The Best Show You Aren’t Watching: Our Flag Means Death

If you’ve jumped on the What We Do in the Shadows train (the excellent third season of which is currently airing on FX and Hulu), you’ve likely heard of Our Flag Means Death, since it includes appearances from members of the Kiwi brain trust that brought us Shadows. And if you haven’t yet watched Shadows, watch the film and then immediately watch the series. If you need additional reasons, check out my spoiler-free review of the show. But you know what? This isn’t about What We Do in the Shadows. This is to convince you that Our Flag Means Death is also the best show you aren’t watching. And you should watch it.

Created by David Jenkins, and starring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi (along with a murderer’s row of other comedic talent – seriously, the bench is incredibly deep and you will squeal with joy at various points when your favorite comedic actors pop in for a guest spot), the series follows Stede Bonnet (Darby, giving a deep, moving, yet funny performance), an aristocrat who decides he desperately wants to be a pirate. So, he leaves his family, buys a ship and a crew, and sets off on an adventure. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really have the right constitution to be a pirate (buying a crew, not being all that well-versed in what it means to plunder anything, and also not really having much of an idea regarding how to captain anything), resulting in hijinks and ridiculous situations for him and his crew to escape. He fumbles along, screwing things up and accidentally doing things correctly, until he meets Blackbeard (Waititi, so darn good in a role that isn’t what you expect), the greatest pirate of the seas and well, I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice to say things take a different turn that one might expect for such a meeting.

And that’s the most amazing part about Our Flag Means Death: The series easily could have just been a fun romp about a man who’s awful at being a pirate and whose crew can’t figure out what to do with him. A strange workplace comedy, if you will. But it becomes so much more, because Jenkins and his writing team opt to focus on creating complex characters out of what could easily be one-note archetypes. Bonnet is a fool and could have remained as such for a laugh, but Jenkins and Darby turn him into a fool with the capacity for self-knowledge, who learns more about himself from those around him than one might anticipate. And who ends season one in a much different place than when he began it. And the same goes for the rest of his crew. Vico Ortiz’s Jim, a character focused on protecting themself at all costs at the start of the series, learns to open up and trust those around them – and learns that revenge doesn’t have to mean scorched earth in all cases. Jim also represents one of several characters who identify on the LGBTQ+ spectrum – all of whom are handled with grace and are provided key moments of character development, including but not limited to getting a chance to explore their sexuality and gender in ways that most period comedies wouldn’t dare to try.

But what makes Our Flag Means Death work is the combination of strong writing, rich characters, and actors who make it all look easy. Comedy is not easy – it’s incredibly hard to pull off effectively. And within this series, everyone and everything is in tip top shape. The character beats land, everyone (well, almost everyone – there are a few crew members I suspect will get a bit more to tackle in season two) gets a chance to shine, and the winning combination of Darby and Waititi is the beating heart of the series – which, considering how damn busy Waititi is these days, it’s saying something that he chose to spend his precious free time working with his old friend and bringing such a rich, complex character to life. I suspect you will fall in love with more than one of these characters when you take the time to give this series a watch – they are easy to fall for. And I also suspect you will find the sneaky humor, complicated characters, and open, caring relationships a reason to keep coming back for more. Our Flag Means Death is the best show you aren’t watching – and I think you should give it a try.

Our Flag Means Death has completed its first season and is available to stream in its entirety on HBO Max. A second season has been ordered by the streaming service.