Avast ye, all who enter: here there be spoilers!
I’m a simple man: I saw promotional content of Taika Waititi as a pirate and I threw all caution to the wind, diving headfirst into the world of HBO Max’s most recent period romantic comedy, “Our Flag Means Death,” from David Jenkins of “People of Earth” fame and Taika Waititi, best known for “Jojo Rabbit,” “Thor: Ragnarok” and “What We Do In The Shadows.”
The show introduces Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby, a longtime friend of Waititi), a bumbling, excitable, eccentric and decidedly not-a-pirate dandy who seems to care more about crafting than plundering on the high seas, who leaves his cushiony upper-class life to pursue a career in piracy. Taking historical accuracy more as a suggestion than a guideline, Darby delivers a gratuitous portrayal of “the Gentleman Pirate,” loosely based around the real 18th century pirate and plantation owner of the same name. With an equally boisterous and bumbling crew, the show begins lightly, earning easy laughs that make you wonder if maybe you’ve been hearing people rave about the wrong show.
With only ten episodes in this first season, the overall plot comes into view with the introduction of Waititi’s character: Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. Yeah. That one.
Taking the Golden Age of Piracy genre and flipping it on its head, Waititi and Darby deliver a tender, realistic and entirely domestic portrayal of the back-and-forth of questioning yourself and what you’ve been taught and figuring out what to do with the weight that you’re forced to carry. The show begins with the most rag-tag group stumbling through piracy by sheer luck, but – a far cry from the lightness of the beginning – the finale is the kind that leaves you white-knuckled, mouth agape as you watch everything unfold in front of you with no way of getting back to how you started.
Besides subverting the often dark and gritty standards and tropes of the pirate genre, “Our Flag Means Death” offers a look into the progress of a natural romance, one that’s as easy as breathing. Bonnet becomes the object of fascination by none other than Blackbeard himself and learns more about the life of a pirate, throwing himself into learning and gaining the respect and loyalty of his crew in the process. Teach, inversely, learns to soften and allow himself to explore who he is outside of the mantle of his pirate name and the fear it instills in those around him.
To the surprise and wonder of the crew, and the disgust and fury of a first mate, Teach and Bonnet dance around each other, letting down the walls they’ve built up and allowing themselves to explore their relationships with each other and themselves. Whether it be the patient gentleness of Bonnet breaking down Teach’s cutting, sharp exterior or Bonnet struggling with his fears of being inadequate and cowardly, the two interact with a softness that provides a glance into Waititi and Darby’s over ten-year friendship.
Outside of the central relationship between these two seemingly complete opposites, the show also prioritizes the supporting cast, allowing them to be fully fleshed out, snarky, endearing and complicated. Lucius Spriggs (Nathan Foad) begins the show with a bored disdain for keeping the account of Bonnet’s so-called plundering, making you think that the crew are nothing more than added comic relief, complete with full-on Swedish buttocks and half-hearted mutiny.
So, when Foad’s character steps forward not only as the most emotionally mature pirate aboard the Revenge but also as a determined force who stands up to the most fearsome of swashbucklers, it’s easy to see why he quickly has become a fan favorite. Unapologetically fem, whose style has been described by series costume designer Christine Wada as looking “‘80s, queer, cool,” Lucius delivers a blend of bravery with realistic cowardice, punctuated by one-liners enforcing not only his love for the crew, but also his security in himself and his relationships.
For Latine actor Vico Ortiz, portraying the role of knife-wielding, action-first-plan-later Jim was not only refreshing but was also enabled by the love and support they said they found alongside co-star Samson Kayo, who plays the empathetic, sturdy Oluwande, one of the primary reasons for Bonnet’s continued survival onboard the initially-mutinous Revenge.
“When I first read the script, I cried,” Ortiz said in an Entertainment Weekly interview. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe that I’m not even asking for [a nonbinary character] to be a thing.’ In part, it’s because we had three non-binary writers in the writers’ room. So there’s already this space in which this character is being nurtured and taken care of. It’s not just like, ‘Oh, we’re going to hire a non-binary actor to do this. And then they’ll fend for themselves.’ There was already this space that’s created that people already are vouching for this character and their storyline. It felt incredible.”
In a Polygon interview, Jenkins has said he hopes to tell the story in three seasons, commenting on the overwhelming enthusiasm and support the show has earned since it was brought to streaming. Should the show be renewed, fans can expect to see the journey between Teach and Bonnet, the sea monster and the lighthouse, as they move forward with their new outlooks on life and love. A refreshing, light-hearted and moving body of work, the show provides solid representation with a fun, eager storyline that has left hundreds of thousands of fans hanging on the edge of their seats in desperation to know what comes next.
