Season 2 - 8 episodes (2023)
Rent Our Flag Means Death on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: David Jenkins
Starring: Rhys Darby, Joel Fry, Samson Kayo, Ewen Bremner, Nathan Foad, Kristian Nairn, Samba Schutte, Taika Waititi
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
The year is 1717. Wealthy land-owner Stede Bonnet has a midlife crisis and decides to blow up his cushy life to become a pirate. It does not go well. Based on a true story.
Verdict
A show that first explored what someone completely incompatible with the pirate life would do in that situation had become a show about responsibility and romance. An unlikely relationship between to pirates focuses on feelings and the psychology of characters. It's an offbeat comedy about two people trying to make it work that just happens to be set in a world of pirates. The combination of focus and setting alone makes this intriguing and humorous. The relationship keeps this engaging and thought provoking.
Watch it.
Review
I liked the concept of the first season. Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) brought the awareness and emotional intelligence of twenty-first century society to the setting of pirates in the 1700s. It was quite silly, but found a nice tone. Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) added a lot of levity as he wants to leave pirating and join high society. Stede was his way in, but the two soon found themselves attracted.
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| Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby play Blackbear, Stede Bonnet |
Season two begins with Stede mourning the departure of Blackbeard as Ed has returned to plundering and looting to cope with his feelings of loss. They find each other, but their relationship is rocky at best. They're such a strange pairing, but it's a case of opposites attract. Stede teaches Ed how to be emotionally mature and aware while Blackbeard teaches Stede how to be a pirate. Through the other they both experience a world with which they're totally unfamiliar and unaccustomed.
While the first season focused more on Stede's crew and his new style of pirating, this season is the relationship. While we still see the crew, they are secondary and governed by the whims of their captains.
This show explores a freedom to choose the how and what of a relationship that you wouldn't associate with pirates, then again pirates are the epitome of rebels. As comical as this show can be, it takes the relationships seriously. It's heartfelt. Stede and Blackbeard are quite the couple, but it's clear what they see in the other. This is a relationship that works in part because they are pirates, but it's also an uncommon depiction of pirates. This show really does something unique, which isn't an easy feat.
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