APRIL 08, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A15
Who wants to be a pirate? Ask HBO Max
By TJ REID
For the Keizertimes
We have a tendency to heavily
romanticize the Golden Age of Piracy,
and this is not a new phenomenon by
any means.
For proof of this, look no further
than Stede Bonnet, the gentleman
pirate and contemporary of other such
legends as Blackbeard and Benjamin
Hornigold. A lot of people say they
want to be a pirate, but to Bonnet, this
was more than just idle chatter; this rel-
atively wealthy Barbadian landowner
ditched his family, bought a big ol'
boat and decided that he was going to
live the life of a swashbuckler, despite
the fact that he knew nothing about
sailing.
Sounds like one of those stories
that’s too fantastical to be true, and
also one that is ripe for comedy. Our
Flag Means Death takes a stab at the
humor inherent in the situation, and
after a very rocky start it mostly suc-
ceeds with bringing the laughs while
saying something at the same time.
Created by David Jenkins and exec-
utive produced by superstar Taika
Waititi, Our Flag Means Death takes
two or three episodes before it really
gets going and becomes something
other than an occasionally funny chore.
Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords,
Review
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) stars
as Bonnet, and you’d be right in assum-
ing that his being on a project with fel-
low Kiwi Waititi results in a whole lot
of that silly type of humor that New
Zealanders are increasingly famous
for.
Darby’s supporting cast is enter-
taining and capable, but it is not
until Waititi joins him on screen as
Blackbeard himself in the fourth epi-
sode that things actually get interest-
ing. Laughs exist before then, but they
don’t come as frequently as I would
have liked or expected for the creative
team in question, and even after that
they are not ever-present. Our Flag is
funny, yes, but it also has a moral or
two to explore as well.
Bonnet’s story as portrayed on the
small screen has, of course, some giant
liberties taken with it, but it is surpris-
ingly accurate when it comes a lot of
the basics. He did indeed sail with
Blackbeard, for instance, who took the
clueless aristocrat under his wing, and
he did actually pay his crew a salary
and was eventually pressed into being
Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby, center) and others in Our Flag Means Death .
Courtesy IMDb
a privateer. The showrunners use this
story to explore the deeper theme of
societal pressures, whether it be gen-
der-, sexual orientation-, race- or class-
based, and it is nice to watch a comedy
that actually has something to say
instead of feeling the need to be “on”
all of the time. Our Flag is also accu-
rate when it comes to salty language,
which parents should know about
beforehand, and the violence can be
quite intense as well, if over-the-top
and a bit cartoony.
The production values are decent
if not fantastic, having that “made
for TV” feel without looking bad. The
script is good, the characters likeable,
and there is definitely more good in
Our Flag Means Death than bad. Just
be patient waiting for Blackbeard to
show up. It might be worth it.
Our Flag Means Death season 1 is
now available on HBO Max.