Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Rhys Darby, Taika Waititi, Joel Fry, Samson Kayo, Matthew Maher, Nathan Foad, Samba Schutte, Con O’Neill, Vico Ortiz, Kristian Nairn, David Fane, Ewen Bremner, Nat Faxon, Madeleine Sami, Leslie Jones, Ruibo Qian, Anapela Polataivao, Michael Crane, Erroll Shand, Amanda Grace Leo, Rachel House, Minnie Driver, Mark Mitchinson, Bronson Pinchot.
History in the hands of the wilfully uneducated or the fool is in danger of being erased and found to be redacted as a matter of course; but in the hands of a genius who plays with the world through the medium of satire and graceful humour, it can lead the intended target to a place of discovery and the realm of unending treasure.
We must be wary of the headstrong fool, but welcome in earnest the satirist’s and the writer’s wit, and in the second and final series of Our Flag Means Death, the wit and scope of Taika Waitita and the team behind the endearing comedy set amongst the world of pirate lore and adventure is such that it not only boasts perhaps the greatest inclusion of LGBT representation, but proves that good comedy can come from any setting, any scenario, and of the makers wish to play with historical accuracy then so be it.
The second series of the pirate comedy delves further into the relationship between the historically fierce Blackbeard, Edward Teach, and the almost forgotten Stede Bonnet, the sense that as pirates they were more than comrades at sea, but lovers to whom could not live without each other, and so it seems to almost all on board the Revenge, neither could they be feared without causing mistakes and mayhem along the way.
When you are all at sea the jokes require a different kind of timing, and more importantly good, believable characters. It is with no surprise that the vast majority of those comes from real life, a depiction enlarged in amongst the heroics of those to whom history always forgets, the crew; and with splendid guests and main cast members such as the great Con O’ Neil as Israel Hands, Rachel House and Minnie Driver as the terrorising but now domesticated, and still spitefully in love Mary Read and Anne Bonney, and the sublime performance by Ruibo Qian as the legendary Zheng Yi Sao, are the backdrop and the instigators of the comedy and the unseen life of pirating.
A splendid series, one that showcased the talent of Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi wonderfully; Our Flag Means Death may have bitten off an early end, but its legacy will remain.
Ian D. Hall