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Our Flag Means Death’s season-two finale has it all. There’s a declaration of true love between our favorite criminals, Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Ed, a.k.a. Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). There’s also a heartbreaking death (RIP, Con O’Neill’s Izzy Hands), a pirate wedding that ends with the words “You are now officially mateys,” and some big-time fight scenes. “Mermen” packs a tight punch in only 30 minutes. The episode is both thrilling and satisfying, so even if Max makes the grave mistake of not renewing the series, fans will feel closure in a way that they didn’t with season one’s sendoff. And Our Flag Means Death creator David Jenkins already has some fun ideas brewing for a third season (and beyond!). The A.V. Club spoke to Jenkins about his plans to evolve Ed and Stede’s relationship, potential spin-offs, and how everyone on the show is handling its passionate fanbase.
The A.V. Club: First of all, how dare you kill Izzy Hands? Was that always the plan when you mapped out season two?
David Jenkins: [Laughs] Yes. I felt that Izzy had reached a point where he broke through a lot of his major patterns. It was fun to give him a season where he got to do everything and where Con O’Neill got to do everything. Well, I won’t say everything, because Con can do light years beyond what I think he can do, and I do think he can do anything. We wanted to show the depth of that character. Izzy is one of my favorites. He’s like middle management who is in a sort of love triangle [in season one]. He got his wish at the end of the first season by breaking up his boss and his boss’ lover. He got punished as a result, and he had to come out on the other side, which felt like a good journey.
AVC: Despite everything that happens in season two, including Izzy’s death, the finale ends on a happy note with Ed and Stede living together. Why was it important for you to show that?
DJ: Season one ends on such a tough note for them. As you said, after what they’ve been through, they should get a moment of happiness. I won’t say however fleeting. They are going to have challenges ahead. They’re both not the most mature yet. I think that’s the fun of it, to leave them in a place where it’s a good kind of stasis. They’ve sent the kids off in the car, so to speak, and now they’re going to have to really grow if they’re going to start an inn. It won’t be easy, but I like that they’re going to try.
AVC: “Mermen” has all the elements necessary for a season finale. Did you partly add all that as a way to provide closure in case this is the end for OFMD?
JD: What’s important to understand is that you never even know if you’re going to get a second season. Maybe if you get picked up for two right away, and even then, but especially right now, who knows? I think with season one’s end, it was a gamble to leave it the way it was. Everybody stomached through it. Now if it turned out they didn’t want us to make more, I just didn’t want to have another story where the same-sex love story ends in tragedy, unrequited love, or if one or both of them are being punished.
AVC: I actually love that about Our Flag Means Death. It reminds me of Schitt’s Creek in a way because the love story just exists and is perfect; there’s no questioning it as right or wrong.
JD: That’s such a nice compliment because I also think Schitt’s Creekdoes that really well.
AVC: You’ve previously said you want Our Flag to have only three seasons. Is that still true or do you feel like the show has scope to continue beyond that?
JD: I feel like Stede and Blackbeard’s story is a three-season story, but the world of the show could go beyond that. It’s a really rich world with so many stories to tell and really good performers to tell it. I do want to see how Ed and Stede become a mature couple in the next season. They’re a couple who is like in their late twenties right now as opposed to being teens at the end of season one.
AVC: So if OFMD continues in some other form, are there characters you’d like to focus more on or other historical references you’d like to include?
JD: Yeah, a lot, because it’s such a rich ensemble. How do you not want to see more of Joel Fry, Samson Kayo, Ewen Bremner, Nathan Foad, or Vico Ortiz? Any one of them could carry their own show. It’s fun to think about that and the storylines we can do with them, mixing and matching all our characters. Vico is incredible, for example, and I especially love watching them in an action sequence. This is a weird comparison, but there’s a Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver vibe they put out. I’m such a fan of what they do.
AVC: You also really like parallels and coming full circle as a storyteller.
JD: Yeah, I do.I knew I wanted to start season two in the Republic of Pirates and end by coming back there. Stede goes on an amazing journey between the episodes. He’s thrown out of there initially, but then he comes back as a hero. I like the symmetry of that. And then the Republic of Pirates gets destroyed; it dies. It’s not just Izzy; it’s the place too. It was important to have a home, this stronghold for everyone, be destroyed. But the characters are not crushed. They’re going to try to move on.
