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

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I too am feeling very guilty about our glorious captain. I don't have access to many pics atm, but can add these...

Ooooh. Now that is exciting. We will have to discuss over the next few days if there is to be a Mumsnet posse.

There's a Twitter thread somewhere about Taika napping. It's called "Taika Naptiti". Did I read about that here?

I’m very strongly considering attending…

I would just love Nathan to be the 4th guest at Heathrow…. But I’m 90% certain to be a yes anyway

Me too! @TriceratopsRocks and @Lizziesaurusx, when you speak to Rhys again, might that make you groupies (in a good way)?

I had a little OFMD binge last night. 1.05, 1.07 and 2.04. Beautiful. Someone remind me why we didn't get a season 3? (DH loved it as well but thinks it went off the boil and should have ended earlier. We're staying together for the children.)

@CarterBeatsTheDevil he needs to be more constructive in his criticism (sorry have been listening to FoTC) where does he think it started to go off the boil?

2.7 and 2.8 are really rushed and a bit incoherent logically (more so than usual 😊) I agree.

@CarterBeatsTheDevil because David Zaslav didn’t renew it. It’s to do with the Max/WBD merger. It’s still unclear what actually happened. In December 2023, they were advertising for pre-filming staff for OFMD Season 3. Rubio Qian (Zheng) had her diary blanked out for May/June 2024 which is when filming should’ve happened. We should be getting the season 3 trailer now. We should be anticipating an autumn release. It hurts so, so much. Samba was even promised a podcast which is why he has so much footage.

Something happened. Something happened between Zaslav and Jenkins. My money is on a sudden decision to not renew or a further budget cut which Jenkins just couldn’t work with. What really gets me is another network not being able to pick it up because Zaslav wanted silly money for it. No-one will pick up a show for one more season for a massive buyers fee. It’s why you see on Twitter ‘Let our show go’. It’s like bloody Moses to Pharaoh - let my people go! But Zaslav won’t. I am taking great pleasure in watching WBD slowly implode and their market value plummet.

This is what happens when capitalists are in charge of the arts. They bring the money, but no soul.

It's just shit. I love Good Omens but it makes no sense to me that they get a third season and OFMD doesn't.

@BillStickersIsInnocent he's a big fan of things ending when they're absolutely great and I think as you say he found the last couple of episodes so confused that he wishes they'd stopped at one season. I on the other hand could not have rested until Ed and Stede consummated their relationship, but I don't think he's as into that as I am 😂

Edt: STEDE! Bugger off, autocorrect

I think I need help…in one of the Taika birthday vids he is smoking and I found myself fretting about his health and not wanting him to die young.
Before I remembered my actual DH smokes and I don’t think I have the same concern and what does that say about me 😂🫣

I also noticed he smoked and I have to admit it's put me off a bit. It's ok for Ed to smoke in the Golden Age of Piracy but I think we all know better now judgy

PS not judging any of the wonderful posters on here if you smoke, obvs

By the way, not sure if it's been mentioned here due to my abysmal memory but there's a new Locke and Key story up for those who enjoyed Stede the pub owner getting it on with Ed the touring musician and narrowboat enthusiast.

I can see where your husband is coming from. I think Episode 1.10 is about as perfect a programme as is possible. How they cram so much into around 35 minutes and yet every bit of it is comprehensible and flows well.

By the time we get to 2.6 onwards they are, in my opinion anyway, making some strange choices. Far too long spent on Ned Low at the beginning so there's no time to fit in a slow dance between Ed and Stede later on. The same, as I have said before, at the beginning of 2.8 with the fisherfolk when we needed more Road to Moscow and a more comprehensive 'battle' between the English and the crew. I really dislike 2.7 and can't even raise the enthusiasm to discuss it.

Oh thank you for that, Carter, I really enjoyed Narrowboat. I might have to re-read first

I've just been enjoying the Finders Keepers series by Claire Gregory. Two sets of Ed and Stedes - first a modern AU where they are hunting for clues about the original Ed and Stede, followed by a longer post S1 story about our original Ed and Stede, showing what actually happened (which modern Ed and Stede discovered). Then some short stories. I really enjoyed these.

@CarlaH I agree entirely with every piece of your analysis there.

Edited to add: other than the breakfast scene in 2.7, I find it a really difficult watch.

With regards to Taika, I’ve pretty much disconnected him from the character of Ed in my head. Ed exists as his own entity. It makes no sense, but the cognitive dissonance works for me. Whereas with Stede and Rhys there’s a lot of overlap in my mind.

Yes I had forgotten breakfast in bed - fair point.

I basically just pretend that 2.7 doesn't exist after the breakfast scene. It's painful and confusing.

Me too. I really love his work, and I think he is genuinely stunningly handsome (she said as if she had never mentioned it before), but I find that it doesn't do to pay too much attention to his social media output. What he says about his work is great and I really enjoy his older interviews, but a lot of it seems to be just him hanging out rather awkwardly or ostentatiously clowning about with much younger celebs I've never heard of.

Been on holiday again (no tentacle pix this time, sadly).

Thanks for the Narrowboat AU continuation rec. Looks promising. Also you guys prompted me to have another go at 'Tree Change' (which I gave up on before as a bit meta for me - still found it meta but read most of it this time). I enjoyed the cave dive drama and some parts of it were very funny.

Here's a soft, completed story in which Stede and Ed are both artists, of very different kinds. Some good landscape painting tips as well! And top quality Lucius, also clothing descriptions. Tastefully more or less off camera sex which makes a break from the Claire Gregory approach tbh (desk sex in the middle of a break-and-enter...really??!)

archiveofourown.org/works/41788335?view_full_work=true

@Phineyj I hope you had a super holiday. You know I’m a meta queen and even I’m skipping a lot of it in Tree Change after initial enthusiasm.

I continued with Nomadsland’s ‘Is Chicago, is not Chicago’ after two more overnight chapter drops because I do love a nervous breakdown on a Sunday morning. I cannot stress enough that this should be read as a completed fic and within one sitting if possible. It hurts. I’ve taken one for the team here.

I’ve also discovered the film ‘Uproar’ is now on Amazon Prime. As well as exploring the trials of an indigenous teenage boy in a predominantly white community, I really need to see Rhys Darby as a drama teacher in cardigan and sexy academic glasses. So, someone give be permission to spend the £7.99 to buy. Anyone. Just say ‘You have my permission’, then I can blame you if DH asks. Thanks. 🙂

Ooo @MrsJellybee that is not going to help my Rhys crush is it?! I might add that into next Wed and Thur's telly binge along with Wilderpeople (which I have shockingly never seen) and as many episodes of Time Bandits as I can cram in before the free 7 days of Apple+ runs out.

And then I shall rewatch Calypso's Birthday 😀

@MrsJellybee you have my permission and thank you I will watch it too!