Anyone trying to claim that Taika can’t act, can go suck eggs in hell, actually 💁‍♀️

And that is my professional opinion 🎭🎬

He did an extraordinary job in OFMD (and JoJo Rabbit and many other performances!)

We’re goners. Those of you who can swim would be wise to do it now.

Happy September 2nd 1st

Since I'm on a roll today, I'll just say that I don't think Calico Jack and Ed ever actually had sex. I think that's something Jack is claiming to get under Stede's skin (and is failing at, because Stede does not get what Jack is up to).

All indications of them having had a sexual relationship come from that conversation, and there's never a point where Ed even remotely suggests that's something that happened. If Stede brought it up, Ed would be baffled.

Jack is just straight up lying.

So, I had this theory when watching the first season. CJ's whole role is to drive a wedge between the two of them, and since Izzy thinks they slept together, he probably told CJ that, and he uses that as leverage. He lies and manipulates the whole time.

The only thing that makes me rethink that is in season two. Ed refers to Stede as an old shipmate, the only other time this is used is with CJ, and Anne and Mary know right away what that means. What Ed and Stede mean to each other. So, I think that word is used to symbolize a sexual relationship of some nature.

I'd have to watch the scene again, but I think Stede's the one who says "shipmates" and Ed appends "former." Annie and Mary definitely clock the relationship immediately, but I think that's more to do with how Ed and Stede react to each other than to the word shipmates.

Chiming in 💜

Celluloidbroomcloset is right, it is Stede who says “shipmates”, and Ed responds with “former”.

Mary and Anne clocks the relationship immediately because the boys are so not being sly about it — Stede is trying to ‘act cool’ and Ed is trying (and failing even harder than Stede) to act as though he ‘doesn’t care’.

I’ve been going back and forth with whether or not I believe Ed & CJ has had any sort of sexual relationship – in the beginning I was firmly of the belief that they had not (Ed flinches every time CJ touches him — but that could well ‘just’ be to do with Ed’s general pirate trauma and the physical side of that), but so many people believe what CJ says that my resolve ended up wavering a little bit towards the ‘believer’-group.

Honestly, I’m still not fully convinced either way.

S1-Izzy's Foreshadowed Road to Redemption in s2

(And me slightly gushing over Con O'Neill's acting on the way.)

Right-o. We need to talk about our man Izzy Hands. More specifically we need to talk about Izzy in ep110 and through to the second series, because I have yet to see anyone else comment with this particular angle, so here's my hot take:

(This will include obvious spoilers for all of the current two series of Our Flag Means Death)

I've seen some people talk about Izzy's character change as something that happened 'way too quickly' – I've seen others talk about Izzy not being a bad guy in series 1 at all – and I've seen a lot of people come away from the scene in ep. 110 where they're throwing out Stede's books and Fang/Kevin asks Izzy what happened to his foot with an understanding that Izzy's reaction to that question is one of gloading satisfaction, and because I kinda disagree with all of these takes (but especially the latter), here's my wee take on the lot – with particular emphasis on that 'smile' in ep. 110:

Jumping right in: The second 'Krackbeard' cuts off Izzy's toe Izzy knows that he has f*cked up and finally pushed Ed too far. Sure, Izzy has been used to Blackbeard cutting the toes off of other crew members and make them eat it "for a laugh" for years and years – but Blackbeard/Edward has never turned his violence on Izzy before.

Izzy wanted Blackbeard back, yes, and all the way through s1 he pushed and pushed and pushed him, even though Ed clearly didn't want to be 'Blackbeard' anymore.

We see this in the 'soft' manipulations – like him saying "My boss would like a word with you" to Stede, but telling Edward "I explicitly told him 'Blackbeard desires his company'" – and we see it more and more prevalent as Ed grows closer to and more and more fond of Stede – like Izzy ordering Fang/Kevin and Ivan to back him up in his demand that Edward kills Stede (based on Fang's & Ivan's reactions in the previous scene "This is the most open and available I've ever seen him", I feel OK with surmising that Izzy probably ordered them to back him up here) so that Edward will 'lose face' or even be looked at as weak if he refuses to do it; like insisting on a swordfight with Stede – directly against his captain's orderes – and choosing to not just banish Stede from the ship when it looks as though Izzy is going to win, but actually going in for the kill; like selling Stede (the man Ed loves) out to the English, while also basically treating Edward as a commodity, by making him the 'price' Izzy will earn from the British, when they've captured Stede.

The latter of which – and this is equally as important to note – literally sets the whole trajectory of Ed's fall into Krackbeard in motion.

