Our Flag Means Death - Thread 5: Ahoy! Surrender! You have no chance of escape!

[TriceratopsRocks]

Hi all!! Roll up for thread 5 and join our chat about our favourite show, its cast, its music, fan edits, fan fiction and more than a little obsessing over our fabulous leads - pictures extremely welcome! It’s utterly brilliant, and some of us are still in the grips of obsession many months after the last episode aired (the last for now, that is… We live in hope🙏)

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. 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, two 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 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, and in episode 4 (the start of Act 1) the tone changes and the main story begins. You need to give it at least that long. It gets better and better and 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. If you like Good Omens, What We Do in the Shadows, Ghosts or even Bridgerton, this might 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
Thread 4:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5136377-our-flag-means-death-thread-4-roll-up-roll-up-come-join-us-for-more-pirate-obsession?reply=139560831

What have you enjoyed so far? I have loads I can recommend.

TR it is so kind of you to respond but I must admit I haven't read any fanfic for months now and cannot remember the names of the ones I did. I am really quite old and my memory is pants.

I was just being lazy really, there's nothing to stop me doing my own research.

Oh but I love recommending fanfic! I still spend so much time reading it 😁. I will post you some links tomorrow. I'm on my phone atm and switching between Mumsnet and any other website to get the links generally means I lose my post, so I won't risk it till I'm at my PC.

I will definitely be back with recs!

You are a hero.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43432464

Here is one from me - starting safe with a teen rating!!

Hah! @DJ47 that was going to be my first recommendation - great minds think alike 😁

I'm going to post the link again, just with a bit of description for easier finding. I did actually try and post on my phone last night. I got 4 fics into my message, then lost it all going for a 5th. I should not have been so adventurous! Anyway, here are some more, starting with @DJ47 's excellent first suggestion. I'm giving you a rather eclectic mix so you can see what you like best. Most of these are light on the angst. Most are Alternative Universe fics. Just let me know which of these you enjoy, and I can find you some more like that! And I've just come back up here to say I seem to have got carried away and have linked quite a lot more than I intended!

Teen rated (all totally SFW):

7.3 Miles by Foxtails. They are firewatch rangers in a remote forest. Almost all of the fic they are communicating over radio. Gorgeous. 20k words.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/43432464

Doubt Thou the Stars by shieldmaidenofmithrilhall. Ed owns a campsite. Stede, Alma and Louis come to visit. Really sweet and lovely. 35k, but there are sequels too.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/39444126/chapters/98718291

Nat 20 by PastorofMuppets. Ed runs a D&D games shop. Stede turns up to give it a go. 30k.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/44025495/chapters/110695917

Dear Ed (sorry, wrong chat) by chaoticneutralknitter. Canon era. Stede's letters in bottles are getting washed up on the beach, and are found by members of Mary's book club... 3k.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/52702387

If We Only Die Once by mltrefry. They have been chatting online and arrange to meet. Before that can happen, Stede is involved in a car accident and ends up in a coma. Unknowingly, Ed then rents Stede's boat, which is currently being 'haunted' by Stede's 'ghost' (he's not dead). It sounds odd but I really like this one. 91k
https://archiveofourown.org/works/39736824/chapters/99484446

Our Fangs Mean Death by Flawedamythyst. They are vampires! Ed is a centuries old master vampire. Stede is newly turned but already running his own coven of misfits. This has vampires, werewolves and the Badmintons as vampire hunters but it's really sweet and lovely.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/45526339/chapters/114554296

Mature Rated (mostly SFW, nothing too explicit):

Impure Thoughts: Some by chaoticneutralknitter. This is S1 up to Stede's duel with Izzy, from Ed's perspective, slightly modified!! 7k
https://archiveofourown.org/works/41502468/chapters/104083827

Darkness (noun): the partial or total absence of light by fishfronds. Ed and Stede cave dive together, but things do not go as planned.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/51522967/chapters/130217896

Work Experience by Elapsed Spiral, Shearwater. What if Ed went to meet Stede when the Revenge ran aground? This is a funny, alternative take. Ed decides to pack it all in and get a job on the Revenge. 28k.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/45271565/chapters/113893013

Explicit (all contain some explicit scenes - for many this is just a small part in a much longer fic. For some, the fic is structured so those scenes are easily skippable, if you wish):

The Reno Cure by Rotten_Soldier. A real favourite of mine. Set in 1959. Ed lives/works in Reno on a 'divorce ranch'. Stede comes to stay, to get a divorce from Mary. If you want to try it, the podfic of this one is absolutely stunning - better than any audiobook I've listened to. (Links to podfics are at the end of the work).
https://archiveofourown.org/works/44880253/chapters/112921783

Crossing Swords with the Pirate Captain by BookknobsandBroomsticks. Stede is a romance novelist and Ed is a famous action hero actor who auditions for the lead role in a film about gay pirates...
https://archiveofourown.org/works/59068261/chapters/150596791

Birthday Boys by YellowMustard. This is actually a series of 2 Innkeepers era fics. The first is the E rated Connecting the Dots, where Stede discovers that Ed doesn't know his birthday. The second is an M rated series of letters between Stede and the Revenge, and cards from Stede to Ed. I absolutely adore this fic.
https://archiveofourown.org/series/4136785

Rinse and Repeat by YellowMustard. They are hairdressers. Ed goes to have his hair done at Stede's salon. 106k.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/56162914/chapters/142670956

pina coladas by faeeebaee. This one has ANGST. Friends to strangers to lovers. I've only read it once but have included it in case you fancy an angsty fic!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/39847800/chapters/99768276

Prove It by KnivesInFeet. Great British Bake Off AU.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/58528840/chapters/149107627

'Til We See the Sunlight by Claire Gregory. They are figure skaters at the winter olympics - very timely! 55k.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/53120899/chapters/134407600

I'm going to stop there with fics! Mainly because I have to go out.

I hope you find some here that you enjoy.

And...
Here are just a few of the authors I like, all of whom I think are very good and who you might like to explore:

Claire Gregory Claire has written over 100 OFMD fics - mostly AUs, ranging from Teen to (very) Explicit. I've never read a bad fic by her (though I haven't got through all of them yet).

YellowMustard Started writing only canon fics then moved into AUs. If I had to pick a favourite writer, she would be the one. Lots of feelings and lots of metaphors.

Foxtails Has written several of my absolute favourites, including 7.3 miles, Send out the morning birds, you are at the top of my lungs.

Politest Menace (GayPirateAficianado) R writes lots of gentle 'fluff', always happy endings, barely any angst, and if there's smut it's self contained and easily skippable. Lots of stories form part of a series. I like Parry and Riposte (fencing) and Sailing over a Cardboard Sea (professors). She's also written some where they are aged down to high school/college age which I've really enjoyed.

As with anything on AO3, it's really important you read the tags and the synopsis. A few people who have written fics I adore have also written ones I wouldn't touch with a bargepole!

Hope all this is of some use to you, @CarlaH (I forgot to tag you when I posted earlier). Enjoy!

Thanks TR and DJ47, that should keep me going for ages.

For those with sky tv - if you have right package (sky ultimate I think) - you now get HBO Max free. This means you can watch Our Flag Means Death to your hearts content!! What do you mean I’m supposed to be cleaning the house?! 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️