Review: “Our Flag Means Death” (2022)
by Emily Nagle
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Last Thursday, the new historical comedy “Our Flag Means Death” premiered on HBO Max. Created by David Jenkins (“People of Earth“) and directed by Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit“, “Thor: Ragnarok“), the show follows a fictionalized version of Captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), also known as “The Gentleman Pirate”. Having abandoned his family and lavish aristocrat lifestyle for a risky life on the high seas, Bonnet has no clue what he’s doing, but it’s up to him to lead his ragtag pirate crew and prepare them to fight off enemies.
Personally, the humor isn’t for me. I’ve seen other viewers comment on how the jokes are very on brand for Waititi, and that it’s very much New Zealand humor. There were only a couple of moments that I found to be lightly goofy. I’d say the humor is more cute than anything else. You probably won’t be rolling on the floor laughing at it, but it might give you a chuckle or two.
Despite the humor falling more or less flat for me, what kept me watching this show was Captain Bonnet’s backstory. Bonnet constantly second-guesses his abilities to lead his crew, and there’s moments where we’ll see a flashback to his childhood, giving a deeper insight as to why he feels all this self-doubt. We’re also shown a flashback to the night he left behind everything he’d ever known to become a pirate captain.
But this isn’t a show that’s focused on a dramatic story. Rather, it’s more lighthearted, with Bonnet and his crew partaking in goofy activities in each episode. During the pilot, Bonnet holds a flag-making contest for his crew in an effort to make their ship look more intimidating to enemies, and the end products come out looking like summer camp art projects – one design depicts a giant skull vomiting buttons onto a skeleton. The way this show took a historical figure and made him into this goofy, childlike man reminds me a lot of Waititi’s portrayal of Hitler in “Jojo Rabbit”. Like how Bonnet is shown to read bedtime stories to his crew (complete with silly voices!).
So, the first few episodes of “Our Flag Means Death” weren’t particularly impressive. But sometimes shows can take a little while to find their footing and turn into something truly incredible. With that being said, I might give it another shot and see if it gets better later on. At the time of writing, only 3 episodes of the show have been released – three more episodes are set to premiere on the platform this Thursday. My hope is that as we get deeper into season one, we’ll get to see more of Bonnet’s backstory.
All episodes of “Our Flag Means Death” are available to stream now on HBO Max.