skeleton mermaid icon? When was that made available?

I don’t think it’s a reference to this. It’s something post season 2. Something on the WBD website/ user profiles.

But I love this imagery so much. The ‘ED’ with their hands drives me nuts. I’d love hear others’ interpretations of this artwork.

The icons were character specific I think from memory. So you could choose Stede, Ed, Izzy or Lucius as your avatar when logging in to max. I remember being miffed you couldn’t choose Frenchie 😉

Going back to the fanfic and smallestchurch, this is the first of theirs that I read and it's still a favourite. I have no recollection of whether it's been mentioned here previously. Or not 😁.

archiveofourown.org/works/40987923/chapters/102721455

There are 3 works in the series. The direct sequel is the 3rd work. The 2nd is an alternative version of what the original story was going to be - shorter and with more angst. Smallestchurch says they like a bit of angst and don't I know it 🤣 I've read Fast Car! I love the one I've linked here though. If you're going to read all of them I would read 1, then 3, then finally 2 as a curiosity.

Oh, I loved that one, @TriceratopsRocks!

Why oh why doesn't my town have an independent bookshop next to a decent bar eh?!

@DJ47 oh, that’s interesting. And confusing. I suppose it doesn’t take much to put up avatars. But why bother for a show you’re about to cancel? It will all come out in the wash one day.

Did you get a ticket yet?

@TriceratopsRocks that’s a gorgeous fic. Even I’ve read that one 😁. I think a previous rec of yours, but always good to be reminded. I might read it again.

I'm flabbergasted at the idea that
Work 1 might not have had enough angst in it. "Ooh, that's just not quite harrowing enough in the middle stages"

PS obviously I loved it

To be fair, it might as well not bother if Ed and Stede aren't the respective business owners

I'm definitely going to have to create a system to tell me what I've recommended on here and what I haven't! I don't suppose it matters though. I love to see a recommendation on here for a fic I've already read and loved. Because it just reminds me to read it again 😁

Ah but I could browse the books and then go next door and drink a cocktail while reading smutty fic, so it would still work!

@TriceratopsRocks I haven’t read the sequel or the angsty version so you’ve prompted me to read those at some point. Always recommend. 🙂

Hi all,

There’s more info here about what happens at Star Fury Cons Star Fury Info

There was a question upthread about whether there would be time to talk to the actors. The main way to do that is the Meet and Greet on the Friday evening which is a gold ticket event. You are in table groups and the actors spend time at each table. With regard to the talks, they say there is Q&A. This is to the panel on the stage with you asking at a mic, I presume. Apparently there is no chance to talk at the autograph session really. It’s hi, sign, goodbye.

It really depends on what you want from this event. I just thought this info might be useful in helping people decide.

Thanks for that info, @MrsJellybee . I'm still trying to decide which ticket to get! I can be horrendously indecisive 🤣 I'll probably make a snap decision when the hotel rooms become available.