Unhatched Observations: Our Flag Means Death

It’s that time again—looking over some of my old posts about a story with Big Neurodivergent Energy and realizing how it resonated with me as an “unhatched” autistic ADHDer. Today, we’re looking at Our Flag Means Death! So. Much. Found. Family! I like that I draw comparisons with Ted Lasso and Parks and Rec, two other supremely neurodivergent shows. (Note: in my early posts about the show, I tended to refer to Ed mainly as “Blackbeard.”)

 

Our Flag Means Death

Early on, there’s a heavy emphasis on Stede’s embarrassing attempts at real piracy. In some ways, it feels a bit like a quirkier, swashbuckling version of The Office’s brand of cringe humor: buffoon boss doesn’t know what he’s doing, hijinks ensue. Funny and entertaining, but not necessarily special. But as the show goes on, it actually reveals itself to be more a quirkier, swashbuckling version of Ted Lasso’s brand of uplifting humor: inexperienced boss fumbles his way through his chosen field, focusing on emotional health and vulnerability in what’s traditionally thought of as a toxically masculine environment.

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I’m so happy that this show exists, and I’m thrilled we’re going to get a chance to see more of these characters and their stories.

 

Relationship Spotlight: Edward Teach a.k.a. Blackbeard & Stede Bonnet

While most of the crew thinks Stede’s foppish ways are silly and kind of embarrassing, Blackbeard is fascinated by all of Stede’s aristocratic affectations. The imposing, unspeakably cool pirate is beside himself when he realizes Stede owns a tiny replica of his own ship, and he relishes the secret door concealing Stede’s extensive wardrobe. 

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Though he obviously admires him and is eager to learn the tricks of the trade from him, Stede doesn’t place expectations on who Blackbeard is or isn’t “supposed” to be. The two see each other in ways that their respective crews just don’t.

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In an odd way, they remind me a little of my beloved Leslie & Ben from Parks and Recreation. The two pairings are completely different, but in both, we’re shown how and why they like each other beyond just “chemistry.” When Blackbeard and Stede’s relationship progresses to physical affection, I don’t really have to wonder what they’d do together as a couple, because we’ve already been watching the many ways they make each other happy.

 

Favorite Characters: Edward Teach a.k.a. Blackbeard

He has a genius for piracy, but his very notoriety is beginning to weigh on him. He’s bored, sick of doing the same old thing and sick of his scary reputation meaning that no one even puts up a fight against him and gives him a challenge.

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That’s part of what draws him to Stede Bonnet, the self-styled Gentleman Pirate. When they board the Revenge, Blackbeard is charmed by the evidence of Stede’s aristocratic idiosyncrasies on display everywhere: his miniature model of the very ship they’re on, the finery of his wardrobe, the fact that he brought a complete library onto a ship. Other pirates look at these things and see weakness, but Blackbeard is fascinated.

 

Favorite Characters: Stede Bonnet

Stede doesn’t know what he’s doing, and it shows. And somehow, as much as he’s flailing at sea, the flashbacks of his staid, stifled home life back in Barbados are even more awkward. We see how ill-suited he and Mary are to each other in their arranged marriage, how much Stede feels like Just Some Guy in his own house. He doesn’t have a meaningful relationship with his wife and his children, and every time he tries to break through to something real, he missteps or his ideas are shot down.

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Obviously, it’s not cool to abandon your wife and kids without warning and run off to be a pirate. But I understand why Stede felt that something had to give, and when Mary wouldn’t agree to a seafaring life, he decided to press forward on his own. Aboard the Revenge, he has no better idea of what he’s doing, but he immediately feels freer and more invigorated.

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That’s reflective of the way Stede runs his ship. He knows very little about piracy, but in a way, that just frees him up to decide for himself what he wants it to look like.

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For this reason, the crew stops viewing Stede as an aristocratic doofus to be got rid of and more like a bumbling family member to protect from himself. As he plows naively forward, they gently suggest emendations when he’s making himself look foolish to outsiders and generally try to keep him from getting himself killed. They’re hardly the terror of the seas, but they’re in this together, and that includes Stede.

Y tu Luna también: Soldiers of Salamina (2003)

This is an interesting film. There are times when I’m not quite sure it lives up to its intriguing premise, but the characters keep me engaged.

Novelist-turned-professor Lola gets more than she bargained for when she’s asked to contribute an article on the Spanish Civil War. She writes about Rafael Sánchez Mazas, a writer and founder of Spain’s Fascist party, who escaped an attempted execution, and a reader contacts her to note that Sánchez Mazas wasn’t the only prisoner who got away that day. Lola finds herself obsessed with the story of Sánchez Mazas and the other “Forest Friends” who ran from the firing squad, digging deeper to try and learn more.

The story of someone diving into a single moment in history is usually an interesting one for me. It’s especially neat to see Lola become so engrossed in this subject, because at first, she can’t even say why it matters so much to her. The reader who approaches her about it wonders if she’s researching for a new book, but she’s largely given up novel writing, having struggled to maintain her early success. Her investigation isn’t necessarily for anything, but still, she needs to know. So she chases down leads, searching for living witnesses and visiting the site of the failed execution, imagining that she’s back there herself.

She’s most haunted by the notion that another soldier happened upon Sánchez Mazas when he ran into the forest, but the other man let him go. Another character argues that Lola is simply searching for a moment of “heroism” within a brutal war, chasing answers that won’t give her the satisfaction she wants. And there are times when Lola doubts the investigation herself—when the trail goes cold, when she doesn’t have enough confidence in her writing to do anything with this story—but something keeps pulling her on.