AVC: One of season two’s new characters is Zheng Yi Sao, played by Ruibo Qian, who quickly becomes an integral part of the crew. What was the casting process like for her?
JD: Ruibo is an amazing find. One of our incredible casting directors, Cindy Tolan, she had Ruibo in mind immediately for that part by the time it got to her. And we had looked and looked before talking to Cindy. Ruibo has her own fascinating story because apparently, she had a couple of strong premonitions that she’s going to play Zheng Yi Sao. She had a modern take on the part without it being strained. She’s incredible. She’s a trained theater actor with a lot of chops. She has to go toe-to-toe with Taika and Rhys. She did it with such grace.
AVC: Season two takes Blackbeard on an interesting turn of denouncing being a pirate. But in the finale, it’s almost like he’s reborn as one, especially with that gorgeous shot of him coming out of the water. What was the thought process behind this arc?
JD: Thank you. Blackbeard is a guy in recovery when he comes back to the ship when he’s wearing the jumpsuit. He’s trying to hang on and find some kind of footing. Who is he if he’s not a pirate? Meanwhile, Stede is on his way up and wants to experience the rockstar life of a pirate, while Ed as Blackbeard is over it. It was an interesting tension of, which one gives up their dream? A lot of times in relationships questions can come up, like who is going to give up on their dream to take care of the kids? Obviously, no one wants to, but someone ends up giving up more than they want to at some point. What’s wonderful about a mature romance, and what I’d want to see more of in season three, is Ed and Stede making these tough decisions.
AVC: Stede and Ed’s relationship has led to a passionate, vocal fandom, which you didn’t have as you were writing season one. While working on season two, how did you avoid doing fan service and focus on meaningful storytelling?
JD: I never anticipated the strong reaction to season one. It’s incredible it happened. Everybody is buoyed by it in the cast, crew, and the writers’ room. To be perceived on that level with such enthusiasm makes us want to make more of it. A lot of the things the fans love are not different from things the writers love. We are fans of the show. We’re writing fanfic, but it’s called fic when we write it. The big thing for us is to make sure we’re writing beats for the characters that feel true and have moments where all of us go, “Ooooh, we have to do this.” If the beats stay true, it won’t feel like we’re simply pandering.
AVC: How do you break down those beats for Ed and Stede’s relationship as they go from wanting to take it slow to sleeping with each other this season? And where do they go next?
JD: It’s challenging with them because most rom-coms end with couples getting together. They don’t then stay with them and say, “We’re together now, but it’s turbulent; how is that going to work out?” We thought, “Okay, let’s look at our relationships in the room. What have we encountered? Who’s been dumped? Who has had to forgive somebody?” These questions were fun for the second season. I think for the third, it would [be], “Okay, who’s had a relationship for over 10 years? What things do you have to work on?” It’s fun to watch two people like Ed and Stede go through this experience.
#our flag means death season 2#ofmd s2#ofmd s2 spoilers#spoiler#our flag means death#ofmd#david jenkins#interview#av club article
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Since Goncharov has spread beyond Tumblr, I have amused myself by reading hot takes by people who don’t understand Tumblr’s meme culture at all.
Over on AV Club, britches be complaining that “they” (presumably the people who “created” Goncharov) should have modeled it after one of Scorcese’s non-mafia films:
Eh, this would have been way cooler if they’d riffed an imaginary Scorsese film along the lines of Kundun or The Age of Innocence or even one of his documentaries instead of just going to the “he just makes mob movies” well.
This statement betrays a total misunderstanding of Tumblr culture:
Tumblr don’t care if you think it’s cool. We care if we’re having fun.
There is no “they.” No one decided what the movie was about. We saw a label on a pair of knock-off boots and went wild.
The rule of improv is yes-and, and that’s how Tumblr works, too. You can’t erase what has already been done as part of the improv/meme. The boots say “The Greatest Mafia Movie Ever Made. Martin Scorsese Presents Goncharov. A Domenico Procacci Production. A film By Matteo JWHJ 0715 About The Naples Mafia,” so yes-and means it is the greatest mafia movie ever made.
