*Zheng-related spoilers.*
Reason #687 why Max effed up in not renewing Our Flag Means Death: how are you gonna introduce Zheng Yi Sao and then only have her in one season? Make it make sense.
During this series, Blackbeard is regarded as history’s greatest pirate, for understandable reasons—whenever we see his tactician skills in action, he’s a total rock star. The list of crimes on his wanted posters is double-sided, and Black Pete tries to get clout by claiming to be a former crew member of Ed’s. In fact, Ed is so legendary that he’s burnt out on his own reputation, despairing that there’s no challenge in piracy anymore because the mere sight of his flag is enough to make a ship surrender. And Ed is an impressive pirate, to be sure, but when Zheng Yi Sao steps onto the scene, she is every inch That Bitch.
Zheng isn’t just a pirate captain. She’s a pirate queen. By the time our heroes meet her, she’s already conquered China and leads an armada of ships. She’s new to the Caribbean and people there don’t really know her yet, but she makes them put respect on her name with every encounter. Her crew is almost religiously devoted to her, and their sheer force is nigh unstoppable.
Part of Zheng’s brilliance is in how she neutralizes her opposition. She’s certainly ruthless and won’t hesitate to kill anyone she needs to, but she’d much rather gain new loyalists than piles of corpses. After she successfully overwhelms John Bartholomew’s ship, she softly guides the pirate captain away from going out in a “you’ll never take me alive” blaze of glory and convinces him to join her instead—one more ship for her armada! She even tries her “collaborating would be more convenient than destroying you” approach with the British navy, trying to sell Ricky on the idea of paying her fleet a living wage to prevent them from raiding British ships. She’s excellent at working him, pointing out, “You could be the man to end all piracy without firing a single shot.”
Of course, it turns out that the British aristocracy are more underhanded than rival pirate captains, and Ricky betrays her, striking a devastating blow to her forces. She teams up with Stede, Ed, and the crew of the Revenge to strike back at them, and despite her aggravation with Stede from earlier in the season, she admits that they make a good team. By the end of season 2, she’s sailing on the Revenge.
One thing I love about Zheng is that she’s a rock star pirate queen who 100% earns her own legend but often acts very down-to-earth. I like that she flirts so shyly and awkwardly with Oluwande, or that she gets so emotional when Auntie admits she’s proud of her. Ruibo Qian’s line readings add to this feeling impeccably. Here are a few of my favorites:
· The adorable way she tells Oluwande, “You were like the break in my day.”
· The way she sympathetically whines, “I know! It’s been a day!” to Bartholomew when he realizes he was defeated by a woman.
· The delightful inflection of her, “Girl, how are you?” after Stede learns about everything that went down in the Kraken era.
Come on, Max! How are you gonna give us Zheng sailing on the Revenge and then not let us see it? We need so much more of this pirate queen.
No comments:
Post a Comment