I love hit television show Our Flag Means Death starring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi now streaming on Max SO MUCH!!!
I love that it's queer. Of course I love that! It's amazing!
But you know what I've come to love almost as much as all of that wonderful, diverse, validating queerness? The depiction of mental illness, especially where the leads are concerned.
We don't get any diagnoses, of course, but it's so easy to watch Ed and Stede and go oh hey, that guy's like me. I love that they're not mentally ill in a cute, quirky way or an overwrought, tragic way. It impacts their lives. It's such a real thing in a show that's frequently less-than-real.
I love that the show wasn't afraid to give us Ed just fucking spiraling in the first two episodes of season two. It trusted us to watch this man blow up everything and hurt everyone around him and still root for him because that's what's at the show's core -- it's never too late, you're never too broken to be worthy of compassion and love.
OFMD says, "You still love this character even though he fucked up. Don't you think you can extend some of that love to yourself? Don't you think that, maybe, you can believe that it's not too late for you?"
I love that I can see my depression and anxiety and dissociative issues and tendency to run in these characters, and I love that I've been forced to be gentler with myself because... yeah, if I can still love Ed and Stede, I can still love myself. I can at least try.
I fucking love Our Flag Means Death and sometimes I just want to scream about it on tumblr-dot-com because I know that some of you feel the same way, and I see you, and I'm so glad we have this.