Ed is the one who returns to the Revenge – not Blackbeard. And Izzy is continually at his wits end, because he has now done nearly every single manipulative thing he can think of (Izzy obviously doesn't think of these things as 'manipulative' – in his eyes he is still doing the 'right thing') to get Edward to 'snap out of it'. But Ed is still refusing to act the part of Izzy's preferred understanding of what masculinity is. In fact, after his return Ed slips even further into the kind of 'feminine'-masculinity that Izzy despises.

And Izzy finally cracks – insisting that 'Edward' and 'Blackbeard' are not the same, and then taunting Edward with his percieved weakness of being heartbroken. This finally goads a reaction out of Ed.

And for the glimmer of a second Izzy thinks he sees 'Blackbeard' in Ed – and you can see the sheer satisfaction on his face:

But Ed doesn't want to be Blackbeard. And the moment Izzy touches his face (other people have written brilliantly on Ed's reactions to physical touch – if I can find it, I will add a link to it here), Ed doesn't go in for the counter attack. Instead, he pushes Izzy's hand away, let's go of Izzy's neck, and takes several steps back. Even here, when he is being actively threatned, he is still refusing to 'act the part' of overt violence that Izzy is demanding of him.

And because Con O'Neill is an actor's absolute dream (side-note: seriously, I cannot get enough of watching his micro-expressions when a thought changes and you can see it so clearly in his eyes) we can see the split-second where Izzy realises this:

(Seriously that thiny change of his eyes is so easy to miss and yet it speaks VOLUMES for Izzy's character and character arc – Con O'Neill you brilliant bastard.)

So at the point where Ed is at his absolutely most vulnerable – because the crew has made him feel safe to do so – Izzy goes for the final 'trick' he has left: He threatens Ed on his life.

And this brings us back to the beginning of this post: Krackbeard cutting off Izzy's toe. Supposedly this should have been an indicator to Izzy that 'Blackbeard' is back and is "himself again" and Izzy even says this himself:

And here we arrive at the whole reason for why I've made this post (yeah, sorry, I know it took a while) :

Izzy is telling us that he finally got what he wanted: "Blackbeard is himself again". In other words: "I WON. YAY."

BUT – and I cannot stress this enough – look at the reaction that follows those words:

"I WON ... YAY?"

THIS is the look that clued me in on where Izzy's character arc was heading. Because there is only one reason to allow the antagonist of your story to crack even the flicker of an inch and acidentally show their true feelings like this – and that is if they are on their way to redemption. And with redemption more often than not also comes their inevitable demise.

THIS is not the face of a man who is happy. THIS is the face of a man who knows damn well that he just cosmically f*cked up and now has to live with the consequences.

Which is why we see him, immediately after this accidental facial honesty, putting on the face of a man who actually got what he wanted. Because he is suddenly finding himself in unchartered territory: Izzy knows who 'Blackbeard' is – but he has no clue who 'Krackbeard' is or how to handle him, because 'Krackbeard' is born from the lack of Stede, the heartbreak that followed, Ed's self-hatred, and the threats from Izzy. And Izzy didn't understand this ... Until he suddenly starts to realise it, when it is seemingly already too late.

So when series two started and we see a completely broken down Izzy, I was not surprised at all. Because not only did Izzy realise in ep. 110 that he had finally pushed Ed too far – he has, in the intervening weeks and months, seen Edward (the man Izzy was/has been/is coming to realise that he loves) deteriorate, doing more and more drugs and abusing alcohol and becoming more and more depressed and suicidal. Izzy has finally realised what antagonising Ed actually costs: Ed's attachment to life – Ed's willingness to live. And the reason why we see Izzy change his tune towards Stede fairly/incredibly quickly in s2, is because Izzy has realised that the only way to save Ed, is to accept that Stede is what brings Ed to life. Not 'Blackbeard', or 'Krackbeard', or any other performative persona, but "just Ed".

Which is why mirroring the 'attack' scene in 110 with the words "There he is" in Izzy's final words to Ed is so damn beautiful.

IZZY: "Just be Ed." Ed breaks down crying. IZZY: "There he is."

(An afterthought: Writing this I'm realising that Izzy's final scene with Edward in 208 actually beautifully mirrors their scene in 110 in more ways than "There he is". In 110 we see Izzy being pinned against the wall; he is 'finally' being touched by Edward, but it happens with violence and agression and with no hint of care or love – but in 208 Izzy asks Ed to sit with him, and not only does Ed stay with him, he is literally holding him, caringly and lovingly in his arms. No agression and no violence. Just care and love and familarity and warmth. Not telling Izzy that he loves him, but showing him. And I think that's quite a nice thought to end on.)

why do we have to do “taika waititi is a bad person” discourse every other week

so he said some stuff in a podcast that i saw summarized as “ppl don’t know about Māori topics so i dont need to know about Palestine” before i saw a transcript. and first of all he doesn’t even mention Palestine in the podcast so it’s kinda weird to assume that was what he was talking about. and second of all, to me when i read the transcript and if i were summarizing it i wouldve paraphrazed his comments as “look, we're all going to be more aware of the issues that are actually impacting us personally, and it's frustrating to be expected to comment on every single humanitarian crisis to trend on social media that i'm uninformed about as if i don't have personal experience with topics like genocide”

and then i see people saying shit like “well, he should KNOW better, how does he not see the parallels?“ and it is so fucking clear to me what the moral outrage is. it’s the idea that poc and other oppressed people inherently have a better moral system because oppression and suffering makes you a better person and victims of oppression are more moral just by virtue of their oppression.

and this isn’t the case for everyone getting caught up in hating on taika but this meshes with white people’s guilt for being white (bc if ppl belonging to an oppressed class are inherently better people, that means ppl belonging to an oppressor class makes them an inherently worse person) and people’s guilt at seeing atrocities happening across the world that their country is connected to and in some way responsible for. the combo of "as a poc he should be informed" and "if a poc doesnt know, that means im making up for my sin of being a white person by being more informed than a person of color"

so white liberals who have all this unpacked internalized christian ideology dictating their moral compass really have to bloviate how immoral it is for taika to not be informed about palestine. because in a weird fucking roundabout way it makes them feel better about being white.

like considering the way people were speculating that taika was personally responsible for firing guz khan from ofmd, a story with very little evidence that honestly reads like an antisemetic conspiracy theory, it’s weird to me that the screenshot on the right being the one passed around twitter and people jumping to the conclusion that he’s talking about that letter he signed when what he was talking about right before that was jojo rabbit and holocaust denial/misinformation and continuing conversations about the holocaust.

yeah taika has a history of saying/doing some pretty uninformed and tone-deaf stuff at times and this is one of them, but i’m not gonna get all worked up over a Jewish Māori man being frustrated that people who dont know anything abt what Māori people are facing are combing through his instagram likes and going in twitter to demand expert statements from him on social issues he is not completely informed about. taika is literally just a guy who makes movies and the way people hold him to this higher standard of moral purity is so fucking transparent

#it's okay to be disappointed that your fave is not informed on an issue like you expected they would be#colonialism hurts a lot of us in a lot of different ways and seeing it play out so violently isntraumatic#it's natural to turn to the people we look up to and/or idilize for guidance in times like this#but it's so important to remember that those are also people suffering under colonialism#and turning that disappointment and hurt into a vendetta to prove they are terrible if they're not perfect is going to hurt YOU#not to mention /every single person around you/#stop#get some help#talk to a trusted friend#let those feelings stay their course and then let them go#they will not serve you if left to feater (@zo1nkss)

Thank you, thank you, aaand thank you, OP. Seriously, I’m so f-ing over this discourse.

The standards to which Waititi is being held – over anyone else on that list of names – reeks of racism (with a sprinkle of antisemitism). Literally NO ONE else, who put their name on that letter, is being held to the standard that he is. And people keep saying exactly that – “he should know better” – but I’m sorry … Why exactly ‘should’ he “know better”? Because he is already fighting for indigenous people, giving a voice to folx who’ve been colonised, queer people, etc.? Surely that should actually grant him some wiggle room in this very area? Surely that should grant him the benefit of doubt?

— and at the very least, it should grant him not having outright hatred and vitriol put on every single thing that bears his name.

Are y’all holding yourself to the same standard that you’re holding him? Have you spoken out about what’s happening in the DR Congo? Have you engaged as much in the discourse surrounding land grabs and violence against indigenous people several places in the pacific?

Why should he be better informed than you?

There’s a 40-second clip of this interview circulation on ‘twitter’ – but if you want to listen to the full clip with context of their conversation about this subject — here you go:

https://x.com/tillychmo/status/1758323820279083470?s=46

I've made a couple more graphics to use in our tweets/posts to other streamers and ask them to pick up our show this week for #WooAsACrew

Feel free to use <3

LOVE these ❤️‍🔥

I've been thinking about potential pick-up of Our Flag Means Death by another streamer, and how it all might be tying in with the current BBC release, and I have some thoughts about what might be happening and what we can do to give the show the best chance of being picked up.

I think it's important to start by saying that all the whisperings that I heard over the past few months (including from some people who work at/with the BBC) pointed firmly towards a scheduled March release for Our Flag Means Death on the BBC. Needless to say, this means I was extremely surprised when they suddenly announced it was dropping at the beginning of February. I think it's also clear from everything I've seen that the BBC's marketing/social media plan for the release was not ready for February (there was no trailer, which was odd), which, again, really supports the idea that the show was initially schedule for a March release, not a February release.