But there’s more with yes-and. Want Goncharov to pick up more on themes from Scorcese’s non-mafia work? Complaining on the AV Club will get you nowhere. But come on Tumblr and post about the film’s alternative cut, or your favorite bit of imagined non-mafioso dialogue, or the parallels between the sacrificial violence in Goncharov (1973) and Silence (2016)--and Goncharov becomes “way cooler” because what you wanted to see in it is now there.
Goncharov is not about producing something for passive consumption. It’s about playing together. Having fun. Building community. Sharing imagined worlds. Saying “yes” to creativity and weirdness. Embracing everyone’s contributions, because everyone has something unique to bring to the table.
Including the pouty-faces from AV Club, if they want to join in.
#goncharov#goncharov is unreality#but the av club article and commentary and my feelings are real#tumblr culture#av club#https://www.avclub.com/goncharov-martin-scorsese-gomorrah-tumblr-1849812663#how to tumblr
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I did not notice the first two times watching the scene where Hickey forces Goodsir to chop up Gibson that Goodsir literally waits the whole hour. I just thought Hickey walked out and immediately started trying to brutalize Lieutenant Hodgson lol.
#the terror#i read an AV club article where they pointed this out then rewatched the scene#my poor boy he knew he had to so he waited as long as possible :(#episode is such a slow hopeless trudge of hopelessness#but in like. a good way.#the tenderness#...
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regarding the community movie being pushed back to next summer:
every time joel mentions the community movie, a new article comes out misinterpreting something he said. in this case, he did say they're shooting next summer, but he said it on a podcast that was recorded earlier this year (i don't know exactly when it was recorded but i think it was around march) and when joel said "next summer" i'm pretty sure he meant this summer because the writers' strike hadn't started yet and filming in the summer (2023) was the plan at the time. filming might end up being pushed back to next summer because who knows when the strike will end, but I don't think it's been officially pushed back that far at this point.
#he said it on kelly ripa's podcast#joel is just hanging out in ireland saving goats from bogs#and the internet is freaking out about a thing he said#because discussing film or av club or whoever wanted to be the first to break news about the movie#so these usually reliable sources just write whatever the fuck they want#without looking into it#also sort of joel's fault bc next summer is a weird way to say a few months from now#community nbc#nbc community#community#like when joel said he cried during that virtual table read they did 3 years ago#and then a bunch of articles came out saying he cried during the table read for the community movie#when he very clearly did not say that#community movie
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“I play the piano as well. People aren't going on about that. Not getting so much abuse about playing the piano.”
—Eddie Izzard on As It Happens, October 27, 2022
So I said, “Fine, well, I’ll stick around to do anything I can to help in the meantime.” So I was hanging out with Midge Ure, because most people were down in London at this point, and Midge Ure said, “We need someone to play the piano.” And I said, “Well, I can play the piano.” And they said, “Well, see if you can do it.” And it was interesting, because we were on the thrust stage, and it was raining, so it was actually raining on the piano. That’s the only gig I’ve ever played on the piano, and I always wanted to play the piano when I was a kid. I taught myself, so I was quite confident… about the piano. Midge was saying, “You’re probably worried about this,” and I said, “No, I’m more worried about the stand-up!” [Laughs.] Because stand-up when everyone’s ready for a music gig is quite tricky, because they’re going, “No! We can’t hear! We just want a singer on!” But, yeah, I just looked at it recently, about a month ago, and… I’m having a good time. That was my first gig: 60,000 people is my first gig on the piano. — AV Club, 2015
From Facebook, 2010
Eddie and Tracee Ellis Ross in the film The High Note, 2020
at St Pancras station, 2022
#eddie izzard#piano#quote#article#link#interview#av club#image#the high note#live aid#tracee ellis ross
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Titanic is such an interesting movie because there is a character in it who is a stand-in for all the people who would prefer to intellectualise it and hold it at a distance and not emotionally engage with it and he literally expresses regret that he never let it in and they still don’t understand it.
