Recently, every time I logged onto twitter, my timeline was filled with tweets concerning ofmd. Soon after this began occurring, I discerned that ofmd stood for Our Flag Means Death and shortly after that I learned that it was an HBOMax show popularly referred to as “the gay pirate show”. I hurriedly finished watching Death Note so I could find out what the hype was about. With the show being only 10 half hour episodes, it was an easy watch. As is my brand, I was late to exposing myself to the hit media of the moment (I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time last summer and finished Breaking Bad two nights ago), but once I finally got around to it, I was, and still am, obsessed. The hype is real with this one.
Comedy is not my go-to genre. Sure, I watch it here and there, but drama is where it’s at. I went into Our Flag Means Death expecting a surface level, light hearted, good time. What I got was so much more.
The gay pirate show is a must-watch if you’re looking for the following:
Fantastic representation with queer and bipoc characters center stage.
A genuinely intriguing story involving these characters while avoiding all of the tropes and trauma porn and giving us everything the queerbait-y shows have dangled in front of and pulled away from us for years.
Multifaceted characters that manage to be hilarious, heart wrenching and everything in between. They are authentic portrayals of reality rather than caricatures of a single personality trait.
The plot is fully enjoyable from a singularly superficial viewpoint as well as being rife with symbolism and thematic elements that allow for enjoyment on a more analytical level as well. The show is a fun story about some funky pirates and a metaphor for queer existence in a culture dominated by toxic masculinity (for a deeper dive into this aspect of ofmd, check out Rowan Ellis’ video essay on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MlYJQa3YJw). Traumatic backstories, found family and romance all exist alongside moments of hilarity and utter absurdity. Drama and comedy fit together to create a cohesive narrative such that neither aspect ever feels out of place.
Our Flag Means Death is the show no one was anticipating and the show we all needed. It’s the kind of show we’ve been waiting for. The sort we thought we had received numerous times but were let down over and over again by homophobic showrunners who convinved us that the romance we saw on screen was all in our heads. This type of story has been an abandoned dream since the dominion of Superwholock. Now, that dream is a reality and I couldn’t be happier.
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