For once, Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard aren’t the most dysfunctional pirate couple on the deck of Max’s comedy series, “Our Flag Means Death.”
In Season 2’s fourth episode, titled “Fun and Games,” that distinction belongs to legendary pirates Anne Bonny (Minnie Driver) and Mary Read (Rachel House). As the series has done with the shared history between the real-life Stede and Blackbeard, “Our Flag Means Death” interprets the fearsome women pirates as a couple. But they’ve been at the whole dating thing a lot longer than the boys.
Anne and Mary are running a jungle-bound antique shop when Stede (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) stumble upon them during a lover’s spat. The long-awaited reunion of the couple –– after Stede abandoned their plans to run away to China in the Season 1 finale –– is off a bumpy start to say the least. A barely alive Blackbeard (who’s also called Ed) headbutts Stede before the crew votes to kick the leather-clad pirate off the Revenge for his recent rash of bloody crimes.
Banished to a nearby island, the wayward Blackbeard runs into his friends Mary and Anne, who have retired their pirating ways for a more domesticated life of antiquing and passive aggressive remarks. When Stede and Blackbeard find themselves invited for dinner, the bored Mary and Anne take the chance to playfully poke and prod at their guests’ relationship issues.
But given the chance, Stede apologizes to Ed for not following through on their plan, telling him that he loves everything about him. Things seem promising for the pair — that is, until Anne and Mary’s own grievances toward each other lead their former to burn down their house.
Series creator David Jenkins tells Variety the poignant “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”-inspired episode will allow Stede and Blackbeard to embrace something audiences haven’t seen yet — a real relationship.
“They have never had to be an acknowledged couple where they aren’t the focus and the energy suck of everything,” he says. “It is kind of being like the parents of a family in a way. It’s about the kids, and not always about your emotional drama all the time. For them to settle into something resembling a midlife for however brief is the struggle of the second half of the season.”
Speaking of the kids, the disparate crew of the Revenge was reunited as well, but soon went to war over their own unspoken issues. To break down the episode, Jenkins spoke with Variety about casting Driver and House for the iconic roles, whether Buttons’ surreal transformation into a bird will be his swan song, and why you can’t just put a pirate family back together without some hurt feelings.
Why was now the perfect time for Stede and Blackbeard to confront their issues?
The way I like to look at a season is in threes. The end of the first act is when they find each other, and this is the beginning of the second act. They’ve found each other, but they are pissed. Stede thought it was going to be [Kate Bush’s] “This Woman’s Work,” but, in reality, it is this headbutt –– literally. Again, he has to deal with another partner that he has fucked over, and one that is mad to see him. But this time, he has to make it work. This time, he is invested in making it work. In working on this episode, I think it was interesting to see Stede confront the reality of what Blackbeard says, “Did you just expect me to melt into your arms?” To see him have to work for it, and see Ed not let him back in because he’s been burned and done dirty — I like to see that tension.
Audiences, especially queer audiences, so warmly embraced the love story between Stede and Blackbeard in Season 1, and Season 2 has proven it is the soul of the show. Was that always the plan, or did the reaction help influence the longevity of their relationship?
It was always part of the pitch. For some reason, the real Blackbeard took Stede Bonnet under his wing and we don’t know why. He was the best pirate, and Stede was the worst pirate, and then for whatever reason they traveled together — and we don’t know why. But like, they were together and, to me, that is the reason to make the show. The pirate genre is fun, but I wasn’t dying to make a pirate show. Taika wasn’t dying to make a pirate show. But the thing that was interesting to me was that Stede finds love, and he finds it with Blackbeard. What can they teach each other, and why do these two very different men fall in love? For the second season, it was just fun to go headlong into it, and not ramp up to it.
Is part of that fun getting to do an episode like this where you bring in Anne Bonny (Minnie Driver) and Mary Read (Rachel House), who give you a chance to call out the things Stede and Ed aren’t saying to each other?
This episode is based on a very, very thumbnail sketch of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.” Anne and Mary are Martha and George, and they are Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. They are the experienced couple that has the neophyte young couple stumble onto them, and they are going to torture them. As Rachel House’s character says at the end, “You’re like 14-year-old boys. You’re children. You’re just at the beginning of this.” And I think the great thing about “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is that it’s terrifying. You look at this marriage, and it’s fucked up. But what’s also beautiful about that story is that they are in love. You get to the end of it and it’s disturbing, and they are so mean — but at the end of that, they are in love. As the younger couple, they are asking what their relationship is going to be. For Stede and Blackbeard to look at a more mature and experienced couple and ask themselves “Are we going to give this a shot?” is a good way to orient them.
Read more here:
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/our-flag-means-death-creator-david-jenkins-stede-blackbeard-back-together-1235755845/
— Variety