#that av club article jkfhjkfejh#factually wrong about the movie in a way that only someone trying not to get it could be#and i went through a period of thinking i was above this movie so i get it#but it's truly sad cause people are so afraid of being emotionally moved by media that they think something being this moving#is a sign that it's bad or unintelligent
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This AV club comment on a article about a piece of trivia that I simply must fact-check further before I believe spoke Poker Face into existence during a discussion of who should play Columbo in a reboot
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One of the best parts of the AV Club was that they covered everything, and they decided on what shows would get weekly coverage before seeing them. What this meant was a bunch of boring nothing shows got 20 full reviews about them every year, and some of what the writers resorted to in order to fill that space was incredible.
Emily St. James reviewed a network show about a doctor assisted by his ghost doctor wife, and since nobody was reading, attached a pulp detective serial to the end of every review. Sonia Saraiya recapped some show called Hostages and gradually broke down in disbelief as the titular hostages repeatedly escaped and went back to drag the plot out. 2 Broke Girls. The number of mediocre, forgotten shows I experienced via weird, memorable recaps like that is high
Anyway, it's now impossible to navigate those reviews easily, and The AV Club uses AI to write articles. Fun!
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There is something to be said about how Thomas was shown to be particularly cruel back in season 1 after the soap incident just when he was making a valid point about not wanting every moment of his life to be consumed by the people he works for. Don't get me wrong he definitely was cruel especially since he followed up his comments on Cora's misfortune with a dig at William's grieving and he 100% deserved William's retaliation. Ideally he should have left the room after he saw them all grieve.
What I'm saying is that it is very much a choice that the minute Thomas was saying something that contradicted the "loyal servant" role the show likes to romanticize, the show undermined his opinion by making him especially mean, in a way that both the characters and more importantly the audience are left thinking more about how cruel he is rather than the fact that he did make a good point about how a servants life is essentially consumed by the family they serve. Maybe it isnt wrong to not want to share in the family's grief or even feel a need to.
This article written at the end of season 1 kind of encapsulates my point: Thomas, for all his cruelty, is also the most clear-eyed about the dehumanizing effects of a life of service. After Cora loses her baby, Thomas isn’t quite sure what the big deal is. “Why must we live through them?” he asks. While his lack of sympathy—“they’re no bigger than a hamster at that point”—is extreme, Thomas does have a point. The staff is so invested in the intrigue upstairs precisely because they have been denied lives of their own (Meredith Blake for AV club, 2011).
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THIS AV CLUB ARTICLE HAS ME SCREAMING
link here
#av club#maria hill#talos#mcu#the marvels#YEAH SECRET INVASION DID THEM DIRTY AND NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW#secret invasion#marvel cinematic unveirse#carol danvers you stay safe#secret invasion spoilers
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So no trailer this week with two and a half weeks to go, le sigh. We did see ads from local stations (using old promo photos), and we got what appears to be the Nancy Drew 4.01 title and description. Read on for that and a bunch more show and cast bits from the past week.
“The Dilemma of the Lover’s Curse.” They’re hitting the curse head on, which I like. Two different sites posted the title along with an episode description that came right from the season 4 description we got back in January.
Now that we’re so close, the reality of Nancy and Ace having potential love interests is sinking in. We know that Nancy will not risk Ace’s life as long as there’s no solution to the curse. I’m still hopeful for lots of Nace scenes, with plenty of delicious angst. Curious how this squares with Kennedy’s discussion of Nancy and Ace’s emotional openness with each other - I still expect Ace to figure out the curse quickly.
I’m also super hyped about the sins of the town’s past, the multiple supernatural mysteries, and the stories for the entire crew. May 31 is so close I can taste it.
Scott Wolf gave us some insight into S4’s resolution for our beloved characters in a new interview - it was a big deal for them to know it was the final season ahead of time, the season will cover the things that are most important to us, but “not every resolution is going to be satisfying for everyone.”
Glad to hear they planned real resolutions for everyone, terrified about them not all being satisfying. I’m absolutely expecting Nace endgame, but I want good things for all of our family. They’re keeping us on our toes…
We saw lots of our cast this week - Kennedy made a surprise appearance in an Arizona bookstore with her author parents (note this pic is with her mom and the bookseller, not McDad), Maddison was in Paris and England with her Versailles cast and her family, and Riley is appearing in another episode of Station 19 this week.
