Hey! Hallie here!
It’s been a long time! Between the actors and writers strikes, as well as our busy schedules, we’ve been really spotty about posting and have mostly decided not to post at all to ensure we were supporting the WGA and SAG as best we could. But now the strikes have ended and we can talk about all of the many, many, things we’ve been dying to talk about that were released the last few months. To be perfectly honest, my initial plan was to immediately start on a ‘Good Omens’ season two review the minute the whole thing ended. But, somehow, ‘Our Flag Means Death’ came out of nowhere and took me completely by surprise with its second season. On top of that, I feel like the fandom is in a really interesting post-season discussion phase that I very much want to hop in on, where as with ‘Good Omens’ fans the ship has kind of sailed (Yes, that was a pun). That’s not to say I won’t get back to ‘Good Omens’, but that is to say I have a lot of opinions about Izzy Hands and they take precedent at the moment. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Good:
Izzy Hands: Ok, let’s start with the biggest topic of discussion right out the gate. We all loved Izzy Hands this season. Izzy did have quite a few fans last season as well, but the group was a lot smaller and they were well aware that he wasn’t a very likable character. They even went so far as to refer to him as “rat man” in fandom spaces. And who can really blame all of us who didn’t like Izzy first season? He’s a dick to everyone, shows an almost-blatantly homophobic disgust at Stede and Ed’s relationship, and becomes so jealous of Stede’s relationship with Ed that he frequently attempts to manipulate Ed into turning into the worst version of himself. All of that culminates at the end of the season in Izzy deciding to turn in the entire crew to the British in the hopes of arranging Stede’s execution. But fans of Izzy could see how complicated this character was under the surface. His jealousy of Stede clearly went beyond just Ed making a new friend, and his moments of apparent homophobia were paired with subtle discomfort and teary eyes that implied he was dealing with some self-hatred he wasn’t properly addressing. (Not to mention the “Oh daddy” scene.) This season, however, made subtext text. Izzy’s taking hits for the crew, losing toes when they don’t do what Ed wants, and his care for Ed and attempts to calm him are met with brutal push-back. We even see Izzy break down in the crew’s arms when they try to gently confront him about his toxic relationship with Ed. Then Izzy makes a mistake. He tries to talk to Ed about what he’s been doing to the crew, confesses he loves him, and accidentally brings up Stede. This leads to an altercation where Ed shoots Izzy in the leg and orders that he be killed.
After the crew amputates Izzy’s leg (and Ed attempts to get Izzy to either kill him or commit suicide in a very dark scene,) Izzy finally leads the crew in a takeover of the ship. Izzy at this point is extremely traumatized, but he, fascinatingly, continues to protect the crew. Upon reuniting with Stede his main priority is to plea with him on behalf of the crew, telling him they shouldn’t suffer for what he and Stede made Ed into. And then he descends into a drunk and depressed state, fueled by self hatred over what happened with Ed. But like the crew saved him from his gunshot wound, they make him a sturdy wooden leg and save him from his downward spiral. We see Izzy get out of bed, practice with his sword again, teach Stede how to be a better captain, and let go of his obsession with Ed. He fully embraces his sexuality, putting on a drag performance where he sings for the entire crew. He opens up, makes friends, earns the ship’s undying loyalty, and acts as the crew’s main defender in the stand-off against the season’s villain. It’s a complete joy to see Izzy Hands develop the way we do, and it’s mixed with just the right amount of hope and openness ‘Our Flag’ gives each of its characters. Some seem to think that Izzy’s character development was too tonally serious for such a light show, but I don’t think it is. I think it demonstrates an understanding of how horrible it can be to not understand who you are and to experience so much self hatred for yourself. Izzy’s development is just as much a queer coming out story as anything, and it allows for Izzy to embrace himself and find a queer community to belong to. That is all very in character for a show made to celebrate queer joy.
New Female Characters: The fandom is all in agreement about Izzy, and we are also all in agreement about newcomer Zheng Yi Sao. Zheng is the perfect addition to the show. She answers the call for more female representation with by far the most skilled pirate we’ve seen in the entire series, carrying a personality that is just as adorable as it is badass. She kicks ass and runs circles around all of our main characters. She’s the captain in the series you would want to work under most, and that alone makes her interactions with a bumbling captain like Stede hilarious. But her soft spot for her crew and Oluwande make her surprisingly relatable. All the quiet moments between herself and Oluwande stole my heart for the genuine joy between them, and I can’t wait to see more in the future. Amongst Zheng’s crew we also have Auntie, a first mate who follows the show’s first mate tradition of being mostly disgruntled and far too reasonable for her own good. All except for her belief that Buttons is a sea witch, which on its own provides the perfect amount of humor to the stoic character. Lastly, we have another new character in the form of Archie, Jim’s new love interest. I wanted to have more time with this character, but all things considered she fit in seamlessly with the crew. Her high energy and genuine support of everyone in the crew made her easily likable. And her adorable feelings for Jim and willingness to put their needs above her own made their relationship easy to get behind.
