‘Our Flag Means Death’: David Jenkins on Rekindling Stede & Blackbeard’s Romance in Season 2
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Our Flag Means Death, Season 2 Episodes 4 “Fun and Games” and 5 “The Curse of the Seafaring Life.”]
Our Flag Means Death‘s long-awaited reunion between Stede (Rhys Darby) and his pirate love Blackbeard, a.k.a. Ed (Taika Waititi), has finally arrived in Season 2’s latest installments, “Fun and Games” and “The Curse of the Seafaring Life.”
While their mythical mermaid sequence may have bedazzled viewers in the first batch of episodes dropped on Max last week, viewers are sure to be over the moon when it comes to the latest turn in their (occasionally rocky) relationship. After waking from his near-death mutiny, Blackbeard headbutts Stede in anger and sullenly leaves the Revenge as he’s booted for his volatile behavior. Put to a vote by the crew, Stede’s wish to keep Blackbeard aboard is squashed.
Taking his exit from the ship, Blackbeard crosses paths with a friendly bunny that quickly becomes his old friend Mary Read’s (Rachel House) dinner. Their unexpected encounter turns into an exciting reunion of old pirate pals. Meanwhile, Stede goes ashore with Buttons (Ewen Bremner), who tries conveying to the captain that Blackbeard is still coming out of the “gravy basket” after almost dying. The eclectic crew member is also on a quest of his own to find a vessel to transform into a bird, so they naturally happen upon Anne Bonny’s (Minnie Driver) home, which doubles as an antique shop.
(Credit: Nicola Dove/Max)
She quickly notices Stede’s eye for the finer things in life and compliments his taste, but the conversation is interrupted when Blackbeard shows up with Anne’s wife Mary. The celebratory vibe is squashed when Stede makes his presence known, greeting Ed with a, “Hello, Edward.” The remark (and reunion) is rather unwelcome by Blackbeard, who is still upset over being abandoned by Stede. “Jesus Christ, here we go,” Ed says under his breath before slightly turning his head back and offering a half-assed, “hi,” with a slight head nod.
The greeting sets the tone of the evening, which essentially turns into a double date filled with mind games implemented by Anne, who makes a move on Stede and gets him to open up about why he left Blackbeard. When they all sit down to eat dinner, Anne lets it slip that Stede returned to his wife Mary (Claudia O’Doherty) before leaving her a second time, something Blackbeard hadn’t been aware of until that moment. He is understandably upset, throwing a chair at the wall and retiring to the living room where he takes refuge under a blanket.
This leads Stede to put an apologetic foot forward, even if Blackbeard doesn’t want to hear it. “I think we’ve all been that person on that side of the relationship. It’s like, ‘Hey, sorry I did something weird,'” showrunner David Jenkins tells TV Insider. “And I think to have those moments with them in a pirate world where they’re essentially dressed up for Halloween, but they’re having the same conversation that we’ve all had in a relationship, [is relatable].”
(Credit: Nicola Dove/Max)
“The thing that I love is when he’s like, ‘I love being near you, and I love breathing the same air as you.’ And then he’s like, ‘Don’t tell me you love me. You don’t get to say that to me,'” Jenkins says of the conversation between an apologetic Stede and reluctant Blackbeard. “It could be from a Noah Baumbach movie or something. There’s a level of [it being] very natural.”
It takes those aforementioned words from Stede to soften Blackbeard, who is still bitter about the abandonment from Season 1. “We’ve all had that argument, and we’ve all had that moment where we reached the person that we pissed off and they let us back in,” Jenkins continues. He goes on to credit the performers’ ability to balance drama and comedy, adding, “These moments between these characters in a fantasy world, and to have it be Rhys and Taika… there’s a level of depth, and then something stupid can happen next to it.”
They’ll have to work to keep things on track though, as Jenkins points out some truth in Mary and Anne’s warning about their maturity in the relationship. “To me, the core of it though is, are these guys going to figure out how to have [a grown-up relationship]? Because Mary is right: They’re like 14-year-old boys, and they don’t know how hard it is to be in a relationship,” he says.
(Credit: Max)
“Anne and Mary kind of do [know] because they’re married and they live in a f**king swamp,” adds Jenkins.
This forces Stede and Blackbeard to question where they stand. Could they become the unhappy, married couple, or can they find another path? “They’re like teenage boys looking at this older married couple who’s unhappy and saying, ‘Jesus, is this going to be us?’ I want to see those two characters grapple with that in a comedy, but also be like, there are stakes to this, and how do we learn how to be partners to each other?”
Jenkins continues, “This is the most interesting question to me in the second season between these two characters because if they just get back together and it’s just fine, it’s like, I don’t believe that this guy’s really messed up. He has all this trauma, and he killed his dad, and then this other guy just left his wife and his kids twice and does stuff on a whim. They have problems. They’ve got to work this out.”
While the pair seemed headed in the right direction after their reconciliation in Episode 4, the following installment teases some new challenges as Stede has to work to convince the crew it is safe to have Blackbeard aboard the Revenge again. In Episode 5, Blackbeard is stripped of his leathers and forced to wear a cat collar with a bell to alert everyone of his whereabouts.
His willingness to try is a good step forward, and the progress leads to the couple’s second onscreen kiss, but is it a permanent fix? With several episodes remaining this season, nothing is guaranteed, but surely we’re willing to bask in their (moon) glow as the pair have a mini recreation of Season 1’s “You wear fine things well” moment.
“I try not to hang too much of a sign on it,” Jenkins admits of the callback. “Sometimes in the edit, I put in a [clip of something like] Stede stabbing Blackbeard, and then we get a little reminder. It’s nice to see those things, those little moments where it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, there was a time where it was all new and it was hot and magical,’ and now they’re in this part where it’s turned into something else.”
As the relationship evolves, Jenkins goes on to say, “It is important to have those signposts.” He notes it serves as a reminder of sorts: “When you’re not having as good a time, it’s a thing you’re trying to navigate back to. I think just in terms of getting your relationship to a good place, it’s important to have those things to anchor you.”
While Stede and Blackbeard must find their relationship balance as the season continues, we’ll enjoy this ship’s small victories.
What did you think of the pair’s romantic reunion? Let us know in the comments section, below.
Our Flag Means Death, Season 2, New Episodes, Thursdays, Max