Alex has been on vacay in Italy and France (Hannah captioned the first photo “Alex doesn’t like PDA. So I fixed it” ☠️). Alex’s new show High Desert premieres this week on Apple TV. There’s a new in depth, spoilery review at AV Club. According to the article (spoiler alert), Peggy (Patricia Arquette) is “no longer speaking to her grown son.” We won’t see Alex until episode 6 - could he play Peggy’s son?
Leah’s show Matlock was picked up for the fall (watch the trailer), and she’s celebrating in Mexico with her bf.
Meanwhile Queen Charlotte is another huge hit with fantastic exposure for Tunji - check out the in depth Tatler profile on our favorite Scotsman, where he draws an interesting parallel between Charlotte & George’s and Harry & Meghan’s experiences - and admits he’s never watched Bridgerton.
In more show news, the Nancy Drew writers’ request for fan input has generated tons of great questions but only chaos from the writers so far - no real answers yet.
Speaking of chaos, Kennedy stepped into the fray to drop four songs from her S4 playlist. “The Winner Takes it All” (no more ace to play), “all my ghosts” (all my ghosts are with me), and “Thinking of You” (cause when I’m with him I am thinking of you) are killing me, the pain. “Big Poppa” has me thinking about Nancy under some kind of spell a la Burning Bride (as she described Episode 2) hitting on everyone in sight - “mackin’ hoes” while “my crew’s behind me.” Now in honor of “Big Poppa”, what if it’s Ryan!?
Finally, two more cast members were added to IMDB - Fred the car towing guy is back for 3 episodes (3, 5, and 13), and there’s a new security guard in Episode 9.
You get a gold star if you made it to the end. Another week, another wish for a trailer and new photos. I’m busy wrapping up The Space Between - expect the thrilling (I hope) conclusion before the season premiere. Also planning a fluffy epilogue, I at least can promise satisfying conclusions for everyone!
#nancy drew#nancy drew cw#ace [redacted]#nace#ndcw#kennedy mcmann#maddison jaizani#tunji kasim#leah lewis#alex saxon#scott wolf#nancy drew season 4#nancy drew s4#nacesource#ndcentral
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Shout out to this AV Club article on the Disney layoffs
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The AV Club used one of Pedro Pascal's striking pictures (no pun intended) for an article reporting on the current lack of a negotiation date between the producers and SAG-AFTRA, but with Pascal's name strangely absent from the caption:
https://www.avclub.com/sag-aftra-no-meetings-with-amptp-on-the-calendar-yet-1850875981
Thank you for sharing💜
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The AV Club has a review of the fist two episodes of the new season of "Bob's Burgers" (hey, anyone else remember when they did that weekly? No, I'm old? Okay, got it.) I feel compelled to share it, because as a Rudy connoisseur (not a self-proclaimed title, Babs labeled me that!) I am naturally interested in the season's second episode, "The Amazing Rudy."
I'm not going to post any of the article's discussion about it (don't want to expose folks to more spoilers than they may want) but I will post one prediction and one fear I have about this episode.
The prediction: it will make me cry. It sounds like Rudy's parents and their divorce play a pretty central role. One of the reasons I love Rudy so much is that I relate to him in a number of ways, including being a child of divorce. So, I feel like this story could hit some of those nerves for me. Not a bad thing necessarily, but something for me to be aware of.
The fear: maybe it's too Rudy-centric? I know that sounds like a weird thing for someone who's obsessed with the character to say, but the review compares it to Buffy's "The Zeppo" and South Park's "Butter's Very Own Episode" and I don't know if I really want Rudy, or any Bob's supporting character, to get that level of focus. I've always liked that the show tends to keep the focus on the Belchers (well, and Teddy, who is also a main character). I think it's a concern that comes from "The Simpsons". For me, one of the signs of that show's decline was when it started doing episodes that focused entirely on Comic Book Guy or other minor characters where the roles of the actual Simpson family members were really small. Hopefully, this isn't that.
