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

My handmade Ed necklace (Etsy) finally arrived from Canada. It’s beautiful. I loved the note from the maker. She’s clearly as delusional as I am.

That's beautiful, @MrsJellybee . And what a lovely note :)

What a nice note (and necklace obviously).

I have a public service announcement. I'm sure you've all seen the TV ads, but if you watch lots of Youtube videos (which I am genuinely having to do atm to music learning purposes), you have a reasonable chance of coming across a rather fetching Rhys in an advertisement for Xero accounting software. Research has shown me that I cannot play the ad again, or rewind the ad at all, and if you click on the Xero link you can't get back to the ad. I'm making a point of clicking on said ad just before it ends (because clicks have got to be good, right?). So the best option is to watch almost all the ad, then click the link, then go back to the video you wanted to watch.

And just to confirm, the YouTube ad isn't this one
https://creative.salon/articles/work/xero-engine

or this one
https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/flight-of-the-conchords-rhys-darby-dons-a-jetpack-in-a-new-campaign-for-xero/

It's a shorter ad I've only seen on YouTube and which I have been unable to find a way to save or link, so the only way to see it is to watch lots of random videos in the hope that it shows up. This information may or may not be of use to you, but I thought it definitley worth sharing. Enjoy :)

@TriceratopsRocks what is Rhys doing in the latest video?

Looking gorgeous and dreamy. Is that what you mean?

I've seen a Xero ad popping up on YouTube where I think Rhys is on a Segway passing a group of tradesmen and asks if one of them is called Bill and they are and the joke goes over his head? Is that the one...or is this possibly a fever dream 😆

still getting used to my varifocals. Just read that as ‘gorgeous and horny’ 🤣

But then I’m also re-reading Throat GOAT ~sigh~

@TriceratopsRocks I meant if not a jogging armadillo or biker. What’s the premise?

Perhaps @2pence has it.

The one I see starts outside a tower block surrounded by a crowd of business people, and he's a bit military. Then I just gaze adoringly at him for 20 seconds or so... 🫠

@TriceratopsRocks you need to open the game bar and hit record, but I’m not sure how to do it. Or just continue to gaze adoringly, you know 😍

I have no idea what a game bar is, but I can tell you that despite watching YouTube vids for about 45 mins today, and doing lots of refreshing, Rhys didn't show up a single time! 😠 It's the first time in ages he hasn't appeared. I had to gaze at lots of pictures of him instead, to make up for it.

Message from a friend: just so you know, I have just completed my third rewatch.

I infected her a month ago 😄

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

If anyone else loves the fake dating trope, this one's for you...

PS you know it's a filthy one

Fabulous @CarterBeatsTheDevil thank you.

Saw this on Twitter today 😂

Bloody love this 🤣

I’m currently reading this fic. It’s based loosely on Frasier with Stede/Ed in the Niles/Daphne roles. Grumpy dad is in it too. Tags suggest lingerie later just in case it ain’t your thing (it ain’t mine either, but I can roll with it), and Izzy has appeared briefly as Ed’s ex, but played for laughs. It’s a fun one.

archiveofourown.org/works/44897131/chapters/112965931

This is terrifyingly accurate. I see them in everything too although domestic appliances is a new one. 😆

…. and when your ‘habit’ informs your choice of Tesco Meal Deal beverage!

@MrsBruin I got it (eventually…I was thinking, I don’t remember a blue spirulina reference)

😸

I still don't get it! At least, not without rewatching the scene (which I may do later 😄). Please explain!

Going back to fanfic, I've read a Claire Gregory one over the last couple of days that is a modern AU which she describes as a love letter not only to OFMD but to the fandom, to fic writers and readers, to artists, Tumblr users etc. Ed and Stede (and the crew) are environmentalists who have their own hyperfixation about a TV show. The main plot sort of mirrors that show, alongside their own 'friends to lovers' trope - as part of which they are also working their way through most of the Kink-tober fic prompts! It's therefore extremely explicit, but there wasn't anything I was uncomfortable with. I thought it a good long read anyway.
archiveofourown.org/works/49128244/chapters/123950062

‘Next one goes in your effing eye. Where’s the loot?
… see, more oomph!’
or words to that effect. I also liked the teal colour!