The fandom once again declared, “This is happening!” with joy, glee, and, once again, shock. The couple, deemed #BlackBonnet on social media, was full steam ahead.Ī couple like BlackBonnet shouldn’t be revolutionary. Then the home run came: Stede and Ed finally admitted their feelings and kissed! A rather romantic and steamy one at that. Lucius is trying to manage both parties throughout it all–scolding Ed while attempting to coax Stede to put the telescope down and stop spending his days watching Ed and Jack like Bewitched‘s resident busybody Gladys Kravitz.
Like any half of a couple who has to put with their partner’s bad influence of a best friend, Stede spent his time glued to the window in his study, nosily watching them or telling Ed how he doesn’t like who Ed becomes when Calico Jack is around.
Stede, on the other hand, showed jealousy when Calico Jack (Will Arnett), a friend and ex-lover of Ed’s, randomly appeared, becoming a wedge between Stede and Ed. Other moments of Ed using Stede’s belongs as comfort include when Ed retreats into a pillow fort made of Stede’s old pillows or how he eats Stede’s favorite marmalade right out of the pot in a fit of depression. But as Ed suffers immense heartbreak after Stede unwisely thinks he should go back to his family in the first season’s remaining episodes, Ed wears another of Stede’s old robes and Stede’s khaki adventuring pants from Episode 7. Usually, it was just in the form of Ed wearing Stede’s undone black cravat. After Episode 4 shows Ed and Stede cosplaying as each other by wearing each other’s outfits, Ed keeps some elements of Stede’s clothes throughout the series. There are important hints and nods to the building friendship-turned-romance as soon as Ed joins the Revenge in Episode 3. Examples: the shot of Ed quickly moving in for a kiss under the moonlight before faltering and backing away in Episode 5, Episode 6’s focus on Ed finally being vulnerable with Stede about his past traumas as he hides in a bathtub with Stede’s robe as a blanket, the aforementioned beard-picking scene in which Stede and Ed fall into a natural, old married couple style banter about a hypothetical “snakery” restaurant.
But, after being burned so many times by so many popular shows, it makes sense the fandom (me included) was wary and suspicious, wondering just how this show would pull the rug from under us.īut the show did give us clear hints as to where it was headed, despite our anxiety. There was so much pointing audience members to the fact that, yes, finally, two male leads who have undeniable chemistry will actually get together.
#ONE DIRECTION GAY MEMES SERIES#
Similarly, Foad takes Lucius out of the realm of possibly being a stereotypical quippy gay character in any other series and into the realm of being the long-suffering good conscience of both Stede and Ed as they traverse the unknown plane of love and queer self-discovery. Even if it did star queer actors: The series includes non-binary actor Vico Ortiz, who plays Jim, aka Bonifacia, a rare example of a non-binary character that gets to live out a complex life beyond being education for the audience. Even if it was executive produced and starring Taika Waititi, one of the most creative, open-minded directors and producers working in Hollywood today. Up until that point, fans were rightly wary of trusting the series. If you’ve been a part of slash fandoms in the past, you understand Lucius’s shock and might have been saying something similar to him as you watched the scene. I didn’t realize the seventh episode of HBO Max’s pirate comedy series Our Flag Means Death was titled “This Is Happening.” If I had, I probably wouldn’t have been so surprised when Blackbeard, aka Ed (Taika Waititi), looked lovingly and expectantly at hapless pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) as Stede picked a wayward piece of barbecued snake out of his beard.īut, I might be too hard on myself even Lucius (Nathan Foad) was shocked at the sight, saying the episode’s title out loud–“Oh my God. Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby as Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet.