WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Our Flag Means Death Season 1 finale, "Wherever You Go, There You Are," now streaming on HBO Max.
Our Flag Means Death proved throughout its first season not only to be a hilarious and inventive comedy set during the Golden Age of Piracy but a surprisingly bold and important landmark of success for representations of same-sex relationships in popular media. Oftentimes such depictions opt for one of two extremes, either making such relationships the core focus of their story or else making them so incidental they barely matter to the plot. The genius of Our Flag Means Death is that it does both and balances those extremes against each other incredibly well. The progressive story stands out as a landmark success for gay representation worthy of analysis in its own right.
Where Our Flag Means Death began with its first episode, the emphasis it would eventually place on its same-sex relationships was not immediately apparent. Featuring the story of the violence-averse Stede Bonnet captaining a ship of pirates as he became known as the Gentleman Pirate through his unorthodox leadership practices, it would have been easy to believe that the main purpose of the story was to shine a humorous light on an era too often depicted in overly gruff and masculine terms. As its gay characters and their same-sex relationships came to the fore, they did not initially seem to be the focal point of the main plot.
Such characters were members of Bonnet's crew, like his scribe Lucius or the irritable Black Pete, who first conspired against Bonnet for a mutiny. In depicting these stories, Our Flag Means Death successfully integrated the same-sex relationships in a manner that embedded their reality into the world of the show without absorbing major narrative attention. Toward that end, the show was already successful in normalizing depictions of such relationships in a manner that did not need to be either remarkable or barely present. They were visible, they were important to the characters involved, but they weren't the central focus of the series.
But where the show proved exceptional was in introducing a new same-sex romance that did absorb increasing amounts of narrative focus. Throughout the series, Bonnet engaged in a fascinating and constantly evolving relationship with his initial rival, the pirate captain Blackbeard, played by Taika Waititi. Though Bonnet's backstory revolved around the abandonment of his wife and children to pursue his life of adventure, his arc increasingly spanned toward the development that he loved and cared for Blackbeard. Their romance provided the fulcrum for much of the later episodes' plots, with Blackbeard's first mate Izzy Hands growing increasingly jealous and antagonistic over the relationship.
By the end of the season, what the series achieved was representing a diverse array of same-sex relationships that spanned varying degrees of narrative importance. Organically integrated into the story of the show, maintaining a balance where they were neither the sole focus nor forgettable background details, the result was a remarkable achievement for representation that proves just how versatile and effective such an approach can be. The balance between making a character whose sexuality describes the totality of their character or else making a character whose sexuality is so incidental it is barely present inexplicably proves difficult for many stories in popular media, but Our Flag Means Death makes it look easy.
Those who value such representation will doubtless applaud the series for its success in that department. But what comes best of all is that the series has so many remarkable strengths even beyond that that it doubtless has something most anyone can enjoy regardless of what they value. Navigating such choppy waters too often proves difficult for TV and film, and yet for Our Flag Means Death, it's nothing but smooth sailing.
To see these relationships in action, Our Flag Means Death Season 1 is now streaming in full on HBO Max.