Favorite Characters: Jim Jimenez (Our Flag Means Death)

*Jim-related spoilers.*

I’ve written about Jim’s relationship with Oluwande, but I wanted to circle back and give them their own individual write-up as well. Although, like Olu, they’re less prominent in season 2 than they are in season 1, they’re an important character whose presence adds a lot to the show.

A major theme of Our Flag Means Death is figuring out who you are outside of expectations: regardless of what society, family, or friends think a person is supposed to be, it takes courage for someone to find the grace to carve out space for themselves as something different. Jim embodies that idea in more ways than one. As a child, their entire family was murdered by the Siete Gallos, and they were taken in by a nun who raised them to be a killer. To Nana, nothing was more important than Jim taking “God’s divine revenge” and avenging their family.

And for a long time, that’s what Jim lives for. They kill the first of the Siete Gallos, Spanish Jackie’s favorite husband, and then are forced to go on the run from Jackie, which is how they end up on the Revenge in the first place. Their knives are always at the ready, and they put themselves at serious risk to return to Jackie’s to recover their father’s dagger. They’re both ruthless and reckless, showing little interest in their own well-being.

But the more time they spend on the Revenge, the further away that quest seems. At sea, Jim grows closer to Oluwande, and by the time they find themselves back on St. Augustine, they’re forced to face Nana and admit they’ve only killed one of the Siete Gallos. Jim lets her shame them for this, and they try to push themselves back into a vengeance-driven life they’ve already started to cast off, giving up Oluwande in the process. It’s only after another confrontation with Jackie that they realize they can’t keep living for Nana’s revenge. They want more than that now, and it involves returning to the crew and Olu.

Jim further challenges expectations with their gender. Although they’re raised as a girl, they disguise themselves as a man when they go on the run from Jackie, and by the time their true identity is revealed, they’ve started to understand that they’re not really either. The crew doesn’t get it at first—“What kind of name is Jim for a lady?”, “Are you a mermaid?”—but Jim is prepared to be who they are without elaboration. “I’m gonna keep this very simple,” they say. “You all know me as Jim, ¿sí? So just…keep calling me Jim.”

Between affirming their gender and, even more significantly for him, putting their revenge quest to rest, Jim is able to feel surer and safer in who they are. Throughout much of the first season, they’re spiky and standoffish, a cynic in comparison with most of the Muppets in the crew. They’re not really won over by Stede’s softness, and they respond to most things with a sharp remark. But in season 2, Jim lets their guard down more. Even after being forcibly separated from Oluwande and made to crew for Ed during his Kraken era, they find ways to hold to hope and care, quite the contrast from their hard-edged season 1 self. They look out for and encourage others, helping those around them find strength and a bit of lightness during a frightening time, and once they’re back on the Revenge, they’re gradually able to unwind and just be. The Jim of season 1 would’ve never been instrumental in planning Calypso’s birthday, and they certainly wouldn’t have tried their own retelling of the wooden boy story to comfort an upset crew member.

It's certainly a big departure, and Jim’s reduced screentime in season 2 can make that feel a bit less purposeful than it could be. If (when???) we get a third season, I hope we get more time with them and can more clearly see the throughline of these changes in them.

Relationship Spotlight: Oluwande Boodhari & Jim Jimenez (Our Flag Means Death)

*Oluwande/Jim-related spoilers.*

In talking about this show, I haven’t written much that isn’t related to Stede and/or Blackbeard. Not that the rest of the show isn’t great, because it is—the crew of the Revenge is filled with great characters, you could write volumes about the psychology of Izzy Hands, and the guest stars add a lot to the episodes. But Stede and Blackbeard are both just so overwhelmingly great that it can be tough to get around to talking about anything else. But again, the rest of the show has all kinds of good stuff, and it’s worth the effort. So today, Oluwande and Jim.

By the time we meet the crew in the pilot, Jim is pretending to be a man. They wear a fake nose and beard as a disguise, and they pretend to be mute so no one will suspect anything by the pitch of their voice. The only one who knows their secret is Oluwande. It’s not clear exactly when or how these two met, but Oluwande is a devoted friend to Jim. He knows they’re lying low because Spanish Jackie has a vendetta against them, so once this pair joins the Revenge with Jim in disguise, Oluwande runs interference. They share a cabin so Jim has somewhere they can relax and be themselves, if only a tiny bit, and Oluwande offers to stand guard when Jim wants to bathe.

It takes a handful of episodes before the rest of the crew learns the truth about Jim, but while the others accept them with only minimal confusion/fretting about “women” on ships bringing bad luck, their bond with Oluwande remains special. For much of the season, these two circle around each other—the pull toward romance is there, but their friendship is also important enough to them that neither is eager to put it at risk.

Things come to a head when the crew goes to St. Augustine, where Jim is from. There, they’re confronted by their past, including the nun who raised them after their father was murdered. Oluwande still wants to be supportive, going with Jim to see Nana and being there for them in a hard time. As Jim returns to the orange tree planted by their late father, Oluwande offers to be their new family. But the episode ends with Jim going where Oluwande can’t follow, leaving the Revenge to resume their own quest for vengeance.

If Oluwande was starting to confront the realization that he had feelings for Jim before, all that bubbles over after they leave. He wallows in his sorrow, constantly drinking and missing his friend/loved one. He wishes he hadn’t pushed them so much about their past, and he licks his wounds after having put himself out there.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take Jim too long to realize that revenge isn’t what they truly need, and they make their way back to both the ship and Oluwande. Things go pretty badly soon after that, but even though circumstances conspire against them, their relationship remains strong. This will give them fewer hurdles to reuniting than Stede and Blackbeard, but the going is still going to be tricky. Season 2 when???