Wow, this is a long post for a link to a review of two episodes I haven't even seen yet! Anyway, tl; dr "The AV Club reviewed Bob's Burgers again; I am way too obsessed with Regular Sized Rudy."
#bob's burgers#bob's burgers reviews#bob's burgers spoilers#the av club#regular sized rudy#rudolph stieblitz#Fight At The Not Okay Chore-ral#Fight at the not okay chorse-ral spoilters#the amazing rudy#the amazing rudy spoilers
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someone on the hawkins av club subreddit seems to have found some audition tapes for the first shadow. auditions include ‘george’ and ‘betty’ (as mentioned in this collider article), as well as an audition for young hopper
#the first shadow#spoilers#sttfs spoilers#are these good enough tags for this#i'm not sure how much people are actually paying attention to this play atm#just in case you are interested#and have not seen these already#i'm intrigued by this play esp since it's confirmed/supposed to fit into show canon#but i'm also just ???#how is it all going to fit together you know#also highly likely 'george' is a placeholder for henry#so that's interesting#also i feel. weird about the concept of henry being in school at the same time as joyce/hopper/bob#and having interactions with them like dkfnkjdfn#it makes Sense and it's all connected but actually thinking about them having history and what that could mean for s5 is wild#but yeah we'll see how it all plays out lol#i know the ideas were already floating around but actually conceptualizing it and seeing the truth behind it.. yeah#these are not negatives btw i'm genuinely just interested/curious#anyway remember that guy that auditioned for jason in s4 that looked Just Like david
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flora, do you have any shifting experiences that you want to share rn? open ended ask for you to write whatever you want <3
(also IM DONE EITH SCHOOL FOR THE DAY YAY)
FAIRY THIS IS SO SWEET GIGLLFES ILYSM BABY
this literally happened a few days ago but i was super grumpy at school because mike called at 11pm on a tuesday night. we got super carried away with our convo and ended up talking until 5 fucking am, i barely even remember half the shit we did on that call
so i fell asleep in class, the science teacher loves me so she let me rest ( i love mrs. heller sm ) and i was just super snappy and unfocused for the entirety of the day, which was shit because i had voluntary work at the av club, and had to proofread some articles for stacy, and had a meeting with a few people for some science groupwork
i didn't even eat all that much because i took every opportunity to just lay my head on the lunch table and get some shut eye
on top of that i had to stay for an extra 40 mins at school because me and dorothea had to finalize and pass a project that was due on that day so that was just great
by 4:30 i was at home finally and was so ready to just shower and pass out, so i did ofc i got into my comfy strawberry pjs but when i got out of the shower, my mom called out to me and told me to go up to the attic. i was super grumpy about it but i just decided to go along with it and once i opened the latch, there was light
it's just me and my mother at home, and i knew that my mother was downstairs so when i smelled fresh food and saw a shadow being casted on the wall you know i was scared shitless. turns out it was just mikey waiting up there for me with my spare mattress and a bunch of pillows
i was salty at first tbh like "my frail, weak, tired body had to climb that god forsaken ladder, for this???" but he brought karen's red velvet cookies with him so i obviously couldn't be too mad for too long
and then we snuggled up near the window of the attic, a mix of the streetlights and the moonlight shining on the both of us, and he was talking to me in a hushed voice, but i can't remember most of it because i was literally half asleep at that point, plus his hand brushing through my hair was just so so so soothing :cc
though i do remember him being all like "'m sorry i kept you up so late this morning rosie, i shouldn't have been so careless with the time last night, especially since i know you're such a busy bee in the day" and he let out the cutest giggle "just missed you a lot.. sweet dreams"
mike wheeler is a menace and he causes me sm fucking problems but he makes up for it i guess :////
#⠀💭 ۫⠀love letters.⠀୨୧⠀· ˚ 𓈒#fairy!#gigkfllekd#꒰⠀file : stranger things⠀꒱#bike wheeler!#shifting#reality shifting#desired reality#shiftblr#mike wheeler#finn wolfhard#mike wheeler x reader#mike wheeler x you#mike wheeler stranger things#stranger things#stranger things x reader#stranger things x you#mike wheeler fluff#storytimes.
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