Our Flag Means Death Remains a True Romance in Its Second Season

The streaming era has been one defined by the sheer amount of TV shows it has produced. But along the way, some genuine unicorns have resulted: televisual stories that would never have existed in any other time or place, made to directly appeal to small but loyal slices of internet denizens whom Hollywood would otherwise never have catered to, carving out an existence in the tiny alcoves left behind by the tides of streaming content.

Case in point: Our Flag Means Death, an offbeat LGBTQ+ romantic pirate comedy, which returns for Season 2 on Max (née HBO Max) with three episodes off the bat. The series's first season often felt like it was written by people who spent their formative years writing fanfiction on LiveJournal and the Hugo-winning Archive of our Own (AO3). Very, very loosely based on the real-life story of the deeply incompetent “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), it started as a hilarious send-up of the pirate genre that was also just a bit trite. At least until Edward Teach (Taika Waititi), the man who markets himself as Blackbeard, buckled his swash onto Stede’s boat and into his heart.

Season 1 ended with the two experiencing what’s known in romance novels as the typical third-act breakup. After all, a romance isn’t satisfying if it doesn’t overcome a few obstacles. In this case, those obstacles amount to a whole bunch of miscommunication, as Stede foolishly tries to go home to his wife after being kidnapped, who is no more here for that than the rest of us. Not realizing Stede didn’t leave by choice, Ed goes Full Blackbeard due to his heartbreak.

Season 2 picks up with the couple separated and the crew divided between their now ex-co-captains. The splitting of the ensemble gives more time to some of the secondary characters who deserve the elevation, particularly Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill), who has gone from bloodthirsty Blackbeard BFF bemoaning his pal going all soft and lovey-dovey to trying to rein in the rampage. Over on Team Stede, Leslie Jones as Spanish Jackie gives safe harbor to the landlocked lubbers and gets to play benefactress to the down-on-his-luck Gentleman Pirate who has never had to live without his creature comforts.

The show also has room to include more guest appearances in the early going, as Stede and Ed slowly make their way back to each other, including Waititi’s two kids in an unforgettable cameo. Season 2 was greenlit right on the heels of Season 1 (a smart decision in retrospect, as one can easily imagine David Zaslav sticking this on his often-used chopping block, had it not already been completed and under Casey Bloys’ protection). The buzz had not yet built then, so the guest stars are refreshing and surprising. Chief among them is Ruibo Qian (Mozart in the Jungle) as Pirate Queen Zheng Yi Sao, who steals every scene she’s in, as well as Minnie Driver as Irish pirate Anne Bonny and Rachel House (The Portable Door) as Mary/Mark Read, all real-life female pirates from history, and worthy of being added full-time.

But of course, the real joy in the series, and Season 2 especially, is how much the show expands to embrace queer stories of all types. This is most obvious on Team Ed, where Vico Ortiz as Jim Jimenez really comes into their own, with a new love interest and a weighty storyline that feels vital without ever detracting from the main couple, a delicate balancing act for 30-minute installments that the show makes look easy. And yet, for all its anachronisms, OFMD never pretends that toxic masculinity doesn’t exist or that these characters don’t have to struggle against a world that tells them the way they wish to live is wrong. Blackbeard’s marketing may tell the world “Our Flag Means Death,” but those who board this boat-mance know it’s a sign of the only safe space on the high seas; in truth, “Our Flag Means Life.”

It’s not a spoiler to say that Ed and Stede will find their way back to each other and start to work out their differences. Fourth-act reconciliations always follow third-act breakups; that’s how romances work. What is surprising is how much more mature things feel when the two reconnect. Season 1’s love story between Ed and Stede was fast, the two of them falling in love with the idea each other represented, as much falling in love with wanting to be each other as they did with each other. But that sort of relationship cannot last, and people are far more complicated than the faces they present to the world. Season 2, to its credit, doesn’t try to make it easy or gloss over anything, tackling these issues head-on.

That does mean the show tends to face inwards. Outside antagonists (Erroll Shand, Mark Mitchinson, Bronson Pinchot) come and go, but the real enemies Ed and Stede face are themselves and each other. Stede’s therapy-speak and modern-day office empowerment talk is still played for laughs, but there’s a serious undertone. These guys can steal all the gold and loot they want, but in the end, they need to work to find the happily ever after. The only question left is how hard we must work to convince the powers that be to give us Season 3.

Our Flag Means Death Season 2 premieres October 5 on Max with three episodes, with two episodes dropping weekly through October 26. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Ani Bundel is an entertainment writer covering everything from celebrities to movies to peak TV when she's not tweeting or Instagramming photos of her very fuzzy cats. Her other regular bylines can be found at PBS/WETA's Telly Visions, where she co-hosts a weekly podcast by anglophiles for anglophiles, CNN Opinions, and MSNBC Daily.