Spoilers ahead for Our Flag Means Death season 2, including episode 4, “Fun and Games,” and episode 5, “The Curse of the Seafaring Life.”
Summary
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Stede and Ed face new challenges in
Our Flag Means Death
season 2. - Blackbeard gets banished from the Revenge by the crew’s vote.
- Ed and Stede reconcile but decide to take things slow in their relationship.
In episodes 4 and 5 of Our Flag Means Death season 2, Stede and Ed are reunited in earnest, but the two-episode drop also sees the couple weathering some new challenges. In the three-episode season 2 premiere, Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), the gentleman-turned-pirate, and Ed Teach (Taika Waititi), the infamous Blackbeard, were handling their sudden separation differently. While Stede vowed to find Ed, the latter captain reverted to his ruthless ways. In fact, a heartbroken Ed nearly killed his crew, leading them to mutiny against him.
After a brush with purgatory — and Our Flag Means Death‘s Blackbeard mentor Captain Hornigold (Mark Mitchinson) — a near-death Ed returns to the realm of the living at Stede’s encouragement. Even so, Ed is hurt and unwilling to move forward, despite Stede’s hope that they’ll be able to repair their fractured relationship. Of course, the crew of the Revenge isn’t all that interested in moving forward with their former tyrannical captain, either. All of this sets up the drama-filled Our Flag Means Death season 2, especially where episode 4, “Fun and Games,” and episode 5, “The Curse of the Seafaring Life,” are concerned.
The Crew Votes To Banish Blackbeard From The Revenge
At the end of Our Flag Means Death season 2 episode 3 the Kate Bush song “This Woman’s Work” scores Ed’s triumphant return to the world of the living. While Stede is thrilled to see Ed open his eyes, the once-revered pirate captain refuses to say much of anything at all. “Kick him off the ship already!” Jim (Vico Ortiz) says, voicing the Revenge crew’s majority opinion. Stede hesitates but ultimately allows the crew’s vote to succeed. Blackbeard is banished from the Revenge and left on a nearby island.
Buttons Tells Stede Why Ed Is “Unmoored”
In the three-episode premiere of Our Flag Means Death the pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao‘s first mate calls Nathaniel Buttons (Ewen Bremner) a “sea witch.” In season 1, Buttons communed with a seagull and has since shown a penchant for the otherworldly. In fact, he knows that Ed had a brush with purgatory — or, as the pirates dub it, the “gravy basket.” When Stede is outwardly concerned about Ed’s state of mind, Buttons explains that Blackbeard is, “unmoored” and unable to “tell what’s real and what’s the basket anymore.“
Stede & Blackbeard’s Crews Don’t Trust Each Other
Much like their happy-go-lucky captain, Stede’s crew seems happy enough to rejoin Blackbeard’s group. However, the feeling isn’t entirely mutual. Led by Izzy Hands (Con O’Neil), Blackbeard’s crew tried to kill their unhinged, heartbroken captain — a fact they’ve hidden from Stede and his group. In an attempt to clean up any lingering blood, Jim, Frenchie, and Archie scrub frantically at the spot where they attacked Blackbeard. Meanwhile, Stede’s crew prepares a fun piñata and a cake to lift Blackbeard’s crew’s spirits. Activated by the wedding cake and the very idea of violence, Blackbeard’s group snaps, and the crews are at each other’s throats.
Ed & Stede Go To A Wild Dinner At Anne Bonny & Mary Read’s House
Since it was announced that they’d join the series, it’s been clear that the adaptations of the real-life pirates Anne Bonny (Minnie Driver) and Mary Read (Rachel House) would spell great things for Our Flag Means Death‘s LGBTQ+ representation. As they’re old friends of Ed’s, the banished former captain meets up with Read in the jungle, while Stede stumbles across Bonny at her antique shop.
This leads to the foursome having one of the most wild dinner parties in the history of television. Not only does Read forget to clean out the rabbit they’re eating but she and Bonny express their affection with poisoned drinks and knife-play, all of which make their guests uncomfortable.
Ed & Stede Make Up
In the Bonny-Read living room, Ed and Stede finally get the chance to talk about what happened. “I was a whim to you,” Ed says, clearly hurt. An apologetic Stede admits that he panicked — it was all too much too fast. “Two people prone to whims shouldn’t just run off to China,” the gentleman-turned-pirate says. While Stede goes on to say he loves being with Ed, the former pirate menace can’t quite admit the same feelings. Soon enough, the pair is interrupted by Bonny and Read, who tell them they’re just teenage boys with crushes.
The Crew Makes Izzy A Wooden Leg
At the beginning of Our Flag Means Death season 2, episode 4, Stede seeks out Izzy’s advice (and vote) when it comes to Ed’s banishment. The former first mate is a bottle-deep in his sorrows and taking a lot of his anger out on the unicorn ornament on the ship’s bow. While the decoration is missing its head, it does have both legs — something that frustrates Izzy in the wake of his Blackbeard-caused amputation.
