B-List: Our flag means death (to bigotry), 4 pay offs of HBO’s historical rom-com – Shaw Local

Before I begin this B-List: A very happy Pride Month to all who celebrate! I hope everyone in the LGBTQ+ community is thoroughly enjoying this rainbow season, and we’re all doing our best to make Mama Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera proud.

As is my wont, I’m yet again devoting my June columns to celebrating all things queer. And I just have to start with a spotlight on the greatest show of 2022 (thus far, anyway): HBO’s historical rom-com “Our Flag Means Death.”

Created by David Jenkins, OFMD follows a fictionalized version of the real life “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a wealthy aristocrat who abandoned his family and ran off to sea to turn buccaneer.

Unfortunately for Stede, he has a) absolutely no worldly experience, b) isn’t a great sailor, c) is rubbish at fighting and can barely hold a sword and d) is a little too fussy and polite to instill the proper amount of fear and respect in his rough-around-the-edges crew, let alone the ships he tries to board and rob.

Enter Ed Teach, aka the infamous Blackbeard (Taika Waititi, who’s never looked sexier), who is immediately intrigued by this useless excuse for a pirate. Ed finds Stede endlessly fascinating – he loves his fancy clothes, his polished manners, his impractical library on a ship filled with hidden wardrobes and secret passages — and offers to teach Stede how to pirate if Stede will return the favor and teach him how to be a gentleman.

Now, you might have noticed I called this a “historical rom-com.”

And that’s because this isn’t just a pirate show packed with colorful characters like the flamboyant ship’s scribe (and relationship therapist) Lucius (Nathan Foad); Mr. Buttons (Ewen Bremner), the moonbathing nudist who talks to seagulls; and the orange cake enthusiast/ship’s cook/surgeon Roach (Samba Schutte).

Then there’s Frenchie (Joel Fry), the balladeer afraid of cats; the cutthroat Spanish Jackie (Leslie Jones), who has a wooden hand and a jar full of noses; the giant teddy bear Oluwande (Samson Kayo); the mysterious Jim (Vico Ortiz), the only capable fighter in the crew who’s on a quest for revenge; and the tiny angry terrier-in-man-form Izzy Hands (Con O’Neill).

OFMD isn’t just a slapsticky comedy in the same vein as “What We Do in the Shadows” (another production that involves Taika Waititi) or “Flight of the Conchords” (which also starred Rhys Darby), with charming idiots, fun historical anachronisms (see: Blackbeard’s Mad Max leather outfit and Oluwande’s Crocs) and silly scenarios.

OFMD is also a wonderfully queer show from start to finish, with multiple on-screen LGBTQ+ characters and relationships. There’s a nonbinary character played by a nonbinary actor, augmented by no less than three nonbinary writers behind the scenes!

And as you might have guessed by now, the two captains at the heart of the story totally fall in love.

That’s right, folks: we get to see Blackbeard and the Gentleman Pirate fall head-over-heels for each other. This isn’t a show that queerbaits (goes heavy on the gay subtext/undertones and yet never delivers the promised goods) its audience. It fully commits to the gay rom-com premise, and it’s enough to make your heart explode into rainbow confetti.

What makes this payoff so dang satisfying is manifold.

One: From a historical viewpoint, gay pirates are 100% accurate.

Watch any pirate movie and at least one swashbuckler will call another “matey.” Well, fun fact: “matey” actually comes from the term “matelotage,” which was a gay civil union for pirates. (The More You Know Star flies overhead.)

Under matelotage, if one partner died, the other was entitled to his share of the booty. Sure, some matelotage unions were purely financial, but there are existing records of many of them being marriages in every sense of the word. Remember, y’all: history is a lot queerer than most textbooks would have you believe. Gay (and trans, and bisexual, and ace, and etc.) people have always existed.

Two: This is a gay love story that isn’t centered around AIDS or a coming out story.

LGBTQ+ folks have been lamenting for years we want more media representation that isn’t just about the AIDS crisis, coming out narratives or overcoming homophobia and abuse. We’ve been clamoring for gay action adventure stories, gay comedies that aren’t built around harmful stereotypes, gay science fiction and fantasy. Why can’t we have genre heroes who swordfight and just happen to be queer?

And here comes Jenkins and Co. with a gay pirate adventure. Sure, Stede and Blackbeard still have various traumas in their backstories, and Stede was forced into a conventional marriage he was absolutely ill-suited for.

But ultimately this is an adventure story where the two gay leads find freedom and happiness through their relationship; Stede and Ed both grow as individual people thanks to their romance.

Three: OFMD gives us a slow-burn romance centered around middle-aged characters

So much of queer media is about teenagers (who are usually just beginning to come to terms with their identities) or sexy 20-somethings (who spend most the screentime hopping into bed with each other).

OFMD shakes things up by focusing on a pair of men in their late 40s. Stede and Ed have both lived pretty full lives prior to ever meeting. They’ve got regrets and scars, some wrinkles, plenty of gray in their hair.

Yet OFMD shows it’s never too late to find love, and lets these middle-aged men be tender with each other in scenes that are just absolutely lovely. This is a romantic comedy with real emotional depth and genuine heart (when it’s not about ghosts of accidentally slain bullies, petrified oranges, or vengeful nuns training orphans to knife fight).

It’s such a breath of fresh air, having a story focused on people mainstream society would have us believe are “past their prime”. There’s an inherent hopefulness, with its message that no matter your age, there’s still time to find out who you really are – and to find someone who likes you just as you are.

Four: Darby and Waititi deliver incredible performances.

These Kiwi comedians have built up reputations as zany character actors (and, in Taika’s case, larger-than-life directors). And they certainly nail the goofy physical comedy and hilarious line deliveries the scripts call for.

But OFMD also allows Waititi and Darby to show off their dramatic chops. They get to pine, and angst, and mooncalf, and panic over one another’s well-being, and give each other the most gol-dang adorable heart-eyes imaginable. The long-time friends have undeniable chemistry, and there are so many times throughout the show where I felt like my heart was gonna leap straight out of my mouth, they’re so sweet together.

Darby and Waititi are so convincing in these roles. You truly believe that the terrifying Blackbeard is besotted with this foppish idiot. You know that Stede Bonnet is utterly clueless about love, even after a kiss and outright declaration.

And while the course of this piratical love story may not always run smooth, I have an unshakeable faith in David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby and the rest of the crew of The Revenge – I know they’ll do right by us fans in season two, which has finally been greenlit and will no doubt be right over the horizon (keep us heading due east, Mr. Buttons).

Until then, enjoy the 10 fantastic episodes of season one, and be sure to recruit as many new fans as you can.

• Angie Barry is a contributing columnist for Shaw Media. To suggest future topics for The B-List, which covers topics in pop culture, history and literature, contact her at newsroom@mywebtimes.com.

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