In the last month or so, I’ve approached several people with the cutting query; “Have you heard about that new gay pirate show?!” And most of the time, unfortunately, the answer is no. The fact is, there’s a new TV show on HBO Max that deserves all of our time; David Jenkins’s Our Flag Means Death.
The show presents a heavily fictionalized version of the life of Stede Bonnet, the real-life ‘gentlemen pirate’ of the early 1700s. In real life, Bonnet, a wealthy man from Barbados, abandoned his comfortable life to sail the high seas in the 1710s. Eventually, despite his inexperience (or perhaps because of it), he ended up co-captaining his ship, the Revenge, with legendary pirate Blackbeard. Our Flag Means Death chooses to interpret this partnership as a romance. Yes, you read that right.
The series is gloriously historically inaccurate, crafting a goofy romantic comedy out of what was likely in real life little more than a frightening chapter in Bonnet’s confused, anguished, and short life. But the change is more than welcome, for multiple reasons. The ensemble cast shine as the strange crowd surrounding Bonnet. Frankly, the show seems intent on making the goings-on as gay as possible, with several Revenge crew members making up LGBT+ relationships on the show, not to mention the romance between Blackbeard and Bonnet himself.
Even knowing full well that the show is an unabashed romance, I was still shocked by how explicitly romantic Our Flag Means Death is. A standout moment comes in episode five, in which Stede, having learned that Blackbeard has a childhood obsession with finery, tells him that he “wears fine things well” in the moonlight. When things finally reach their climax, it’s truly difficult to believe how tender and loving the show dares to go, especially knowing the typical queerbait-oriented or ‘bury-your-gays’ mentality that many pieces of media featuring LGBT characters tend to lean towards these days.
That being said, I don’t mean to purport that the show is only valuable as a piece of LGBT representation; no, the series easily finds its footing as a raucous comedy and as a tender drama. Though not the most laugh-out-loud comedy you’ve ever seen, the jokes are plentiful and often surprising, allowing actors Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi to deliver their skilled improvisation in many scenes. But on the other hand, the show takes itself seriously when necessary. This creates real drama and resonant character development, while never losing the light-hearted tone.
Our Flag Means Death is watchable for virtually every demographic, but especially for those seeking LGBT representation onscreen as they’ve never seen it before. The light, un-self-conscious nature of the romance between Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard is truly novel; and better yet, it exists against a background of strong supporting characters and effective comedy. Although not yet technically available to stream in the UK (supposedly it will come to Sky Comedy at some point this spring) it is accessible on HBO Max via VPN, and I couldn’t recommend it more. Watching Our Flag Means Death is borderline therapeutic; we can only hope that a second season is on its way. Either way, the quality of the material is proof that this is not the last we’ll see of creator David Jenkins; personally, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
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