I firmly believe the release was brought forward. The question is: why? Is it because they saw how much noise and press the show (and our campaign) was getting, and decided to try and capitalise on it? Or is there something else going on?

On top of that, we now have specific questions about Our Flag Means Death appearing on YouGov UK, including asking whether respondents would watch another series. This doesn't just happen. The charity I work for has commissioned YouGov polling (including some very recently) which I have been tangentially involved with, and so I know that this sort of polling is not easy work, and it's not cheap. Someone has put time AND money into commissioning this polling. This is significant. Someone is not only watching, but they are specifically watching the UK response to the show, and putting questions to the UK audience about it.

I have strong suspicions that a streamer (or several streamers) are interested in picking up the show, and are using the UK release as a live case study (Apple, Amazon and Netflix also have a presence in the UK, so we are a big target audience for them in a way we never were for Max). This could account for both the potential bringing forward of the BBC release (they didn't want to wait until March), and the YouGov polling that's going on (bear in mind, the YouGov questions were specifically as part of a wider survey about streaming services).

And this isn't just a passing interest: working with the BBC to bring forward the release, and investing time and money into YouGov polling? That's a strong interest. That's so interested they've already invested something into it.

Of course, I don't know anything for certain, so take everything with a pinch of salt (it's just a theory...a gay pirates theory...), but I think it's something to consider as a strong possibility.

So what does this mean for us?

It means we need to keep streaming on iPlayer. Watch it as many times as you can. Share it with your friends and family. If you're outside the UK, get yourself a VPN and join the party. Watch the live broadcasts on Monday nights (if you have iPlayer, you can stream the live broadcast - this is what I do because I don't have a TV). Keep tweeting about it (add the #OurFlagBBC hashtag to the existing hashtags we're using). Tag and email the UK media (including TV guides and radio shows) and ask them to talk about the show/our campaign. If you're tagging/emailing Apple, Amazon or Netflix, make sure you mention you're from the UK (and tag their UK specific social media accounts).

According to Parrot Analytics, the demand in the UK for the show is rising - let's keep adding to that!

You can also sign up to YouGov and rate the show (more instructions in the quote retweets of the tweet I linked to earlier), and keep answering questions about TV shows and streaming (and marking Our Flag Means Death as one of your interests) as a way to try and get them to give you the specific questions about the show (these start as a question about streaming and streaming services, which then turn into questions about OFMD, so if you get a survey like that, take it!).

It's also worth considering that if there's any validity to this, then there's a possibility that they might be waiting until after the show has finished airing in the UK (the finale is airing on 25th March) to crunch all the numbers together. This means that if we don't hear anything in the next few weeks, do not despair! We need to buckle in for a long fight, and to keep pushing the show and making noise over the next few weeks and months, especially around the BBC release.

This show is worth the fight. Let's get our damned men back!

All of this is HIGHLY exciting.

No one pays for anything like a YouGov UK survey, unless they’re interested in investing further, but want to ‘check the waters’ first.

So no matter what, this is good news gang.

To quote CobaltAugust/twitter:

“Money might talk, but love screams.”

So PLEASE sign the petition:

Have you already signed the petition? ✍🏻 – Awesome! Now let’s get a bunch more to sign it too! 🙌Please share it with your friends, your family – your next-door neighbour. Everyone.

Let’s show Max, WBD, and every major studio that we will not stand for this way of running their businesses — queer, BIPOC, fat, handicapped, and other marginalised folx deserve to have their stories told IN FULL too.

We will not back down. We are here, we EXIST, and we damn well demand respect for us and for our stories.

If we're talking from the heart, when I saw it for the first time I felt a little sad. And I'm not surprised that Taika Waititi didn't post anything about Our Flag Means Death. Whatever he does, comments are predictable. And even in the (wonderful) OFMD fandom you can find terrible people. This is normal. But how many times can you read the same insults? This must be boring.

Anyway #SaveOFMD #AdoptOurCrew 💖

Seeing this, honestly, makes me really sad. People are such dicks.

I don’t even care if you like him or not – nobody has to like everybody – but could people for the love of shit STOP going out of their way to be outright bullying dicks to him?

Seriously. DO BETTER.

He is a PERSON.

OFMD nominated for outstanding comedy series. I just know Max is sweating right now

LOL. OHHHHHHHH, people gonna keep talking about it...

Oh please please please. This would be such a delicious “f— you!” to the execs at Max … 🤭