Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Season 2 On Max, Where Stede And Blackbeard Try To Survive Being Apart From Each Other

The first season of Our Flag Means Death started slowly but showed just how well balancing story and gags can be when both are done well. An unexpected romance developed during the first season, and now that Stede and Ed have expressed their feelings for each other, they have to find each other again. Will that search be as funny as the first season was?

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: On a beach, a bearded Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) crosses swords with Blackbeard’s first mate Izzy (Con O’Neill).

The Gist: He imagines he kills Izzy, whose last words are “you twaaaat,” and reunites with Ed “Blackbeard” Teach (Taika Waititi). But it’s all a dream, as he wakes up sleeping in close quarters with his former crew, who all seem to be farting at the same time.

After rescuing his crew from the island where Blackbeard left them, they all find themselves working for Spanish Jackie (Leslie Jones), who has decided to take The Swede (Nat Faxon) as her 20th husband.

In a letter to Ed, Stede tries to see the positive in working at Jackie’s pub, but Oluwande Boodhari (Samson Kayo), among others, find it frustrating. He thinks they’ll never save enough to get a ship to find Blackbeard. Even Susan (Ruibo Qian), who owns the soup kiosk, thinks sometimes you have to take what you want by force.

In the meantime, Blackbeard and his crew just sail from ship to ship, plundering and killing. They even invade a wedding, where Blackbeard steals a groom cake topper that looks like Stede. The crew is concerned about how depressed their captain is getting, pining away for Stede. When Ed orders Izzy to have the crew dump some of their plunder to make room for new plunder, Izzy confronts his boss, telling him that the crew has told him that things on board the ship have gotten toxic. Of course, when Blackbeard confronts the crew about what they said, they tell him everything’s fine.

After Jackie takes the money the crew saved up as “fees,” Stede finally comes around to the idea of stealing to get what he wants. He has The Swede employ his “skills” to distract Jackie, but what they end up stealing isn’t money or jewels, but a trunk full of blue indigo powder. When Jackie catches up with them, though, Susan, who is just there posting as a soup purveyor, pays her off to take both the indigo and the crew.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Because of Waititi’s involvement, the comparisons between Our Flag Means Death, created by David Jenkins, and What We Do In The Shadows is inevitable. They both have silly gags, but there definitely is more of a romantic story to this show. In fact, the tone of the show feels closer to Miracle Workers than anything else.

Our Take: What the first season of Our Flag Means Death showed is that you can have a story where people are going against type and be parodies of similar characters in books, movies, and other shows, but still have an affecting story attached. The ongoing romance between Stede and Ed continues to drive the show, sending the foppish Stede and the ruthless Blackbeard into unexpected emotional directions.

Jenkins and his writers do a good job of balancing the emotions of the story with the goofy stuff, showing rough-and-tumble pirates getting into their feelings and exploring their relationships with each other, and Stede still fumble and stumble as he continues to lead the crew he thinks he let down.

It does seem the season will have Stede and his crew working for Susan as he tries to reunite with Blackbeard. Also, some of the crew of the Revenge is now working for Blackbeard, so it’ll be fun to see them all on one ship again. What we’re looking forward to is seeing how the characters, especially Olu, find themselves and their characters deepen. Also, it’ll just be fun seeing continue to develop into a leader of men and a guy who actually might know himself for the first time in his life.

Sex and Skin: Jackie is really into The Swede’s massages, but that’s about it.

Parting Shot: As the crew rows to Susan’s ship, her identity is revealed: “You are in the presence of Zheng Yi Sao, Pirate Queen!”

Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Samson Kayo as Olu, because he’s become the wise, steady presence that both the show and the crew of the Revenge need.

Most Pilot-y Line: In his letter to Ed, he says, “You could say we’re in a bit of a rebuilding phase.” That is certainly an understatement.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Our Flag Means Death continues to emphasize story over gags, and manages to be both funny and touching at the same time.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.