How “Our Flag Means Death” Creates a Fulfilling Romance

IThe second season of the romantic comedy our flag means deathNew Zealand actor and comedian Rhys Darby, who will appear in Max on October 5, will not only be a pirate, but also a merman.

Darby plays Stede Bonnet, a wealthy landowner who, tired of his lavish leisure life, decides to become a brave pirate. Executive producer Taika Waititi plays Darby’s opposite character, the infamous pirate Blackbeard. In real life, these two characters actually sailed, plundered, and captured ships together. But the historical similarities end there. our flag means death is a love story where Steed and Blackbeard slowly fall in love with each other.

Season 1 ended with Steed running away from Blackbeard, fearing his feelings for him. The second season begins with a heartbroken Blackbeard taking his pain out on his crew, sending them into a suicidal spiral and eventually attempting to kill him. Blackbeard survives the assassination attempt, but ends up in a “gravy basket” and mentally falls into purgatory, his body lying on the ship. Steed finds him there and attempts to revive him, and Blackbeard senses his presence.

Just as Blackbeard had imagined, he was dragged towards death and drowned. But then, to the tune of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” Stead emerges as a brave half-mermaid, gilded with glittering scales. A supercut of their most important moments plays, and Blackbeard comes to life.

It’s the kind of moment that filmmakers dream of making and then come true, said David Jenkins, the show’s creator, co-writer, co-director, and (along with Waititi) co-executive producer. he says. “It’s like, ‘This is beautiful,'” he says. “It’s worth the hours and hours. This is why we do this.”

The merman scene is our flag means deathhas gained a devoted fan base and snowballed into a sleeper hit since its debut last year. In the first season, viewer demand for the show tripled for him between the premiere and the final episode. It has since become a romance, workplace comedy, and America’s most popular blockbuster series. our flag means death It is framed as a historical drama and disguised as a drama. According to Jenkins, what makes the show so successful is the fact that: what we do in the shadows— the plot doesn’t reset every episode. The story becomes more coherent and the impact on the characters feels heavier. The show oscillates between asking viewers to suspend disbelief (e.g. Merman) while maintaining a very real emotional core (Stead saving Blackbeard from himself).

“That’s the fun of the show for me, to oscillate between these two tones and not have one completely dominate and destroy the other,” Jenkins says. “You never know what you’re going to get.”

when our flag means death It was gaining traction last year through word of mouth, with a flurry of opinions about how the film countered queerbaiting. Rather than defining the relationship between Steed and Blackbeard as platonic, it leaves only queer overtones and connotations, a phenomenon that LGBTQ+ audiences are all too familiar with. In — the writers’ room made it decidedly romantic, sealing the deal with an on-screen kiss in season 1’s penultimate episode.

“I don’t think of this as a weird romance,” Jenkins says. “I think of it as a romance. It’s a story of two people finding each other and falling in love, and it’s on a similar scale to any other mainstream fantasy story of two people falling in love, with all the bells and whistles.” It has to be functional.”

Jenkins talks about how deep-seated the collective fear is that the relationship won’t be canon on the show (legitimated as part of the official fictional world), and how that fear has been channeled into social media. I didn’t realize it until the final week, when it all caught on. At that point, he already knew he wanted the second season to be more overtly romantic. However, this realization led him to understand that this romance, its weight and attention to detail, could reach audiences in a different light than a love story between a man and a woman.

“In my mind, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m making this show, and I want these two characters to fall in love,'” Jenkins says. “But I’m telling this story from a certain standpoint, and I have a right to it. I’ve seen myself in romance and rom-coms. I’ve seen it. when harry met sally And I found myself in that story. ”

charm of our flag means death are diverse. While its central romance has garnered much praise, the pirate crew is gradually incorporated into his chosen ragtag family, another pillar of the queer community. Lucius (Nathan Ford), a scribe, and Black Pete (Matthew Maher) become lovers. Best friends Oluwande (Samson Kayo) and Jim (Vico Ortiz) kiss, but later return to their friendship. At the beginning of season 2, Israel “Izzy” Hands (Con O’Neill), Blackbeard’s first mate (also a real historical figure), admits his love for Blackbeard, and in the process ends up losing his girlfriend. lost one of his legs.

“Every workplace show is a platonic love story,” Jenkins says. “It’s more like a familial love, where half the time you want to kill them, but the other half is like, ‘Oh, they’ll be okay.'”

Button (Ewen Bremner), a grizzled man who can talk to seagulls, is a cheerful and lovable crew member of the pirate ship Revenge. Frenchie (Joel Fry) immortalizes their adventures in song. Wee John (Christian Nairn), a lover of fire and drugs, is the lifeblood of the show, and the romance between Stead and Blackbeard is its heart. Season 1 showed the two navigating their relationship with the emotional maturity of a teenage boy, Jenkins said. Now they’ve grown up a bit and are thinking about the next step. Emotionally speaking, it’s like they’re in their late 20s and trying to move in with someone and split the rent.

“What they need to learn is that they want a true partner,” Jenkins said. “How much does that cost? It takes effort to build a true partnership. And once they have it, how do they maintain it?”