Other than Diego Luna, I’m not familiar with any of the cast, but Ariadna Gil does a fine job as Lola. She’s a character who’s often holding herself back and forging ahead, both at the same time, and that’s a neat dynamic to see within her understated performance. And I really like María Botto, who plays a new friend of Lola’s named Conchi. There’s a lot going on with this character and I won’t get into it all here, but I like her role within the story. Conchi is a psychic who knew Lola’s late father, and while she’s definitely crushing on Lola at minimum, she also believes more in Lola’s potential book than Lola does herself, urging her not to give up on the story.

Luna plays Gastón, a new student in a university class that Lola teaches. He’s from Mexico, but he has roots in Spain stemming back to the Civil War. While Lola pursues her investigation, he’s conducting one of his own, trying to trace his family history. He’s crushing on Lola too—she’s largely given up on romance, but everyone seems to want her! Apart from that, though, Gastón shows himself to be a thoughtful young man. When he shows Lola some of the photos he’s found from the Civil War, he remarks, “Could be today, couldn’t it? The same people always lose.”

While it’s a relatively small role, it’s a pivotal one. Lola’s life as a professor is mostly divorced from her investigation into Sánchez Mazas, the Forest Friends, and the unknown soldier, but Gastón is the only one of her students that we get to know. And even though he stays confined to the university scenes, his interactions with Lola are still relevant to her search through history.

Recommend?

In General – I think I would. Again, I’m a sucker for this sort of premise, and I enjoyed the major characters.

Diego Luna – Maybe. It’s not a big role, but he does well with it.

Warnings

Violence, sexual content, language, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.

A Little TLC(w): The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Season 1, Episode 31 (1986)

*Episode premise spoilers, which includes major spoilers from episode 30.*

Another strong episode. The love polygon stuff continues to shift in engaging and interesting ways, and Zhang Wuji goes through the emotional wringer in today’s episode. Difficult for him, but it’s super compelling to watch!

In the last episode, Zhang Wuji was marooned on Granny Golden Flower’s island with his godfather and his lady friends. However, it seems they were betrayed by Zhao Min: she disappeared overnight, and when the others woke, the Dragon Sabre and Heaven Sword were gone, Zhu’er’s face had been brutally slashed, and the others had been weakened by poison. When Zhu’er succumbed to her injuries, all evidence suggested that Miss Zhao had signed her own death warrant with her villainous actions.

But not everything is as it seems. Zhao Min sends boats to retrieve Zhang Wuji and his companions, and when they arrive back home, it’s time to investigate. After recent revelations about Beggar Sect, Wuji spies on them, but a surprise encounter with Miss Zhao leaves him confused. He tells himself that she has to die for what she’s done, but as she deflects the accusations, he’s not sure what to believe.

The big theme here is that Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo are set in their convictions, but they both sense that Zhang Wuji is less certain than they are. Miss Zhou worries that, despite everything, Wuji still has feelings for Zhao Min and that will dash any hope of him getting together with her. Meanwhile, Xie Xun thinks his godson is a bit too soft and noble for what needs to be done. There’s an early scene where Xie Xun gives Wuji a bait-and-switch on a plan they’ve agreed to, maneuvering Wuji into a position where he can’t stop his godfather. Against Wuji’s protests, Xie Xun declares, “One has to be vicious and do what is needed to protect himself.”

This episode helps clarify some of the stuff going on with Beggar Sect for me. When a show has so many characters and a lot of them are giving kind some of subterfuge, it can be hard to follow everything at times. But as Wuji spies on them here, I get a better sense of what they’re doing, both on their own and with the aid of a traitor they’ve strongarmed into helping them.

More than anything, this is an episode about Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min. Maybe part of this is just my sadness at The Acolyte getting canceled (why?!?), but the enemies-to-lovers vibe they have going on is really working for me. Miss Zhao doesn’t pretend to be righteous, and it’s clear that she’s not pro-good guys—she’s just pro-Wuji. But she’s hurt when she realizes what she’s accused of doing, and in between trying to help Wuji on his mission, she tries to suss out whether he really believes she’s capable of that. At more than one point, she tries to save him from his own nobility, pointing out the underhanded tricks that are being perpetrated against him and urging him to go on the offensive.

Meanwhile, Zhang Wuji is dealing with a lot. He’s still reeling from everything that happened on the island. Between Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo telling him Zhao Min has to die and Miss Zhao insisting there’s more to the situation than he knows, he’s not sure what to believe. When he confronts Miss Zhao, even as he accuses her, it sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself. He tells her, “I’ve never seen someone as cruel as you are. I must punish you today.” But he doesn’t really fight her. He says, “Luckily, Godfather was less stupid and righteous than I am. He didn’t fall for your trick.” But he’s not entirely sure if he can trust his godfather.

Throughout the show, Zhang Wuji has been trying to do what’s right, but it’s not always clear what that is. Tony Leung Chiu-wai does a nice job capturing his conflicted feelings here, the way Wuji is pulled in a few different directions. He’s trying to take charge, and he’s trying to pretend he has more resolve than he does, but he also doesn’t want anyone innocent to get hurt, and he’s being pricked at by doubts. There are moments in the episode where he’s just trying to keep his head above water and figure out what’s going on. You can feel his confusion and desperation, the slightly panicked undertone beneath his calmer nature.