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

I want a massive agression one though!

In other (sad) news, Time Bandits hasn’t been renewed.

deadline.com/2024/09/time-bandits-canceled-apple-no-season-2-1236091105/

*aggression

why can’t I edit anymore?!

Oh, wow! @BillStickersIsInnocent

I think the writing was on the wall after Charlyne Yi’s assault claims though. It’s why her character inexplicably disappeared mid-series.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/charlyne-yi-assault-allegations-time-bandits-set-1235901593/

I'm googling plus-sized pirate coats. Someone talk me down.

Oh @CarterBeatsTheDevil thank you! I'd totally forgotten that this was a thing. I bought a Stede style shirt once before (in black) when DD went as the Dread Pirate Roberts on world book day. I've now found a cream one circa 2.1-2.6 Stede. All I need to do is get some teal dye to turn it into a 2.7-2.8 shirt. I already have brown trousers (sadly not leather), but I'd need some boots.

So no, I'm not talking you down, Carter, I'm encouraging you! Go for it 😁😁😁

I somehow knew I would get total collusion with pirate coats on here 😂

I haven't watched Time Bandits yet but that's a shame on the face of it. Production of Good Omens 3 has also been paused because of the allegations against Neil Gaiman, which are both complicated and grim (tldr: it's not clear that he didn't have consent, but the way he behaved is by any metric gross). I read a couple of things about Taika on a Tatler thread that have me genuinely anxious about whether he's going to end up a Me Too fail as well at some point 😬but equally there was so much naked vitriol about him and Rita Ora that it's hard to know how seriously to take any of it.

@CarterBeatsTheDevil David’s been out on Twitter defending him as a lovely guy.

@TriceratopsRocks @CarterBeatsTheDevil

Sorry, are we actually doing cosplay then? I’ve missed the memo 😍

I do have a red and black striped corset that is desperate to get out and party. That's vaguely piratical even without a coat

That's true, and he's not the only one who says so. It was a bit of a horrible rabbit hole.

I think I am a bit shaken by the whole Neil Gaiman thing because I honestly would have put him in my top five least likely to get into a bath with a 20 year old without asking

Not necessarily, unless you want to 😁. I just want it to wear generally. And I'm not actually joking 🤣 (yes I'm insane). I am actually still planning on my 3 show t-shirts for Heathrow. But I honestly do have a hankering for an outfit that is a homage to Stede's 2.7-8 look, which I can wear in normal life. A teal linen shirt and brown trousers. That's what I want. But I'm struggling to find a shirt. Which is why I just got very excited at the pirate shirts I found online 😁 I'll probably go for one that's a bit more 'normal' and dye that, but in the meantime I'm going to have a lovely time looking at all the exciting stuff you can buy, and imagining 😊

I could totally wear a pirate coat to work

@CarterBeatsTheDevil i’m shocked too. I like some of his stuff, but I have a couple of friends who worship the man and his writing, and are shellshocked. I mean, the 22-year-old nanny?

I just want it to wear generally oh okay. So, Morrison’s. 🤣 Love that.

I still want a version of this maybe…although I won’t be anywhere near as graceful as Taika, showing wonderful knowledge of the fourth-crossed ballet position.

The mind boggles, doesn't it? I like some of his work (GO is one of my favourite books, though overall I probably prefer Pratchett's solo stuff to Gaiman's) but I really liked Gaiman's social media presence and felt confident that he would not be That Guy

He's just so dang beautiful. Do not disappoint me, Taika steely gaze

I tell you what, if we ever lose Rhys to this, I truly will give up.

I literally don't think that's possible. He would NEVER.

I’ve just rediscovered this in my wardrobe. I must’ve got it from a charity shop years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever worn it. But how Stede Bonnet, ‘autumn vibe’ is it?

That's beautiful! Very Mrs Stede!

That could definitely count as a fine thing - the russety orange and the foxes are very autumn vibe.

I've been teetering on the brink of ordering another tshirt for about a week - I clearly need to up my game and start dreaming of pirate coats.

I've had to pull the plug on this.
Really wanted to go, as did DC but the gold ticket +hotel+ meals + travel + photos (which we would both want to do) was pushing it into the thousand plus bracket.
So, I'm now very jealous, following many of them on social media, and encouraging my teen to watch it all again.

FWIW we're also this obsessive about Good Omens and the friendship between David & Michael, and Ghosts.

Oh what a shame, @TeabySea . But yes, if there are 2 of you it is rather pricey. The hotel room is better value though!

Tbh I haven't even mentioned Heathrow to my DD. She also loves the show, but it would be a very different trip for me with her there and I am excited about meeting you lot 😁

As for those other shows, they are both wonderful, but how on earth do you find the time??? I can't even keep up with OFMD stuff. I abandoned Buffy long ago.

Child likes to unwind after school so we watch an episode (or four) depending on how much homework there is.
Housework has been neglected in favour of crew.

We've visited "Button House", and been to several GO venues, so doubly disappointed about the Republic of Pirates.