Stede and Ed: Naturally, these two need to be mentioned for their stand-out relationship. I appreciated that the two of them had to work up to where they were before their separation. Despite the fact that mermaid Stede wakes Ed up from his perceived death, Ed still hasn’t completely forgiven Stede for abandoning him. And Stede, likewise, is wary of Ed after everything he did to the crew. Once they get to a place where they decide they want to work on their relationship again, Ed requests they take it slow and Stede agrees. He very aptly identifies that they’re both “whim prone” and need to take some time to create normalcy between them. When they do get back to kissing, and then more, it feels like they’ve actually made an effort to get to that point. I also really love that their brief breakup in the show only serves to make them stronger characters as well as a stronger couple. Ed learns that he’s capable of change without attempting to abandon everything he knows, and Stede quickly has to learn how to balance self-confidence with the ability to look beyond himself. When they get back together Ed apologizes for “being a dick”, but Stede responds that “life’s a dick”, demonstrating better than anything else in the season how understanding and supportive they are as a couple. These two carry the show and their relationship remains strong enough to keep me engaged.
‘Calypso’s Birthday’: The best episode of the season. This is pirate Pride. Quiet literally. If there was ever a doubt that this show is about a crew of queer people who set out to celebrate their identities, this episode confirms it. From Wee John in a gorgeous dress under the drag persona of Calypso, to Izzy donning a full face of makeup to sing “La Vie en Rose” in both English and French, to the drag king look we get from Jim, to Stede and Ed finally sleeping together at the end of the episode. Everything about this episode is complete perfection. And Con O’Neill’s voice. Beautiful. Gorgeous. He has a musical theatre background and you can tell. This episode made me proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, and reminded me why shows like ‘Our Flag Means Death’, that are made as safe spaces for the queer community, are so important. I could watch this episode over and over again.
The Neutral:
Izzy’s Death: And here’s the biggest complaint about the season. After Izzy spends a season discovering who he is and finding a place where he can feel accepted, he is promptly killed. Now, I’m not completely angry with this death. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. I don’t find it nearly as tonally off as other people make it out to be. It is, after all, a show about pirates that doesn’t shy away from gore and dark humor. Eventually someone has to die just to keep in line with the way the show embraces pirate-accurate violence. I also don’t think that ending his storyline feels random to the narrative. By all accounts, Izzy is the hero of the season. He’s the one who gets the final confrontation with Ricky, a natural progression after Izzy defending the crew during the rest of the season. So Ricky killing Izzy makes this a classic tragic hero scenario. The problem here is that it sends the wrong message. Having Izzy embrace who he is only to declare his happiness fleeting is a bit, well…unfortunate. Especially in a show that prides itself on celebrating queer joy. And to add insult to injury, his story arc ends with Ed. The person he’s been taking great lengths to distance himself from all season. That isn’t to say he didn’t need closure with Ed. He needed a moment to confess to Ed why he had relied on the Blackbeard persona, and likewise he needed Ed’s apology. But it’s the crew he found a family in, and the crew he died for. The fact his death occurred while they all stood as far as they could to the side of the ship felt wrong. Still, this isn’t the worst death and David Jenkins says that there is no ‘Our Flag Means Death’ without Izzy, so we’ll see what that means for the character.
The Bad:
Stede and Ed: Admittedly, their relationship is one of the more rushed parts of the season. Despite the fact that Ed wants to take it slow, the show only allows for a small amount of character development before the two are sleeping together. Almost as quickly, the two break up when Ed decides that sleeping with Stede was a mistake. I believe that these quick changes to their relationship can be blamed on the short season. Still, the fast pace of their relationship leans, almost accidentally, too heavily into the idea that both characters are “whim prone”. They’re constantly breaking up and getting back together, meanwhile Ed goes off to be a fisherman on a whim while Stede gets so easily swept up in fame that he altogether nearly forgets about Ed. Even their decision to run an inn at the end of the season feels really sudden. Can they really be happy if Ed couldn’t even find happiness fishing and Stede has never dreamed of anything more than he’s dreamed of pirating? It almost feels like these two will never be happy, constantly becoming distracted by their separate sudden interests. And sticking them in an inn at the end of the season sounds like a recipe for disaster. Did we learn nothing from Anne Bonny and Mary Read? Ed and Stede are likely to need adventure in order to fight off their short attention spans, and I can only see the inn eventually driving them both insane.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read: Speaking of. Despite the fact that this season was full of excellent female characters, I really disliked this adaptation of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Of course I wanted them to be a queer couple. Who wouldn’t want to see them as a queer couple after hearing about their real-life closeness? But why did they have to be complete psychopaths? I wanted to see Anne and Mary as a badass queer couple, outsmarting their male counterparts like they did in real life. Not stabbing each other and setting their house on fire.
That’s all I have to say on the season, but clearly it’s a lot. I didn’t even get to how cute Lucius and Black Pete were this season, or how epic the fight scenes were. Regardless of my problems, ‘Our Flag’ completely stole my heart with season two. I really liked this series last season, but this season has sealed my fate as a die-hard fan of the show. I really hope we get a season three, but in the meantime, I would ask ‘Our Flag’ fans to be kinder to the show runners and actors about Izzy’s death. The reaction to his death was somewhat volatile, and while I clearly wasn’t 100% happy with it, I do think it wasn’t nearly as bad as most people made it out to be. And the people involved with the show don’t deserve constant hate in the hopes of getting Izzy confirmed for season three. If we want a season three at all we need to support this show as much as possible, especially as a show that exists on one of the platforms that frequently cancels its queer shows.
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 