Midway through the episode, Izzy barges in on the rest of the Revenge crew, proclaiming “It’s done!” and dropping the ornament’s wooden legs on the ground. The crew uses the dismembered unicorn legs to fashion Izzy a new limb — an act that also helps the fractured group come together.
Buttons Becomes A Seagull
Through Our Flag Means Death season 2, episode 4, Buttons is looking for just the right bowl or vessel to use in a ritual. According to Stede, Buttons hopes to transfigure himself into a seagull. While it sounds like a laughable subplot, Buttons follows through with his plan, noting that “The sea is my love.” Only Ed witnesses the ceremony but despite his disbelief cheers seagull-Buttons on as he wings out over the sea. Maybe it’s just a fun full-circle moment for Buttons, who lost his seagull pal in season 1, but there also might be something more afoot.
Ed Apologizes To The Crew & Is Put On Probation
In the opening of Our Flag Means Death season 2, episode 5, Ed apologizes to the Revenge crew for his heinous actions — namely, forcing them to beat each other up and steering them into a storm. Also, Blackbeard did nearly kill Izzy, though the former first mate is already telling a different story, claiming he lost his leg to a shark.
In any event, Stede notes that it takes guts to own up to one’s actions and praises Ed, as it’s clear he’s committed to making the Revenge a “safe space ship” and “moving culture forward.” Even so, the crew still demands a probation period. While Ed regains the crew’s trust, he’s forced to wear a cat collar with a bell around his neck.
Izzy Teaches Stede How To Be A More Competent Captain
After admitting to Ed that he has some pirate captain impostor syndrome, Stede seeks out advice from his former enemy Izzy. Since receiving his wooden leg from the Revenge crew, Izzy has found a new lease on life. Despite always harboring hate toward Stede, Ed’s former first mate agrees to help Stede, teaching him everything from how to swing across the deck on a rope to how to sword fight properly. Time and again, Stede makes ridiculous mistakes, prompting Izzy to say, “How you are still alive…I cannot say.“
Lucius Pushes Ed Off The Ship (But Doesn’t Feel Better)
As Lucius is quick to point out, Ed never actually says the phrase “I apologize” during his big speech to the crew. Understandably, he’s still hung up on the fact that a heartbroken Blackbeard pushed him overboard in the season 1 finale. After trying to talk things out, Lucius ends up pushing Ed overboard in order to move on. While he celebrates the amusing moment, it doesn’t actually help. Later, however, Lucius finds more solace in forgetting about Ed and moving forward with his lover, Black Pete.
The Crew Finds A Ship Of Dead Priests & Stede Steals A Jacket
Eager to prove his abilities as a captain, Stede leads the crew of the Revenge on a mission to plunder a nearby vessel. When they board the ship, however, everyone has already been killed in deeply disturbing, ritualistic manners. In the captain’s quarters, Stede and Jim happen upon a priest who, with his dying breaths, warns them that the ship is cursed. In fact, if they touch anything, they’ll be cursed too. While the warning is enough for Jim, Stede is taken by a red velvet jacket and takes the potentially unlucky outfit back onto the Revenge.
The Revenge Crew Thinks They’ve Been Cursed
While Ed sips fine liquor and swaggers around in his new jacket, the rest of the crew freaks out. Believing the jacket is cursed, they begin to see evidence of bad luck everywhere. Most notably, Frenchie develops awful sores, which Stede deems to be an allergic reaction to plundered peanuts. Izzy suggests that even though the curse isn’t necessarily real, it is true for the crew. So, Stede is forced to make a decision: the jacket or his crew’s sanity and trust.
Fang & Ed Have A Bonding Moment
Meanwhile, a tossed-overboard Ed joins Fang (David Fane) on a fishing dingy. While the two sit in the fog, Fang opens up to Ed about how much his post-breakup reign of terror scared him. One of Ed’s oldest and most trusted crew members, Fang is able to really get through to the former captain. Ed decides he wants to make amends for terrorizing Fang and the others, but before he can say more, Fang passes on another piece of sage advice. “Do you think you talk so much because you don’t want to sit with yourself?” he asks, prompting Ed to have another earth-shattering moment of self-realization.
The Crew Dumps The Cursed Jacket On Another Ship
Stede approaches the crew to make his own amends about the whole cursed jacket debacle. While he contends that the curse isn’t real, he also admits that it’s real to them — and Stede takes that seriously. The captain decides that they should offload the cursed suit on another vessel and its crew. Deciding that it won’t make them horrible people, but, on the contrary, very clever, the Revenge crew joins Stede on his curse-lifting mission.
Stede & Ed Kiss But Then Decide They Should Take It Slow
After a day full of cursed jackets and sage fishing wisdom, Stede and Ed reunite in the moonlight on the deck of the Revenge. While Stede has become more confident in his abilities as captain, Ed has learned something new about himself — another piece of that self-love puzzle. The couple kiss, but, afterward, a newly mature Ed suggests that they take things slow since they’ve both been prone to whims in the past. Stede agrees and reaches for Ed’s hand, capping off a riotous few episodes of Our Flag Means Death with one of the series’ most poignant moments yet.