Starring Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby, it’s a haven of charming fun, performance queer and romances on the high seas you didn’t know you needed, plus one of the best series of 2022.
Jumping into piracy is as good a way as any to get over your midlife crisis. At least that’s what the protagonist of ‘Our flag means death’, one of the best series of this 2022 and an absolutely touching comedy, at times absurd, deliciously romantic and surprisingly deep.
Created by David Jenkins and executive produced and co-starred by Taika Waititi, this HBO Max series creates a paradise queer on the high seas where there is no room for intolerance, and where we find one of the best love stories of recent years. Filled with memorable characters, from a Scotsman who sings naked in the company of seagulls to a fugitive hiding behind a false mustache seeking revenge for the death of her parents, ‘Our flag means death’ follows the adventures of a crew led by Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a wealthy bourgeois who decided to abandon his wife and children and fulfill his dream of becoming a pirate.
Premiered on March 3, the series has been gaining more and more followers every week, and almost two months later it has become one of the most “in demand” series at the moment according to Parrot Analytics (which measures the popularity of the series in streaming), surpassing even Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’. Quite a feat for a modest series that did not premiere with too much pomp and circumstance, but that has managed on its own merits not only to become visible, but also essential.
Sensitive Pirates, Inner Journeys
Leading ‘Our Flag Means Death’ is Stede Bonnet, who wants to become a pirate, but not just any pirate: he doesn’t want to kill or wear an eyepatch or declare war on showers. He wants to be a gentlemanly pirate (hence he calls himself The Gentleman Pirate) and wants his crew to be happy having adventures at sea. Bonnet is based on a real person: according to the Smithsonian Magazine, his story can be considered “the worst mid-life crisis recorded to date”: in 1717, this retired British army soldier and owner of a large sugar plantation in Barbados abandoned everything, bought a ship and became a pirate in what is known as the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 18th century.
However, this true story is hardly relevant when talking about the series, which invents its own story and cast of characters. Wow, the only thing they have in common is the name and the starting point, because the rest ends up becoming a luck of sitcom work in the style of ‘The Office’ or ‘Parks and Recreation’, with the difference that we are not in an office but on a pirate ship. Her proposal is unique and adorable, as silly as it is complex and as delirious as it is heartbreaking in its most dramatic moments. In the end, this is not just about adventures among pirates, but the main characters start their own inner journeys to try to break the borders imposed by the society of the time, heteronorm and toxic masculinity.
The series is capable of building a place on the high seas freed from prejudice and social constraints. When Stede Bonnet and company meet other ships and crews (either the English led by Rory Kinnear or the Spanish led by Nacho Vigalondo, who also directs some episodes) we observe the contrast: the rules of the time clash against the absolute freedom that has been created on this ship, where relationships queer they are naturalized and all fight against their most violent instincts trusting in the guidelines of their clumsy captain, whom they quickly admire not for his talent for piracy but for his ability to see the good in others and never lose his smile.
The best romances are on the high seas
Many thought in its first episodes that ‘Our flag means death’ was going to become another case of queerbaiting: those stories that use the possibility of a relationship as a hook queer to later not materialize it, thus managing to have attracted the LGTBIQ + community and at the same time not angering its most conservative audience. With this series, many smelled a bromance of manual with homoerotic subtext that would not get anywhere. Oh how they were wrong.
“We take a lot of inspiration from the bromancesof the language between two men together [en la pantalla]. Look at Butch Cassidy and Sundance in ‘Two Men and One Destiny’: if you added an extra scene to that movie, it would be a love story because it’s all there. So I think we’re [acostumbrados a]: “Yes, it will be bromance. Cold Cold. These two are really ‘bro ing‘ And it is ‘bro-tastic‘” And that can happen. But they can also be really in love, “creator David Jenkins said in an interview with indiewire. Of course, Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard (played by Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi, friends for decades and partners in ‘Flight of the Conchords’ and ‘What We Do in the Shadows’) are truly in love after a few scenes together, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
The best is how ‘Our flag means death’ builds its story through the topics of the romantic comedy: there’s a meet-cute in which Blackbeard saves Stede’s life, there’s a slow build of sexual tension between them as what they think is a friendship grows, there’s a moment of jealousy when an unwanted (and unwanted) ex-boyfriend shows up, there’s a sacrifice for love… In ten episodes, we ended up completely devoted to his story. And that is only achieved by the best romances.
the most series cuckoo of the year
‘Our flag means death’ is a series of universal sentiments: the need to pursue dreams, the complex feelings of first love, the burden of guilt and the search for redemption, the desire to connect emotionally with other people… and all this without abandoning its funniest and most carefree character. Now, maybe the series isn’t a fest of constant laughter, but that’s only because it embraces its most dramatic parts without hiding or running away from them, because it knows that it needs them to make its characters feel authentic. And he gets it.
In addition to all these virtues, the series has something wonderful: potential. We have only seen the first season of a series that could bring us much joy, which has left us with a devastating ending and many unanswered questions. While we wait for HBO Max to end our agony and renew the series for a second seasonWe can only recommend it. And remember her over and over again with the silliest smile you can imagine.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
